Israel – Palestine conflict | Op-ed | Security Lense | 31-Aug-2024
The Israel-Palestine conflict is one of the most significant and bloody events of the twentieth century. Since the deadly Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, Israel has launched a full-scale war on Palestinian territories. The United States has provided great logistical and technical support to Israel, as it is not only trying to illegally occupy Palestine but also engaged in fighting with non-governmental factions such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and Hamas in the occupied Palestinian territories. While the humanitarian consequences of Israel’s actions are severe, there is also a serious risk of a resurgence of non-state actors across the Middle Eastern region.
The territorial disputes, cultural conflicts, and historical objections lead to the conflict between Israel and Palestine, increasing violence in this region. It has also initiated diplomatic concerns and efforts in the international community over the decades. However, these efforts have intensified the situation in the Middle East and the ongoing conflict in the region. As the conflict evolves, the changing dynamics in the area make it even more challenging to achieve a peace in a place where history, identity, and ideology intersect in a deadly way.
The long-recognized conflict affected regional peace along with global geopolitical problems. The war started after the deadly Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, Israel launched a full-scale war on Palestine territories. Israel is not only trying to occupy Palestine illegally but also engaged in fighting wars with non-governmental actors such as Hezbollah, Houthis, and Hamas in Palestine. In this bloodshed, the world has witnessed Israel as being the largest Cumulative recipient of US aid, especially after the October attack, of 2023, providing at least 12.5 Billion dollars in military aid. Along with this, Israel is allowed to buy equipment from Israeli defense firms and only Israel is taking advantage of this benefit than other US aid recipients. This support strengthens the US-Israel alliance directed by both strategic interests, democratic values, and US defensive policies and efforts towards Israel. Israel propagates this scenario as a defensive strategy against the attack of Hamas’s military wing. However, the military response of Israel against Hamas has transcended from attacking Hamas. It now involves attacks on other non-state factions including Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen. For Israel, these non-state actors are threats to Israel’s security. This is because of their relationship with Iran and their anti-Israel agendas. Moreover, to maintain a domino impact in the Middle East region, US military aid to Israel is a trick to maintain the US dominance against Iran and in the region. The involvement of non-state actors and strategies for democratic purposes of the world’s super power adds a layer of complexities in this region. These complications made Israel and Palestine issues beyond their borders making it a multi-front struggle.
Nevertheless, the impact of Israel’s military campaign is becoming severe day by day. This campaign has increased the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Since October 7, 2023, according to Oxfam International, it has been estimated that the Israel military is killing more than 250 people per day in Gaza and many died because of hunger, cold, and disease. In addition, the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs highlighted the mingling of civilians with Hamas militants, making it worse for the countries to provide aid to the people of Gaza. The restrictions on the outer world, made the dense populated Gaza Strip suffer from a shortage of food and economic hardships. Although these factors increased the humanitarian crisis, Israel is still fighting for its national security while Hamas is protecting its land, depriving people of necessities.
On the far side of these humanitarian crises, the ongoing conflict increased the risk of the resurgence of non-state factions in the Middle East region. The non-state actors like Hezbollah, the Houthis, and other militant organizations found a new motivation and rightness to fight against Israel’s military activities. These groups also name their fight for the cause of Palestinian defense to support and justify their actions against Israel and its ally’s activities. According to European Union policies, the European Union and its member states are solely responsible for making policies for the conflict, whereas, the non-state actors, think tanks, and NGO’s are responsible for the output of these policies. However, in contemporary times these non-state factions play an essential role in shaping the policy of the European Union and its member states for the ongoing Israel and Palestine conflict. Moreover, the emergence of non-state actors in different regions of the Middle East such as the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon known to be the significant powers that are influencing the governments. These non-state actors create problems for superpowers and meditators creating policy in the Middle East, as they are equipped with inexpensive yet advanced armed weaponry supplied by anti-US and Israeli powers. These non-state actors do not consider them responsible for economic, social, humanitarian, and regional problems giving them designation as Terrorists by the United Nations. Resurgence of these non-state actors during the Israel-Palestine conflict could escalate the conflict from regional to global conflict. Potentially, this conflict has vast regional confrontation drawing neighboring countries and global powers into the conflict. It can have profound implications on oil and gas supplies disturbing the global economy, and increase the refugee flow across the Middle East, hence, increasing radicalization in the Middle East.
The incident of October 7, 2023, only increased the violence and intensified broader issues. Peace-making and diplomatic efforts must focus on addressing the conflict and rights of Palestinians. Only a genuine commitment to resolve the conflict can end the suffering of people from Israel’s military violence.
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