The History behind the Hamas, Israel Conflict

The road that led to the December conflict in the Gaza Strip is long and complicated, writes Keesing's World News Archive staff.

Reacting to preliminary results of general elections in Israel on 10 February, a Hamas spokesman was reported on 12 February as saying that Israelis had elected politicians who "want war with the Palestinians." The elections followed a renewal of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, with a major Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, part of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), launched on 27 December 2008.

Immediate Context

The current conflict between Israel and the Islamist militant group Hamas, which had won elections to the Palestine Legislative Council (PLC, the Palestinian legislature) in January 2006, was triggered when a six-month truce ended on 19 December 2008. Until 4 November 2008, the truce had remained effective, precipitating a sharp fall in militant rocket and mortar attacks on Israel, and a loosening of Israel's blockade of Gaza's borders. On 4 November Israel launched an incursion into the Gaza Strip to close a tunnel which it claimed was to be used to abduct Israeli soldiers. Hamas maintained that the tunnel was built for defensive purposes. Six Hamas fighters were killed and four Israeli soldiers injured. Hamas stated that it considered this a serious breach of the truce and increased its rocket and mortar attacks. The truce remained nominally in force until 19 December but Hamas and the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) engaged in exchanges of violence.

After the truce expired Israel began an offensive, code named "Operation Cast Lead," on 27 December, launching air strikes against Hamas's training camps, rocket launch sites and headquarters. Israel also targeted Hamas leaders' homes, government ministries and police stations. More than 100 members of the Hamas security forces were killed along with commanders including Tawfeeq Al-Jaber and Ismail Jabari of the Hamas police force. The UN estimated that a quarter of the people killed in the Israeli air strikes were civilians. Hamas responded to the strikes with rocket and mortar fire, killing an Israeli soldier and three civilians on 29 December.

Israeli ground forces entered the Gaza Strip on 3 January with the stated aim of ending the rocket attacks. Heavy fighting with Hamas militants followed in densely populated areas. Both sides drew international condemnation for their actions. Hamas militants continued firing rockets during the ground offensive, killing civilians in Israel. A rocket also killed two Palestinian civilians when it fell short. Israel shelled the UN headquarters in Gaza with three white phosphorus shells, injuring three people and burning a food distribution warehouse to the ground. Israel also hit a UN school which was being used as a shelter for civilians, killing two children. The offensive continued until Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire on 17 January Israel stated that the last of its troops were withdrawn from Gaza by 21 January.

Combatants and civilians from both sides died in the conflict but Palestinians died in far greater numbers. Total Palestinian deaths were between 1,100 and 1,314, according to estimates from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, the Palestinian Ministry of Health, and the IDF. Of these the IDF claimed that 700 were combatants whereas Hamas and other militant sources claimed approximately 338 militant fighters and police were killed. Israel stated that nine of its soldiers were killed in Gaza and three Israeli civilians were killed by rocket attacks during the offensive.
Reaction and Outlook

The conflict drew intense diplomatic attention from around the world. On 28 December, the day after the Israeli offensive began, the UN Security Council issued a statement calling for an immediate end to the violence. The EU also called for a permanent ceasefire and the delivery of aid after a meeting of foreign ministers on 30 December. Ceasefire calls came also from the Arab League and from many individual countries.

The UN Security Council passed resolution 1860 on 8 January calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The resolution called on Israel to withdraw fully from the Gaza Strip and condemned violence against civilians by both sides. The resolution was passed without opposition but the USA abstained. Neither Israel nor Hamas heeded the resolution.

Human rights groups and the UN condemned both Israel and Hamas's actions during the conflict. Israel was accused of failing "to care for and evacuate the wounded" by the Red Cross and of a disproportionate response by the EU Aid Commissioner Louis Michel. The UN, the US-based Human Rights Watch, and the Israeli human rights group B'tselem all accused Israel of using white phosphorus in the Gaza Strip. Israel initially denied using white phosphorus but later stated that it had used the substance, but within the strictures of international law.

Hamas was condemned by human rights groups and the UN for its rocket attacks and use of human shields. John Holmes, the UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, stated that Hamas's rocket attacks were contrary to international law. Human Rights Watch also condemned the rocket attacks on similar grounds. Hamas's policy of operating in the most densely populate areas of the Gaza Strip was condemned by Amnesty International as constituting the use of human shields.

After Israel ended its operation, violence decreased but a roadside bomb killed an Israeli soldier and wounded three others on 27 January and Israel responded by firing into the Gaza Strip and with air raids. Analysts expected that the formation of a right-wing Israeli coalition would lead to an intensifying of Israeli military operations against Hamas.

Historical Context

The current conflict in Gaza has its recent roots in the external page 1947 partition of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states. The terms of the partition plan were never implemented as the Arab states rejected it and attacked Israel unsuccessfully in the external page 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Further Arab-Israeli wars were fought in external page 1956, external page 1967 and external page 1973. The Arab countries failed to conquer Israel and Israel retained some territory previously held by its Arab neighbours.

Hamas was established in external page 1987 during the first intifada ("uprising"), as a Gaza-based offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. In 1988 Hamas published its "covenant," a document of 36 articles calling for a synthesis of Islamism and Palestinian nationalism. The covenant stated that Israel had no right to exist and should be destroyed. Hamas was listed as a terrorist group by the USA, EU and Israel.

Hamas spent the 1990s in a cycle of attacks and reprisals against Israel, punctuated by unsuccessful attempts by the external page Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to rein in the organization. Hamas refused to accept the US-brokered peace plan signed by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) and Israel in external page Washington DC in 1993. Tensions mounted between the Palestinian political group Fatah, which agreed to recognise Israel, and Hamas, which refused to recognize Israel or observe the terms of the peace process. Direct clashes between Hamas and Fatah fighters occurred in external page 1994.

Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in external page September 2005 and Palestinian legislative elections in January 2006 returned a external page Hamas majority, partly due to the popularity of Hamas's refusal to recognise Israel or forgo armed struggle. President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah and the Hamas-controlled legislature failed to external page work together effectively and the two factions engaged in external page sporadic armed conflict. This conflict culminated in open battles in May 2007, with Hamas seizing control of the Gaza Strip and Fatah holding the external page West Bank. Israel agreed to co-operate with Fatah but external page refused to work with Hamas and Israel and Hamas engaged in raids and rocket attacks before an Egyptian-mediated external page six-month ceasefire was agreed in June 2008.

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