Another Gaza, another Ukraine, states the internationalist Charalambos Chrysostomou in relation to the initiatives of American President Donald Trump to close open issues.
He noted that there are commonalities – the violation of international law, territorial integrity, colonization, the imposition of the strong, the removal of injustice, but that the circumstances and parameters are very different.
Asked to comment on whether there is a connection between Gaza and Ukraine in terms of the American President's initiatives, Mr. Chrysostomou noted that Donald Trump made this move in relation to Gaza, "but it does not mean that in a similar way we can have progress or resolution in other issues."
"Another Gaza, another Ukrainian, another Cypriot," said Mr. Chrysostomou, adding that there may be common elements in terms of the violation of international law, the territorial integrity of Ukraine, Cyprus, the settlement issues in Palestine and Cyprus, but that there are too many differences.
He pointed out that what was done in Gaza "is not a comprehensive peace agreement, regardless of whether Trump presents it that way." "In essence it's a truce with the exchange of hostages and prisoners, a ceasefire, but now we're getting into the thick of it, with three big chapters open," he said. He noted that these relate to the issue of disarmament of Hamas, "which has not been determined and it is still not certain whether Hamas has this addition and in what way it will accept disarmament", the withdrawal of Israeli troops completely from Gaza, and the creation of an administration which will not come from Hamas, to be able to undertake with the help of funding the reconstruction of Gaza.
"So we are in a situation of a truce, a cease-fire, and not a comprehensive peace settlement in Gaza. And we are very far from solving the Palestinian issue, which is wider than Gaza and has to do with the creation of a Palestinian state based on both UN resolutions and international public opinion," he added.
Comparing it to the Ukrainian one, he said that "while Gaza and Ukrainian is a hot war, it is not a frozen crisis, yet Trump's effort there has shown that we are still very far from a ceasefire and even a ceasefire. Not even that was achieved in the Ukrainian – cease-fire and truce as was done in Gaza.”
According to Mr. Chrysostomou, as far as the Ukrainian side is concerned, the priority is the truce. "At the moment, however, neither the Russian side nor the Ukrainian side wants a truce. On the contrary, Ukraine is asking for Tomahawk (missiles) from the West, from NATO, from America, to be more powerful, more capable of resisting Russia. So, we have a long way to go in Ukrainian," he added.
In relation to the possible involvement of the American President in the resolution of the Cyprus issue, Mr. Chrysostomou noted that there has been a frozen crisis in the Cyprus issue for 51 years.
"For the Cyprus issue, we invested 51 years, in the context of the UN, the resolutions, the role of the UN and so on," he said, adding that in Gaza, "the agreement was reached, without the UN, without the EU, with Qatar, Turkey and Egypt as guarantors, and largely by imposing the power of the strong on the weak."
"A similar logic is being attempted in Ukraine, with the imposition of the powerful that is Russia. But there are reactions. If similar things work for Cyprus, it will be very dangerous, that is, outside the UN organization, without the role of the EU, to a very large extent as we see, as happened in Gaza, and with guarantors", he added, adding that this is something that Cyprus does not want.
He noted that "a very positive step" was taken in relation to Gaza, but that, at the moment, "the facts, neither Ukrainian nor Cypriot, are such that in a short period of time we will have such solutions, as in Gaza".
Referring to the participation of Cyprus in the conference on Gaza in Sharm el-Sheikh, Mr. Chrysostomou said that the fact that the President of the Republic of Cyprus was invited "is very positive". "The fact that we are recognized with a role is also very important. Beyond that, however, there should be no nihilism, no exaggerations. Turkey's role was different, clearly upgraded, with a role both in the negotiations and the next day, regarding Gaza, but also regarding the Middle East. Our role is at a different level depending on our size," he added.
