Due to the complexity of the cultural and political issues at work in the conflict in Gaza, it can be difficult for Americans to piece together a holistic understanding of the situation there. It is therefore important to examine the many perspectives on the conflict closely.
Few members of the Carolina community have a deeper connection to Israeli politics than Josef Olmert. The professor of political science formerly served as a peace negotiator. His experiences serving in multiple senior positions in the Israeli government, Olmert said, give him a unique insight into the connection between political issues and conflicting cultural values in the Middle East.
“It’s the psychological-cultural divide which leads to political differences, not the other way around,” Olmert said. “There are a lot of mental, cultural differences that we have to understand and that we have to analyze before we come to conclusions.”
Tracing the conflict requires a contextual understanding of the relationship between Gaza and Israel, Olmert said. In 2005, Israeli troops withdrew from Gaza and Israeli settlements in the territory were disbanded. In 2006, Hamas came to power in Gaza after winning local elections. Hamas is a Palestinian Sunni Islamic organization, which is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and is considered a terrorist organization by many nations, including the United States. Hamas then unseated Fatah, an opposing political party, and, in 2007, seized control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority.
According to the Patriot News, after the Muslim Brotherhood was overthrown from the Egyptian government in 2013, Hamas lacked allies. Egypt closed down trade routes with Gaza, and the territory experienced extreme economic distress.
According to the Patriot News, in June, Israel began to expand its settlements in the West Bank, a territory to the East of Israel which is governed by the Palestinian Authority. On June 12, three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and killed in the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority responded by aiding Israel in combating Hamas in the West Bank.
The killings led to the revenge murder of a Palestinian teenager; Hamas fired hundreds of rockets into Israel in response. Israel retaliated with military force. The military conflict is ongoing.
International reactions to the conflict have varied greatly. Some reporters and political leaders have criticized Israeli actions, noting the disparity in the casualties between Israel and Gaza — according to TIME, the U.N. reported that there have been 1,065 casualties in Gaza and over 50 in Israel. One reason for that disparity, Olmert said, is Israel’s Iron Dome, a defense system that destroys enemy rockets. The density of Gaza’s population also increases the deadliness of attacks. The reason for the particularly high toll on civilians is even more grim, according to Olmert.
“The leaders of Hamas are sheltered under the hospitals there and schools, and ordinary people are the ones who suffer, and they suffer a lot.”
Due to the high level of casualties in Gaza, many leaders and media outlets have accused Israel of leveling a disproportionate response to the Hamas attacks. Olmert, however, defended Israel’s approach to the conflict, saying that the nation had a right to respond to enemy attacks and an obligation to prevent future threats.
“It’s a legitimate question to ask. What is the accepted international norm of proportionate or disproportionate response? … What is the answer to 12,000 rockets?” Olmert said. “One of the most basic notions of liberal people is that might can’t be right … Might was used in the past to put down all kinds of evil countries and movements, so when do people decide when might is right or not right? They go by their political opinions.”
Olmert also highlighted Israel’s efforts to protect Palestinian civilians during attacks. Israeli forces have preceded several attacks with warning shots, text messages and phone calls warning civilians of impending threats.
When looking for ultimate solutions for the conflict, “while it would be important to militarily defeat Hamas, it would also be as important to show to the Palestinians in Gaza and definitely in the West Bank, that it is not a war against the Palestinian people, it’s a war against those bad people that put in danger their own people and the Israelis,” Olmert said. “Israelis are trying to reduce the level of civilian casualties in Gaza, and they do as much as they can about that, and if they don’t succeed sometimes it’s because it’s a war. But they really try.”
Olmert expressed his hope that the conflict would resolve within the coming weeks and with feasible compromises between Israel and Gaza, leading to the control of Gaza by the Palestinian Authority. He believes that the international community, including the United Nations and the United States in particular, should supervise the implementation of any future solution.
“There should be therefore these two tiers, or circles, of solution. The regional and the more global one,” Olmert said.
The professor revealed that it is his opinion that the United States should be involved heavily in the resolution of the conflict, and he encouraged students to educate themselves about the situation because of our nation’s power to affect the outcome in Gaza.
“[Students] should pay attention to what’s happening in the world because America is an important country in the world, some say the superpower,” Olmert said. “The question really is, what does it mean to be a superpower? Does it really mean that every conflict in the world there has to be an American intervention? … America is the number one power in the world, and it is expected to interfere, but to do it in a way that is leading to success.”