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Ceasefire or Just Peace? The Struggle for Justice in Gaza

Ceasefire or Just Peace? The Struggle for Justice in Gaza

Last updated on: January 22, 2025 at 7:53 am by Rob Dalrymple

Ceasefire or Just Peace? The Struggle for Justice in Gaza 2025-01-22T07:53:49-08:00 Rob Dalrymple

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A ceasefire has been signed in the War on Gaza. But will it just temporarily end the violence? Or is it the beginning of a just peace?

Blessed are those who mourn

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness/justice

Blessed are the merciful

Blessed are the peacemakers (Matt 5:4, 6, 7, 9)

We rejoice that a ceasefire has been declared in Gaza. However, our rejoicing must be tempered.

It must be tempered by the fact that the conditions that led to the assault on Gaza haven’t been resolved. In many ways, things are worse, much worse, than they were on October 6, 2023.

The ceasefire hasn’t extinguished the last 15 months of hellfire that has rained down on Gaza. If anything, they have been stoked. The people of Gaza remain under the oppression of Israel’s land, sea, and air blockade. And now the people of Gaza carry with them the burdens of grief aided by the 45,000+ dead (and that number will surely rise) and of the almost total annihilation of the Gaza strip.

As we recognize Martin Luther King Jr this week, his words remain timely. In response to a letter from some Birmingham clergy, Dr King wrote, “You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations.”

Consequently, other than living with the daily fear that a missile may land in the home tonight, there are few reasons for the people of Gaza to rejoice in the present ceasefire.

Peace or a Just Peace?

Peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of justice.

Those in power are often content with the absence of conflict. Those who suffer under the deadly hand of injustice know well the difference between a just peace and the mere absence of conflict.

We would be mistaken if we believed that there was no violence in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank before October 7, 2023. Perhaps the only reason we can believe that there was no violence before October 7 is because the violence was wrought mainly by Israel.

When Israel maintains and even intensifies an oppressive occupation, confiscating Palestinian lands, detaining thousands of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, imposing checkpoints throughout the West Bank that limit the freedom of movement among the Palestinians and stifle their economy, withholding critical aid, and allowing, and even at times encouraging, settler violence against the Palestinians, the world silently ignores the violence.

Yet, when the Palestinians respond to this oppression with violence, the world takes notice.

There was no peace before October 7, 2023. And a ceasefire will likely not bring peace either.

State terrorism is still terrorism

The Israeli government has committed and continues to commit acts of terror(ism) against the people of Palestine. I say “the people of Palestine” because we cannot, we must not, limit our conversations to Gaza. What is happening and has been happening in the West Bank is also nothing short of state-sponsored terrorism.

I tried to expose the false “peace” before October 7, 2023. I wrote a series of six posts in 2022 titled “The Status Quo is not Status Quo.” I also wrote a two-part post a few months before the tragic events of October 7 titled, “Will the Real Terrorists Please Stand Up.”

NB: I must confess that in the days after October 7, 2023, I wondered if I needed to pull it down. For the sake of academic integrity, I chose not to—I said what I said. At the same time, I thought, “I hope no one finds it.” However, the more I think about it, the more I hope people do find it. What I wrote was true then, and it remains true today.

Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians leading up to the events of October 7 must be called out. This is critical when it comes to the war on Gaza. The violence did not begin on October 7. October 7 was a response.

But it is also critical with respect to the present ceasefire. Unless this ceasefire paves the way for a just peace, and there is little reason to believe it will, the conditions that led to October 7 remain. The fact that conditions today are far worse—in Gaza and the West Bank—than on October 6 suggests that the fire hasn’t been extinguished; it’s been stoked!

Will Trump continue US support for state-sponsored terrorism?

It should be noted that Israel is not the only terrorist state in this ordeal. The US is also guilty. President Biden, as well as Harris, Blinken, and a host of US officials, should be placed right alongside Netanyahu and a host of Israeli officials when it comes to the list of state-sponsored terrorists.

We can only pray that President Trump will not only end this war, as it appears that he has been instrumental when it comes to securing the ceasefire, but that he will demand that the terms of the ceasefire be enforced and that he will not support any further state-sponsored terrorism against the Palestinians.

NB: I must admit that I do not believe that he will. Recent statements such as “Israel has never had a better friend in the White House than your president” suggest that the present ceasefire is nothing more than political posturing.

NBB: I will host a livestream discussing the present ceasefire and its implications. The livestream is scheduled for Wed, Jan 29, at 7:00 EST (subject to change). For more details, subscribe to the Determinetruth YouTube page.

In closing, I wish to address an “omission.” I suspect that some may critique this post because I did not condemn Hamas nor address the sins of the Palestinians with respect to the larger conflict. In response, I would note that such criticisms have failed to understand what I am saying. This post was not about Hamas. Instead, I am addressing the reality that the present ceasefire may end the devastation on Gaza, but the people of Gaza must now deal with life as it was before October 7 and with the destruction that has taken place since October 7. The present ceasefire, in other words, likely will not bring about a just peace . . .

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Progressive Christian

History and Religion

About Rob Dalrymple

Rob Dalrymple is married to his wife Toni and is the father of four fabulous children, and two grandchildren. He has been teaching and pastoring for over 34 years at colleges, seminaries, and the local church. He has a PhD in biblical interpretation. He is the author of four books (including Follow the Lamb: A Guide to Reading, Understanding, and Applying the Book of Revelation & Understanding the New Testament and the End Times: Why it Matters) as well as numerous articles and other publications. His commentary on the book of Revelation titled, “Revelation: a Love Story” (Cascade Books, July 2024) has just been released. His new book, Land of Contention: Biblical Narratives and the Struggle for the Holy Land is available now on Amazon or wherever you get your books (hopefully somewhere besides Amazon!) You can read more about the author here.

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