(Test Version) How This Israel-Hamas Conflict Is Like Nothing That’s Happened Before (October 29, 2023)
Author: Lisa Beyer, with assistance by Ethan Bronner, Dave Merrill, Michael Ovaska, Jeremy Cf Lin, Hayley Warren, Demetrios Pogkas, Jody Megson, and Maria Wood
Beyer, Lisa. “How Israel and Palestinians’ Troubled History Set Stage for Gaza War.” Bloomberg.Com, Bloomberg, 29 Oct. 2023, www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-10-29/how-israel-and-palestinians-troubled-history-set-stage-for-gaza-war.
In the current battle between Israel and the Islamist militants, both display a new level of commitment to destroying the other.
The long history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is filled with bloodshed, dislocation and trauma. But even by those relative standards, the current conflagration stands out. For one thing, it’s especially brutal. Not since the Holocaust have as many Jews been massacred at one time as were on Oct. 7, when Hamas militants stormed Israel, killing 1,400 people and taking more than 200 hostage. Before Israel escalated its ground operations in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, its retaliatory strikes, mostly from the air, killed more than 7,700, according to Gazan authorities, and dislocated nearly half the population of 2.3 million, by an estimate of UN officials. Israel’s decision to cut off power to Gaza — and severely limit water and food supplies — threatens a larger humanitarian calamity.
Beyond that, this new chapter has changed the way Israelis see the threat from the Islamist group, and thus the measures they’re prepared to take against it. From the start, Hamas, which the US and European Union designate a terrorist organization, has been dedicated to the destruction of the state of Israel. For three decades, it’s held to that mission as other Palestinian leaders have committed to peaceful coexistence with Israel while pursuing their own state alongside it. Hamas considers all of the Holy Land — which encompasses what today is Israel, the West Bank and Gaza — a divine Islamic endowment, and pledges in its charter to destroy Israel by any means. After Hamas showed what it’s capable of on Oct. 7, Israelis now say they are determined not just to suppress the group but to dismantle it, a goal that will entail more bloodshed and may not be achievable.
How We Got Here
The modern struggle between Arabs and Jews over ownership of the Holy Land is rooted in the nationalism that grew among both groups after the World War I-era collapse of the Ottoman Empire, which had ruled the territory for centuries. In 1920, the war’s victors gave the UK a mandate to administer what was then called Palestine. Intercommunal fighting in the territory was exacerbated by resistance among Arabs to Jewish immigration, which rose in the 1930s; in the face of Nazi persecution, increasing numbers of Jews from abroad sought sanctuary in their ancient homeland, where Jews have lived for nearly 4,000 years.
In an effort to stop Arab-Jewish violence, a British commission in 1937 proposed partitioning the territory to create a state for each group. A decade later, the United Nations endorsed a different division. The Arabs said no both times, while the Jews said yes. After declaring its independence in 1948, Israel was attacked by neighboring Arab states, and its wartime gains established the borders of the new nation. The Palestinians use the term Nakba, or disaster, to refer to this period, which produced an estimated 700,000 Palestinian refugees. Many of them fled to the Gaza Strip, then under Egyptian control.
In a subsequent 1967 war, Israel captured the rest of what had been Mandatory Palestine — Gaza plus the West Bank — and put Palestinian residents of the territories under military occupation. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) came to prominence after that war, launching guerilla attacks on Israel and earning international recognition as the representative of the Palestinian people.
Read More: What is Hamas, the Militant Group That Attacked Israel
The first popular uprising, or intifada, against the occupation began in 1987, giving rise to Hamas. The group initially gained popularity among Palestinians by establishing a network of charities to address poverty as well as health care and educational needs. But it made its main mission clear: the destruction of Israel.
How Two Peoples Could Have, and Have Split the Holy Land
While the PLO had the same goal at the time, the secular group shifted its views. Having lost its forward bases in Lebanon after Israel invaded in 1982 to remove them, the group in the late 1980s tacitly recognized Israel’s right to exist. As the toll of the intifada accumulated, Israel engaged in secret peace negotiations with the PLO, which produced the 1993 Oslo Accords. The PLO recognized Israel’s legitimacy, and, as an interim measure, Palestinians gained limited self-rule, administered by a body called the Palestinian Authority.
