Editorial

The Hamas-Israel conflict

ON October 7, Hamas, the militant Palestinian group, visited Israel with a barrage of at least 3,000 rockets launched from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. At the same time, about 2,500 Palestinian militants breached the Gaza-Israeli barrier to attack military bases and lay a siege to communities in Israel. The Palestinian terrorists killed soldiers and civilians and captured Israeli soldiers and civilians, taking them to Gaza strip as hostages. Israel reacted swiftly with a counter offensive, clearing Hamas forces from affected areas, bombing Gaza, and creating a humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. It subsequently declared war and set up a war cabinet to prosecute it. Now, Israel has cut off food, water, electricity and fuel supplies to Gaza, and half of the population of Gaza has been internally displaced. Previously, there had been a blockade of Gaza by both Egypt and Israel for security and safety reasons.

While Hamas called its action in Israel “Operation Al-Aqsa Deluge”, Israel named its counteroffensive “Operation Swords of Iron.” Already, there are widespread deaths of civilians, and there have been widespread allegations of war crimes committed by all major participants in the war. The war has begun, but how or how soon this latest war will end no one knows. Israel will insist that Hamas must be made to pay for its atrocities or even attempt to route Hamas from Palestine, its stronghold. Hamas believes it is fighting to preserve the sovereign rights and dignity of its people and will continue to fight from Gaza or elsewhere with support from Iran and other Arab countries and its sympathizers across the world. This will only worsen the humanitarian crisis and the protraction of the war. Some have even suggested that if the situation is not handled carefully, it may presage a third world war.

Conflict between Israel and the Gaza Strip has defined Gaza since the former’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. The situation worsened when Hamas won the Palestinian election in 2006 and gained control of the Gaza Strip. A civil war with Fatah ensued in 2007 with Egypt and Israel blockading the Strip since then. The situation in Gaza which the Human Rights Watch described as an “open-air prison” is partly responsible for the pressures on Hamas. Indeed, the blockade has caused significant social, health and economic hardship within Gaza and has continued to generate conflict as residents of Gaza seek to pass through crossings. Hamas has cited some of the reasons for its offensive. Israel had always insisted that the blockade was necessary to protect Israeli citizens from terrorism and rocket attacks and any other hostile activities and to prevent goods that can be used for military offensive from entering Gaza.

We are concerned about the situation in the Middle East and seek the immediate and effective intervention of the United Nations and other non-partisan nations of goodwill in the ongoing war. The world must not stand by and allow the war to progress and unleash a humanitarian catastrophe. Innocent people have been caught in the crossfire, including relief and humanitarian workers. The war is a direct threat to the peace process in the Middle East. It has adverse consequences for the ongoing multilateral and bilateral efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East.

Real peace will not come through violent attacks and reprisals. Peace is only possible through opportunities that arise from commitment to accommodation on the part of the parties to the conflict under the rubric of human decency, dignity and justice. The international system must work for the realisation of a two-state solution, with an Israeli state existing side by side with a Palestinian state. A situation of an Israeli state overseeing an occupied Palestinian enclave will only result in unceasing violence as no peace can come from having one side subdued under occupation. Justice and sustainable peace demand the emergence of two states and cessation of occupation in the Middle East.

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