It’s the hot topic on everyone’sminds—the renewed conflict between Israel and Hamas. Instead of getting intofruitless arguments on social media, let me present a few facts and a lot ofopinions about the continuing struggle. Disclaimer: I am an atheist from aJewish family and identify as ethnically Jewish. But I have no respect orpatience for arguments that begin and end with mandates from God.

Doing the Deep Dive

The history underpinning theclash goes back a long way—a very long way. About 1000 kilometers away lies theFertile Crescent, long viewed as the cradle of civilization. After theSumerians and other civilizations rose and fell, Egypt came to prominence. Atvarious times, they sought to extend their dominions outward, including to theeast, into the so-called Biblical Land of Canaan. According to the Israelitesarticle in Wikipedia, Israel was first noted in the Egyptian historical recordin about 1200 BCE, which is when they arrived from Egypt. But, if you believethe Bible, they had inhabited the area much earlier, leaving for Egypt generationsbefore due to drought and famine. The Israelites returned from Egypt in approximately1200 BC, and there has been a continual Jewish presence there ever since,despite repeated invasions by, well, everyone—the Assyrians, the Greeks, thePersians, the Romans, the Crusaders—pretty much every nation with imperialisticambitions passed through.

There has also been a long-termArab presence there, also—and therein lies the conflict. Two sets of peoplewith very different customs want to occupy the same property.  During the Iron Age (1200 BC or so) Israeland Judah controlled much of the area, while the other peoples occupied thesouthern coast—this info is from the Wikipedia History of Palestine. And herewe encounter Palestinians—or the ancestors of modern-day Palestinians, perhaps.The term, “Palestine,” according to Britannica.com, derives from Philistia, aterm used by the Greeks to refer to the land of the Philistines, who in the 12thCentury BCE lived in an area between modern Tel Aviv and Gaza. The term has notbeen in continuous use; the Romans revived it in the 2d Century, calling partof the area “Syria Palaestina,” and according to the same source, it’s been inuse since the early Islamic era. But after the Romans, the term wasn’tofficially used until after WWI.

An interesting aside: Britannica.comnotes a connection between “Hyksos,” invaders of Egypt from the east in the 18thCentury BC; Habiru, meaning outsiders; and Hebrews, referring to Jews. So it’spossible that the ancestors of today’s Israelis were the Hyksos, which makestheir claim even earlier—if that makes a difference. And I’m not sure it does.“We were here first” is only one salient point among many.

The later colonizers were theBritish; they captured Palestine from the Ottomans as a consequence of WorldWar I. The area they dominated, known as the Palestinian Mandate, was muchlarger than modern-day Israel, the West Bank and Gaza; it included Jordan aswell, but the Brits administered it separately. Britain issued the Balfour Declaration in 1917, which favored theestablishment of a homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine. I am not surewhy, given Britain’s lengthy and appalling history of anti-Semitism. In anyevent, it was generally recognized that, after the Holocaust, the Jews needed aplace of their own. The British announced that they intended to end theircolonization of the area in 1947. The UN General Assembly recommendedpartitioning the area into two separate states, one Arab and the other Jewish.The Arabs did not accept partition or the lands allocated to them. The Jewsdid, declaring independence in May 1948 upon the end of the British mandate. Asfor how the Israelis got their land, some was purchased, but unhappily, many Arabs were kicked out of their homes. Some left to escape the carnage, hoping toreturn; others were expelled. The “right of return” as well as compensation forlost property remain live issues.

The Palestinians call this traumaticevent “the Nakba.” A useful way to view both parties is to see them as deeplytraumatized by their sad histories.

After partition, the Arabspromptly attacked from all sides. They lost. Other Arab nations tried again,some singly, some with allies, and always lost: 1956, 1967, 1969-70, 1973,1982, and 2006. The area has also experienced “intifadas,” consisting mostly ofviolent riots. Peace efforts have been brokered by various countries, mostnotably by the USA, but none have succeeded except on a piecemeal basis. Egyptmade peace with Israel in 1979; Jordan in 1994; the UAE, Bahrain, and Moroccoin 2020.

Israel occupied the West Bank andGaza in 1967, to create a buffer between itself and the hostile Arab world.That effort has backfired, leading to the current very messy mess.

I’ve skipped over a lot ofhistory, most importantly, the impact of religion on the issues and conflicts.Many people refer to Israel as “the Jewish State,” ignoring the fact thatIsrael is a multicultural society in which less than 75% of the population isJewish. 20% of the population is Arab. Since the Knesset’s first sessions, Arabshave sat in Israel’s ruling body and continue to do so to this day.  

