Tag: Israel Palestine conflict

Déjà Vu in the Middle East

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Middle East is back and it’s back in a way it usually does—a crisis between Israel and the Palestinians. The latest flare-up of violence in Gaza is the worst since 2014 and even after entering its second week, it shows little sign of easing. Though US President Joe Biden has finally joined calls for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants, the conflict has only been on an escalatory mode. This crisis started after weeks of rising Israeli-Palestinian tension in East Jerusalem that culminated in clashes at a holy site revered by both Muslims and Jews. After warning Israel to withdraw from the site, Hamas began firing rockets at Israel leading to retaliatory airstrikes.

As part of its operation “Guardian of the Walls,” Israel has struck more than 800 different targets while Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants have fired more than 3200 rockets. The narratives from the two sides diverge considerably as is to be expected. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has suggested that at least 130 of the close to 200 Palestinians killed so far have been combatants and the Palestinian health ministry, which in Gaza is controlled by Hamas, argues that almost 100 of the dead are women and children conveniently ignoring the deaths of militants. The IDF holds Hamas responsible for the deaths of civilians given its penchant for using ordinary civilians as human shields and exploiting it to its military advantage.

Given the structural challenge that Israel faces in tackling militants from Gaza, the IDF’s objectives are quite clear—establishing deterrence vis-a-vis Hamas by inflicting high enough costs so that it can have a sobering effect on Hamas behaviour in the future. While many would see in Israel’s response the use of disproportionate force, for IDF the challenge is to ensure that a non-state actor like Hamas working in tandem with some state actors gets the message that Israel has the wherewithal to respond to its provocations.

Yet, the costs for Israel this time around also include domestic challenges with riots between Israeli Arabs and Jews. Israel has also been receiving rocket fire from Lebanon and some other neighbouring territories, compounding its problems as the challenge emerges of the widening of this conflict. The Israeli Air Force has shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle that approached its border from Jordan. Track live updates on the Israel-Palestine conflict here

But the biggest challenge continues to be the management of international public opinion. As the crisis continues, Israel will come under pressure to de-escalate. After giving Israel a few days to sort the conflict out militarily, US President Joe Biden has begun to voice his support for a ceasefire, telling Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu that the US is working with Egypt and other nations on stopping the violence. At the UN Security Council, however, the US continues to block the Security Council statement calling for a cessation of violence.

Washington continues to emphasise that “having those conversations behind the scenes… is the most constructive approach we [the US] can take.” There has always been a pattern in the US response to Israeli actions. It tends to shield Israel from global censure to ensure that Israel achieves its military objectives but as the civilian casualties mount, it brings to bear its pressure on Israel to come to terms with the cessation of the conflict.

America’s backing is the most important variable that Israel has to factor in its response. And while Biden has been trying to shift gradually from some of the most extreme positions taken by his predecessor when it comes to the Israel-Palestine issue, there is more continuity than change. In fact, the Biden administration has approved the potential sale of $735 million worth of precision-guided weapons to Israel earlier this week. Yet in the wider context of the Middle East, things are evolving rapidly with Biden trying to revive the JCPOA with Iran despite Israeli objections.

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More importantly, ever since the days of the Obama Administration, Washington has been making it clear that the Middle East is declining in the list of its strategic priorities. China’s rise and the growing focus on the Indo-Pacific is the real issue for the US. And Israel has worked diplomatically to build its ties with Arab players over the last few years. While public opinion in most Arab nations may have an anti-Israeli orientation, the Arab governments are reasonably well disposed to Israel. There is broader fatigue with the Palestinian issue in the Arab world and this vacuum has been filled by Iran and Turkey. The ongoing conflict is also a proxy war between Israel and Iran.

Even as these global realities exacerbate tensions, domestic political realities in Israel have also played a major role. Netanyahu was struggling to form a government before this crisis. Now he is once again in a position to rally the nation around his leadership. On the other hand, Hamas had been angered by the decision of President Mahmoud Abbas to call off planned elections. This crisis allows it to stoke Palestinian discontent with Abbas which in any case has enhanced the acceptability of Hamas among Palestinians over the years.

There is no real incentive for either side to back down without achieving some of their political objectives. The only player with some real leverage remains the US. And so the world waits for Washington’s entry into this maelstrom. Once that happens, we can expect some kind of de-escalation to happen pretty fast. But the underlying realities that have spawned this latest round of violence will remain where they are. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict will go off the headiness for a while till another spasm of violence makes it impossible for the world to look the other way.

