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The past two weeks have seen a major flare-up in Israel-Palestine violence. Jewish and Arab mobs have been rioting in the West Bank and Israel, while Israeli bombs continue to level Gaza’s cities and Hamas rockets continue to claim Israeli lives. Across the globe, protesters supporting both sides of the conflict have taken to the streets, while calls for peace were somewhat fulfilled by the May 21 ceasefire.
Out of a plethora of factors contributing to rising tensions in the region, three triggers in particular caused mounting anger in the past months. The first of these was the tensions at Damascus Gate: an East Jerusalem monument which is a popular location for Muslim pilgrims to celebrate the holy month of Ramadan. In April of this year, at the start of Ramadan, Israeli police set up barriers to restrict access to the Gate and its adjoining plaza. Despite claims from Israeli police officials to the contrary, this is not a regular practice, and the area has almost always been accessible to the public during this religious period.
The decision to barricade the Damascus Gate was met with fierce opposition from local Palestinians. As a result, soon after Ramadan began on the 13th of April, there were daily clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and the police, which were often violent. The police often resorted to the use of water cannons to disperse protestors, while instances of police brutality were rampant. The situation escalated when right-wing Jewish-Israeli demonstrators took to the streets near the Gate to oppose the Palestinian protests. While the Jewish-Israeli side resorted to inflammatory slogans such as “Death to Arabs”, the Palestinian and Arab side took to pelting stones at Jews and damaging their vehicles. Over the course of the unrest, over 100 people were injured, while more than 50 individuals were arrested. Finally, on the night of the 25th of April, the police removed these barriers, allowing Palestinians to access the square to celebrate Ramadan. This significantly eased tensions at the time, but this incident no doubt contributed to the overall Israel-Palestine tensions. The inflamed tensions between the two communities led to social media becoming utilised as a vehicle for the exchange of inflammatory remarks by both sides on social media, resulting in a vicious cycle of attacks and reprisals.
The next source of tension originated in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Under a 1970 Israeli Law - namely the Legal and Administrative Matters (Regulation) Law - the jurisdiction of Israeli law extends to East Jerusalem, and permits Israeli Jews to reclaim property that is construed to be owned by Jews prior to 1948, while not extending a similar right to Palestinians. Since 1972, several court cases regarding the application of this law have been fought (in an Israeli court), wherein the Israeli side claims that the homes of Sheikh Jarrah should be reclaimed for Jews - which would inevitably result in the expulsion of the existing Palestinian residents. Some of these cases did result in forced expulsions of Palestinians from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah in 2002, 2008, and 2017. The UN has even warned that such expulsions may be categorised as “war crimes”. However, this does not seem to have brought about much change in Israeli policy, especially since the Israeli court passed an order in October 2020 to authorise the expulsion of four Palestinian families. The only respite for these families so far has been the postponement of the final date of their final expulsion. This recent threat of forced expulsions united East Jerusalemite Palestinians behind the threatened families, resulting in protests and clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police.
The final, and arguably most significant, flashpoint in the recent escalation took place in the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Al-Aqsa is said to be the third-holiest Islamic site and is therefore revered not only by Palestinian Muslims but also by Muslims globally. Two important events occurred in recent weeks at this site. The first was on the 13th of April, the first day of the holy month of Ramadan. On this date, Ramadan coincided with Israel’s Memorial Day, which commemorates Israel’s war martyrs and victims of terrorism. While Ramadan prayers were ongoing at Al-Aqsa, the Israeli President was also present at the Western Wall (a Jewish holy site) to give a speech. The Western Wall and the Al-Aqsa Mosque are in very close proximity to one another, with the latter being just below the former. Israeli officials were reportedly concerned that the Ramadan prayers would drown out the President’s speech. Consequently, Israeli police officers pushed their way into the mosque and cut the cables to the loudspeakers through which the Ramadan prayers were being broadcast. Palestinian Muslims deemed this incident offensive, believing that the Israeli force’s actions led to the desecration of the holy site.
The situation worsened when, on the 7th of May, Israeli police launched another raid into the mosque. However, this raid was far more severe than the one on April 13. The 7th of May marked the final Friday of Ramadan, and worshippers had gathered for the prayers to commemorate this day. However, many stayed on at the mosque following the prayers to protest the proposed forced expulsions in Sheikh Jarrah. Israeli police launched a raid to disperse these protesters, equipped with stun grenades and rubber bullets, which led to over 200 Palestinians being wounded.
In this tense atmosphere, matters became worse when Hamas (an Islamic militant group) became involved. Hamas ostensibly stands for the creation of an independent and Islamic state of Palestine, and to this end wages “war” on Israel. Hamas’ existence is sustained by Iran. While Iran does not publicly acknowledge this fact, it is widely believed that Iranian sponsorship of Hamas is a reality, while Hamas itself has at times boasted of Iranian support.
Finally, on the 10th of May, three days after the Israeli raid on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Hamas further entered the scene, firing rockets from the Gaza Strip into Jerusalem, and following it up with rocket attacks deep into Israel over the following week. While many rockets have been intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome - one of the most advanced missile defence systems in the world - Hamas rockets were still able to claim casualties. As of the 18th of May, 10 casualties have been reported as a result of Hamas’ rocket fire.
