WikiCommons With the conclusion of the most recent war between Israel and Hamas, the status quo is reemerging yet again to denote the calm on the contentious border. As many had predicted, the conflict did not, and as of yet has not, moved the peace process forward. Rather, both sides are settling in after the Egypt-brokered ceasefire and seem to be awaiting the next outburst of hostilities as they have countless times before. There is only one...
WikiCommons On January 16, my fellow cohort at Columbia Political Review, Josh Fattal, wrote an intriguing response to my piece written just a few days prior, “A Modest Proposal.” In my article, I argue that Israel needs to consider engaging Hamas diplomatically in some capacity as an effort to prevent more Israeli-Hamas violence, and to help move the peace process forward. I contend Israel can no longer ignore Hamas on its flank, and that Isra...
WikiCommons In his piece published online on January 13, my fellow Middle East columnist Eliot Sackler argued that in light of Hamas’s supposed growing legitimacy and desire for progress, Israel should embrace a “pragmatic policy” and recognize Hamas as a political actor, adopting a policy of “engagement” as opposed to one of ”isolation.” The piece is admirable for its extensive research and tenacious attempt to propose something new. So...
from the Israeli Defense Forces Once again, Hamas and Israel are on the brink. As Israel mobilizes its military for a possible ground invasion, Hamas refuses to back down. Air strikes light up the Gazan sky while rockets explode in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Surely, intermittent exchanges of rocket fire and violence have been a mainstay on the Gaza-Israel border for years now, but with the recent escalation of violence, war now appears to be immin...
...anything particularly evil or nasty about them. Without blatant and useless name-calling, I hope to touch on a delicate but hugely significant problem that I fear continues to haunt certain elements of the Palestinian people. Hamas, and its allies, by and large have a certain wrongheaded attitude towards human life, and towards Israel, that is anathema to the idea of peace and disastrous for hopes of a two state solution. Perhaps the greatest ind...
...ntially disastrous war. In the simple narrative of Israel’s vulnerability to its enemies, the story is something like this: The Palestinians are supported by the Arab states and Iran, who are united by their hatred of Israel. Hamas, Fatah, Hezbollah, and the Arab armies, if not interchangeable, share the same interests and can be defeated through the same tactics. This picture of an Iran-Syria-Hamas-Fatah-Hezbollah axis, spanning geographical, et...
...e of deal broker of the Arab-Israeli conflict. This president, who refuses to talk to Israelis or even mention the name of their country, became their protector and confidant, arbitrating the ceasefire deal Israel signed with Hamas. Secretary of State Clinton congratulated Morsi on his “leadership” and “responsibility,” and much of the Western world was thankful that Morsi did not side Egypt with Hamas, the combatant in that conflict that he clea...
...er 8th Israeli soldiers, going after a cache of explosives near the border, ended a nearly two week long respite in hostilities by storming across the border with four tanks and a bulldozer. In the resulting firefight between Hamas and IDF troops, the child paid the price. These little skirmishes are profoundly disturbing, but regrettably are not rare. In the following days more Palestinian civilians were killed and several Israeli soldiers were...
...se radical policies contradict the foundational philosophy of democracy? If Egypt and other countries allow extremist parties to hijack their societies, then their nascent democracies will certainly fail. The 2006 election of Hamas in Gaza similarly shows how extremist groups often derail the development of democratic societies. Hamas limited Palestinians’ personal liberty and disrupted hopes for a just society. Hamas instituted a strict interpre...
...st lies the ayatollahs’ other arch-nemesis: Israel. Since Iran has no border with Israel, to keep itself relevant in the Arab-Israeli conflict and continue to stoke the flames, it has to rely on its proxies, namely Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Hezbollah is perhaps a textbook case of how Iran operates with various nonstate actors to extend its influence. Formed three years after the revolution that ousted the Shah, it continues...
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