As of October 10, the Hamas-led “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood,” launched on October 7, and Israel’s “Operation Iron Sword” have left a grim toll. In Israel there are over 1200 dead, 2400 wounded, and 100-plus hostages. In Gaza, there are over 950 dead, including at least 140 children, and 4250 injured. Sadly, by the time this piece is published, the toll will have surged, especially on the Palestinian side. Disappointingly, the reaction in the U.S. has been one-sided condemnation with no recognition of a broader context. This pattern covers the entire spectrum of politicians, including Donald Trump, President Biden, Bernie Sanders and even Ilhan Omar (though she has also called for a ceasefire). Collectively, U.S. politicians have conveyed that Israelis are “worthy” victims and Palestinians are not.
Of course, there is good reason to condemn the nature of Hamas’ invasion, which killed plenty of noncombatants and included a massacre of over 200 at a music concert. Yet to call these attacks unprovoked and to ignore the grave conditions of Palestinians in Gaza is morally tone-deaf, self-absolving, and counterproductive. Indeed, this one-sided condemnation will embolden a harsh reaction from an Israeli government that has become unleashed from legal or moral constraints. Notably, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant declared a complete blockade of electricity, fuel, food, and water for the Gaza and stated “We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly.” Other journalists and politicians have called for sending “Gaza back to the stone age” and asked “Why are there buildings still standing in Gaza?”
Urgently needed in the U.S. is both a probing understanding of what led to the present eruption of violence and reckoning for U.S. complicity. Only then might it finally contribute to a peaceful resolution. To help with this task, I start by applying the most valuable approach from my scholarly discipline of international relations, which is to assess the situation from the perspective of the protagonists. As there is no shortage of empathy for Israelis, I consider a few important considerations from the Palestinian perspective, particularly those living in Gaza. Leaving aside internal divisions, we can assume a widespread hope for robust self-determination, dignity, and the end of subjugation. What, then, have Palestinians faced in recent years?
To begin with, the era of official, U.S.-mediated bilateral negotiations launched by the Oslo Accords in 1993 utterly failed despite the unequivocal recognition from the Palestinian leadership of the state of Israel, based on its 1967 borders. The result has been a great expansion of settlements, the cordoning off of Palestinians into distinct zones hemmed in by checkpoints, Israeli settlements and infrastructure, and a deterioration in living standards.
To be sure, there is no shortage of missteps and ugly actions taken over the years by Hamas and its invasion has involved severe war crimes. Nevertheless, Palestinians have been in an untenable position, which helps explain, without justifying, why they lashed out violently.
Gaza, meanwhile, has been under siege since 2007. The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has documented a situation of “nearly inhumane conditions” in which 60% of the population faces food insecurity, access to electricity is restricted to a few hours a day, 96% of the water is contaminated, and Israeli buffer zones constrict the permissible areas for farming and fishing. As Israeli officials have stated the aim to be the weakening and overthrow of Hamas, the International Committee of the Red Cross has determined the siege to be “collective punishment” in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
A third widely recognized dynamic is the failure of both diplomacy from the Palestinian Authority and non-violent protests. In 2018-2019, thousands of Gazans took part in peaceful protests along the Gaza perimeter to protest the siege and other Israeli policies. True to its policy of using live fire to attack anyone who approached the buffer zone, Israelis fired at the protesters, resulting in 223 deaths and 8000 injured.
One last dynamic to highlight for now is the intersection of an extremist Israeli government—one that rejects a Palestinian state and furthers Jewish supremacy across greater Israel—and the deepening of a U.S.-led project, which started with the Abraham Accords of 2020 and is now focused on Saudi-Israeli normalization, which effectively removes the Palestinian political cause as a concern for the heart of the Middle East.
To be sure, there is no shortage of missteps and ugly actions taken over the years by Hamas and its invasion has involved severe war crimes. Nevertheless, Palestinians have been in an untenable position, which helps explain, without justifying, why they lashed out violently. Crucially, the U.S. has not been an innocent bystander. First, it has long shielded Israel from sanctions for the latter’s long defiance of a global consensus—one that condemns settlements, insists upon full regard for international humanitarian law, and deems a fully sovereign Palestinian state over all of the Palestinian territories (the West Bank and Gaza Strip) taken by Israel in the 1967 war as indispensable. Notwithstanding, Israel’s further descent into hardline chauvinism, the U.S. still provides billions of dollars in security assistance while President Biden declares the “unbreakable” friendship of the two countries. With the plan for Saudi-Israeli normalization, the U.S. has moved to a final washing of its hands of the Palestinians.
To stem the ever-worsening cycles of violent outbursts and utter despair, a fundamental shift in U.S. policy in the region is imperative. This will not occur soon but there are signs of major changes within the U.S. academic community and among the young people in general, including American Jews. Most immediately, however, all Americans concerned about stopping a bloodbath should demand an immediate ceasefire from President Biden and their representatives in Congress rather than giving Israel free reign to retaliate as it sees fit. Otherwise, we may be headed down a path that will cement ugliness and instability in the region for decades, a prospect with grave consequences for both Palestinians and Israeli Jews.
