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Originally published 26 July
IN THE LAST 18 days, over 800 people have been killed in clashes in the Gaza Strip.
The recent outbreak of fighting has centred on what Israel calls its “right to defend itself” against rockets fired into its land by Hamas militants, but in reality, is about much more than that.
The situation is subject to claim and counter-claim, rhetoric and counter-rhetoric, deep division, and entrenched opinion on both sides.
But what is happening and why? Take 8 minutes (estimated) and get filled in.
Let’s go from the start; what is the difference between Israel and Palestine?
Understanding this is crucial, because it is at the base of a conflict that is nearly 70 years old.
And it is perhaps the most difficult question to answer, because it all comes down to who you ask. Officially, there is no border that divides the two states, because the international community considers Palestine one of many things.
Some consider it an independent state, some an occupied territory and some don’t recognise its existence at all.
Israel is, effectively, what British-owned Palestine was in the early 20th century.
After World War II, a plan was implemented to create a Jewish state on what was historically Jewish land. While this was arguably a noble idea after the horrors of the Holocaust, housing one refugee population on someone else’s land only created a second refugee population.
The Jewish state founded created, in practice, a country that grants privilege to Jewish citizens, who account for 5.9 million of the country’s 7.8 million people.
Laws around land ownership and citizenship are heavily weighted in Jews’ favours, activists argue.
Today, Palestinian refugees are mostly in the West Bank, parts of Lebanon and Jordan and the Gaza Strip. So, despite what you might hear, this is not a religious war – it’s a land war.
While this image does not tell the full story – it leaves out reasons behind the conflicts, the fact that Arabs rejected the UN plan and conflates Mandatory Palestine with modern Palestine- it gives a scale of the changing landscape.
The Gaza Strip is where the fighting is, right?
Yes.
And the Gaza Strip is…
The problem with Palestinian land nowadays is that it is actually two tracts of land on opposite sides of Israel.
Confusingly, the West Bank is in the east of the country (it is on the western bank of the River Jordan) and the Gaza Strip is in the west, on the Mediterranean Sea.
In 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza. Up to then, the territories had been more or less controlled by Jordan and Egypt. In the war with its Arab neighbours, Israel also took Syria’s Golan Heights and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
Israel withdrew settlers and troops from Gaza in 2005, but maintains a blockade that human rights organisations say makes the strip – which is just 40km long and 12km wide – an open-air prison.
Since 2012, Gaza is governed by Hamas, while Fatah governs the West Bank.
Hamas are fighting with Israel, aren’t they?
Yes, at least the armed wing of Hamas, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, are. Israel reckons there are about 10,000 operatives in the armed brigades.
In their 1988 charter, Hamas referenced “the raising of the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine”, but added “Under the wing of Islam, it is possible for the followers of the three religions—Islam, Christianity and Judaism—to coexist in peace and quiet with each other.”
However, the same charter also provides religious texts that justify the killing of Jews in Israel and leadership have spoken of their desire not to see Israel on maps. Some believe that Hamas is incapable of a reconciliation with Israel and is merely biding its time until it can liberate historic Palestine.
Hamas has accused Israel of war crimes in this conflict, but is no stranger to violence itself. After the 2009 violence, Hamas was accused of summary executions, beheadings and limiting the access to wounded people of neutral observers and medical staff.
So why is this outbreak of fighting happening?
This fighting is the worst since 2009 and started with the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers last month.
In response, Israel arrested Hamas members in the West Bank and launched airstrikes on Gaza. A Palestinian teen was killed in an apparent revenge attack. His cousin was then beaten in police custody.
On the morning of 8 July, Hamas launched a wave of 40 rocket attacks into Israel. These attacks are generally shot with little aiming, but create a climate of terror in Israel, where warning sirens pierce the air with regularity.
It was the first time that Hamas had claimed responsibility for an attack on Israel since 2012, the last time there was serious fighting.
In response, Israel aimed to “make Hamas pay a heavy price” and began air strikes. Within six days, more people had died than in the 2012 violence.
Last week, Israel upped the ante considerably, launching a ground offensive on Gaza. Israel says that this move was necessary to defend itself from so-called “terror tunnels”, a hidden network of passages that Hamas uses to sneak into Egypt and Israel.
That has also increased the body count massively.
The UN Organisation for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that as of Friday, 789 Palestinians -578 civilians and 119 militants – and 37 Israelis have died.
Those death counts are pretty one-sided, how come?
This is one of the most divisive issues in the argument.
The significantly smaller number on the Israeli side is down to the Hamas rockets being fired aimlessly and the Iron Dome. That system is designed to intercept rockets and the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) says it has taken down 87% of missiles.
On the opposite side, Israel claims that civilian casualties in Gaza are caused by Hamas storing rockets near civilian areas, such as hospitals and schools. Indeed, the UN Relief and Works Agency says that they have discovered Hamas rockets in their schools.
