Gaza 'Ceasefire' Offers Long Road to Normalcy, Normalcy for Whom?
Al Jazeera's report on Palestinians seeing a 'long road to normalcy' after a ceasefire is a masterclass in euphemism. 'Normalcy' in Gaza has been defined by 17 years of blockade, constant surveillance, and routine devastation, each followed by another 'ceasefire' that merely resets the clock. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, for instance, has repeatedly declared military objectives met, only to
initiate further campaigns. One might recall similar pronouncements in 2008, 2012, 2014, and 2021. The media rarely contextualizes these 'ceasefires' within the broader pattern of dispossession or the billions in U.S. military aid that enable such 'normalcy.' For example, OpenSecrets.org verifies that members of the current US Congress received over $10 million from pro-Israel PACs in 2022 alone.
This aid ensures not true peace, but merely temporary lulls between what critics call phases of a protracted occupation. How many times must Gaza be reduced to rubble before the 'long road to normalcy' leads somewhere other than the next 'conflict'?