August 27, 2014

Yesterday, the government of Israel and leaders from the Palestinian group Hamas accepted an interim peace agreement to end a seven-week war in the Gaza Strip. The agreement was brokered by Egypt.

The current Israeli-Hamas hostilities began on July 8, several days after a Palestinian boy was murdered in an apparent reprisal for the murder of three Israeli teenage boys, whose bodies were found in the West Bank on June 30. Initially, Hamas claimed it was not responsible for the kidnapping of the Israeli teenagers, but on August 22, a high-level Hamas leader stated at a conference in Turkey that Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, did, in fact, carry out the kidnappings. The Israeli crackdown on Hamas members in the West Bank after the teenagers’ bodies were found began a spiral of escalating violence, as Hamas responded by launching rockets into Israel. In turn, Israel bombarded Gaza by air and then launched a ground invasion on July 15.

More than 2,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Gaza since July 8, and some 20,000 homes have been destroyed. On the Israeli side, 70 people have been killed in the conflict, 6 of them civilians.

Still, many experts believed that the status quo before the recent conflict could not continue. Political changes in Egypt, particularly the end of the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood there, have led to changes for Gaza. Hamas was closely allied with the Brotherhood. In 2013, after the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi, the new Egyptian government began closing off the tunnels between Egypt and Gaza. By some reports, nearly 800 tunnels—used to bring fuel, food, and building materials into Gaza—have been closed by Egypt. In addition to losing goods, Hamas lost revenue it had been raising by taxing the smuggled products. By the end of 2013, Hamas was finding it increasingly difficult to pay salaries to its civil servants in Gaza.

Israel and Egypt control the borders of the Gaza Strip. Both nations have been restricting the flow of goods into Gaza. (World Book map)

In the cease-fire, both parties agreed to end military action. Israel also agreed to open more border crossings to aid the flow of goods into Gaza, and Egypt agreed to reopen a border crossing that had been closed since 2013.

Additional World Book articles:

• Egypt (2013—a Back in Time article)
• Israel (2010—a Back in Time article)
• Middle East (2013—a Back in Time article)

July 25, 2014

Palestinian protests planned as a “day of rage” in the West Bank erupted this morning in violence, with at least five Palestinians killed by Israeli security guards. Palestinians took to the streets, chanting “with our soul and blood, we will redeem Gaza,” to demonstrate their anger at the deaths of more than 800 Palestinians since the latest Israeli-Hamas conflict began on July 8. Sporadic disturbances also broke out in East Jerusalem following prayers on this the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Following an international outcry over yesterday’s missile strike on a United Nations (UN) school in Gaza, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has increased efforts to broker a cease-fire.

The strike on the UN school, which was being used as a displaced persons shelter in northern Gaza, left 16 people dead and dozens more injured. “Many have been killed–including women and children, as well as UN staff,” declared UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in a statement issued to the media. It is yet unclear who was behind the strike. A spokesperson for Hamas condemned it as “Israeli brutal aggression that targeted” Palestinians left homeless by Israeli strikes. The Israeli military suggested that the hit was self-inflicted, noting that rockets from Gaza sometimes fall and explode within Gaza.

A Hamas supporter waves Islamic flags on the roof of the Palestinian Parliament building in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Today in the West Bank, thousands of Palestinians protested Israel's strikes on Gaza. (AP/Wide World)

Simmering tensions among Palestinians in the West Bank have raised the specter of a third intifada, or Palestinian uprising. Middle East experts note, however, that such uprisings, by their nature, are not planned. “The intifada does not start by a decision and end by a decision,” stated Othman Abu Gharbiya, a member of the Palestinian Authority’s Fatah central committee. Nevertheless, he noted, “no doubt we are passing through a dangerous time.”

The current Israeli-Hamas hostilities began when a Palestinian boy was murdered on July 2 in an apparent reprisal for the murder of three Israeli teenage boys, whose bodies were found in the West Bank on June 30. Besides the Palestinian death toll, 33 Israelis–30 soldiers and 3 civilians, have been killed so far in the conflict.

Additional World Book article:

• Israel 1987 (a Back in Time article)
• Israel 2000 (a Back in Time article)
• Middle East 2007 (a Back in Time article)

July 21, 2014

The Israeli military has confirmed that 4 Israeli soldiers and 10 Palestinian militants were killed inside Israel this morning, after gunmen managed to enter Israeli territory through hidden tunnels. Earlier in the day, 5 Palestinians were killed and 70 others injured when Israeli missiles struck a hospital in Gaza. According to Palestinian physicians, the missiles hit the hospital’s reception, intensive care unit, and operating rooms. Air strikes also killed more than 30 members of two Palestinian families today.