Israel’s government retaliated with massive force, pummelling Gaza with artillery and airstrikes. Given the massive scale of Israeli retaliation on civilian areas, coupled with Hamas’ human-shield tactics, civilian casualties in Gaza racked up at a near-apocalyptic pace. In just over a week, Gaza suffered over 200 civilian fatalities, with over 1400 wounded. Additionally, in barely a week, Israeli airstrikes displaced over 38,000 Palestinians residing in Gaza. On 15 May, an Israeli airstrike destroyed a building that housed several media outlets, including the local offices of the Associated Press and Al Jazeera.
The East Jerusalem tensions and the Hamas-Israel conflict led to the emergence of another complication: dissension between Arabs and Jews within Israel itself.
Even as Hamas and Israel were locked in conflict, Jewish-Israeli and Arab-Israeli mobs (i.e. where members of both sides were Israeli citizens) battled on the streets in major cities such as Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Lod. While the Jewish side was expressing anger at the relentless rocket attacks of Hamas, the Arab side expressed solidarity with its fellow Arabs in Palestine, as well as its discontent at being treated as second-class citizens within Israel. The increasing turbulence across the country in May sparked concern within the Israeli government, with President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Defence Minister Benny Gantz condemning the violence and calling for peace and harmony. Indeed, PM Netanyahu stated that “nothing justifies the lynching of Arabs by Jews and nothing justifies the lynching of Jews by Arabs.” The seriousness of the situation was reflected in a statement on the 12th of May by the Israeli President, wherein he warned of “civil war” erupting. In the meantime, an Arab-Israeli lawmaker, Ayman Odeh, also expressed his concern for the growing communal strife and blamed Netanyahu’s right-wing government for fuelling tensions.
The worsening situation in Israel has not been ignored by the international community, including governments, NGOs (Non-Government Organisations), and ordinary citizens. Countries all over the world have called for an end to the hostilities and a return to the peace process. For example, the USA has called for a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. However, the Biden administration has been blocking any UN Security Council which would enforce a ceasefire, prompting many to accuse it of colluding with the Israeli government. According to the USA, a UNSC resolution was unlikely to quell the violence, and that it would rather bring about a ceasefire through its own diplomatic channels with the Palestinian and Israeli sides. At the same time, elements of Biden’s own Democratic Party have been outspoken in their criticism of the USA’s Israel policies. Most notably, Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been vocal in her criticism of the Biden administration as well as of the Israeli government, calling Israel an “apartheid state” that is “not a democracy.”
In the Middle East, the Arab states have issued strong condemnations of Israel. Despite the recent signing of the Abraham Accords in September 2020 and the thaw in Arab-Israeli relations, countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE have spoken out against Israel. The Saudi Arabian state-owned press criticised Israel’s “criminal” actions. The UAE had earlier said that it “strongly condemned” the clashes at Al-Aqsa Mosque and the forced evictions of Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah. Public demonstrations in solidarity with the Palestinian people have been held in Morocco and Bahrain, both of which amended their relations with Israel last year. However, these condemnations have not been followed up by any action on behalf of the Arab states.
Last Tuesday, the EU, with the exception of Hungary, called for a ceasefire to be put in place. While the EU has increased humanitarian aid to Gaza, Hungary’s strong support for Israel has dealt a blow to the bloc’s unity and thus also to the EU’s legitimacy in the crisis. In the meanwhile, the French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian stated that the Middle East “Quartet”, including the UN, USA, Russia, and the EU, would be the ideal forum for achieving peace in the region.
In the region itself, all the major local stakeholders in the Israel-Palestine conflict - the Israeli government, the Palestinian Authority, and Hamas - appear to be either powerless or complicit in the growing violence. The present crisis provides a convenient distraction away from Prime Minister Netanyahu’s growing unpopularity: a result of his numerous corruption allegations and the weakness of his political position. Netanyahu and his Likud Party have failed to get a substantial majority in the Israeli parliament, resulting in coalition governments and four general elections in barely two years. It is believed that the present crisis will rally public support and attract coalition partners around the ruling party, in the face of a common enemy.
Neither the Palestinian National Authority, nor its President, Mahmoud Abbas, are powerful enough to push for a permanent resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Abbas, who belongs to the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s political wing Fatah, is extremely unpopular among the Palestinian public, so much so that he cancelled the Palestinian Authority elections which were scheduled for May of this year, out of fear that Fatah’s rival, Hamas, would prevail. Hamas, which has been competing with Fatah to be seen as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, will try to garner greater popularity among the Palestinians through its pitched conflict with Israel, in the name of resistance against the Zionist regime.
However, a beacon of hope has shone somewhat upon the situation; as of the 21st of May, a truce has come into effect between Israel and Hamas - though it would not be the first time that Israeli-Palestine confrontations have been terminated with a ceasefire, and then revived once again as many questions continue to remain unanswered - such as the future status of Jerusalem and the issue of Palestinian refugees. The Israeli Defence Minister adds to the contentious uncertainty of future events, with the declaration that “reality on the ground” will determine future relations.
Last year, as Donald Trump unveiled the normalisation of relations between the Arab nations and Israel, he spoke of a “New” Middle East, where peace and harmony would prevail. Regrettably, recent events have proven that in the Middle East, new or otherwise, peace remains elusive.
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