(ATLANTA, GA, 1/17/2025) The Georgia Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Georgia), the local chapter of the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization (CAIR), today welcomed the “long overdue” ceasefire deal to end the genocide in Gaza.
CAIR-Georgia called for the incoming Trump administration to support a just, lasting peace by ensuring Israel’s compliance with the deal and pursuing the end of illegal occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people.
In a statement, CAIR-Georgia Executive Director Azka Mahmood said:
“Whilst we should be welcoming the long overdue ceasefire news and an end to the ongoing genocide, it’s difficult to fully embrace it. The joy of this moment is tainted by the grief and pain of the tens of thousands of Palestinians who will return to find rubble in place of their once beautiful homes, with no family left to grieve with.
Many will finally get a chance to look for the remains of their loved ones and bury them. This ceasefire deal is a much-needed respite from the mass murder of Gazans. However, the rest of the world must hold Israel and the U.S. to account, work to end the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine, and establish a Palestinian State.”
According to the mediator Qatar, the agreement is set to be implemented in three phases, the first of which would last 42 days. The deal would deliver the first reprieve from the war and genocide for the people of Gaza in more than a year. The first phase will involve the exchange of captives and the withdrawal of the Israeli military from population centers in Gaza.
Negotiations to reach the second and third phases of a ceasefire agreement, intended to end the war, would begin on the 16th day of the implementation of the deal. President-Elect Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff reportedly exerted pressure on Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to accept the deal.
SEE: What we know about emerging Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal | CNN
The Israeli government’s genocide in Gaza has led to the deaths of more than 45,000 people, including tens of thousands of women and children. According to the medical journal The Lancet, some 186,000 may have died since Israel’s invasion of Gaza began in October 2023. The Lancetalso estimates that the death toll caused by direct Israeli military action in Gaza up to June 2024, was 64,260, 41 percent higher than recorded by the Palestinian health officials.
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CONTACT: Azka Mahmood, CAIR-Georgia Executive Director, [email protected], 678-653-5822, Nazia Khanzada, CAIR-Georgia Communications Manager, [email protected], (404)-239-2086