A ceasefire agreement is a form of settlement agreed by parties to a conflict. It stipulates a cessation of hostilities for a specific period in a given region, often supported by detailed provisions on objectives, timelines, security arrangements and monitoring mechanisms. It may be agreed towards the beginning of a negotiation process or close to, or even alongside, a more substantive settlement agreement. Sometimes a term other than “ceasefire” is used to signal that the agreement is clearly temporary and humanitarian in nature.
The goal of a ceasefire agreement is to bring about a lasting, more comprehensive and peaceful resolution to the conflict. In contemporary international armed conflict, this is often achieved through the de facto defeat of the opposing force and subsequent imposition of substantive terms on that state by a coalition of forces (eg Iraq-Kuwait War). Non-international armed conflicts, however, tend to be resolved through negotiated settlements, which aim to reach compromises that will put an end to protracted social conflict.
For this reason, it is often the case that ceasefire agreements include a transition phase in which one or more of the conflicting parties may not be completely out of the picture. This phase may last until the conflict is fully resolved, or it may be shortened to accommodate more urgent goals, such as the release of hostages.
The Biden administration has worked closely with Qatari and Egyptian mediators to press the Israeli and Hamas governments to agree to a multi-stage ceasefire agreement. SIS professor Boaz Atzili discusses this new development and the hope for an eventual – albeit fragile – peace in the region.
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