In the news this week we will continue to hear about the fighting in Gaza between Hamas and Fatah. We might be tempted to tune this out. All these groups killing one another, it can be hard to sort out what is happening.But we should make a bit of an effort to grasp this if we are concerned with understanding what is happening in the middle east.
The Gaza is a small piece of land, 5 miles by 25 miles, bordered by Israel on it's right, and the Mediterranean sea on it's left. It should be a great tourist town as it has a nice beach and many hotels and restaurants (which are now empty and falling down). It is controlled by the Palestinians. However, it is cut off from what is called, "The West Bank." The West Bank is the larger piece of land controlled by the Palestinians. Think of it like Alaska, which is cut off from the rest of America by Canada. The two pieces of Palestinian territory are cut off from one another by Israel. This smaller piece, Gaza, is where all the action is right now.
The hope for a "two state solution" is the idea that the Palestinians could set up a government and it could rule both Gaza and the West Bank. Currently, such a recognized government does not exist (some would say because the Israelis have prevented it, some would say because the Palestinians can't get their act together --both might have some valid points).
WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW: Hamas is working to take over Gaza from the somewhat moderate control of Fatah. Their plan is to take over Gaza and make it a little Muslim area ruled by strict codes: kind of like a little Iran. Why is this bad? For several reasons:
1. The more than one million Palestinians living in Gaza are the victims caught in the crossfire between Hamas and the Fatah party. They are poor people, who are demonstrating in the streets, asking for peace. However, Fatah and Hamas both have wealthy supporters in the Muslim world who are supplying them with the guns they need to fight each other.
2. This fighting jeopardizes the possibility of a recognized Palestinian government that could peacefully co-exist with Israel.
3. The Iranians are funding Hamas. They would like use Gaza as home base for gaining Islamic domination of the Holy Land. This, no doubt, would make Gaza a base for more and more terror against Israel, and possibly Egypt to the South if Hamas viewed them as unfriendly towards their tactics.
4. Israel gains nothing. When they crack down on Gaza, as they will have to if Hamas takes over, the world press will quickly sympathize with the many poor Palestinians who would get hurt. However, if they don't crack down, then they will be attacked regularly. There is no winning for them.
5. The poor of Gaza would continue to be oppressed, victimized, and militarized by Hamas.
The solution? There might be many. But it is hard not to notice that if Iran were neutralized, Hamas would decline, as would, by the way, a good bit of the insurgency into Iraq.
Iran has been at this since the 1970's. Eventually, someone will have to stand up to Iran. They have no plans of backing down.
1 comment:
Your fourth point about Israel is so true. This has been said before but might be worth repeating: if the Palestinians were to lay down their weapons they'd have peace with Israel. If the Israelis were to lay down their weapons they'd be annihilated. Who is the aggressor here? Yet the press will, as you note, side with the Palestinian cause when any military actions between them and Israel occur, regardless of the details of the situation.
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