Hamas Attack on Israel

I feel comfortable opining on a range of topics to some degree but am wary about Israel. There is just so much ideological drama on the subject. The liberal-leaning Can We Talk About Israel: A Guide for the Curious, Confused, and Conflicted is a helpful book. (Book summary by me). 

Heather Cox Richardson (a historian who has a new book entitled Democracy Awakening)  has another useful daily summary. A basic summary of recent events:

Early this morning, Eastern Daylight Time, Hamas militants broke out of the Gaza Strip, where approximately 2 million Palestinians live, largely unable to leave because of the extensive restrictions Israel has imposed. They pushed as far as 15 miles (about 24 kilometers) into Israel, taking over at least 22 towns and firing at least 2,500 rockets. They have killed at least 250 Israelis, wounded more than 1,500 others, and taken hostages. The attack was a surprise, having an effect on Israelis that observers are comparing to the effect of 9-11 on people in the U.S. 

Hamas is a group of Palestinian militants that make up one of the two major political parties in the Palestinian Territories, which consist of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Hamas was established in 1987 and gained control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. Since then, Hamas and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have periodically exchanged fire. In May 2021 that tension turned into an 11-day conflict that has simmered along the security fence between Israel and Gaza ever since. 

The general remarks (including from Biden and the Republicans trying to make partisan hay by suggesting Biden is soft on Iran) are standard. There have been some efforts to bring Saudi Arabia and Israel closer, including actually having them officially recognize Israel. So this is notable too:

Both Saudi Arabia and Qatar have contextualized the attack by calling out Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people but also are calling for restraint and for the violence to stop. 

India, too, has expressed solidarity with Israel. 

When (per the NYT summary) we are talking about "two centuries" of conflict, this probably does not surprise too many on some level. More recently:

The fighting — including in May 2021, when the Israeli police raided Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, which in part helped set off an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas — have left thousands dead.

Hamas are militants and designated as a terrorist group. They are in control of the Gaza Strip, a god-forsaken slip of land (Israel itself is small with less than ten million people according to Wikipedia) that arose out of the 1967 Israel War. It has over two million people. Informed Comment notes:

So far from economic efflorescence is Gaza that only 4% of its freshwater is fit for human consumption, and it has electricity only for a few hours a day. Israel does not allow Gaza to have a harbor or an airport, rather denting the likelihood of anything trickling down.

Juan Cole's analysis provides some added context that provides some understanding of why violence is being used here. 

My overall, clearly far from fully informed, belief is that the use of violence by the Palestinians has been tragic. They have a sympathetic case in various respects (even if you accept the basic concept of the nation of Israel) and a weakened position where violence is not likely to obtain ultimate success. 

Another thing that I feel rather strongly about is that settlements are gigantic barriers to any "two-state solution" (the Biden Administration's official position as I understand it) or peaceful solution in general. They are illegal under international law (the territory is supposed to be temporarily retained) and provide Swiss cheese-level Palestinian territories. It also results in an overall feeling of military occupation on a day-to-day level.

Gaza Strip alone is not going to be its own nation. There needs to be an overall settlement. This is opposed by many regional forces, including Iran and Russia. The idea the likes of Jared Kushner were going to find a solution is as laughable as it is offensive. And, as suggested by the book, the current criminal in power in Israel is just a raw wound for Palestinians and any chance of peace. His history there is again suggested by the book. 

Juan Cole adds:

The Israeli extremists have openly been talking about illegally annexing the occupied Palestinian territories that Israel seized in 1967 and imposing full Israeli sovereignty, with the implication that the stateless Palestinians would somehow be expelled. Indeed, forms of ethnic cleansing or population transfer have already been taking place this year.

All of this, as President Biden notes, does not justify violent terroristic attacks. It does explain them and informs the situation. President Netanyahu notes this is the "first phase" of his country's response. This might be a long-term conflict. Who knows. The chance the net result will benefit the actual people of the Gaza Strip is dubious.

Cole notes in Informed Comment that presidential candidate Mitt Romney in 2012 said that there was no solution to the Israeli-Palestinian. We could only "kick it down the road." The can continues to be kicked. I personally (while admittedly more concerned about apparent hopeless things locally) do not see much chance of much change in the immediate future.

Happy Grandmother's Day. Will their grandchildren be grandmothers continue to see the same basic news play out?  

ETA: I see some headlines about a rally for Palestinians and this triggers some people who consider it a pro-terrorist thing. Okay.