It is also worth noticing that whendiscussing these issues, there’s a tendency to talk about the Israelis and thePalestinians as solid, unified blocs. Pretty sure they’re not. There haven’tbeen elections in Gaza since 2006, so we don’t know what the Gazans think. Andbefore the current outbreak of hostilities, half of Israel hated their currentgovernment and wanted to change it.

The Palestinian Actors

The Palestinian Authority haspartial civil control over most of the West Bank, led by Mahmoud Abbas. Theyare generally regarded (okay, this is totally my opinion) as ineffective, or atleast, he is. They have been unable or unwilling to pursue peace. Hamas has asa tenet in its charter the destruction of Israel.

The Current Very Messy Mess

So, Israel has been in a bit of apickle ever since they occupied those territories. As stated, after repeatedincursions by the Arabs into Israel over time, Israel decided to take thoseterritories as buffer zones and to create more defensible borders. Fine, butthey kind of screwed it up. What they should have done was create borders thatwere safer for them, put people who preferred not to live in Israel on theother side of that line, and said "welcome to your new country." Somethingsimilar did take place in Gaza after Hamas was elected; Israeli withdrew whilemaintaining tight border control, but Hamas was free to create a vibrantsociety and to help Gazans live fulfilled lives. Instead, they clung to theirideology of destruction, using billions in foreign aid to continue their futileeffort to obliterate Israel.

As things stand, being an occupier forso many years does not sit well with many Israelis…and the rest of the worldhas taken issue with the occupation, which IMO has at times been, well, veryun-Jewish. 

An important concept to Jews is theidea of “Tikkun Olam,” roughly translated as “Heal the World.” The occupationdoesn’t do that. There’s no solution to the current crisis or its underlyingfactors that anyone’s discovered, and no viable alternative to occupation thatanyone has promulgated.

All sides in this matter have sufferedfrom terrible leadership for nearly two decades. Most are religious fanatics. Netanyahuhas been in and out of power since about 2006, and he's a disaster. He's athief and a Trumpian-style fascist who will do anything he can to hold on topower. The result of his radically right-wing policies, encouraged by thereligious crazies, can be viewed as part of the cause of the current crisis.The settlements in the West Bank have gotten out of control, with settlersbuilding unauthorized towns, kicking Palestinians off their property, andsometimes killing them. Netanyahu has destroyed almost all hope for a two-statesolution, which was the only viable long-term option. Even in the midst of war,many Israelis are calling for his ouster based on his visible incompetence.

I've already discussed some of Hamas'sfailures and they've been in power about the same length of time. Abbas isineffective, and Iran ...

The Role of Iran

The true bad actors in this situationare not even Hamas, because they're just stupid—short-sighted, single-mindedreligious ideologues. According to Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas is largely funded byIran—so they’re puppets of the Iranians, who I imagine are backing thisincursion to deflect attention from the fact that their Fashion Police beatsgirls to death for wearing their head gear wrong. Their proxy war in Yemenisn't going particularly well, either. They are deeply threatened by thepossibility of Israel normalizing relationships with more of its Arabneighbors, as well as the United States growing closer to the Saudis. (I doagree with them on that--I loathe the Saudis.) The Iranian people are fed upwith their poor leadership and want to get rid of them.

Questions to Ponder

Why hasn’t Hamas held elections since2006?

Probably because they know they'd bethrown out on their sorry asses because they're shitty at governing. They’reextreme misogynists; in fact, a woman can’t travel freely in Gaza without amale by her side. And if you’re queer? Best of luck, and don’t flaunt yoursexuality on the street. You’ll get killed. And their founding charter has as atenet the destruction of Israel, and obviously that is not going to happen. Butwhile they persist in spreading terror instead of seeking peace, and buyingrockets instead of building roads etc etc, they will be a failure. They don'tknow how to govern, and they don't want peace, which would obviously be betterfor the majority of the Gazans. 

Let's look at the situation this way.The United States forcibly seized many hundreds of square miles of propertyfrom the Mexicans, almost the entire southwestern United States. If Mexicostarted lobbing rockets into the United States in an effort to reclaim thoselands, what do you think would happen?

Strategically and tactically, is thisincursion really going to help Hamas achieve its goals? Is it going to help theGazan people? 

