Celebrate the ceasefire, but don't forget: Gaza survived on its own

"On November 7, 2023, children stood before cameras at al-Shifa Hospital and spoke in English, not their mother tongue, but in the language of those they thought might save them. We want to live, we want peace, we want to judge the killers of children, one boy said. We want medicine, food and education. We want to live as other children live."

"Even then, barely a month into the genocide, they had no clean drinking water, no food and no medicine. They begged in the colonisers' language because they thought it might make their humanity legible. I wonder how many of those children are dead now, how many never made it to this moment of peace, and whether they died still believing the world might answer their call."

"Now, almost two years later, US President Donald Trump posts that he is very proud of the signing of the first phase of his peace plan. French President Emmanuel Macron praises and commends Trump's initiative, while Israeli leader Yair Lapid calls on the Nobel Committee to award Trump a peace prize. Leaders have lined up to claim credit for ending a genocide they spent two years, and the previous 77, funding, arming and enabling."

"But Gaza never needed saving. Gaza needed the world to stop killing it. Gaza needed the world to simply let its people live on their land, free of occupation, apartheid and genocide. Gaza's people merely needed the objective, legal and moral standard generously afforded to those who murdered them. Gaza's genocide exposed a world that preaches justice yet funds oppression, and a people who turned survival itself into defiance."

On November 7, 2023, children at al-Shifa Hospital addressed cameras in English, pleading for life, peace, justice, medicine, food and education. Barely a month into the genocide they lacked clean water, food and medicine and begged in the colonisers' language to make their humanity legible. Nearly two years later, US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and Israeli leader Yair Lapid claim credit for a peace plan despite decades of funding, arming and enabling the occupation. Gaza never needed saving; Gaza needed the world to stop killing it and to allow Palestinians to live free of occupation, apartheid and genocide. Palestinians transformed survival into collective defiance.

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