Yesterday was the deadliest of the conflict so far: more than 100 Palestinians were killed, and 13 Israeli soldiers lost their lives in combat in Gaza. Israel sent ground troops into Gaza on July 17 after days of heavy air barrages failed to halt Hamas rocket fire. According to the Israel Defense Forces, the target of the ground operation are Hamas’s network of tunnels, which Palestinian militants use to cross into Israel and carry out attacks, as they did today.

Palestinian supporters of Hamas, a radical Islamic organization and political party, rally in Gaza City. Hamas militants and Israel are currently engaged in bitter fighting that has left hundreds dead. (© Mohammed Abed, AFP/Getty Images)

The current Israeli-Hamas hostilities began when a Palestinian boy was murdered on July 2 in an apparent reprisal for the murder of three Israeli teenage boys, whose bodies were found in the West Bank on June 30. An autopsy revealed that the Palestinian boy, Mohammad Abu Khieder, was burned alive, setting off a public outcry in both the West Bank and Gaza as well as in Israel.

The Palestinian death toll from the two-week conflict now exceeds 500, the majority of them civilians. Israel has lost 25 soldiers and 1 civilian.

Additional World Book article:

• Middle East 2007 (a Back in Time article)

July 30, 2013

Negotiators from Israel and the Palestinian Authority have agreed to revive formal peace talks within the next two weeks, United States Secretary of State John Kerry announced today. The announcement concluded two days of informal discussions between delegates from the two governments held in Washington, D.C. The goal of the upcoming talks will be a comprehensive agreement leading to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. The Palestinian Authority serves as the government for Palestinians in much of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, territories that, along with Israel, makes up the historic region of Palestine. “Everyone involved here believes that we cannot pass along to another generation the responsibility for ending a conflict that is in our power to resolve in our time,” Kerry stated at a press briefing. He noted that the negotiators hope to reach a “final status” agreement by May 1, 2014.

The United States-brokered talks will be the first direction negotiations between the two parties in five years. A recent decision by the Israeli Cabinet to release 104 Palestinian prisoners cleared the way for the current discussions. Many of the prisoners have been behind bars since before the signing of the Oslo accords of 1993.

Palestine today consists of the nation of Israel and the Arab areas of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Israel partially occupies the West Bank. (World Book map)

The peace talks would also need to address such major issues as the presence of Israeli forces in an independent Palestinian state and the future of Jerusalem, which both sides claim. The talks would also need to deal with the status of Palestinians refugees or descendants of the more than 700,000 refugees who fled or were driven out of Israel when it was created in 1948. Some are people who were forced to leave the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, which were occupied by Israel in 1967 during the Six-Day War.

At a dinner for the delegates on Monday evening, U.S. President Barack Obama expressed cautious optimism for the talks. “This is a promising step forward, though hard work and hard choices remain ahead,” he said. “The most difficult work of these negotiations is ahead and I am hopeful that both the Israelis and Palestinians will approach these talks in good faith and with sustained focus and determination.”

Additional World Book articles:

• Abbas, Mahmoud
• Arab-Israeli conflict
• Hamas
• Netanyahu, Benjamin

March 21, 2013

President Barack Obama arrived in Israel yesterday for a state visit and said upon his arrival that, “I see this visit as an opportunity to reaffirm the unbreakable bonds between our nations.” Although the president declared that “peace must come to the Holy Land,” little was expected on efforts to restart the peace process. International affairs experts suggested that the Syrian civil war and Iran’s nuclear ambitions would dominate talks between the president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

While in Israel, President Obama discussed the lack of progress made towards a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Obama told Israeli officials that the continued building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank was not considered by the United States “to be constructive, to be appropriate, to be something that can advance the cause of peace.” The West Bank, a land between Israel and Jordan, was historically a part of Palestine. The West Bank was annexed by Jordan in 1950. In 1967, Israel defeated Jordan, Egypt, and Syria in the Six-Day War and captured the West Bank. In 1994, Israel began a withdrawal from the West Bank after a peace accord between Israel and Palestinians was signed the previous year. In 2002, however, Israel began reoccupying many West Bank areas after Israel and the Palestinian Authority failed to reach a final peace agreement. The Israeli settlements in the West Bank have complicated efforts to implement a “two-state solution,” that is, statehood for Palestine and Israel, with each state recognizing the other. The West Bank is nearly divided in two by settlements.

