The recent attack by Hamas, a militant group on Israel opens up the debate on the question of morality. The recent attack is considered to be fatal and has the potential to change the political landscape of middle east and the main reason for such a consequence is due to the counter attacks that would be initiated by the state of Israel.
The attack on Israel by Hamas, had resulted in at least for the death of more than 900 Israelis. This forced the state of Israel to counter that had resulted in at least death of hundreds. As per the official records more than 700 Palestinians have been killed and it also resulted in the blockade of Gaza strip. Now, it would be futile and nearly oblivious to analyse the condition of morality and justice based on the recent attacks. For having a clear picture it is a requisite to know the background on Israel-Palestine Conflict that started in 1947-1948 and gained momentum in 1967; Repercussions due to British intervention; Emergence of Hamas and its impact. These aspects could be analysed to dissect the question on morality and address the notion on ‘way forward
Background
The root cause of the conflict dates back to decades. More than a conflict it is better to be defined as a series of attack for safeguarding the interests of future based on undefined past. The main reason for the conflict is over the question of self-determination. It is believed by Israel that as per the Holy Bible their (Jews) ancestral land was Palestine and they lived in past centuries. But later they shifted to other countries, which made the Jews to be in minority in Palestine. In the 20th century, with the religious persecution of Jews and emergence of Zionist movement, Jewish diaspora began to recognize their nationality and put efforts to construct a national homeland for them. This resulted in large influx of Jews in Palestine causing wide distress to the Palestinians/Arabs.
This led to increase in tensions between the Jews and Palestinians later leading to the issue of self-determination where, Jews claiming the land belong to them based on biblical and historical reference and Palestinians stating the land belongs to them based on pure historical perspective. However, the real conflict began in 1897 with the Zionist movement where Jews started to nurture the national consciousness based on their religion and the need for separate state.
The rising conflict between two ‘nationalities’ made the “Resolution 181” where the United Nations decided to bifurcate the state of Palestine into Israel for Jews and the remaining for Arabs. This resolution was well taken by Jewish community but it got totally rejected by the Arabs because the nature of bifurcation was biased. This can be stated as the emergent cause of Israel-Palestine conflict. By rejecting the resolution, Arabs denied the determination of the state of Israel however they later accepted the right for existence. Resultant of this failure of determination was the series of war in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982 and 2006. The most devastating war was the six-day war in 1967 where Israel took control over Gaza strip and in 1973 war, Israel captured the west bank as a reaction against the attack on them by Egypt. The historical perspective opens and explains the way of Israel-Palestine conflict which is even carried forward after decades. Now it is high time to resolve a conflict that had erupted based on determination or recognition, rooted in religious and historical sentiments, by aligning it with legitimate and rational method.
Recent Developments
The conflict between Israel and Palestine evolved to new space but in same ‘platform’ with the attack of Hamas in the beginning of October 2023, resulting in the death of more than 1000 Israelis (Source: Times Magazine). But it got intensified with the counter attacks initiated by the Israel resulting in the death of more than 7000 Palestinians (Source: Al Jazeera). Now it has taken a new turn in the ‘same direction’ i.e., Isarel taking the control over the regime alike to the previous series of war. The counter attack initiated by the Israel was inhuman in nature, which makes national security a threat to peace. Israel started the counter attack in the name of its national security and now the system of peace in the region got derailed. Israel as a part of retaliatory actions executed heavy bombardments in Gaza, a narrow strip which took the lives of at least hundreds of Palestinians. Later, in the month Israel started to have an inhuman approach where they erected a blockade or a “siege in Gaza” that made Gaza a place with “no electricity, no food, no water and no gas”. The stringent and tough measures and retaliatory actions by Israel made the Hamas delegation in Moscow, to essentially have a ceasefire as a condition to release Israeli captives (Source: Reuters). Presently, Israeli defence force has engaged themselves in air raids, aerial attacks and explosions, escalation in the West Bank.
The recent developments are inimical to the political and economic landscape in the region which can impact the global arena both at political and economic level. It is also worthy to note that the presents attacks are being carried out just by doing away with the international laws and the passive approach taken by international organizations depicts its ineffectiveness in resolving an unbecoming fight. Only the measures of de-escalation or withdrawal, thus reducing the tension in the region, is essential to uphold the maxim of international law i.e., Peace and Stability.
Britain’s Intervention & Related repercussions
The Britain has not forgotten its dark pages of history. In most of the circumstances Britain has always been a third party that has never tried to negotiate instead it always knitted its interest on a ‘rag’. It is the same policy that the British has adopted while dealing with Israel-Palestine conflict. Britain had shown two shades of morality i.e., one by supporting Israel and other by supporting Palestine. These two shades were ‘executed’ in two different timelines. Initially, Britain (though some of the British leaders was always in support of Israel) supported the creation of separate nation-state for Israel, by providing the support in traversing the Jewish community to the state of Palestine, which later led to high tensions that resulted in never ending war. When the Arabs revolted against this act, Britain executed air strikes, arrests campaign, demolishing, resulted in the death of 5,000 Palestinians, 15,000 to 20,000 were wounded and 5,600 were imprisoned.