— Professor Harsh V Pant is Director, Studies and Head of the Strategic Studies Programme at Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi and Professor of International Relations at King’s College, London. The views expressed in the article are his own

Read his other columns here

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Israel and Hamas call truce after 11 days: Here’s how the conflict escalated

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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At least 232 Palestinians, including 65 children, have been killed in the airstrikes by Israel so far and over 1,900 people have been wounded in the escalation between Israel and Palestine that ended on Friday, news agency Reuters reported quoting Gaza’s health ministry.

Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said in an announcement, “I have received a phone call from President Biden in which we have exchanged visions around reaching a formula that would calm the current conflict between Israel and Gaza, our vision was in tune about managing the conflict between all parties with diplomacy,” according to Al Jazeera.

President Joe Biden said, “I believe the Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live safely and securely and enjoy equal measures of freedom, prosperity and democracy,” the report added.

Calls for humanitarian aid have begun after the truce in order to help in rebuilding the battered areas of Gaza.

Meanwhile, let’s take a look at how the conflicts escalated into a war in the last ten-eleven days:

May 10: Hamas fires rockets

Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad issued their ultimatum to Israel to remove its forces from the al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in Islam. The following night, Hamas launched its first barrage of rockets into Israel. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) responded by launching its own airstrikes on several targets in the Gaza strip.

May 11: Protests in Israel

The Israeli air force bombed a Gaza tower block, with the IDF claiming that at least 15 of the reported civilian casualties from the incident were Hamas’s members. The IDF that the building housed senior Hamas officials. Gaza’s ministry of health said 24 people were killed, including nine children.

Hamas responded by sending a volley of rockets towards Tel Aviv, a mostly liberal and secular coastal city of Israel.

By evening, the protests had devolved into riots and mob violence with several reported clashes between Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews. The town of Lod witnessed the worst of the violence after an Arab man was killed at a protest. Emergency law was imposed after three synagogues and dozens of cars were burnt.

Israeli Border Police were called for reinforcement and dozens of arrests were made.

May 12: Coalition talks fail

Over 850 rockets are fired overnight from Gaza to Israel as many countries start sending diplomatic envoys to de-escalate the situation on the ground. The rocket strikes killed five Israelis and another Israeli soldier was killed by an anti-tank missile. At least 200 rockets fell within the boundaries of Gaza itself.

Meanwhile, coalition negotiations between two rivals of Benjamin Netanyahu fell apart due to the flare-up of violence.

May 13: Israel Intensifies Attack

Israel mobilised 9,000 of its reserve forces along the Gaza border as it threatened a full-scale invasion of the strip. A volley of rockets launched from Lebanon towards Israel hit the mark and landed in the sea instead.

Israel launched twin attacks from ground and air on Gaza. Israel claimed that it had targeted a Hamas military intelligence building.

Tensions worsened in Lod and several other cities despite increased police presence. Several groups in different countries held protests condemning Israeli action against Palestinian civilians even as Qatari, Egyptian and the UN diplomats tried to negotiate a ceasefire.

May 14: Hamas pays a heavy price

Israel air forces claimed that they dropped more than 450 bombs in 40 minutes using 80 tonnes of explosives targeting Hamas underground tunnels.

Hamas said 20 of its commanders were killed while IDF claimed that the number was higher and that most of Hamas’ rocket production capability was destroyed.

“I said we would extract a very heavy price from Hamas,” Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a videotaped statement.

Rockets from Syria were launched towards Israeli controlled Golan Heights but fell in uninhabited places.

Eleven protestors were killed in the West Bank when Palestinian protestors started flinging rocks after their evening prayers. Israeli forces responded with live ammunition and tear gas.

May 15: AP, Al Jazeera offices razed

The al-Jalaa building was levelled after being hit by four missiles by the IDF. The building housed offices of news organisations like Associated Press and Al Jazeera for over 15 years. The Israeli forces called the building owner to evacuate the building an hour before the strikes.

Just hours before the attack on the al-Jalaa building, an Israeli airstrike on a building in Gaza’s Shati refugee camp killed 10 members of an extended family.

May 16: Pope appeals for peace

The IDF reported that 40 rockets had been fired from Gaza towards Ashkelon and Ashdod even as Israel stepped up its campaign of airstrikes against targets in Gaza.

