BY FERAI TINC
HURRIYET- After announcing a unilateral ceasefire, the Israeli government declared victory.
Is concluding a war which left so many children dead really a victory?
Due to its policy of violence since Lebanon, Israel has lost a second time.
Hamas is also declaring victory. It is boasting that with the pressure of the international community, it got Israel to declare a ceasefire.
Those who declared Hamas a terrorist group may have to sit with it at the negotiating table in the near future.
But can this legitimacy won through hundreds of lives really last?
Both Hamas and its leaders, who gave instructions from safe rooms in Damascus while their people were suffering, have lost.
And Fatah? Mahmoud Abbas' term in office already ended last week. Their internal struggle for power will surely be conducted over Gaza.
The Arab world is also among the losers. The league couldn't come together to take a stance, and is in a mess.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Musa, the league's secretary-general, said of a recent economic summit that they have to support the league, or Arab power will disappear.
What about the United Nations?
I don't remember it ever suffering such a grievous defeat. The immunity of UN resolutions was smashed to smithereens. Israel didn't take it seriously at all, and moreover, faced no sanctions.
This came on the heels of the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq, which already weakened UN authority.
The European Union, which wasn't even part of the developments, along with Muslim groups and international aid organizations, shared in the defeat through their impotence.
Turkey, which has begun to exert influence in the region through its mediation between Israel and Syria, now finds itself in a position as the voice of Hamas leaders in Damascus. And this role's public reflection is rising anti-Semitism. The Gaza issue has pulled Turkey and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government to a position which was never foreseen or expected.
But peace, human rights and the authority of international law were dealt the severest blow.
So how will the 21st century heal the wounds of this defeat? By doing the usual: learning lessons from these mistakes.