Britain started its intervention in 1917 with the introduction of Balfour declaration and started to align with the interests of Jewish community. But after the creation of Israel state in 1948, it withdrawn without any sort of required arrangements in the war inflicted country.
The sudden withdrawal of Britain must be under scrutiny. Its sudden withdrawal from Israel rattled the balance of power situation, which made the Palestine and surrounding Arab countries to attack Israel. The sudden withdrawal points out that Britain even from the beginning was neither pro-Israel nor anti-Palestine, it was driven by its interest. Britain supported Israel to satisfy its domestic pressure and later withdrawn its support in favour of Israel and ‘invested’ in favour of Palestine so that its interest would not be threatened. Britain’s interest concerning Arab nations include oil supplies, Suez Canal and Mediterranean Sea. And this made them to relinquish the 1917 declaration. Thus, to gain the support of Arab world in middle east, Israel became an irritable factor and therefore, closed its relation with Israel.
In short, the Britain’s exit, paved the way for the inception of great communal war for the sake of determination between Israel and Palestine. It is obvious that Britain cannot use its resources to the fullest to maintain peace in the region but here the question is, why do the Britain by using double standard paved the way for the war, that is never ending. The role of every powerful country in the international arena is to device the concept of collective security in order to do away with any situations that can be a threat to the system of peace. If the once colonial power and the greatest empire was able to employ the concepts of peace in most diligent manner the previous and present wars could be avoided but Britain had taken a great deviation from its duties and sown its “seeds’ in the battlefield.
Emergence of Hamas
After the six-day war in 1956, Israel took control over the Gaza strip but it withdrawn from its control immediately after the Oslo Accords. When the Israel gained control over the Gaza strip after in 1956, tensions started to grow due to the settlements by both Jews and Palestians, which resulted in first Intifada where Hamas emerged and revolted against Israel and even the latter counter attacked mercilessly. With this Oslo accords was signed and control over West Bank and Gaza strip was given to Palestine Authority, who tries to reduce the tensions and conflict. However, this proved to be inefficient and resulted in second Intifada. Later when Hamas vote into power they started to revolt against Israel due to the latter’s inhuman nature. Israel after gaining the control over Gaza strip, prior to, Oslo Accord treated the Palestinians as inferior and this resulted in striking in poverty rates and unemployment rates, which made Hamas to revolt against Israel, with the aim of destructing the state of Israel.
Just similar to the past revolt where the fight was for determination even now it is the same, with slight difference. Earlier Palestine was not positioned to declare the status of Israel but now Israel put forward various obstacles in Gaza strip, which is controlled by Hamas. Due to such wrecks Hamas is not able to improve the lives of Palestinians in Gaza (The real motive of Hamas in the lives of Palestinians is debatable). As stated above due to the economic pressure by Israel, the poverty and unemployment rates were striking hard. Moreover, it was not a sudden attack by Hamas, it was after escalating violence by Israel that includes growth of Israeli settlement in west bank, violence against Palestinian civilians, racism etc made the Hamas provocative to initiate the attacks. The end result of this attack is nothing but paving the way for other attacks in future in the name of past which is still unclear.
Question of Morality
In the situation where the acts of both the states are praised and criticized the question of morality is undetermined. On one end the acts of Hamas has been glorified by defining it to be acts of “decolonization” at the same time it was criticized for its inhuman attitude. And on other end the acts of Israel was condemned and also supported in the name of counter attack or attack for existence. But while analysing the history and the trend of conflict between Israel and Palestine, the attacks done by both these ‘institutions’ were discrediting one. Both the states got opportunity to negotiate, adapt, adjust and reconcile, thus avoiding the war on mere determination. Unfortunately, the states did not take any initiative to prevent conflicts instead they relied on attacks and counter attacks.
From the beginning, the Arab catastrophe or Israel independence in 1948 could be avoided if the question on determination was resolved by involving international institutions to take ‘unbiased’ decisions by doing away with ‘biased influence’. Later this revolt led to series of revolt, where Israel used the inhuman strategies to weaken Palestine and surrounding Arab nations. At the same time Palestine driven by Hamas came forward just with a aim of creating complete destruction to the state of Israel. The consequences of present attack is still unknown but as stated above it has the potential to change the political landscape of middle east. Thus, at this point where no states try to negotiate or put forward a peace policy, morality is still undetermined or undefined. Now, Gaza has turned to open prison due to the policies of Israel and Hamas has been evolved as a militant group whose aim is to destruct the state of Israel. The only solution is the involvement of International organizations and recreate the two-state solution in the most legitimate, unbiased and rational manner.
Written by – Kevin Jacob
Edited by – Mrunmayee Patwardhan