Fifteen Palestinians were killed in early morning airstrikes, according to officials in Gaza.

Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church, denounced the violence and appealed for peace.

Rocket attacks continued through the day, hitting targets in Ashkelon, Ramat Gan and others.

May 17: Gaza COVID Centre hit

US blocked a UN Security Council statement after a third unsuccessful meeting in the week.

Gaza’s ran out of fuel as its only COVID-19 testing centre was hit by an IDF airstrike. Rocket attacks continued unabated.

The IDF also targeted Hamas naval boats during overnight strikes. Other targets that were struck overnight in Gaza included the compound of the Gaza city mayor and the homes of four senior Hamas’s commanders. Six rocket attacks were launched from south of Lebanon late in the evening, but the situation at the border was calm.

May 18: Biden again talks to Israel, calls for peace

Rocket alerts sounded near Sderot and other communities near the Gaza border even as there were increasing global calls for a ceasefire of the hostilities. Ashdod and Rehovot also sounded rocket sirens. Two Thai workers die and eight more are injured as a result.

US President Joe Biden reportedly put pressure on the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to conclude Israeli operations sooner than later. At the same time, Israel conducted more than 120 airstrikes across the Gaza strip though it failed in killing Hamas leader Muhammad Deif.

Egypt first offers a truce on May 20, reports said Hamas agreed while Israel didn’t agree at first.

Protests across the Lebanese and Palestinian border continue in a massive general strike. Protests were also seen in Sheik Jarrah.

May 19: IDF fires defensive rockets at Lebanon, protests grow

IDF says it dropped 122 bombs on Hamas tunnels during the night. 250 rockets and mortars launched towards Israel from Gaza. Among IDF targets was a weapon manufacturing unit of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. IDF also fires at targets inside Lebanon that were said to be launching rockets.

Israeli PM Netanyahu briefs foreign diplomats that Israel wants to end the fighting.

Anti-semitic and anti-muslim attacks grow in Europe and North America following the conflict.

Controversy erupts over the blockade of aid going into the Gaza strip. 170 rioters to be indicted in Israel, only 15 of them Jewish

May 20: Ceasefire declared, with effect from 2 am local time

Eighty rockets launched from Gaza through the night but the rocket attack stops for over 6 hours as truce talks reach fruition.

Ceasefire declared to official start from 2 am local time on May 20. Concerns about Palestinian Islamic Jihad continuing its attack independently remain.

PM Netanyahu drew out the Gaza conflict to stop a possible opposition coalition from forming the government. Israel has seen 4 hung elections in the last 2 years.

Intermittent shelling and sirens before a truce was officially announced throughout the day. Poll reveals that 72 percent of Israelis believe that the conflict should continue without a ceasefire.

Stay tuned with our live blog for regular updates on Israel-Palestine conflict

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Gaza logs no deaths from overnight Israeli strikes for first time in 8 days

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Gaza health officials said on Tuesday they had no reports of Palestinians killed overnight in ongoing Israeli strikes on the enclave.

This is the first apparent reduction of casualties since fighting erupted on May 10.

The intensity of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel also waned between midnight and 10:00 am (0700 GMT), a Reuters witness said. Israeli rocket alerts indicated the latest salvoes were focused on border communities rather than targets deeper within Israel.

World powers are pushing for a Gaza truce.

The Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Brigadier-General Hidai Zilberman, said it was continuing to operate in Gaza in accordance with a target list for the coming 24 hours.

“The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) is not talking about a ceasefire. We’re focussed on the firing,” he told Army Radio.

Gaza residents counted 60 Israeli strikes overnight.

Officials on both sides have previously said that some Gaza casualties have been buried in collapsed buildings and bunkers, making immediate tallies difficult.

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Explained: Are Israel, Hamas committing war crimes in Gaza?

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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A week into their fourth war, Israel and the Hamas militant group already face allegations of possible war crimes in Gaza. Israel says Hamas is using Palestinian civilians as human shields, while critics say Israel is using disproportionate force.

Who’s right? It’s hard to say, especially in the fog of battle.

The firing of hundreds of imprecise rockets into Israel by Hamas and other Palestinian groups is fairly clear-cut. International law prohibits targeting civilians or using indiscriminate force in civilian areas. Rockets slamming into Tel Aviv apartment blocks is a clear violation.

