Gaza: The Problem That Has No Solution

 

Gaza: The Problem That Has No Solution

The Palestinian issue is usually addressed from the perspective of its parts and fragments, as divided groups of people and disconnected lines of events. The understanding that arises from such an approach is usually superficial and lacking. This approach of ‘addressing and handling’ the issue by specifically the Western media and, in general, serves Israel’s interests. In this article, I will try to connect the dots concerning Gaza as part of the Palestinian issue, history, and tragedy.

Occupation: Gaza, for a long time, since 1967, was under immediate military control. Israeli soldiers were patrolling the streets of Gaza and the West Bank. Back then, the whole struggle was less violent. Israeli soldiers felt ‘safe enough’ to walk through the streets of Gaza and the West Bank because the civilian Palestinian population had no or little access to arms. Through its constant and heavy military presence or occupation, Israel ensured that access to weapons was limited and difficult. The Israeli army conducted random house searches, arrested suspects, imprisoned many without a trial, and waged wars with neighboring countries –mainly Lebanon- to stop Palestinian refugees from attacking the Israeli borders out of Lebanon and Jordan.

A religious element: Immediate military control in the West Bank and Gaza was costly. It was exhaustive militarily and economically.  The fatigue of Israel and its troops patrolling the strip was higher than that of the West Bank because the resistance in Gaza has always been rigorous. Gazans were always known to be tough and have stronger resilience and determination. But most importantly, the place, meaning Gaza, has no religious relevance for the Jews, unlike West Bank cities and land that have explicit Biblical references. This was why, in 1993, Gaza was the first city and area to be handed to the Palestinian Authority. This was why, in 2005, Prime Minister Sharon was able to dismantle Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and pulled out the troops—protecting Jewish settlements even after the Oslo accord continued to be deadly and challenging. 

Siege: Israel dismantled the settlements, left the Gaza Strip, and enforced a siege on it. In 2007, Hamas took control over Gaza in a surprise coup d’état, and the siege became harsher. Since then, Gazans have been caged in and prevented from leaving Gaza. Without having a specific reason, no one leaves Gaza, and if the Israeli army accepts the reason, leaving Gaza entails being heavily scrutinized for security. It is similarly challenging to enter Gaza.

Unlike the West Bank, the land in Gaza is sandy. Gaza is a coastal city, so digging tunnels and getting the material the siege tried to keep out was possible. Hamas, or the military faction of Hamas, accumulated knowledge, expertise, and know-how of a guerilla-type resistance using the tunnels. Some weapons are smuggled through these tunnels. However, most rockets are locally made even while Israel was and still is besieging Gaza and ensuring that any material connected to making weapons is forbidden from entering Gaza. 

Division: The last trick Israel tried was playing the game of divide and conquer.  Israel thought that keeping Hamas’s rule in Gaza would weaken the Palestinian Authority ruling the West Bank and be a big blow to the Palestinian issue. And it was. Palestinians since 2007 don’t have a single entity representing them. It suited Israel to keep the division in place. They waged four wars to keep Hamas's military capabilities in check. Israel calls this policy “mowing the lawn” each time, claiming it significantly weakened Hamas’s military capabilities. Clearly, Israel failed.  

Religion again: Many people who live under peaceful conditions don’t understand that resistant groups are part of the local population. Resistant groups rely on the support of their local population to exist and succeed. The more support the group has, the more the people will rally around it and around the young men who fight for their cause, their freedom, and the future of their children. Indeed, Hamas, being a religious group, is not democratic in nature, and its social ideologies pose a challenge for many Palestinians because they disapprove of their social views. However, because there are more pressing issues to fight for, like ending the siege, the occupation, the dignity of Palestinians, the God-given right to exist freely, and most importantly, Jerusalem, support for Hamas among Palestinians is very high. This operation that Hamas launched is called Al-Aqsa Flood.  It was an attack to signal to Israel that the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem- sacred for Muslims- should not be tampered with or its current status altered.

Mission Impossible for both: Israel is trying to figure out what to do to a group of people, the Palestinians, but in this case, especially the Gazans, who will never surrender the choice to be free, the attempt to control their livelihood, destiny, and take back the land that was taken from them mirroring the belief of their Israeli fellow humans. Amazingly, talking to Israelis and according to their conviction, this land is theirs- God-given- and was taken away from them.  

It is evident, however, that after the recent events on the 7^th of October, the siege or fencing in Gazans no longer constitutes an acceptable solution. Reoccupation or reinstalling military presence on the streets of Gaza is similarly challenging, especially now that there are heavier arms and the expertise in guerilla warfare is more acute.

The Proposed New Solution: Israel and its Western allies are trying, under different propositions, using humanitarian and diplomatic language, to move or transfer the Palestinians not just further south away from the Israeli settlements but even into other countries, meaning another version of what had happened in 1948 and 1967. However, Palestinians are determined never to let that happen again, even if it means the death of all Gazans. I am reiterating here what Gazans themselves have been saying whenever a war is waged on them. Will Israel repeat the tragedy they inflicted on Palestinians in 1948 to impose their convictions? And what good has that done to Israel? Will Israel do to Palestinians in Gaza what was done to the Jewish population in the Holocaust?

The younger generation in Gaza has access to all the social media like their fellow young ones worldwide but can’t leave the prison they were born in. Due to the siege, they have no hope, freedom, work, sustainable electricity or fuel, or any element needed for a dignified life. For them, they have all the time and all the reasons to fight for a better future for the next generation. Most people in Gaza want the siege to end and be free. Life behind fences in 2023 is no longer an option. According to Israel, if that happens, it could pose an existential threat. A solution to Gaza is possible only when addressing the Palestinian issue as a just cause. The ‘Real’ solution, however, in my opinion, to this colonial conflict and the apartheid system is when its archaic religious origins with an acute inflammatory ailment called ‘the only truth’ is addressed worldwide and among nations.