Thread by @althecat

This is pretty amazing.

For the Gazans in their open air prison, this level of recognition of their plight is what they are seeking.

They cannot and do not expect to win a war with Israel. All they can win is hearts and minds.

https://twitter.com/a7_med_01/status/1394757143967019008

This sort of thing is infectious. And maybe just maybe it can bring first a ceasefire and later peace.

The cycle of violence in the Holy Places of Israel Palestine needs to stop, it is a crushing evil that causes pain across the world.

The wars in Gaza and there have been many have till now been two dimensional. Intractable, hopeless, irredeemable.

This one feels different. The obscenity remains but for a number of reasons it is very different.

I have longed for peace in Israel Palestine since I was a teenager. And that was a long time ago. In the intervening period obscenity has been piled on obscenity - the horrific crimes of terror on one side and the degradation of apartheid on the other.

The mechanics of the horror and terror remain the same. Rockets and air strikes.

But time the story of Gaza’s pain and sorrow and it’s struggle is being told differently and far better by the Gazan youth in social media. And that makes a world of difference.

https://twitter.com/omar_gaza/status/1394732531585589252

And perhaps partly because of that, but also because Israel itself is divided, because Covid is changing us, because Trump’s defeat and disgrace feels like hope, this time the world’s media is telling the full story. The full tragedy of both Israel and Palestine is laid bare.

https://twitter.com/SafaHajjawi/status/1394740561832185856

And maybe when the plight of Gazan and Israeli children breaks enough hearts, those hardened hearts whose election to a path of violence has led us to this place will realise the error of their ways and give peace a chance.

https://twitter.com/couldbthegrinch/status/1394743706834587648

Everyone is somebodies child and the calculus of body counts had been broken in Israel Palestine by a parade of death and degradation over decades.

It is time to stop this. And the best time to stop killing people is always now.

https://twitter.com/onevoice/status/1394055694727405571

There is a hard way and A slow way to a ceasefire for Hamas. And a ceasefire is what they have wanted for many days already.

A unilateral, unannounced ceasefire in the midst of this carnage will increase the pressure on Israel to stop its bombing by orders of magnitude.

https://twitter.com/althecat/status/1392193849955651588

A unilateral ceasefire is not a sign of weakness. It is a way of calling Netanyahu’s bluff. And stopping firing rockets has other benefits, you get to to keep the rockets.

But the most important asset that Hamas will keep on its side in a war it cannot win militarily, is media.

https://twitter.com/heavyed65/status/1392418389012930560

And importantly of all U.S. broadcast cable TV media @CNN, @MSNBC and @FoxNews who largely ignored the conflict in week one.

That changed on Sunday.

From a media perspective a unilateral unannounced ceasefire by Hamas will be reported as hope.

While failing to respond with missile fire in the face of this may seem counter intuitive, in asynchronous information warfare it is the way to win. And maybe not just a ceasefire. Maybe a path to peace. /Ends