Brooke
Gallagher, Deputy Secretary General - Finance; Chair for Open House
In the past few months, there has been ongoing fighting in Israel against Palestionian fighters in the Gaza Strip. The fighting originally began on July 14, 2014 in which the ruling military group Hamas started bombing Israel. They were unhappy with Israel’s involvement in the West Bank and the Gaza strip. Hamas has been labeled a terrorist group by several countries for their inability to constrain violence and with the understanding that the organization's main goal is to essentially get rid of Israel (bbcnews.com).
Israel
and Hamas have gone to war before, but nothing like this one. BBC News
reported that in 2006, Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas were coming to
disagreements. This created a war between Fatah, which then and now
governs the West Bank, and Hamas back in 2007. In the end, the West
Bank was in no one’s control (bbcnews.com). As far as dealing with each
other, both governments unified to make a single government last April.
This, however, did not stop the fighting and Hamas refused to stop the
violence or recognize Israel (bbcnews.com)
Some more background is necessary to understand the scope of Hamas conflict with Israel. In 2007, fighting began to get more intense. Hamas sent rocket-fire on Israel at the blockade and about 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were dead. The year 2012 got even worse with the eight day air strike which gave in to even more deaths. When 2014 came and Hamas had launched rocket-fire for the first time since 2012 (bbcnews.com). Several Palestinians were taken by people involved in Hamas (vox.com) (bbcnews.com). The students were eventually killed and Israel constructed a manhunt which was believed to be secretly looking for those involved in Hamas. The fighting, however, did not stop there. Over the course of almost 4 months, Hamas has killed approximately 68 Israelis, and 1,777 Palestinians. Major killing like this have not been present since the suicide bombings of the 1990’s to early 2000’s (vox.com).
A ceasefire was in short order on July 15, 2014, however Hamas did not accept this. Israel then attacked Gaza, but by August 5, they left. Egypt brought on a possible ceasefire treaty and Israel agreed to hear it out whereas Hamas did not (CNN.com). A permanent ceasefire had been issued in late August however terms and conditions were not discussed at the time (CNN.com).
1. How did bordering countries feel about this issue?
2.
How should Israel and Hamas go from here?
3. What repercussions or actions should be taken against the party at fault?
4. If this period of ceasefire fails and there is no peace, what then?
5.
Is the U.S. involved in any way? If so, then how?
Further Information
2.
Should Israel Negotiate with
Hamas?
5.
Israel
Must Negotiate with Hamas
8.
Which
Power Brokers Support Hamas?
Suggested
countries and blocs:
Western
Bloc: Israel, European Union - (UK, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden,
Norway) United States, NATO, Canada
Points of contention: US and European Union would like Israel to
negotiate with Arab countries and give land
concessions for final settlement.
EU
Pressure on Israel
Turkey sat back and watched, hoping ISIL might destabilize Syria
Turkey
Provides ISIL with Lifeline
Syria
Issue - NATO has lukewarm support for Syrian rebels against Assad
(president of Syria, very repressive), Assad has supported Hamas
Iran
- Supports
Hamas, Using
Hamas as Leverage
BIG PICTURE: Conflict since 800 over Shia and Sunni Islam Short
History, Difference
Between Sunni and Shi'a Islam
Sunni Bloc - Jordan,
Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, The
Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait
Shia Bloc - Iran, Iraq - Iraq Support for Hamas
Levs, Josh. "Israel-Gaza Truce Reached, This Time with No Expiration Date." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 08 Oct. 2014. <http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/26/world/meast/mideast-crisis/>.
"Who Are Hamas?" BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2014. <http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-13331522>.
"Why Did Israel and Hamas Go to War in July 2014?" Vox. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2014. <http://www.vox.com/cards/israel-palestine/gaza-israel-hamas-2104>.