Partners for Progressive Israel’s Statement on Announced Ceasefire Deal

Partners’ Statement on Announced Ceasefire Deal

January 15th, 2025 –

Partners for Progressive Israel welcomes the announcement of a ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and Hamas. We extend our gratitude and admiration to the negotiators who have worked tirelessly to secure this deal, and to the hostage families who have been the moral heart of this painful fifteen-month war. 

It is our sincere hope that this multiphase deal is the beginning of a permanent ceasefire, one that is accompanied by relief for the hundreds of thousands of civilians facing an urgent humanitarian disaster in Gaza, alongside the desperately-needed security for Israelis and the wider region. Additionally, we assert that a permanent ceasefire is an important step in creating a just future for all Israelis and Palestinians, including the end of the Occupation, and a secure and democratic Israel alongside a future secure and democratic Palestinian state. 

We echo the urgent cries of so many Israelis in the streets, as well as the hostage families who insist that a comprehensive deal must be reached and followed through that will bring every remaining hostage home. We are also deeply disturbed by the assertions by MK Ben Gvir and others that previous deals have been rejected by Israel due to their personal interventions, delaying the State of Israel’s fundamental responsibility to ensure the safe return of its hostage citizens. To be clear: we believe it is deeply irresponsible for any member of the Knesset to attempt to derail an ongoing deal to bring the hostages home. 

While the stages of this accepted deal are still likely to change, we also look with caution to the long-term issues of Israeli military presence in Gaza. Hamas’ attacks on October 7th were acts of terror, and included war crimes, as noted by the international community. The deep security concerns of the healing and still-displaced communities in the Gaza envelope are one of our greatest concerns as we look with hope to a peaceful future and an end to this war.  The proposed creation of an IDF “buffer zone” between the civilian population and the Gaza envelope communities within Israel’s borders is also a welcome, temporary protection for the Israeli communities who are still recovering from the devastating attacks of October 7th. However, we also caution Israel’s political and military leaders to not allow this temporary zone to become a long-term occupation of Palestinian land, nor an opportunity for the Jewish settlements within Gaza that its ultranationalist supporters have previously called for. 

We also call for clarity, as the deal progresses, about the location and wellbeing of Palestinian detainees from Gaza and the West Bank held in Israeli prisons within Israel and in the occupied territory, and transparency about the process through which Palestinian detainees will be returned to their homes and communities under the conditions of this deal. 

PPI Executive Director Rabbi Margo Hughes-Robinson said, “It is with an admixture of relief, gratitude, and grief that we greet the news of this deal. A comprehensive and lasting ceasefire centered on a hostage exchange deal has been our utmost priority for nearly a year. 

“G-d willing, soon we will reach the time to both sit in relief at the end of this terrible war, and to grieve all who have been unnecessarily lost or who have suffered unimaginably as this deal has been delayed. A military solution was never going to conclude this war. We hope that this ceasefire and hostage return deal soon leads to a permanent end to the war. We look forward to supporting and partnering with Israelis and Palestinians in their next steps towards a just and permanent peace, with dignity, human rights, and self-determination for all.”