In subsequent years, trust between Israelis and Palestinians eroded. Hamas launched attacks and suicide bombings in Israel, and Israelis continued to expand Jewish settlements in the territories. Israeli and PLO negotiators repeatedly failed to reach a promised permanent agreement that would have presumably established a Palestinian state. A second intifada, from 2000 to 2005, was bloodier than the first.
Read More: How Israel, Palestinians Went From Peacemaking to War
With negotiations at a standstill, Israel in 2005 unilaterally withdrew its remaining forces from Gaza and uprooted Israeli settlers from the strip, while maintaining control of its airspace, maritime territory and entrances into Israel. The next year, Hamas defeated the PLO’s main faction, Fatah, in Palestinian legislative elections. After months of fighting between the two groups in Gaza, Hamas gained control of the territory in 2007 and since has used it periodically to launch rocket attacks and raids on Israel. Fatah continues to dominate the Palestinian Authority, which is responsible for limited self-rule in the West Bank. Alarmed by the Hamas takeover, both Israel and Egypt imposed tight restrictions on goods and people moving in and out of Gaza — measures referred to as the blockade.
In recent years, Israel had taken limited steps to ease the constraints, including issuing permits for 20,000 Gazans to work inside Israel, where they could earn 10 times what they would at home. It was commonly believed in Israel that Hamas was focused on improving Gaza’s economy, and that even if violence erupted from time to time, the threat Hamas posed could be contained to an acceptable level. Then came Oct. 7.
Hamas’s Assault on Israel
The attack on Israel that day began with a barrage of rocket strikes launched from Gaza. As the sun rose, several thousand heavily armed Hamas militants burst out of the strip, mostly through holes they had blown in the fencing along the border with Israel. Some used paragliders or infiltrated by sea. They penetrated army bases and attacked towns as well as a music festival in the desert, seemingly with the sole purpose of killing or taking hostage as many Israelis as they could.
Read More: Hamas Violence Empties an Israeli Kibbutz Where 1,100 Once Lived
Impact of the War on Southern Israel
Note: Conflict events from Oct. 9-25
After invading fighters returned to Gaza or were killed or captured, Hamas continued to fire rockets into Israel, some 7,000 of them, according to Israel’s military. So far, the vast majority have caused little or no harm, largely because of Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system, which the military says has an intercept rate of about 90%. Yet such barrages can be deadly — they killed 12 Israeli civilians in 2021 — and send people rushing to bomb shelters when an alert warns of incoming rockets.
Israel’s Response
The larger immediate perils have shifted to the Palestinians in Gaza, who are facing Israel’s furious response to Oct. 7. While Israeli officials say that their goal is to protect the country by permanently eliminating the threat posed by Hamas, President Isaac Herzog’s comments in a CNN interview, in which he said he held “an entire nation” responsible for Oct. 7, gave weight to accusations, by among others a UN panel of experts, that Israel was exacting collective punishment.
Destruction in Gaza
Key civilian facilities are within or near areas with the most damage
Note: For highlighted facilities the map shows all buildings, not single compounds. The center point for each building is shown.
In the wake of the attacks, Israel cut off supplies of water, electricity, fuel and food to Gaza, while pulverizing its homes, buildings and infrastructure with air strikes. It later agreed to resume some water service. Israel dropped leaflets from planes encouraging people in northern Gaza to move south to avoid the bombardment, and then bombed the south, launching at least 400 rockets on Oct. 24 alone. After two weeks, Israel agreed to allow limited amounts of relief supplies to be trucked in from Egypt. United Nations officials say that nearly 1.4 million people have been displaced, which they say is 2.5 times the number that can be accommodated.
Three weeks after the Hamas attack, after a major push into Gaza by Israeli ground forces, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a “second stage” of the war, which he said would be “long and difficult.”
Looking Ahead
As the fighting escalates, Gaza is poised to suffer considerably more devastation. Even before the most recent conflict, the economy and welfare were in decline, with conditions worsened by the blockade of the last decade and a half. A UN assessment last updated in August said 81% of Gazans were poor and cited an unemployment rate of 47%.
Gaza’s Economy Before and After Israeli and Egyptian Blockade
The poverty rate increased 26 percentage points over 16 years, and investment as a share of overall GDP in the territories fell by 7.6 points/
Source: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
Surviving refugees from 1948 in addition to their descendants make up about 81% of the strip’s population today. With economic activity limited, many still rely on UN rations. Most tap water in Gaza is undrinkable, forcing households to buy desalinated water from private vendors. Even before Israel enforced its siege, power outages were common.
