Will Israel-Iran ceasefire sustain?

US President Donald Trump's involvement in the Israel-Iran war with the largest ever B-2 bomber fleet to bust Iranian nuclear facilities on June 21 and brokering of a ceasefire two days later could not be more contrasting. But this goes well with the capricious character of the incumbent US president. The swaggering president appears to consider himself the lord of all he surveys. This is exactly why he can deliver, as aptly expressed in a Bangla proverb, the deadly bite of a venomous snake and also aid the bitten victim with the antidote. However, the self-righteous president does all this to exhibit his supremacy to the world. Unsurprisingly, the ceasefire was dictated by him only before his arrival in the Netherlands for the annual North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) meeting so that he could brag over the 'war for peace' initiative and impress the European members. Thus he even assumed the big brotherly role of rebuking both Israel and Iran on arrival in the Netherlands for minor breach of truce he has brokered.

A fragile ceasefire agreement after 12 days of war is certainly welcome. But the question is if it will hold and bring the warring parties to the negotiating table. At times, warring parties/party agree/agrees to a ceasefire in order to buy time for rearming or further preparation. The Jewish state did it at the time of its conflict with the Hamas before launching more intensive attacks on Gaza. In the war with Iran, Israel made it clear that it had the dual objectives of bringing an end to Iran's nuclear arsenal capabilities and a regime change. Trump, however,  declares he had no intention of changing the Iranian regime but was dead set to obliterate the nuclear facilities on the verge of producing weapons of mass destruction.

Although US intelligence report has so far held that Iranian nuclear facilities were not engaged in production of nuclear weapons, Trump refuted the claim only to side with Israel and made the bunker-buster attacks at three key Iranian facilities. Even then his claim of total obliteration of those nuclear facilities has been contradicted by independent sources. The stock of enriched uranium in Iran was transported elsewhere before the B-2 bomber attack. Will the US and Iran resume negotiation on the future of Iranian nuclear programmes? There is no answer. Even more important it is to bring about a permanent peace in Palestine where the Israeli genocide and occupation are the source of an unending regional turmoil.

There are other pressing issues concerning the Israeli aggression on Iran. Will the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) be assigned to carry out an investigation to determine whether Iran's nuclear programme was for peaceful purposes or not? If it is found that the programme was nowhere near achieving the military capability, will there be a trial of the crime of killing of a number of Iranian nuclear scientists and top brass military personnel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ)? No amount of reparation is enough for human lives let alone those of the nuclear scientists, highest ranking military officers and innocent civilians. Damage to property and infrastructure is also extensive. Meanwhile the killing in Gaza strip continues and it should stop. The international community should press for a permanent solution to the Palestinian issue by recognising the people's sovereign statehood in their own land including the Israeli occupied areas in West Bank and Gaza strip.