Israel says that this is tantamount to taking human shields.
However, Michele Dunne of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told CNN this week that that is impossible to quantify.
“It would be impossible at this point to say how much truth there is to the human shield argument.
“That’s not going to be possible to do in the heat of the conflict.”
However, the Israeli army is one of the top 15-best-funded defence forces in the world. It has at its disposal some of the most hi-tech weaponry ever seen but has still killed nearly 500 civilians in two weeks.
Coupled with that, Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on earth and is surrounded by Israel and Egypt, both of whom have closed their border crossings.
The IDF has at its disposal around 176,000 active personnel and 450,000 reserves. This makes it the 34th largest army in the world. It has over 4,000 tanks, over 60 warships and hundreds of aircraft.
There has been some argument that Hamas is deliberately goading Israel into the fight in order to secure international condemnation of Israel’s blockade of Gaza.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland last week, an Israeli spokesperson said that Gazans were free to evacuate to beaches.
There was a ceasefire and a peace deal, though?
There was a five-hour humanitarian ceasefire last week that was broken by Hamas after just two hours. There was also an Egyptian-backed peace deal that Israel accepted but Hamas rejected, stating that because it did not propose ending the Israeli blockade, it was not a true peace deal but rather just a downing of arms.
Israel doesn’t want to lift the blockade because it says that it has repeatedly intercepted weapons bound for Gaza at border crossings.
While that is a completely justifiable stance, the blockade makes life extremely difficult for regular Gazans.
Why is the US involved? What does Ireland think of the whole thing?
The US is involved because it sees Israel as an absolutely essential ally in the Middle East. It backs the Israeli military to the tune of $3 billion every year. Officially, it backs a two-state solution, but it is staunchly pro-Israel.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has officially said that US “supports Israel’s right to defend itself,” but seemed frustrated by the killing of civilians while on microphone for a US news show.
Ireland’s official stance is:
“A two state solution allied to a return to pre-1967 borders unless amended by agreement between the two parties, an agreed solution to the issue of Palestinian Refugees who fled/left their houses in 1948 and 1967, Israel to cease settlement activities and dismantle all outposts erected since March 2001.”
What are the solutions and why has this been so hard to find?
The ideas for solutions are vast, but most states and moderate parties in the Middle East agree that some form of two-state solution would be best. The problems here lie in the division between Gaza and the West Bank. In the West Bank, Palestinian leaders have committed to peace and compromise, but with Hamas in control of Gaza, compromise will be difficult.
Hamas-supporting Gazans will also look at the West Bank and see growing Israeli settlements and a never-ending military occupation and wonder why they would compromise.
The longer the situation drags on, the wearier both sides become and the more likely either side are due to become radicalised, meaning that a single-state solution is largely a non-runner. Demographics make the one-state solution more and more difficult: Jewish Israelis are unlikely to form a state in which they would be quickly outnumbered.
Even the two-state solution carries with it massive issues that are unlikely to be bridged the longer this goes on.
Chief among these is the status of Jerusalem. The Dome of the Rock, in the centre of the picture below, is one of the holiest sites in Islam and sits atop the ancient Temple Mount ruins, the Western Wall of which is the holiest site in Judaism. That, in a nutshell is how difficult this situation will be navigate.
The other option is the destruction of either state, but that would be the elimination of millions of people in a bloody war.
There are also the issues of the undefined West bank borders, the future of relations between Israel and Palestine, extremism, security, the geopolitical situation in the Middle East, the division of resources, and the not inconsiderable matter of seven million Palestinian refugees.
The situation in Israel and Palestine is big, complex, nuanced and messy and the likelihood of a solution in the near future is not great.
What humanitarians hope is that some temporary solution can be found to end the bloodshed.
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I think it’s a disgrace the way elderly people are treated by the government
I think Irish people are also very quick to blame others assuming that it has all responsibility to provide all care for their relatives. We see a lot of old people who could make it home with a bit more support from their families but instead they are left to go into care because of lack of support. Blaming it on ‘the Government’ alone is a cop out.
Agreed!. There were no nursing homes back in the day (I hate that cliche !). Kids grew up with their grannies and granddad around them and they learned from them.Now the grandparents are almost disposable when they are less productive.
I agree that old people are treated dreadfully in this day and age, we had to put my grandmother into a nursing home earlier this year, we all work full time with kids, my uncles the same, people can’t commit to looking after their an elderly person full time, not because they don’t want to but because it’s not feasible!!! In an ideal world we would, but unfortunately with things so tight nowadays people have to work, and when an elderly person is falling a lot and needs full time care there are no other options!
Frances
Who would you like to pay for unlimited access to Nursing Home care. Please don’t trot out the usual Left Wing drivel that the elderly have paid taxes all of their lives. They may have but they certainly haven’t paid one tiny fraction of the costs associated with this new wave of ” elderly management ” as I like to call it.