A map showing the West Bank, flanked by Israel and Jordan. (World Book map)

After speaking in Israel, President Obama today visited the West Bank. In Ramallah, Obama restated that the Palestinians deserve a state of their own. The president went on to declare that the only way that could occur was with “direct negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis themselves.” The Palestinians have demanded that Israelis put a freeze on building settlements before negotiations begin.

Additional World Book articles:

• Israel
• Oslo accords
• Palestinian Authority

November 19, 2012

At least 95 Palestinians and 3 Israelis have been killed in six days of attack and counterattack between Israel and Gaza. The latest casualty is a Hamas military commander, who was killed today in a strike on a building housing media workers. According to Israeli Defense Forces, air strikes have been carried out on some 80 strategic sites in Gaza in the last 12 hours, bringing the total to 1,350 strikes on targeted sites since the violence began on November 14.

Khaled Meshaal, the political leader of Hamas, the Islamist organization that controls Gaza, has issued a statement that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has requested a cease-fire. But Merhaal contended that it is up to Israel to stop the offensive, which he claims Israel started. The Netanyahu government denies asking for a cease-fire and denies starting the violence. There is little doubt that the conflict was ignited from Gaza. Hamas and various other terrorist groups have fired hundreds of rockets into Israel just this year before Israel counter attacked.

Palestinian Hamas supporters celebrate in the Gaza Strip after Hamas, a radical Islamic organization and political party, wins a majority of seats in the 2006 Palestinian Authority legislative elections. Many of the supporters wear green, the color of Hamas and the traditional color of Islam. (© Mohammed Abed, AFP/Getty Images)

Israel has some 30,000 troops massed at the border. Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has declared that there will be “serious repercussions” if Israel were to launch a ground invasion into Gaza. Morsi is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is an offshoot.

Additional World Book articles:

• Egypt 2011 (a Back in Time article)
• The Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a special report)
• A Special Day in Israel (a special report)

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, addressing the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, formally requested that the UN grant full membership to the Palestinian people of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. UN recognition would likely put the Palestinians on a path toward full statehood with pre-1967 borders. (At the conclusion of the 1967 Six Day War between Israel and Egypt [and Egyptian allies Syria, Jordan, and Iraq], Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Israel vowed not to withdraw from these territories until the four Arab nations recognized Israel’s right to exist. In June 1967, Israel officially made the eastern half of Jerusalem part of Israel.)

“I do not believe anyone with a shred of conscience can reject our application for full admission in the United Nations,” President Abbas declared before the General Assembly. He described statehood as “the realization of the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people.” Reviewing the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Abbas stated that every previous peace effort had been “shattered on the rock” of Israeli settlements. He insisted that it was the UN’s “historical responsibility” to resolve the conflict. His bid must first be submitted to the UN Security Council. International affairs experts predict that the United States would veto it. They also suggest that such a veto will further wreck U.S. prestige in the Middle East.

Additional World Book articles:

• Arab-Israeli conflict
• Arafat, Yasir
• Hamas
• Oslo Accords
• Palestine
• Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)
• Bank in Time (1948)
• Back in Time (1967)

The government of Israel has approved the construction of 1,600 housing units in East Jerusalem. Another 2,700 units are to be authorized later in August. The announcement drew immediate condemnation (criticism) from Palestinian leaders, who claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian nation. On August 9, the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama criticized Israel for moving forward with the building of some 900 housing units in another part of East Jerusalem.

Western Wall and Dome of the Rock (upper left). Copyright George Chan, Photo Researchers

Control of East Jerusalem has long been an issue between Israeli and Palestinian leaders. East Jerusalem is the site of the Western Wall (Wailing Wall), one of the most sacred sites in Judaism, and the Dome of the Rock, one of the most holy of Muslim shrines. The Western Wall is what is left of the wall that surrounded the Temple Mount, on which stood the Second Temple described in the Bible. According to Islamic tradition, the rock enclosed by the Dome of the Rock–which sits on the Temple Mount–is the spot from which the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.

Additional World Book articles:

• Abbas, Mahmoud
• Islam
• Jews
• Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)