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Israel/Hamas/Palestine. In news and conversation, the words seem almost conjoined. But what about Israel? And what about Palestine? What is Hamas? Americans in general, have little to no understanding of the conflict. So, what is really happening, and why is this happening?
Conflict between Israel and Palestine dates back decades. The Global Conflict Tracker mentions that the issue first arose in 1947 when the United Nations adopted Resolution 181. This resolution was also known as the Partition plan and sought to divide the British mandate of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states, and, in doing this, the state of Israel was created, sparking the first Arab-Israeli war. This war gave rise to the displacement of 750,000 Palestinians. The territory was then divided into 3 parts: the State of Israel, West Bank (of the Jordan River), and the Gaza Strip.
From 1947 to 1956, tensions began to worsen in the region, especially between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, and Syria after the 1956 Suez Crisis (the second Arab-Israeli war). In June 1967, after actions taken by the Egyptian president Abdel Gamal Nasser, Israel attacked Egyptian and Syrian air forces, which gave rise to the 6 Day War. After the war, Israel gained control of the Sinai peninsula and the Gaza Strip of Egypt, the West Bank, East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria.
In 1973, in what was known as the Yom Kippur or October War, Syria and Egypt instigated two surprise attacks against Israel as a means of recovering lost territory. This war caused no political or economic gain for any country involved. In 1979, representatives from Egypt and Israel signed the Camp David Accords, which was a peace treaty that ended the treacherous, 30-year conflict between Egypt and Israel.
Palestinian self-determination and sovereignty, however, remained in question despite the Camp David Accords. In a rebellion, in 1987, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians rose up against the Israeli government. This was the first Intifada, an Arabic word for ‘civil uprising’. The Oslo I Accords aimed to solve this issue of self governance in setting up a system in which Palestinians were able to govern themselves in the West Bank of Gaza. The Oslo II Accords in 1995 expanded on the Oslo I Agreement, mandating the complete withdrawal of Israel from 6 cities and 450 towns in the West Bank.
The year 2000 began the second Intifada. This rebellion was caused by several factors: Israel’s control of the West Bank, former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque (the third holiest site in Islam), and a stagnating peace process. The Intifada would last until 2005. Because of this conflict, an agreement to build a barrier wall around the West Bank was introduced and executed despite opposition from both the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court.
Factions: a situation in which a group forms within a larger group, especially one with slightly different ideas from the main group. Palestinian factionalism rose to a new height when Hamas won the Authority’s parliamentary elections in 2006. Hamas is, according to Council Foreign Relations, a “Palestinian militant group [that] has struggled to govern Gaza and remains committed to violently resisting Israel.” The election of 2006 gave Hamas unadulterated power of the Gaza strip.
Many countries within the United Nations, including the United States, did not acknowledge Hamas’ victory within the election, as the group has been considered a “terrorist organization” since the late 1990s.
The other Majority party within the Palestinians government is Fatah, who had control of Palestine predating 2006. After Hamas seized power, violence and conflict broke out between both parties. Between the years 2006 and 2011 many peace agreements had been attempted, and failed, between Hamas and Fatah. Eventually Fatah entered into a unity government with Hamas in 2014.
In the summer of that year, Hamas fired nearly 3,000 rockets at Israel, with Israel retaliating with a major offensive at Gaza. This conflict precipitated the death of 73 Israelis and 2,251 Palestinians, and only a cease-fire deal brokered by Egypt stopped the fight. After this, President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah announced that Palestinians would no longer follow any land provisions set in place by the Oslo Accords.
In late December 2022, the most far-right and religious party, led by Benjamin ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu and his Likud party, comprising two ultra-Orthodox parties and three far-right parties, took over Israel. This coalition facilitated the expansion and development of Israeli settlements in the already occupied West Bank, and endorsed discrimination of LGBTQ+ on the religious grounds of the party.
Hamas, the terrorist sect, launched a surprise attack on Israel. Translated from Arabic, Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu made a statement against the Palestinians: “The Israel defense force is about to use all of its force to destroy Hamas’ capabilities.”
Following the attack, members of the UN failed to come to a consensus, but still acknowledged their concerns for civilian livelihood given the likeness of previous conflict between the two countries.
In the first month of the war, according to the Global Conflict tracker, “1,300 Israelis and 10,000 Palestinians were killed.” Excessive civilian death is one of the primary concerns of the conflicts as it seems to be expanding as time goes on.
At 6:30 AM on October 7, as Israelis were finishing up a seven-day-long Jewish festival. Hamas, according to the American Jewish Committee (AJC), “attacked over 20 communities in Israel. Using rockets, paragliders, boats, motorcycles, other vehicles, and whatever other means they could, terrorists infiltrated the Jewish state and murdered around 1,200 innocent people, including 30 Americans, injured over 5,400, and 239 hostages into Gaza.”
Beyond the unadulterated violence, the attacks were also marked by brutal sexual assaults. It is apparent that the sexual abuses that occurred on October 7 amount to those of war crimes, but are very hard to document. David Katz, head of the Lahav 443 criminal investigation unit, says that, “We have no living victims who said ‘we have been raped,’” Katz told a press conference on Tuesday, November 14, but added “we have multiple witnesses for several cases.”
There is no direct evidence of Iran helping Hamas plan its October 7 attacks, but Iran has a well established patronage group with Hamas.
Israel has been exchanging military fire with Iran-backed Hezbollah almost daily and has struck Syria. This action has called for concern that it may move to the North. Yemen’s Houthi rebels, another terrorist organization, have also launched multiple rounds of missiles at Israel as well.
In most recent news, there has been a humanitarian crisis in both Israel and Palestine as a result of Hamas. Hospitals have been severely lacking resources, and many towns and villages have been almost completely decimated because of the terrorist group.
Despite these tragedies, many Americans find it hard to care about the situation because it is not directly affecting United States citizens. But this is not the case entirely.
By Anika Flores
Published November 27 2023
Oshkosh West Index Volume 120 Issue II