The average cost of a Nursing Home is somewhere in the region of fifty thousand Euro a year and the average private pension is somewhere in the region of twenty eight thousand Euro a year. Below that figure the principal form of income is the State funded contributory and non contributory pension that wouldn’t cover your meals in a Facility for the aged!
Another real issue is the fact that Nursing Homes run by the State cost some fifty percent more to fund when compared to private facilities and I think we can all agree that in the vast majority of cases the quality and standards of these would substantially favour the latter.
Perhaps you could let us have an answer to my opening question Frances.
Donie, so true. I worked with people from many overseas countries and they were all surprised by this whole concept of nursing homes. Yes some elderly can only be cared for in a nursing home but like many, I too remember as a child my granny and great aunt living with us until their final days. That is the norm in many other countries. Not so anymore. While these delays are awful, it is terrible that I can confidently say that all hospital staff are familiar with the term granny dumping. It is often sad when remembering the sacrifices that parents make for their children, that often the same is not returned when the parents themselves need support.
I think Irish people are also very quick to blame others assuming that it has all responsibility to provide all care for their relatives. We see a lot of old people who could make it home with a bit more support from their families but instead they are left to go into care because of lack of support. Blaming it on âthe Governmentâ alone is a cop out. by home nursing in Bangalore
Agreed!. There were no nursing homes back in the day (I hate that cliche !). Kids grew up with their grannies and granddad around them and they learned from them.Now the grandparents are almost disposable when they are less productive. by home nursing in Bangalore
share this with ten people and try to be a life saver….GOD
gofund.me/Elliotyeswecan
The elderly are the people who have contributed most to our miserable country, and this is the way they are treated. Other people abuse the system and benefit most… What a joke, just makes me angry.
It’s not a nice thing to say, but I’d do myself in before I left myself at the mercy of the Irish state.
Yes, feel the same way. Dreading old age if this is how things are going to happen..
The figures hide the scale of the suffering and the waste of public resources.
Where will older people waiting for a nursing home bed for 12-14 weeks wait? All have been deemed in need of full-time nursing care. Those at home will grow progressively frailer and many will be admitted by their GPs to their local A&E and into an acute hospital bed. Not only do they not need acute hospital care (just nursing care) they will deprive others in need of acute care of a bed. This is a problem — not just for older people who may need a nursing home bed — but for everyone who may need an acute hospital bed.
At the core of the problem is the failure of successive governments to plan for our ageing population. This does not just mean funding for nursing home beds, but also includes a much greater investment in community-based care. Supports such as home helps, home care packages, public health nurses, occupational therapists, day care centres, meals on wheels etc can enable more older people to live for longer in their own homes. Likewise, proper funding for home adaptation schemes would be a great help (funding for the scheme has been slashed this year).
The current problem was clear from late last year when the HSE published its service plan. This is our statement issued on December 18, 2013 http://www.ageaction.ie/age-action-concerned-impact-hse-service-plan-sickest-older-people
http://www.ageaction.ie/age-action-concerned-impact-hse-service-plan-sickest-older-people
Whilst the pressure being placed on our already burdened health service is of grave concern, the worst part about this delay is the effect it has on the quality of life of these older people stuck in acute hospitals!
Due to understaffing and over-crowding, many of these patients spend the vast majority of their days in bed or sitting in a chair with the consequence being that by the time they are placed in a nursing home they can no longer walk and have become incontinent. The real tragedy of this 4 month delay is the physical and psychological toll which this delay takes on our loved ones. We should not simply abide this!
The Government does not care about elderly people, they only cost money, no profit in them. Let the private sector look after them or let the people set up a charity ……Our caring government.
Better off not going all the abuse that they get in them places. A place in Galway had a sweat shop for knitting Aran sweaters. By they time the operation was uncovered bone had already been exposed through the tops of the oaps fingers. Enough is enough
This is just sad and alarming too because the government allows this to happen to older adults. They should be taken good care of and not taken for granted. I hope the government will do something about this and will release the funds right on time and to provide more nursing homes in order to accommodate those who are in need of care. This should be addressed right away since http://www.longtermcare.gov and http://www.ltcoptions.com confirm that around 7 out of 10 of people who are 65 and above will require long term care. To make things worse, there will be a silver tsunami soon and more people will require care inside nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. If the government can’t do it alone, then perhaps its time to create a partnership with private groups or charities that can solve this problem. I really hope the government will put this in its priority list or else a lot of older adults will suffer physically, financially and emotionally as well.
I agree with Michael Nahyan, it’s disgusting they way, they treat are elderly, and why it has to cost so much to look after the elderly is beyond me. , I really feel for them.
I realise it’s important to find nee things to be engraged about, but the waiting-time for one of these places is a non-starter. Nobody suddenly wakes up one day and finds themselves old and unable to care for themselves. It happens over time. There’s plenty of t
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