The story behind this crisis began merely half a year ago when Hamas, which is almost unanimously declared a terrorist organization by the international community, took control of Gaza from Fatah, the more moderate faction of the Palestinian Authority with which it had been sharing power after winning the Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2005. After this remarkable event, Hamas, for the first time in its history, had control over a large amount of Palestinian sovereign territory. The international community responded to this development with condemnation, calling for Hamas to relinquish their power in favor of the Fatah and its leader, the more conciliatory Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas responded to these requests with a dogged stubbornness that has characterized its uncompromising beliefs, and refused to give up any of its hard-won control. When Hamas had solidified its rule, it began to carry out its predetermined plan to use any means necessary to destroy the Zionist entity on its borders. To that end, it began continuously launching Qassam rockets at towns in Israel proper, which did minimal damage but caused a great deal of animosity and anxiety for the Israeli government and residents of Israel’s south. The Israeli government responded to these attacks by placing Gaza under siege, cutting off almost all supplies except for a minimal amount of food, water, electricity and medical supplies.
The effects of this blockade have been substantial and devastating. Without these basic supplies, the lot of the population of Gaza has gone from bad to catastrophic, with the limits on electricity and food exacting a harmful toll. For the Palestinians, the situation has an obvious solution; if Israel would stop with this form of collective punishment and open up the border, their lives would return to normal. Thus, the people of Gaza, led by Hamas, are calling on the international community to force Israel to stop this punitive behavior through condemnation. It is easy to understand how the abused and disillusioned population of Gaza would wonder what it did to deserve even worse conditions because of the actions of a terrorist group.
On the Israeli side of the story, this blockade is their only available policy left. Israel has endured a relentless attack of rockets from Gaza. These attacks have led the Israeli population to question their government deterrent power, which many Israelis feel has eroded in recent years. Thus, the Israeli government had two choices. Either it could forcibly remove Hamas from power through a military operation in Gaza or it could try methods of economic pressure to bring Hamas down. The first option, though much easier to accomplish and much more effective, would invariably be far more deadly than the present situation. If Israeli troops were sent into Gaza en masse, they would meet heavy resistance by a highly organized terrorist entity in a territory with a very dense population. This would lead to many casualties for both the Israeli army and the civilian population of Gaza, a result that would be dreadful by the Israeli government for a variety of political and humanitarian reasons. Thus the Israeli government decided on the alternative solution, putting economic pressure on Hamas by cutting them off from various resources. From the Israeli perspective, the justifiability of the blockade is enhanced by the fact that most of the imports that have been cut off from Gaza have been from Israel itself. It seems reasonable that Israel has tried to stop supplying a territory governed by men who have declared their goal to be the destruction of Israel. Thus, this blockade can be seen as the only viable and proper action that Israel can take against a Hamas-run Gaza.
Both sides of this conflict have some justification and reason on their side. The Palestinians in Gaza have a natural desire to live without the threat of starvation and Israelis want some adequate solution to stop a terrorist entity from attacking its population. In the past few days, a potentially efficacious solution has developed. In a bid to put pressure on the Egyptian government to help the Gazans, Hamas officials have asked that all their import deals and utilities be transferred to Egypt, which would then replace Israel as Gaza’s main supplier of resources. Israeli officials said that they would support this endeavor because it would allow them to be able to disengage themselves from Gaza economically, which is what they have been seeking since their settlers were removed in 2005. If Egypt agrees, this issue will be solved. But, with the blockade taken away, Israel will be forced to act against the Qassams in more extreme fashion. Hopefully, Hamas will understand the increased costs of firing Qassams and will opt to discontinue the attacks. However, it is possible that this tactic of letting Egypt take over the economic responsibility for Gaza will only delay a new flare-up in the conflict. Nonetheless, even though this solution may be imperfect, it is currently the best available solution to alleviate the hardships of the residents of Gaza and the fear of Israelis in towns like Sderot.