As we all have heard by now, Israel has agreed to stop genociding Palestinians. After one of the most horrific genocides in modern history took place, Palestinians finally get some peace. (Granted, there are rumors that Israel will start it up again, but for now, it’s peaceful.)

War has a lot of lessons to give, including lessons like not to trust one’s enemy, the importance of having peace, and the importance of knowing basic survival skills. However, peace also has its own lessons. 

You see, peace brings a lot of things that can educate us. Or rather, the end of a war is where a lot of us have serious learning moments. Let’s talk about the lessons of peace. 

There is no such thing as an eternal war. Wars are either over by the volition of the powers that be, over by the total genocide of a people, over due to the fatigue of people refusing to be used as pawns for a pointless war. 

The only time that wars remain drawn out is when rulers want them to be drawn out as a way to control the populace. At that point, it’s often not a war as much as it is a form of pantomime — and more often than not, it becomes a war on its own people.

After all, if you have to send people to war to give people a threat to unite against…it will eventually fail. 

I firmly believe that Israel was totally content continuing their war to the bitter end as long as they were able to get away with it. The truth is that Netanyahu only began doubting his genocide when people started to speak out against it. 

Think about it. In the past two to three months, criticizing Israel became far more commonplace. With that criticism and outcry came more political headaches for Bibi. It got to the point where other countries began to recognize Palestine as a way to officially show their stance on the war. 

The longer that Israel continued their genocide, the more they had to lose — both in terms of their own soldiers as well as their global reputation. Not even Israeli papers could continue to put a positive spin on the war after a while. 

Palestinians played their part by broadcasting the atrocities that were happening. The global community started to protest Israel’s behavior until the country capitulated in a way that could help them save face. In other words, the best way to end a war is to protest, protest, protest — and refuse to comply. 

Assuming that Israel is not going to renege on their word and continue their firing, now is the time for Palestine to rebuild. All the buildings that were torn asunder will be cleaned up and replaced with newer ones. 

Rebuilding can happen with anything. I mean, look at Nagasaki. At the end of World War II, Nagasaki was a radioactive mess. Today, it’s a booming city with massively popular cultural centers. 

Gaza might look rough now, but it can and will rebuild.

Here’s the thing about war: it kills people. Lots of people. Lots of innocent people, women, children, pets, and more. Palestine lost thousands upon thousands of people. Israel lost hundreds, at least. 

Those people are gone. Dead. Victims of a war many of them never wanted to fight. Their families will always remember what was taken from them and the people who murdered others will always have that blood on their hands. 

There’s no way to come back from killing someone. Even if the soldiers don’t feel guilt now, they probably will later on. That loss is still there and history will not look kindly on the people who instigated this genocide.

Death, in the quantities we’ve seen, is a powerful loss. People will know what happened and saying that you’re a former member of the IDF will likely become fairly stigmatized in certain circles.

Truth be told, a lot of Israelis are probably going to struggle with the stigma that came from this war for decades — whether they actively participated in it or not. And real talk? PTSD will be a major issue for an entire generation throughout the region.

There are very few feelings of relief that are as powerful as the feeling of having a day of peace after worrying about your life for months or years. Being able to go to sleep without worrying about being killed while you rest is such a huge deal. 

Those first days of genuine peace feel like a five-star vacation to the survivors of the Gaza conflict. War might make you learn this lesson too, but nothing will seal it in more than when you actually experience peace once again.

I can’t even begin to imagine the joy of the families reuniting with their loved ones after having both governments cede their hostages. It must be absolutely incredible.

The ceasefire is great and all, but there are still a LOT of loose ends that need to be tied up:

We all saw what happened in Gaza. We saw the people going for aid, only to be shot by IDF soldiers. We saw the photos of children holding up the bodies of their younger siblings, of people who lost everything, of people who had their homes stolen by settlers.

The world was watching and no matter how much the media wanted to erase those images, they couldn’t. No matter how much whitewashing and retaliation talk there was, they couldn’t erase the atrocities that happened. 

That’s the funny thing about the truth. It always comes out in the end.