The answer to both of those questionsis no. Murdering teenagers and 20-somethings at an all-night ravedoes nothing but piss people off. Boasting about raping and murdering girls,killing grandmas and little kids exposes Hamas's barbarity and does nothing tofurther their cause. Frankly these people are so sickening and so stupid I wantto slap some sense into them. Totally, totally counterproductive and nothinggood is going to come of it. 

What Hamas has done is create apredictable overreaction from the Israeli government. One wonders if that wastheir intent, though some public statements indicate that their leadershipplanned to force Israel into hostage negotiations.

Is what Israel is doing to Gazaconstitute genocide?

No. Unfortunately, genocide is one of those words tossed around by theignorant to bolster their arguments when facts are not on their side. A truegenocide is the utter and complete obliteration of a people, a national,ethnic, racial or religious group.  Hitler’sFinal Solution was a plan for genocide of Jews—he planned to kill every Jewishperson on Earth, and the Nazis murdered a significant percentage. They alsodestroyed the strong physical and cultural presence of central European Jewry.The 1915 Armenian Massacre, conducted by the Ottomans, was a genocide; out ofan estimated 2.5 million Armenians, over one million were killed, and thecarnage, sadly, continues. (These numbers are rough estimates—online sourcesdiffer.)  During the Hutu-Tutsi conflictin Rwanda (1994) about 77% of the Tutsis died—nearly one million people.

This conflict is different. Manycontend that Palestinians are not a distinct national, ethnic, racial orreligious group. Furthermore, Israel does not plan the complete extermination ofall people identifying as Palestinian. Given the fact that Israel possesses themilitary might to reduce the West Bank and Gaza to rubble, and to kill everyoneliving there, their restraint over the decades has been remarkable.

Let’s compare the conduct of theIsraelis over time to the reaction of Americans to 9/11, when a few buildingswere destroyed and fewer than five thousand people killed. The USA invadedmultiple countries, destabilizing much of west Asia. Millions died or weredisplaced in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other nations; the Arab Spring followed.While some of the results were great, as in Tunisia, some were ghastly, i.e.,the Syrian civil war.

Is the current Israeli responseappropriate?

No. While it’s true that Hamas’s actions are beyond appalling, the Israeliresponse has been brutal and heartless. Telling over a million people to evacuatenorth Gaza when few border crossings are available and safe presents Gazanswith an impossible dilemma, and squanders the international groundswell ofsympathy that Hamas’s initial attacks created. 

Israel’s government has stated that itintends to completely obliterate Hamas—an appropriate goal. But to do that, theIDF has to check every building—as well as under them, because Hamas hascreated a network of tunnels beneath Gaza where they hide and store weapons.The tunnels extend into Israel, and Hamas has been known to launch attacks fromthem. So, the Israelis may find it necessary to raze every building in Gazawith bunker-buster bombs or some other alternative that will destroy thetunnels. 

If my neighbor tells me, “I’m gonnakill you,” and brandishes a knife, I have the right to pull out a pistol andshoot him dead.

But that doesn’t give me the right tohurt my neighbor’s kids.

Yet another dilemma in this big messymess.

Conclusions

Perhaps I should leave this areablank, as I have nothing helpful to offer.

But:

Nothing good for anyone is goingto result from this latest clash.

The Gazans hope to stay alive,and some will. Many won’t. Hamas wants to get some of its imprisoned fightersback, but their ultimate aim is the destruction of Israel. That won’t happen,at least not for the foreseeable future. Israel hopes to eradicate Hamas. Doubtful.

The most unsettling aspect of thecurrent conflict is that fights in this part of the world tend to spread like runny noses in kindergarten. To the north, Hezbollah, also funded by Iran, has launchedseveral missiles into Israel from Lebanon since the Hamas attack took place. 

Thisset of skirmishes could easily explode into regional war.  

Taking a broader view:

There is no prospect for atwo-state solution. Every peace proposal made has failed. Some were generous tothe Palestinians, including options for trains and highways connecting the WestBank and Gaza; locating their capital in Jerusalem; a structured right ofreturn and reparations.

Both sides have wearied of thepeace process, which has limped along for over seventy years. The Israeli responseto the stalemate has been to build settlements in the disputed West Bank as theirpopulation has grown. Palestinians, understandably, are angered by thisencroachment.

The violent religious right-wingsof both groups have been emboldened and strengthened, with the voices for peacegrowing weaker.

***

I invite anyone who reads thisblog to comment with helpful, thoughtful suggestions. Statements like “Justicefor Palestine!” and “Hamas are terrorists!” are unhelpful and will be deleted. There’senough conflict in the world.

Let’s try to create constructivesolutions.