Hundreds of
Palestinians have been killed and thousands more wounded since Israel launched
a military
offensive against the militant Islamist group Hamas, which rules the Gaza
Strip. Israel says the military action was taken in response to persistent
rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel, which has been struck by thousands
of missiles since 2001. The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing
struggle between Israelis and Palestinians that began in the mid-20th century.
The conflict is wide-ranging and the term is sometimes also used in reference
to the earlier sectarian conflict in Mandatory Palestine, between the Zionist
yishuv and the Arab population under British rule. This conflict has formed the
core part of the wider Arab–Israeli conflict. It has widely been referred to as
the world's"most intractable conflict". Despite a long-term peace
process and the general reconciliation of Israel with Egypt and Jordan,
Israelis and Palestinians have failed to reach a final peace agreement.
As
international efforts at mediation quicken and the humanitarian situation in
Gaza grows grimmer, here’s a quick look at some of the context to the latest
chapter in the decades-long conflict between Jews and Arabs in the Holy Land:
Where is the Gaza Strip?
The Gaza
Strip is a 146-square-mile strip of coastal land running along Israel's
southwestern flank on the Mediterranean Sea and on the border with Egypt on the
southwest for 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) and Israel on the east and north along a
51 km (32 mi) border. About 1.5 million Palestinians live there and it is
governed by the militant Islamist group Hamas.
What are both sides’ demands?
Israel has
three main demands: an end to Palestinian attacks, international supervision of
any
truce and a
halt to Hamas rearming. In the immediate term, Hamas demands a cessation of
Israeli attacks and the opening of vital Gaza-Israel cargo crossings, Gaza's
main lifeline.
What's the big picture?
A battle
over soil is at the heart of the current conflict between Israelis and
Palestinians. The lands that now make up Israel and the Palestinians
territories of the West Bank and Gaza
Strip
emerged out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, which collapsed after World War
I.
Although
initially run by the British under a League of Nations mandate, the United
Nations
recommended
partitioning what was then called Palestine into Arab and Jewish states.
But Jewish
settlers declared the formation of the state of Israel in 1948, prompting the
surrounding Arab states to invade. By the end of the brief war, the land that
was to have been the Palestinian Arab state was occupied partially by Israel
and partially by Egypt and Jordan. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were
expelled or fled Israeli-controlled territory and many wound up in refugee
camps in the Egyptian-held Gaza Strip. In the wars that did much to define the
region in the ensuring decades, the Gaza Strip passed into Israeli control and,
as a result of the Oslo accords, became partly autonomous under the Palestinian
National Authority in 1994. Israel continued to exercise considerable control
in the area, however, and Israeli settlements that had been built during the
period of military occupation remained. Successive peace processes started and stalled
in the following years. Neither the Israelis nor the
Palestinians
met commitments made under a timetable set forth in 2003 meant to lead to a
Palestinian
state next to Israel. Israel did eventually evacuate its settlements in the
Gaza Strip, however, forcibly ejecting Israeli citizens from these settlements
in 2005.
What's life like in Gaza?
Difficult.
Conditions for regular Gazans, many of whom live in refugee camps, have
deteriorated dramatically in recent years, with 80 percent living on less than
$2.30 per day, according to the United Nations. Two-thirds of all Palestinians
do not have access to a sewage system. The population of Gaza is subject to
Israeli closures and checkpoints, which often make it impossible to travel to
or work in Israel and the West Bank. Gaza lives under a tight blockade, which
often makes it impossible for food, water, medical supplies and other
essentials to reach the population. The Israeli military has severely limited
journalists’ access to Gaza following its invasion but reports indicate the
situation is growing grimmer each day.
What is the
World reacts to the conflict in Gaza?
According
to Aljazeera, July 10, 2014. The international community remains sharply
divided as an Israeli army offensive in Gaza that has killed scores enters its
third day and Palestinian fighters fire rockets at a number of cities in
Israel. At least 81 Palestinians have died in airstrikes since they began on
Tuesday, with Israel facing condemnation from many Arab andmMuslim countries,
and calls for restraint from some of its allies. Others have condemned rocket
attacks from Gaza and say that Israel has a right to defend itself. Al Jazeera
looks at how some world leaders have reacted.
Arab League
General-Secretary Nabil al Arabi called for a emergency meeting of the UN
Security Council to "adopt measures
to stop Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip."
"I condemn the rising number of civilian lives
lost in Gaza,” he said.
Scotland,
which is in the UK but has its own parliament separate to London's House of
Commons, called on both sides to "de - escalate" the situation and
offered to help treat civilians injured in the conflict. "Scotland stands ready to offer whatever assistance we can and it
is in that spirit that we make this offer, to give specialist medicalhelp to
civilians caught up in the conflict should medical evacuation be
possible," said External Affairs Minister Humza Yousaf .
"The Bolivarian Government of Venezuela
vigorously condemns the unfair and disproportionate military response by the
illegal state of Israel against the heroic Palestinian people", President Nicolas Maduro said .
"The firing of rockets from the Gaza Strip has
led to a situation that threatens to cause a spiral of violence and counter -
violence .. .I hope that all sides will agree that a military confrontation ,
which could spiral out of control, must be averted," said a
statement by the German Foreign Office.
The country
' s foreign ministry said "Egypt
condemns these hostilities, which led to the killing and injury of tens of
Palestinians and called on Israeli to stop 'all collective punishment.'
"I condemn unreservedly the indiscriminate firing
of rockets into Israel which pose such a grave threat to the population. I
equally condemn the mounting civilian casualties, including reportedly women
and children, resulting from Israeli air strikes against Gaza" said
Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore
http://www.nbcnews.com
http://en.m.wikipedia.org
http://m.aljazeera.com
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