BY FR. SHAY CULLEN
WE MAY already know this, but it is worth repeating: the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and 120 others being taken hostage and brought to the Gaza Strip.
The unprecedented attacks caught Israel by surprise. In retaliation, the countryâs forces launched a military campaign in Gaza that has devastated the coastal enclave and left tens of thousands of Palestinian dead, civilians and Hamas fighters alike.
Now among those killed is Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the chief architect of the October 7 attacks. His death, however, will not end the war.
Israeli forces continue to pound Gaza and Lebanon, where Hamas ally Hezbollah is based. Hundreds of Hezbollah fighters have been killed. Hundreds of Israeli troops have been killed since the Gaza war began.
A year after the October 7 attacks, and despite the killing of Sinwar and his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas remains undefeated and is still firing rockets at Israel. War will not end the threat against Israel; only political and social justice for the aggrieved Palestinians will bring lasting peace.
A retired Israeli general has said starvation is the only way to bring Hamas to surrender, telling Palestinian civilians to leave or starve. Thanks to a blockade, only 30 food trucks have managed to enter northern Gaza. T
he United States threatened to withhold delivering munitions to Israel unless food aid was allowed in. This seemed hypocritical of President Joe Bidenâs administration. Itâs as if itâs saying: feed them first, then we will give you more bombs to kill them.
âThe situation is desperate. We have no shelter supplies, very little food and zero assurances from Israel on getting anything into [the] Jabalia [refugee camp,] where more than 100,000 people are trapped,” Georgios Petropoulos, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs in Gaza, was quoted by the BBC as saying.
The siege strategy, âsurround and starve them,â seems to be the Israeli plan.
Long history
The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has a long history.
In 1922, when the Ottoman Empire was defeated by the Allied powers after it sided with Germany in World War I, Palestine was put under British administration by the League of Nations.
The British decided to establish in Palestine a homeland for Jews living abroad then. Hundreds of Jews began migrating to Palestine, and violence soon erupted between the Jews and the Palestinians.
Tensions between them grew worse. After the Alliesâ victory in World War II, Jewish migration to Palestine increased, helped by a Europe that felt guilty about the Holocaust.
Amid growing violence, the United Nations proposed dividing Palestine into two states: one for Jews and the other for Palestinians. The Palestinians and their Arab neighbors said no; the Jewish migrant community said yes.
In 1948, the British ended its administration of Palestine and withdrew. The large Jewish community declared independence and founded the State of Israel. Neighboring Arab nations rejected that and invaded but were defeated by the new state, which grabbed much more territory than it had already occupied.
About 800,000 Palestinians were driven out of their lands and became refugees in neighboring countries. This event is known as âNakbaâ, or the âCatastropheâ. Only the West Bank and Gaza remained in Palestinian control. (To be continued)/PN
