The carefully planned Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 has already caused the deaths of more than 1,200 Israelis, including at least 22 American citizens, and at least 1,100 in Gaza. In addition an unknown number of American citizens are being held hostage by Hamas. The War in the Holy Land has produced atrocities that cannot be denied or justified. No righteous cause justifies the slaughter of innocent civilians on either side.
However, anyone paying attention to the troubles between Israel and the HAMAS, should not have been surprised that violence of some sort was inevitable; it was not if, but when.
Consider that the last public talks between the Israelis and Palestinians ended in 2014. At that time, U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry put the blame mostly on the Israelis for their suspension. And consider that five million Palestinians live under occupation with no civil rights; no freedom of mobility; no say in their lives. As Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the first cardinal of Jerusalem, put it, Gaza is an "open prison.” Since then, no talks have taken place, even while three U.S. presidents — Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden have only given lip service to the two-states for two peoples solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A two-state solution is an unpopular notion for Israel’s new right-wing government who oppose concessions to the Palestinians and rule out an independent Palestinian state in the land Israel has occupied since the1967 Mideast War. Consider that in December 2022, incoming prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu published his right-wing coalition’s principles and agenda, promising construction of settlements throughout the country including in the West Bank. One of the guidelines include the following: "The Jewish people have an exclusive and inalienable right to all parts of the Land of Israel. The government will promote and develop the settlement of all parts of the Land of Israel — in the Galilee, the Negev, the Golan and Judea and Samaria.”
Hamas, a Sunni Islamic group, in its 1988 Charter does not recognize Israel’s right to exist and whose goals from the beginning have been to liberate Palestine from Israeli occupation through any means necessary. In a bid to improve its flagging international standing, Hamas released a contradictory new policy document in 2017 that presents softened language on Israel while still calling for its destruction. The document accepts the idea of a Palestinian state in territories captured by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967 but dismisses the State of Israel as “illegal,” asserting a Palestinian claim to the entire land of Israel, and a so-called right of return for all descendants of refugees. Israel dismissed the new document as an attempt to “fool the world.”
Clearly, Israel and HAMAS have diametrically views on what the future of Palestine, not a formula for lasting peace. Yet, without hope for a peaceful solution between Israel and HAMAS, continuing conflict seems inevitable. As King Abdullah II of Jordan warned in December 2023, “Without clarity on where the Palestinians’ future lies, it will be impossible to converge on a political solution to this conflict. Five million Palestinians live under occupation — no civil rights; no freedom of mobility; no say in their lives.”
In the meantime, Israel has ordered a complete siege of Gaza, which includes sealing the borders, no power, no food, no clean drinking water, no gas, and no proper sanitation and healthcare. If Israel, as expected, invades Gaza, many more casualties can be expected. If Israel , as expected, wins the War in the Holy Land, I expect an Israeli occupation of Gaza and then annexation will follow.