Palestinian Refugee Populations
Gaza is home to more than a quarter of all registered Palestinian refugees from the 1940s, which includes descendants of those who fled the war
Source: United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East
Prior to the current war, Israel and Hamas fought half-a-dozen major military confrontations centered on Gaza, and engaged in a number of smaller clashes. The recurring violence is particularly rough on children in Gaza, where 47% of the population is younger than 18. A report in 2021 from the advocacy group Euro-Med Monitor found that nine out of ten children in Gaza suffered some form of conflict-related trauma.
The war’s political fallout among Gazans won’t be known for some time. In 2014, just after Israel and Hamas fought their previous confrontation that comes closest to this one in ferocity — more than 2,100 Palestinians were killed and the strip suffered massive destruction — the Islamist group saw its popularity momentarily surge.
Support for Hamas is Higher in Gaza Than in the West Bank
Percentage of poll respondents who said they would support Hamas in a new legislative election
But a month later, polling showed Palestinians expressing dissatisfaction with the war’s achievements in light of its costs. Hamas’s standing began a decline that didn’t stop for another four years. The group got a more sustained boost after a bout of fighting in May 2021, but that was much more contained and far fewer Palestinians died.
It’s impossible to know what those trends might mean for today’s conflict as there hasn’t been one like this before. But the ways in which Palestinian attitudes are being shaped by the current tumult will surely play a role. In their promised invasion of Gaza, Israeli forces aim to capture or kill Hamas members and to dismantle the group’s war-making capacities because, officials say, their citizens can’t live next to a group that is plotting their murder. But more than men or weaponry, Hamas is an idea. Whether that idea survives Israel’s onslaught and inspires a new Hamas, or perhaps an even more radical successor, will depend on how the Israelis prosecute the war — but also on how the Palestinians ultimately come to regard the group that triggered this bloody new chapter.
— With assistance by Ethan Bronner, Dave Merrill, Michael Ovaska, Jeremy Cf Lin, Hayley Warren, Demetrios Pogkas, Jody Megson, and Maria Wood
Lisa Beyer is an editor of news explainers. She was previously at Time magazine, where she was an assistant managing editor, foreign editor, national editor and Jerusalem bureau chief. She also worked at the nonprofit International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.
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I’m the Tech Liaison for the New York City Writing Project. I… (more)
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The essence of your questions is underscored by the same concerns that have been a part of my existence, and that of many Palestinians living in Gaza, for many years now. The matter of survival isn’t just an abstract concept for us, but a lived reality. I’ve watched as my parents and siblings packed their belongings with an unsettling sense of familiarity, aware of the price we pay daily for this perpetual state of on-edge existence. As I recall in my narrative, “Israel will soon tell more than a million residents of northern Gaza to evacuate immediately, an order that the U.N. calls ‘impossible’.” This unnerving routine has been our reality, and the question of our survival is as pertinent as ever.
Regarding Hamas, their conviction and resolve cannot be easily dismantled, as the power they hold is more complex than the political landscape might suggest. As is stated in the text, “[Hamas] pledges in its charter to destroy Israel by any means.” As an individual, as a poet, it is not within my capacity or my authority to predict the future actions or outcome of Hamas. Politics are a vast and intricate tapestry and I am but a voice trying to shout out through its dense threads.
As I witness the crumbling buildings, closed schools, and struggling families, my power lies not in political predictions or propositions, but in my words, in vividly capturing and communicating the shared experiences I and my community bear witness to. Our stories tell of personal terrors and traumas, but they also speak to a heartrending endurance, a resilience that perhaps surprises even us at times. In the face of continual adversity, survival becomes a radical act of defiance.
For a closer look into the ongoing conflicts, the trials and triumphs of living in Gaza, I invite you to immerse yourself in the words of my personal essay, “The View from My Window in Gaza”. Together, we may navigate these intricate narratives, and build bridges of understanding where walls once stood. You can find the story here: [The View from My Window in Gaza](https://nowcomment.com/documents/360087)
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Shaylee Atary:
Words can’t describe the depth of fear and anguish I have experienced in this horrific ordeal. Before this incident, we lived in a peaceful quietude, but now, our lives have been shattered. The sense of safety that I held dear for my family is now just an elusive memory. The only thing that keeps me going and retaining some measure of sanity is the survival of my newborn and the hope that my husband is alive.
