WHAT IS THE GAZA STRIP?

A recent BBC report partially attributes the December 2008 rocket attack by Hamas to a blockade set by Israeli forces in Gaza. The blockade was established nineteen months earlier in an effort to cut off the gasoline supply to the region. Mutual attacks between Israel and Palestine have escalated since Hamas’s rise to power in 2007.

Prior to Hamas’s takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, a rival Palestinian political party, Fatah, had control of the region. In August 2005, the Palestinian Authority, made up of Palestinian nationalists from Fatah, took control after Israel left the territory. Unlike Hamas, Fatah believed that a solution could be reached between Israel and Palestine in Gaza. However, in June 2007, Ismail Haniyeh led Hamas forces in a coup to overthrow Fatah and take control of Gaza. Members of the international community have reached out to both sides in search of a peaceful resolution. However, intervention from foreign nations, and the United States and Britain in particular, is in many instances viewed as creating more tension than resolution.

“The problem with the UN,” says Edgar Klaska, a political science professor at California State University, Long Beach, “is that whenever it does get involved in something and maybe manages to ‘move the ball’ closer to the goal, the U.S. steps in to either vote against what the UN wants or to undermine the process.”

The difficulty with reaching a resolution stems from the various historic perspectives that exist in the disputed territory, which has been continuously settled for thousands of years. According to www.globalpolicy.org, in 135 A.D., the Romans forced most of the Jewish population out of Jerusalem and named the area Palaistina.

As both sides continue to fight for the land they call home, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is as complicated and unpredictable as ever.

Palestine, as it would later be known, would go through many more foreign occupations and inner revolts. Groups of Palestinian Arabs carried out rebellions against Egyptian occupation and also against the Ottoman Empire, which took control over the land in 1517. With the fall of the Ottoman Empire at the conclusion of World War I, the Gaza Strip remained part of Palestine but was subject to Western occupation. Through a League of Nations mandate, Britain was given power to administer and set new boundaries over Palestine.

The many years of fighting against foreign empires and states created a sense of nationalism among Palestinians. When combined with the belief that they have a historic right to the land, this makes it difficult for Palestinian authorities to reach an agreement with Israel. “It’s more of a question of fighting Israel as a colonizer of their land,” Kaskla says. “It resembles more of a postcolonial situation. For most Palestinians, it is getting one’s country back, which they view as having been taken from them by the Israelis and given to them by the Western powers.”

Understanding Israel’s claim to the land is not any simpler. There has been a Jewish presence, even if in small numbers, throughout most of Palestine’s history. During the Spanish Inquisition, a large number of Jews were allowed to settle in Palestinian cities to avoid persecution. After the Romans exiled the Jewish communities in Palestine, a small percentage of the population remained.

Due in part to the constant Jewish presence in the area, Jews also make a claim to Palestinian land. These claims intensified with the creation of the Zionist movement in 1897. The central rhetoric of Zionism is that Jews are people tied to a land and not just followers of a religion. This movement helped fuel feelings among the Jewish community that they had a historic right to the land in the area.

With frequent migration, Jews often settled in Palestine, the most recent instance occurring during World War II. Despite British rule over Palestine, European Jews trying to escape Nazi-occupied Europe were denied entry. However, through an organized system of illegal immigration, Palestinian Jews helped bring their fellow Hebrews to safety.

During their mandate of Palestine, the British showed support for a Jewish national state, accompanied by a desire to not offend the non-Jewish population in the area. The possibility of a Jewish homeland became a reality when, through a United Nations resolution in 1948, Western nations established a boundary for the state of Israel without consulting the Palestinians. Despite fierce opposition from the Arab world, the land now known as Israel has become the homeland to Jews around the world.

Palestinian reactions to the loss of land led to a split in opinion within the population. Some support Hamas’s radical beliefs, while others support Fatah’s more moderate stance toward Israel. “There is a serious divide among Palestine in terms of support, which complicates matters,” Kaskla says. “It shows that the Palestinians have a diversity of opinion.”

1993 marked a milestone in easing Israeli-Palestinian tensions. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), led by Yasser Arafat, officially recognized the State of Israel, and in return, Israel recognized the PLO as a legitimate representative of Palestine.

However, Israeli foreign policy in the region continues to fuel bitterness from neighboring Arab states. Israel justified its recent bombings of Palestine as defensive actions. On the other hand, Palestinians viewed the attacks as acts of terrorism, and resented what they felt was little or no foreign intervention. “The brutality that Israel shows then feeds this really vile anti-Jewish hatred that many people in the region hold on to,” says Kaskla. “The U.S. does not take a strong stand against Israeli policy even though it seems warranted.”

Israel’s actions are seen by many Middle Eastern countries as a byproduct of the U.S.’s leniency toward the nation. Foreign intervention, or a lack thereof, is a considerable barrier to the peace process. Kaskla explains, “The U.S. role in being a stalwart supporter of Israel is a definite obstacle. There is a perception that even when the U.S. tries to act as mediator in the peace process, they will side with the Israelis in most instances.”

As both sides continue to fight for the land they call home, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is as complicated and unpredictable as ever.