But in Gaza, where 2 million people are packed into a narrow coastal strip, the situation is far murkier. Both sides operate in dense, urban terrain because that’s pretty much all there is. Because of the tight space and intense bombardments, there are few safe places for Gazans to go. A blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas seized power in 2007 makes it virtually impossible to leave.

As a grassroots movement, Hamas is deeply embedded in Palestinian society, with a political operation and charities separate from its secretive armed wing. While Israel and Western countries view Hamas as a terrorist organization, it is also Gazas de facto government, employing tens of thousands of people as civil servants and police. So just being connected to Hamas doesn’t mean someone is a combatant, and there are many in Gaza who oppose the group and all are equally exposed with nowhere to run.

Earlier this year, the International Criminal Court launched an investigation into possible war crimes committed by Israel and Palestinian militants during the last war, in 2014. Both sides already appear to be using the same tactics in this one.

Here’s a look at potential violations of international law.

Urban combat

Palestinian fighters are clearly operating in built-up residential areas and have positioned tunnels, rocket launchers and command and control infrastructure in close proximity to schools, mosques and homes.

A prosecutor would have to prove that the combatants deliberately placed military assets near civilians to benefit from protections afforded to non-combatants during the war.

If France invades Switzerland, the Swiss are not prohibited from defending Geneva, including by putting Swiss soldiers, Swiss artillery positions and so on inside Geneva, said Marco Sassoli, professor at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights.

Because international humanitarian law applies to all sides in any conflict, the French could fight in Geneva as well. But here the issue of proportionality applies on the big picture level: To continue the analogy, was the French assault on Geneva proportional to the provocation?

Proportionality

Israel’s critics often accuse it of the disproportionate use of force. They note that the undeclared nuclear power, with the region’s most powerful military, is waging war on a militant group armed with little beyond long-range rockets, the majority of which are intercepted by Israel’s anti-missile defenses. As in the past, the toll in the current conflict is dramatically lopsided, with at least 200 killed in Gaza, nearly half of them women and children, and 10 in Israel, all but one of them civilians.

Israel argues it has the right to eliminate the threat from rockets, including command infrastructure connected to it. It says it makes every effort to avoid harming civilians, including by warning them ahead of some strikes. But Sassoli said that in past conflicts, Israel had a quite large concept of what is a legitimate military objective.

Proportionality in international law also applies to individual attacks, but experts say proving a specific attack is disproportionate is extremely difficult. One would need to know what was targeted, what military advantage was gained, and whether it exceeded the harm inflicted on civilians and civilian property. That means that in practice, only the most extreme cases are likely to be prosecuted.

On Saturday, Israel bombed a 12-story building housing the Gaza offices of The Associated Press and the Al-Jazeera news network, as well as dozens of private apartments and small businesses, including a law firm, a lab for blood testing and a TV production company.

The Israeli military warned residents to evacuate the building, and no one was hurt.

The military says there was a considerable Hamas presence in the building, including a command and control center, an intelligence unit and other infrastructure used to coordinate combat operations. But it has provided no evidence.

AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt has said he was shocked and horrified by the attack, and AP has called for an independent investigation. We have no indication of a Hamas presence in the building, nor were we warned of any such possible presence before the airstrike. This is something we check as best we can,” Pruitt said Monday.

Sassoli said it would be completely unlawful to attack a media center, but it’s impossible to know whether the bombing was justified without knowing what the military was targeting.

Strikes causing civilian casualties raise strong proportionality questions.

On Sunday, Israel launched heavy airstrikes along a main thoroughfare in Gaza City, saying it was targeting Hamas’ underground military infrastructure. The bombardment toppled three buildings and killed at least 42 people, including 16 women and 10 children. A day earlier, a strike in a crowded refugee camp killed 10 women and children. Israeli media said the military was aiming for senior Hamas officials meeting in the building.

Underground Army 

Members of Hamas armed wing rarely if ever wear uniforms or identify themselves in public, and they go underground as soon as hostilities begin, along with the political leadership.

The vast majority of Hamas supporters are not involved in fighting, which means they arent supposed to be targeted. The International Committee of the Red Cross defines a combatant as someone with a continuous combat function or those engaged in combat at the time they are targeted, a widely adopted definition.

So even if a building were filled with die-hard Hamas supporters, experts say it wouldn’t be considered a legitimate target unless they were actively involved in combat operations.

