All eyes on Palestine
The current ceasefire between Hamas and Israel is part of a broader agreement under the U.S.-constructed 20-point peace plan, the first phase of which was agreed to by both parties on the 8th of October. Today, on the 16th of October, Israel has accused Hamas of breaking the ceasefire by failing to release the remains of hostages taken on October 7th, 2023, despite claiming difficulty finding them under the unfathomable amount of rubble, of what once was Palestinian infrastructure. Israel then killed five people in a suburb east of Gaza in drone fire, and one in an air strike. Despite many other violations of the ceasefire from the 9th until now, it technically still holds in the broader agreement.
Throughout the two-year war, the Palestinians have been traumatised to levels impossible to imagine, as we look on from secure, representative, democratic states on the other side of the world. 13 months after the Israel-Palestine war began in 2023, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defence Minister Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The charges included war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare, and crimes against humanity, including intentionally directing attacks against civilians. In December of 2023, South Africa filed a genocide case against Israel at the ICJ, which 14 countries have since joined. Most recently, an independent UN Commission found just last month that Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip. The Chair of the Commission stated “It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention.”.
The number of civilians affected, leading to this Commission's conclusion, is so large that it's incomprehensible to imagine the level of collective suffering experienced by those directly or indirectly impacted by these numbers. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, nearly 68,000 Palestinians have been killed during this conflict, 80% of whom were civilians, and another 60,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced. Palestine has extensively been reported to be in ruins; the infrastructure in Gaza City stands at just a quarter of what it used to be, although exact reports vary. What remains of Palestinian history in Gaza will be the living memory of the survivors.
The conflict between the two states has been ongoing for decades. Civilians were tragically lost on both sides, only one with a government slightly reminiscent of a democratic state. How the Palestinian state is rebuilt will determine in what form the cultural memory breathes, if within the protective structure of government institutions.
For many young people and people unfamiliar with the area, the image of a Palestine past, without Hamas, is crowded by two years’ worth of devastating imagery. Hamas has not always been the dominant political force in Gaza. In fact, its rule over the state has only come within the past 20 years. To showcase Palestinian history beyond Hamas, I have created a brief modern history of Palestinian ambitions for democracy:
- In 1920, Palestine was given under mandate to Great Britain after a peace conference in Italy involving the Allied states divided the Ottoman Empire. The Palestinian Arabs refer to the 1920 Mandate as ʿām al-nakbah, the "year of the catastrophe".
- The Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) was formed in 1964 to centralise Palestinian leadership, made up of civilian political community leaders. This was the closest structure to a representative democracy so far. The four major factions in the PLO included a group called Fatah (a secular movement).
- In 1987, the First Intifada (uprising) led to the creation of the Unified National Leadership of the Uprising (UNLU), coordinating the four major PLO factions. The UNLU facilitated the creation of institutional foundations for a future state and committees for resource distribution. Academics joined UNLU to formulate legislation for the Intifada in the service of a future democratic Palestinian state.
- The Oslo Accords in the 1990s were agreements between Israel and the PLO. The Palestinian Authority (PA) was created to serve as an interim government while it negotiated the final resolution of the conflict.
- The first democratic presidential elections took place in 1996, following the creation of the PA. Turnout was 77% and was viewed as free and fair.
- The PA began to become authoritarian, absorbing civil institutions, cracking down on opponents like Hamas and starting to use military courts.
- In 2006, Hamas won the legislative elections (long overdue elections), shocking international onlookers. However, it was perceived as a free and fair election. Factional fighting erupted after Hamas and Fatah were unable to reach a power-sharing agreement. Eventually, Hamas ruled Gaza, and Fatah led the PA in the West Bank. Both sides govern their territory harshly, with the monopolisation of power and suppression of political opposition in those areas.
- After that (until October 7th, 2023), the PLO represented Palestinians abroad, Fatah (PA) governs the West Bank, Israel exercises control over some Palestinian territories, and Hamas ruled Gaza militarily.
The civilian population of Palestine has gone through decades of struggle, both from external and internal forces, to feel fairly represented and protected by a cohesive democratic government. The war, which has been hailed (maybe prematurely) as having come to an end, has been a traumatic setback in Palestinian ambitions for freedom from competing interests. How the peace plan eventuates over the coming years will determine the formal conditions for the immediate future of Palestine.
The peace plan outlines a requirement for the PA to undergo a reform program in hopes of stable, independent governance of the Gaza Strip in the future. Temporarily, Gaza will have a transitional governance body in the form of an international board, which is to be led by President Trump. It will set the framework and monitor the funding for the redevelopment of Gaza. The specificities, like much of the peace plan, are yet to be decided. Whilst Trump is notoriously unpredictable, he has been claiming plans to redevelop Gaza, in his words, “a big real estate site”, claiming that “the United States is going to own it”. Pressure from the international community, particularly pivotal allies to the U.S. and Arab countries who helped mediate the plan, to uphold the conditions of the peace plan will be fundamental to the protection of Palestinian statehood and ensuring that international interests, once again, do not overtake the fundamental needs of Palestinians.
What it must address to secure a long-term democratic future for Palestine is a PA that fairly represents the civilian population’s interests. In the past, the PA has been criticised for not doing so, which is not inherently in the interests of the civilian population. While the ceasefire is undoubtedly a success for the immediate future, for the return of the hostages and the Palestinian population, ensuring and protecting the interests of a future Palestinian state will be a process carefully constructed over a much more extended period than the relief felt over the past few days. We must remember that while the hostages return home, centuries worth of memories for the Palestinians now lie amongst the rubble of what has been a tireless warzone, of a catastrophic magnitude. Peace, remembrance, and rebirth are long overdue for the Palestinians. Holding our representatives accountable both at home and abroad to their promising commitment to protecting lasting peace between the two states and international law will be our duty moving forward.
References
References
1. "Donald Trump Warns Hamas It Could Be Disarmed 'Violently.'" ABC News, October 15, 2025. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-15/donald-trump-warns-hamas-it-could-be-disarmed-violently/105892558.
2. International Criminal Court. "Situation in the State of Palestine: ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I Rejects the State of Israel's Challenges to Jurisdiction and Issues Warrants of Arrest for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant." Press release, November 21, 2024. https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-state-palestine-icc-pre-trial-chamber-i-rejects-state-israels-challenges.
3. United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe. "South Africa vs Israel: 14 Other Countries Intend to Join the ICJ Case." November 12, 2024. https://unric.org/en/south-africa-vs-israel-14-other-countries-intend-to-join-the-icj-case/.
4. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. "Israel Has Committed Genocide in Gaza Strip, UN Commission Finds." Press release, September 2025. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/israel-has-committed-genocide-gaza-strip-un-commission-finds.
5. "How Many Palestinians Has Israel's Gaza Offensive Killed?" Reuters, October 7, 2025. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/how-many-palestinians-has-israels-gaza-offensive-killed-2025-10-07/.
6. "New Satellite Data Shows: Gaza Devastation Scale Greater Than Estimated, at Least 70 Percent of Buildings Leveled." Haaretz, July 17, 2025. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-07-17/ty-article-magazine/.premium/satellite-data-shows-at-least-70-percent-of-gaza-buildings-leveled/00000198-12de-d9c7-af98-7adffc8f0000.
7. "Trump Describes Gaza as a 'Big Real Estate Site' as He Doubles Down on Plans to Redevelop the Enclave." CNN Politics, February 9, 2025. https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/09/politics/trump-gaza-real-estate.How do you convict a genocide?