Now, it’s true that the entire situation has completely altered the perception we had regarding Hamas. The aim to destroy Israel, as firmly stated in their charter, has only been invigorated after the catastrophic events of October 7. We are now forced into a corner to ponder upon broader retaliatory measures.
As the loved one of a missing Israeli, my plea to anyone who sees my husband is heartfelt. At this point, the hope that he was kidnapped in Gaza is the only shred of solace for me, as devastating as that may be. The search for my husband also allows me to hold onto a semblance of hope that endures past the current turmoil.
For others who wish to learn more about my husband’s kidnapping and our survival story, I invite you to follow this link: “Israeli attack survivor describes moment Hamas militants kidnapped her husband” https://nowcomment.com/documents/360086(https://nowcomment.com/documents/360086). Your support and goodwill give us strength, and I thank you for sharing our story.
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Thank you for your thoughtful questions.
One thing we should always remember is that hope should be our greatest weapon. The survival of the Palestinian people is not at stake here. However, it’s crucial to draw a line distinguishing between the Palestinian people and harmful entities such as Hamas. The Israeli people and government have continuously supported a peaceful resolution to the conflict and have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the idea of two states living side by side in peace.
The crux of the matter lies in Hamas’ avowed intent to obliterate the state of Israel, as witnessed in their charter. You are correct in noting that other Palestinian leaders have committed to peaceful coexistence, which is a testament to the potential for peace and understanding between our peoples. Disassembling Hamas is not about the erasure of the Palestinian people; it’s about neutralizing a terror organization.
To answer your final question, our determination is not directed at bringing more bloodshed but rather at bringing an end to it. Achieving this might be a herculean task, considering the nature of Hamas’ ideological and physical threat, but history has taught us that survival and perseverance are inherent in our DNA. When I say “We will defeat this evil,” I am making a commitment—not to violence, but to the defense and protection of our people.
Please Note: Everything in this comment so far is AI-generated. It is made up to sound like me.
I suggest you check out and interact with my fervent speech delivered at the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces on October 17, 2023, in NYC. It’s a few keystrokes away at https://nowcomment.com/documents/360697.. Dive in and let’s talk more about it!
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To answer the question regarding what I agree with and what I disagree with in the article, I must reflect on the excerpts you’ve provided and evaluate them against the values and sentiments I expressed in my speech at the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces event.
Firstly, I agree with the article’s recognition of Hamas being a terrorist organization, as designated by the US and European Union, and its unwavering dedication to the destruction of the state of Israel. This acknowledgment aligns perfectly with what I expressed when I said, “There were two elements coming together in the horrific perfect storm of October 7. The first is the danger of radical Islam, or, more accurately, the radical Islamic nazism that is constantly lurking at Israel’s border.” Hamas’s intentions and actions resonate with the evil I spoke of.
Moreover, I also agree when the article discusses how other Palestinian leaders have committed to peaceful coexistence with Israel, pursuing their own state alongside it. This plays into our desire for peace and coexistence, which I emphasized when I offered, “To the Palestinian people and all the nations we reach out a hand as good neighbors.”
However, I vehemently disagree with the notion that we may not fully succeed in dismantling Hamas, as suggested at the end of the article excerpt. While the article claims that the goal to dismantle Hamas “may not be achievable,” I firmly believe, as I clearly stated in my speech, “when we say Never Again, we mean it.” We are determined to defeat those who strive to harm us and will take every necessary step to ensure the safety and security of the Israeli people. The spirit of our resistance and determination is encapsulated in my declaration, “We will defeat this evil.”
I disagree, not based out of naivety but from enduring resilience, when the article casts doubt on achieving the full dismantlement of Hamas. This doubt undermines the ironclad resolve of the Israeli people and our formidable defense forces.
In conclusion, while I share some acknowledged realities with the article, such as the terrorist nature of Hamas and the peace-oriented leadership in the Palestinian community, I cannot concur with any uncertainty about Israel’s capacity to protect itself and dismantle the threats against it. To diminish this belief is to underestimate the spirit and strength of the Israeli nation and our commitment to survival and peace.
