On Oct. 17, 2023, a strike hit the al-Ahli Arab Hospital and killed an estimated 100-300 people in what the Palestinian Health Ministry has called a “targeted Israeli bombing” of the hospital.
This particular strike is one of the more egregious consequences of the non-stop rocket fire between Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hamas militants that has kickstarted in the region.
The barrage of rocket-fire from both sides has been sustained since members of Hamas breached the Israel-Gaza barrier on Oct. 7, during a major offensive campaign they dubbed “Operation al-Aqsa Flood.”
The assault led to over 200 civilians, including American citizens being taken hostage, and the Israeli government declaring war against Hamas, which triggered combat between the two groups throughout territories within Israel and the Gaza Strip.
Shortly after this declaration, Israel ordered a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip, launching a devastating bombing campaign and cutting off the supplies of food, electricity, fuel and water supplies to the territory; an action that United Nations experts have condemned as “collective punishment.”
As the conflict has continued to escalate over the last two weeks, so has the cost of human life.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry over 13,000 Gazans have been injured and the death toll in the Gaza Strip has climbed to over 4,000, with most of the casualties being women and children; while in Israel 1,400 casualties were reported during the initial attack by Hamas, though that number seems to have stayed the same.
Independently reported war crimes have been perpetrated by both Israel and Hamas as both sides continue to wage indiscriminate bombing campaigns against the other, and strike the civilians caught in the center of the conflict.
This particular eruption of violence is just one example of the modern conflict between Israel and Palestine, which most subject-experts agree sparked after the 1917 British Mandate for Palestine, the subsequent surge of large-scale Eastern European Jewish immigration that occurred from 1922 to 1947, and the rising tensions between the Arabs that called the region home and Zionist Jews partaking in UN sponsored immigration.
These factors eventually culminated in Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948 and formation as a state, which subsequently ignited the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and brought about the “Nakba”, the Arabic word for catastrophe, that displaced an estimated 700,000 Palestinians and created the statelessness that continues to define the Palestinian national identity even in the modern day.
The Nakba was followed by 75 years of increasing tension and eventual hostilities between Israel and its various Arab neighbors; and through key events like the Six-Day War which originally brought the territories of the Gaza Strip, West Bank and Golan Heights under Israeli occupation, the Yom Kippur War, the signing of the 1978 Camp David Accords and 1993 Oslo Accords, the First and Second Intifada, and the complete blockade of the Gaza Strip that was emplaced in 2007.
While this is a general summary, this is by no means a completely accurate, or detailed account of the last seven to eight decades that have encompassed the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Therefore, the Branding Iron urges its readers to conduct their own research and not rely on our reporting alone for a full understanding of this complex topic.
While the conflict between Israel and Palestinians, and in more recent years Hamas, has been a focal point of international discussion and at times intervention for decades now, the recent attack from Hamas, and subsequent retaliation from Israel has once again sparked conversations between experts and laymen internationally, including here at the University of Wyoming.
Logan Raper, a senior at the University of Wyoming and writer for the online journal The Modern Insurgent, is one such participant of that conversation.
When asked how he perceived people’s actual knowledge and connection about this conflict and what misconceptions they may have about it, Raper said “people think that this is some ancient intractable conflict that’s been going on for millennia, which isn’t the case … a lot of people ascribe this to also be this religious conflict where at the core of it, religious motivation is the key, which really it isn’t. A lot of this is just political.”
He continued by saying, “It kind of turns into this blind political tribalism, because in America, politics is a sport and that means critical thinking doesn’t apply, so when the discussion gets brought up it isn’t this critical or provocative discussion, it’s frankly, kind of what the conflict is too. It’s just two people who are shouting past each other to appease their sides.”
As for the question of Hamas’ legitimacy as a governing body, Raper said, “You know, whether the international community, or whether the PA (Palestinian Authority), or whether Israel likes it or not, they’re there. And we really can’t do anything about that because nobody challenged the vote in 2006. And as a result Hamas does have that sense of political legitimacy to them.”
He continued with a caveat, stating “I would say they are legitimate in that sense, but I would say they’re comparatively legitimate to the PA in that neither of the populations they govern over have seen an election since 2006. And are both suffering from the exact same problems where you have a lot of internal corruption … like the Martyrs Brigades who are basically just thugs who will get to act with impunity, and extort what they want from the people.”
Raper finished by saying, “My stance hasn’t really changed, at the end of the day it’s just two societies that are locked in this combat, because both sides are run by political entities that have to justify their survival. Benjamin Netanyahu has to save face and say he’s taking the fight to Hamas, and Hamas has to justify their political survival by taking the fight to Israel. And what you get is the people who are responsible for this shit are never held accountable for it, and the people who have to bear it are civilians … and it’s a tragedy anytime something like this happens.”
Doctor Moshine el Ahmadi, a Professor of Political Sociology at Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakesh, Morocco, also visited Coe Library on Wednesday, Oct. 16, where he presented “The Abraham Accords from a Moroccan Perspective: Three Years On” to Laramie locals and UW faculty and students.
The presentation gave a brief history of Moroccan and Israeli relations, both positive and negative, Morocco’s involvement in various peace talks and agreements between Israel and Egypt prior to the 1978 Camp David Summit, as well as the signing of the 2020 Abraham Accords.
He further elaborated on the positive elements of the accords, particularly of the recognition of Morocco’s claim to the Western Sahara, and the fact that the agreement has opened the door for “full diplomatic, peaceful and friendly relations” between the two countries, and makes Morocco the second North African country, behind Egypt to recognize Israel’s statehood.
Beyond these specific individual insights, there has been a general acknowledgment of the conversation surrounding the conflict across the university campus, including University of Wyoming President Ed Seidel and Provost Kevin Carman’s press release.
As this conflict continues to develop, as well as the international (and local) response to it, the Branding Iron will continue its research and reporting to the best of its abilities.
