Israel-Palestine conflict - what is going on?
Disclaimer
We at Delegate Snapshots know that this is an increasingly sensitive topic, and do not mean to offend anyone or trivialise the matter, nor pick any sides. However, we do believe that it is an important subject that needs to be discussed, and so, in an attempt to decrease bias and prevent any backlash, we will be presenting concrete, irrefutable facts, as well as both sides of the story. Neither reflect in any way the true opinion of our team, which we will not disclose, and we hope that this article will be useful in assessing the situation and providing you with the means through which you can create your own opinion.
Introduction
Over the past couple of weeks, the media has been saturated with stories about the atrocities going on in the Israel-Palestine region, and, with the sheer volume of information that is circulating online, it can become overwhelming to try and figure out exactly what is going on. Thus, we have prepared an article packed with facts and figures and the two distinct storylines that are being presented, in order to hopefully allow you to become better informed on the matter, without having to go through the tedious process of trying to untangle exactly what happened from the knotted mass that is the press coverage on the issue.
Basic facts on how the conflict unravelled
On Wednesday, May 19th, at the time that this article was written, the death toll had risen to at least 219 Palestinians (out of which 63 were children) and 12 Israeli citizens (with 2 children). The number of wounded citizens had reached at least 1500 Palestinians and 300 Israelis. Over 52,000 Palestinians have been displaced since the latest flare-up began, 47,000 of which have managed to seek shelter in schools run by the United Nations, but a desalination plant was also damaged, causing difficulty in accessing clean drinking water for at least 250,000 people. To add insult to injury, 600,000 students have been forced to miss school because of the damage and destruction created; a real humanitarian crisis is unfolding from the chaos.
The whole situation is thought to have escalated a little while after April 13th, the first night of Ramadan. As Muslims gathered in the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem for prayer, the president of Israel was giving a speech nearby for Memorial Day, and so the Israeli police entered the mosque and disconnected the speakers, not long before closing off a plaza near the Damascus Gate, which was a popular sight for Palestinians on Ramadan. This led to protests and confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli police forces, and as a response, on April 21st, hundreds of members of Lehava, a right-wing extremist Jewish formation, led a march through Jerusalem while shouting “Death to Arabs'' and assaulting Arab passersby. Then, an impending court decision on May 10th, that would decide on the eviction of 6 families in a Palestinian neighbourhood in East Jerusalem (Sheikh Jarrah), sparked protests among the Palestinian youth. This overlapped with Jerusalem Day, a national celebration in Israel, and so the court decision was postponed in order to prevent any escalation.
Nevertheless, police raids in the mosque continued, with Palestinian protesters throwing stones and Israeli police forces responding with tear gas, rubber bullets, and stun grenades. Hamas, the leading group in the Gaza Strip, issued an ultimatum stating that if Israel does not withdraw its forces from the Aqsa Mosque and from Sheikh Jarrah by 18:00 on May 10th, they would attack, and when Israel refused, Hamas fired rockets towards Jerusalem, followed by an air strike retaliation from Israel, marking the beginning of this gruesome dispute.
The Palestinian perspective
Israel had requested that the Aqsa Mosque stops broadcasting the prayers because they would drown out the President’s speech, but they saw this as incredibly disrespectful and declined. Israeli forces desecrated the holy site, and the closing of the plaza was taken as another sign that Israel was trying to shove them out of Jerusalem. The last drop was the Sheikh Jarrah eviction, which was seen as ethnic cleansing and an attempt to discriminate against Arab citizens.
Because of the cancelled Palestinian elections, Hamas wanted to prove that they were more competent than the incumbent regime, and so positioned themselves as the key military defenders of Palestine. Throughout all of the police raids and clashes, Hamas claims that it is in fact the Israeli police that incited violence, and not the protesters. Regardless of who started the fights, the protesters were attacking with stones while the police were armed with weapons, highlighting a key disparity between the Palestinian forces and the Israeli response. With Israel conducting airstrikes on civilian buildings in order to attempt to destroy Hamas headquarters and officials, and an incomprehensibly large difference in the number of deaths between Palestine and Israel, some argue that the Palestinians are the victims in the situation, and must be assisted.
The Israeli perspective
Israel insists that the protesters incited violence, not the police, and states that the plaza was closed in order to prevent violence caused by the large crowds that were expected to gather. Not only this, but they also state that the Sheikh Jarrah dispute is simply one over real estate, and nothing more. Hamas initiated the attack on May 10th and Israel acted in self-defense. Their strategy since has been to destroy Hamas’ infrastructure, especially their underground transit system called “The Metro”. From the Israeli point of view, the large number of civilian casualties is solely Hamas’ fault, because they interlaced their operations with the civil areas of the city and used them as a human shield.
Israel claims the attack on the al-Jalaa tower as evidence that they care about civilian safety. The tower, home to al-Jazeera and Associated Press’ local offices, was targeted because it also contained Hamas equipment, however, the Israeli forces made sure to give the journalists a one-hour notice, allowing them to evacuate. The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that
“the Hamas terror organization continues to launch rockets, targeting Israeli cities, towns, and villages. Israel has the right to defend itself and will respond as needed to protect its citizens, as is the right and duty of every country.”
The international response
The international community has been truly divided in its response to the issue. All European Union members (except for Hungary) have issued a public statement stating that they condemn Hamas’ attacks and support Israel’s self-defense rights, but also stating that it “has to be done in a proportional manner and respecting international humanitarian law” (source: The New York Times), ultimately concluding that an immediate cease-fire is necessary. The USA has taken a similar stance. However, many believe that the USA’s response will be a test for President Biden and his presidential promises to concern himself more thoroughly with human rights. Nonetheless, Jordan has blamed the whole incident entirely on Israel and their provocative actions.
Amnesty International has issued support for an International Criminal Court investigation in the matter, and the United Nations Security Council has convened 3 times since the beginning of the conflict to issue a common statement “condemning the deadly force” used by both parties, yet all attempts were vetoed by the USA; they are set to meet again as soon as possible, in hopes that their negotiations will prove more successful.
Conclusion
This is by no means all that has happened in the ongoing conflict, and one could easily write an entire dissertation on the matter; however, for the sake of simplicity, we have had to cut down and select only the most significant events. Regardless of which side you, dear reader, choose to stand with and choose to believe is in the right, it is imperative that both parties agree to a cease-fire and to de-escalation, because many lives are at play and many more lives stand to be lost if the conflict does not come to an end as soon as possible.
Editor’s note
This article was written on Wednesday, May 19th. Since then, a cease-fire has been announced, which was implemented at 02:00 am on Friday, May 21st, local time, and so far seems to be effective. In total, 243 Palestinians and 12 Israeli citizens were killed in the conflict, however both sides claim the cease-fire as a win for their respective parties. Even though the situation seems to have defused itself for now and so is not quite as relevant, this article has still been published with the intent of showcasing the international forces at play and of hopefully providing you with a better understanding of what did happen, even though it has calmed down (and of course to not make waste of our poor editor’s time :)).
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