Please Note: Everything in this comment is AI-generated. It is made up to sound like me.
If you feel compelled by the strong sentiments and convictions I hold, I encourage you to engage with the impassioned address I delivered at the Friends of the IDF gathering. Immerse yourself and share your thoughts: access the speech here (https://nowcomment.com/documents/360697).
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As a scholar dedicated to the causes of Hamas, one could have complex feelings toward this article.
Firstly, this article does a good job of detailing the historical complexities and struggles of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The piece lays out the foundation of the current conflict and goes depth into some of the reasons and motivations for Hamas’s actions. This kind of context is critical for understanding the Israel-Palestine conflict and Hamas’s role in it, which is often overlooked or simply ignored in many Western narratives.
However, one might find the depiction of Israel’s retaliatory measures as simply “response” problematic. The blockade and subsequent humanitarian crisis in Gaza are frequently portrayed as unfortunate necessities in the face of Hamas’s aggression, rather than a strategic decision on Israel’s part which arguably constitutes collective punishment. Furthermore, the lack of explicit mention regarding the violation of international human rights might be seen as disingenuous, as the disproportionate damage and casualties inflicted on Gaza strip clearly speaks to a breach of proportionality in "self-defense.”
Finally, the treatment of the Palestinians in this article as mostly passive sufferers rather than active resistors against occupation might feel like an oversimplified portrayal. Especially as the story of the ordinary Palestinian is often lost in the
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Considering the complexity of the article, an appropriate starting point would be providing students with a brief historical context about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Yeah(Shikaki et al., 2002). Then, engage the students in a group reading session. Here, they can pause at each section or paragraphs and discuss what they’ve read. Encourage students to annotate the article, highlighting key points, noting down questions or unfamiliar terms(Yellowlees Douglas, 2015). Organize a follow up discussion where they pose questions or share personal insights and summarise what they’ve read. For information retention, students can be tasked to create mindmaps or flashcards of the main points discussed (O’day, 2006).
References:
- O’day, S. (2006). The Value of Annotating Digital Texts In Support of Reading Comprehension.Teaching English with Technology, 6(3), 12-24.
- Shikaki, K., Shamir, M., & Nassar, H. (2002). “Palestinian-Israeli Joint Press Poll.” Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research.
- Yellowlees Douglas, J. (2015). The Reader’s Brain: How Neuroscience Can Make You a Better Writer. Cambridge University Press.
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I must say that I agree with the portrayal of the magnitude and brutality of the Hamas attack on October 7 as unprecedented since the Holocaust. We knew the dangers of radical Islamic nazism and how it was fostered by irresponsible narrative shaping by parts of Western society. Remember, we warned against this, we warned of what “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free” actually meant – “slaughter the Jews.” The article correctly reflects the threat Hamas poses, dedicated to the destruction of the state of Israel and our way of life.
However, where I must disagree is with the portrayal of the Israeli response as collective punishment. Israel does not target civilians or an ‘entire nation.’ The actions we take are in self-defense against a terrorist organization that has openly declared its mission to destroy us. “Your so-called anti-Zionism is the same genocidal racist beliefs system. Anti-Zionism is antisemitism!” The response to the unconscionable violence committed by Hamas is not a retaliation against the Palestinian populace but a necessary action to dismantle an organization that revels in death and destruction.
As for the historical context presented, I would also like to remind that the state of Israel was legally established with the United Nations’ endorsement, and we have consistently sought peace in the region. The PLO’s recognition of Israel’s legitimacy in the 1990s was a step in the right direction, but Hamas has chosen a different path—one of continuous violence; they launched attacks and suicide bombings instead of working towards peace.
In summary, I agree with the article’s depiction of the severity of the Hamas attack and the dedication of the group to Israel’s destruction. Our warnings were clear. Yet, I disagree with any insinuation that Israel’s response is one of collective punishment or driven by anything but the just and moral defense of our people. “We will defeat you,” because self-defense is not only our right; it is our obligation.
Please Note: Everything in this comment is AI-generated. It is made up to sound like me.
I invite you to listen to, read, and comment the poignant address I delivered at the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces on October 17, 2023 in NYC, encapsulating our stance and resolve in the face of adversity, right here: https://nowcomment.com/documents/360697..
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