The Endless Conflict: War in Gaza

By: Assala Mami, Bree Zamora, Jaleesa Alangan, Kirsten Saldana, Laura Eletel, Melissa Mata, Randy Cruzet

(Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

When speaking of the conflict between Israel and Palestine, there is no particular event that can be “blamed” as the sole reason for the conflict (Kumar, 2014). The issues that Palestine and Israel have been facing are religious, political, and territorial conflicts and have been present since the late 19th and early 20th centuries (History of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, 2014). In more recent news, the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers (explained below) sparked a new flame in the continuously growing fire between the two sides. As the world may already know, this incident instigated a 50 day war in Gaza that has sadly ended the lives of many and ruined the lives of many more (Dearden, 2014). Israeli police have raided Palestinian homes, their military has led air strikes that have killed a large number of Palestinians, many being civilians, and Palestinian retaliations have killed Israelis, although their numbers were not as great (Almasy, 2014). But more intricately speaking, it has brought up the question of “how can this conflict be resolved?” Unfortunately, the resolution resides in solving the crisis of who gets land and who doesn’t. On a domestic front, this conflict has Americans questioning whom our loyalty should reside with; Israel, our allies, or Palestine, the underdog?

As a whole, the Israeli - Palestinian conflict has a lot to do with the issue regarding identity politics. According to Annick T.R. Wibben identity politics is “inspired by the interests of, and intended to benefit, a particular group with a shared identity.” In this conflict there are two groups with both two different identities: one sharing a Jewish identity, which is Israel, and, a Muslim identity, which is Palestine. Both groups each have particular interests that benefit their own particular group and they intend to accomplish such an interest. Specifically in Gaza, Palestinian Arabs feel the right to be there since they have always been there, while the Jewish people feel they have right to take more land in order to have a homeland for Jews. With two groups having such opposite interests’ results into this major conflict between the two nations, this is one of the reasons why there is the war in Gaza between the Israelis and Hamas. To reiterate what Dennis Prager said the conflict boils down to “One side wants the other dead” (Prager University, 2014). Essentially, this whole conflict between Israel and Palestine has a lot to do with identity politics.

With a population of about 1.8 million people, the Gaza strip is a 139 square miles piece of land, an area the size of Detroit, on the border of Egypt and against the Mediterranean Sea. Gaza is technically part of Palestinian authority, but it has been under the Hamas rule since 2007 (Palestine-Israel Conflict). The violence in Gaza sparked on June 12, 2014 when three teenage boys who were hitchhiking in the West Bank were kidnapped. On June 30, the bodies were found and Israel blamed Hamas for the kidnapping. Hamas denied such allegations from Israel, but Israel began to arrest, kill and raid the homes of the Palestinians. Over 300 Palestinians were arrested, 10 killed and approximately 1,000 private homes were raided just days after the bodies of the teenagers were found (ABC, 2014). However some Palestinians believe the tension between Gaza and Israel can date back to November 4, 2012, when a Palestinian man who strayed too near the Gaza-Israel border fence was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers. Although Israeli soldiers claim that warning shots were fired when the man did not follow orders to back away from the area. However Palestinian medics argue that the victim was unarmed and “mentally unfit”. According to an American-Israeli writer, Emily Hausen, the November 4 incident may have not been the only instigator as many rockets were being fired back and forth around that time. Hauser’s timeline of the major incidents that happened after November 4 can be viewed here (Khazan, 2012). There have been multiple efforts of creating a truce but both sides never agree, one of those efforts was during the first week of the crisis where a plan was proposed by Egypt. Israel accepted it but Hamas said it was not consulted and later on rejected it as "a surrender". Israeli leaders want Gaza to be demilitarized while Hamas will stop fighting when there is an end to the blockade to Gaza. A ceasefire, broken by the Egyptian government, was finally agreed upon on the 50th day of fighting (News, 2014).

The Gaza crisis has had a huge impact on Palestinian civilians. According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, of the 2,191 killed 1,660 were civilians. The number of wounded persons surpassed 10,000 (PCHR, 2014). The Gaza crisis also has had a negative effect on Israelis, which resulted in the killings of four civilians, one being a child (OCHA, 2014).  Many buildings and facilities were also damaged due to the airstrikes, including 71 mosques over the course of seven weeks (Agence France-Presse, 2014). The United Nations Office for the Coordination of the Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) states that “around 13 percent of the housing stock in Gaza was destroyed or damaged and over 100,000 become homeless”. More than half a million were displaced and due to the extreme damage that occurred, it left these people without access to infrastructure such as water, electricity, and the destruction of schools  (OCHA, 2014). A U.N. report in August claimed that Gaza may not be a "livable place" by 2020 because of food insecurity and abysmal infrastructure. The unemployment rate hovers near 30 percent (United Nations Centre, 2014).

         Despite the attacks made by Israel on Gaza that had the United Nations involved due to the lack of humanity shown to the Palestinians, the US was questioned whether Israel is causing a strain on this alliance. Obama’s current meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu talks about the United States’ “unbreakable bond between the United States and Israel” (Staff of Israel, 2014). President Obama wishes to help “change the status quo” between the Israel and Palestine by finally create a peaceful equality (Staff of Israel, 2014). The tense situation between Israel and Palestine has been an ongoing issue since the end of World War II when Israel became a state; but, it also took the home of millions of Palestinians. Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, thanked President Obama for "unequivocally affirming Israel's sovereign right to defend itself by itself against any threat"(BBC, 2013). The United States and Israel are more than allies; they hold a friendship that helps aid and protect Israel. Israel receives one of our biggest foreign aid  of one billion dollars annually from the United States (Mark, 2002). From 1996 to 2004, 74% of the aid was spent on purchasing US goods and services (Keinon, 2013). After 2004, due to the shift of global stability, our aid has changed as well. Not only are we helping with selling of US products but now we are aiding in military assistance. The US has helped with Israel’s economic competitiveness, the information technology revolution, resource sustainability, and public health (Eisenstadt, 2012).  Additionally, Israel is one of our few non-NATO allies which, according to the United States Nunn Amendment, means that they receive an additional military and financial benefits. Israel’s placement in the Middles East is a safe and protected location giving the justification for military aid from the United States.  As an ally, it helps the US strengthen presence in the Middle East thus gaining recognition as “America’s aircraft carrier in the Middle East” (News 2004).

In more recent news, the U.N. Security Council continues to draft resolutions that would grant Israel and Palestine their rights as two different states (Lederer, 2014) (Two-state solution, 2014).  The president of Palestine, Mahmoud Ababa, set the deadline for 2016 at the U.N. General Assembly meeting on Friday, September 27, giving the U.N. a year to construct rules for the state of Israel.  The resolutions would include the independence of Palestine as a state according to the borders set from the Mideast War of 1967 (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 2014).  Both Israeli and Palestinian representatives have received a large majority of their support from the United States; because of what Obama describes as an “unbreakable” alliance with Israel, most Americans sympathize with the Israelis than with the Palestinians. At the same time, Democrats and Republicans do not necessarily disagree with any Palestinian actions.  This ongoing Palestine-Israel Conflict has the U.N. in agreement that the only way to create peace is to settle into two states, but the concerns shift towards the reality of actual peace for either nations -- together or apart.      

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