War in a Holy Land: Israel and Palestine Plunge into Crisis
Reported By: Sophia Lumsdaine
Photo Courtesy: The New York Times
On Oct. 7, years and decades of simmering animosity in the Israeli controlled region of the Middle East blew up–again. The crisis that began this October follows a long and deeply fraught line of conflicts plaguing this region of the world for close to a century.
However, even in its relatively short duration, the current conflict stands out as unique in its scale and intensity. As of Oct. 25, the Israeli government reported having struck over 7,000 targets in the Gaza Strip–an area half the size of New York City. According to the New York Times, this is a larger number of airstrikes than have happened in any previous military operation by the Israeli government in the territory. The death toll of Gazan, or Palestinian, civilians, according to the Hamas-affiliated Gazan health ministry, is above 6,000.
Israel’s intense bombing campaign of Gaza is a retaliatory response to a surprise attack carried out by Hamas militants on Oct. 7 where 1,400 Israelis were killed, according to the Israeli government.
“Today’s polarized political climate and the fact that many people get their news from social media” present serious problems, George Fox University’s (GFU) Political Science Professor Aaron Stuvland said. “There’s a tremendous pressure to conform to expectations of your group or tribe and then shut off your brain from hearing counterpoints or nuance. But, there are a lot of complexities and […] a lot of context and history that needs to be taken into account.”
The deep-seated tension and resentment between Israeli and Palestinian populations in this part of the world can be traced farther back in history than the establishment of Israel in 1948. Ultimately, the tension revolves around the two groups’ claim to the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea; this land is considered holy for Jews, Muslims, and Christians.
The area, long controlled by the Ottoman Empire, was handed over to the British Empire at the end of World War I. When the British mandate ended in 1947, the UN passed a resolution partitioning the land into two separate states: Israel and Palestine.
However, as the Arab populations in the region rejected the plan, it was never implemented. Immediately following the founding of Israel in 1948, war broke out between Israel and a coalition of Arab forces, the end of which resulted in Israel’s acquisition of more territory. Later, at the end of the 1967 Six-Day War, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank became the final Palestinian territories to come under Israeli control.
Since then, various wars and conflicts have occurred, notably the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the first Intifada in 1987 and the second Intifada in 2000. Various attempts at conciliatory and de-escalatory steps have also been made, such as the Camp David and Oslo accords, but they have had limited success.
The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and its corresponding political party, Fatah, were recognized as the official governing force of the Palestinian people through the Oslo accords of 1993. The PLO is based in the West Bank. And with the withdrawal of Israel troops from Gaza in 2005, Hamas was elected to power in the Gaza Strip.
Skirmishes and acts of violence have flared up periodically for decades in both Israeli and Palestinian territories. Meanwhile, Israeli settlers and enclaves have been expanding into the West Bank. The Israeli government has additionally enforced an ongoing blockade of Gaza that has perpetuated an ongoing humanitarian crisis, according to Amnesty International.
The current conflict shows no signs of easing. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has affirmed his intentions for a ground invasion of Gaza, while the United States, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Iran are positioning themselves to potentially enter the Israel-Hamas war.
As the conflict teeters precariously on the edge of large-scale war, Stuvland cautions individuals not to blindly conform to a particular narrative: “In these moments… it becomes really easy to respond to what I would call the ‘drumbeat of war’,” he said. “The conflict is simplified; it’s good versus evil; it encourages uncritical thinking,” he concluded. “Reasonable people should have no problem with [...] calling for a cessation of violence, including pursuing some sort of less violent resolution.”