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Don’t want to send soldiers to Gaza; empathise with the civilian population under Hamas: Israeli diplomat

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Israel and Palestine conflict is heading towards uncontainable security and humanitarian crisis – those are the word from the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres following a specially convened session of the UN Security Council.

While foreign ministers and ambassadors have called for a ceasefire, there are no signs of even a temporary truce. India has also called for immediate de-escalation, while strongly condemning all acts of violence.

This follows the deadliest day of violence in the conflict where two Israeli airstrikes killed 43 Palestinians including 8 children. With the latest casualties, the death toll in Gaza has climbed to 197, of these 58 are children and 34 are women. According to the IDF, 10 Israelis have been killed by rocket fire from Gaza.

Rony Yedidia Clein, Deputy Chief of Mission, Israel Embassy in New Delhi, said, “Israel really doesn’t have a choice in this matter because Hamas has been attacking for the past week almost with thousands of rockets and 10 Israelis were killed by Hamas rocket so Israel really has no choice but to defend its citizens and it has obligation to do so.”

On military option, she said, “That option is on the table, but we don’t see that is being something that we want to do right now. We are looking at continuing the way with airstrikes. We would rather not send our soldiers into Gaza, that becomes a whole different type of an operation and we rather not do that.”

On airstrikes on Hamas, she added, “We have been very careful about using precision, pinpoints to make sure that hits are on actual Hamas site, its launch pad, and command centre. I have to say that I really empathise with Palestinian mothers and families who have been living under the Hamas.”

For full interview, watch accompanying video…

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UN officials trying to end Israel-Palestine conflict in Gaza

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The US ambassador to the United Nations says the United States has been working tirelessly through diplomatic channels to try to end the conflict between Palestinians in Gaza and Israel and is warning that the current cycle of violence will only put a negotiated two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict further out of reach.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a high-level emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that President Joe Biden spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday and Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken with senior Israeli, Palestinian and regional leaders.

At the same meeting, Israel’s UN ambassador called the rocket attacks launched by Gaza’s Hamas rulers against Israel completely premeditated to gain political power and replace the Palestinian Authority as the leader of the Palestinians.

Also Read: Israeli jets stage heavy airstrikes in Gaza City

He said the rocketing of Israel was part of a vicious plan by Hamas, which not only seeks the destruction of Israel but is vying to take power in the West Bank and was frustrated when Abbas postponed elections last month that would have been the first in 15 years.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Israel-Palestine conflict highlights: Israeli PM Netanyahu says Hamas dealt ‘unexpected blows’

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Israel- Palestine conflict LIVE updates: Hamas-Israel fighting abates as truce calls mount

Cross-border fighting between Israel and Hamas appeared to abate slightly early on Tuesday, with no fatalities logged in Gaza for the first time since hostilities erupted on May 10, and fewer long-range Palestinian rocket attacks. But a call by U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday in support of a ceasefire appeared to go unheeded. Israel said it would press on, for now, with an offensive to destroy the capabilities of the armed factions Hamas and Islamic Jihad and rocket attacks continued.

The United States and other world powers have been pushing for an end to the fiercest escalation in the conflict in years, in which Gaza officials say 212 Palestinians, including 61 children and 36 women, have been killed. There was no immediate word of Israeli casualties on Tuesday.

Ten people have been killed in Israel, including two children, in previous Palestinian rocket or missile attacks. In signs of a possible spread of the violence, the Israeli military said its troops shot dead a Palestinian who tried to attack them with a gun and improvised explosives in the occupied West Bank and that it downed an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) near the border with Jordan on Tuesday.

General strikes were held Tuesday in East Jerusalem, Arab towns within Israel and in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, with posts on social media bearing a Palestinian flag and urging solidarity “from the sea to the river”.

Palestinian businesses across East Jerusalem were shuttered ,including in the walled Old City, and in the mixed Jewish-Arab port city of Haifa in northern Israel, protest organiser Raja Zaatar told Reuters the strike had closed 90% of businesses in Arab neighbourhoods.

Ra’afat al-Saman, a business owner in East Jerusalem’s Salahaddin street, named after the Muslim conqueror who seized Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187, said he supported the strike.

The road is just a few minutes walk from Al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, which lies in the heart of the walled Old City on the historic compound known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.

“I think that people are more aware now. They close their businesses, they go to Al-Aqsa and to the streets, there are now more activities during a strike. In the past, people would go on strike and sit at home. I think that people are now more aware of the concept of a strike,” he said.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow