While commonly thought of as a means by Israel to combat legitimate security threats, the closure of Gaza was in fact also implemented as a means of imposing pressure on the civilian population and the de facto ruler of Gaza – Hamas. While some changes were made on access to the Strip, remaining restrictions, ongoing hostilities, and successive military operations as well as the Palestinian political divide have resulted in continued intense suffering. Ten years since the Hamas takeover, civilians continue to pay the price for the...
In order to avoid another conflict with Israel, Hamas has taken action to prevent attacks against Israel by the jihad factions operating in the Gaza Strip, and the organization has even established a restraining force that prevents shooting incidents from the border area with Israel or makes arrests if shooting incidents occur. Under these conditions, along with the strengthening of the terrorist infrastructure in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and the permission granted for controlled popular demonstrations in the proximity of...
The Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah, controlled by Fatah and Mahmoud Abbas, perceives the situation in the Gaza Strip, as well as its involvement in any reconstruction projects there, through the lens of its own political gains. Fatah’s main political interest remains to ensure its dominance, in terms of power and support, over the Hamas movement, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since the Palestinian legislative elections of 2006.
One of the most significant changes in Gaza over the past decade is without a doubt Hamas’s rise to power and the group’s consolidation of political, social, and military control of the Strip. Although as of late 2017 Hamas’s governance project remains in a precarious position, its authority over the Gaza Strip remains fundamentally unchallenged. Any long term policy proposal with respect to Gaza must take this reality into account and weigh the complex balance of power between Hamas and the other political factions and civilian...
The current situation in the Gaza Strip is marked by several primary phenomena, led by Gaza’s severe economic plight and deteriorated infrastructure. These hardships aggravate humanitarian distress, which in turn motivates belligerent tendencies and heightens the danger of security escalation between Israel and Hamas and other terrorist forces operating in the Strip. Additional parameters include Hamas’s comprehensive and stable control of the region; the organization’s proven capacity for destructive activity, both in the Israeli-...
The details of the long-awaited US Mideast peace plan are deliberately scant, but it appears that a new negotiations paradigm is being formulated that departs from a number of traditional policies pursued by previous administrations. The Trump administration appears focused on initiating comprehensive final status negotiations, and the President’s team seems to be driven more by interest-based policy considerations than by the value-based precepts championed by much of the international community and previous administrations. The...
On December 6, 2017 President Trump announced that the United States recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. What followed this controversial announcement in the UN realm was a flurry of initiatives, including a draft resolution submitted to the Security Council by Egypt; a resolution submitted to the General Assembly by Yemen and Turkey; Israel’s withdrawal form UNESCO, and President Trump’s threat to cut funding from UNRWA. In reviewing this sequence of events, two conclusions emerge. First, the UN arena has...
Conditions in the Gaza Strip today resemble those that prevailed before previous rounds of hostilities, above all Operation Protective Edge, and it thus appears that the road to a further round of fighting in Gaza – after over three years of relative quiet – is growing shorter. For over a month, there has been steady rocket and mortar fire from the Gaza Strip toward Israel. Israel’s response strategy currently appears ineffective, and Hamas too finds it hard to stop the shooting. If Israel wishes to avoid escalation, it must...
The voices calling for the application of Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, or parts thereof, have recently grown louder. The main problem with this measure is the disregard of the repercussions of this course of action for the Palestinians in this territory and the future of the Palestinian Authority, and the ensuing ramifications for Israel, both on the domestic and international levels. The Israeli government can decide that despite arguments against the move, it wants to advance courses of action to extend sovereignty...
In 2017, the major actors in the international arena continued the cautious policy of recent years: a limited investment of resources in the Middle East, based on the desire to avoid falling into regional cauldrons that continue to simmer, though mostly on a low flame. Among the principal events that preoccupied the international actors were the ongoing campaign against the Islamic State, the stabilization of the Bashar al-Assad regime, and the worsening Sunni-Shiite conflict, especially between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Other important...
This chapter focuses on trends in the Israeli-Palestinian arena, exploring in particular developments with the potential to help thaw the deadlock and policy recommendations to facilitate realization of this potential. Proposed measures can both help remove obstacles to upgraded relations between Israel and pragmatic Arab countries, and encourage the expansion of these relations to the public stage.
This essay discusses four principal disputes in Israeli society related to national security, focusing on approaches to these issues among the Israeli Jewish public (hereafter, “the public”). It outlines the connection between these disputes and different world views among the public, based on respective approaches to the country’s core values. To this end, the essay discusses the significance of Israel’s definition as a “Jewish and democratic state,” the role of liberal values in the Israeli democratic context, and possible ways to...
