A Way Forward For Gaza and Israel?

During the month or so that Hamas and Israel have been at war, United Nation’s Security Council attempted to impose a total of eight temporary ceasefires. Sadly, the fighting persisted, ultimately causing nearly 2,000 casualties on both sides. While a 72-hour ceasefire proposed by Egypt went into effect just this morning, a growing number of leaders around the world believe the only way to permanently end the conflict is to disarm Gaza and invest in long-term in economic development.

Since Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005, a disastrous pattern has emerged: Hamas launches missiles, Israeli Defense Forces retaliate with overwhelming force. Israel then zeroes in and restricts movements in an out of the Gaza strip. As a result, the local economy withers. Hamas, in turn, receives aid money, but the financial support does not go towards assisting impoverished civilians. Instead, Hamas invests in more weapons and the Palestinian people are left to suffer.

Vocativ went to Israel to speak to local dignitaries and examine a potential solution to the conflict that has plagued this area for decades.

“The best solution is to have a long term cease fire with the removal of the siege and economic and social development, with international monitoring and guarantees,” Dr. Said Zidany, Professor of Al-Quds University in Jerusalem, tells us. But according to Admiral Ami Ayalon, the former Head of Israeli Security, Hamas is unlikely to assist with demilitarizing Gaza.

“Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people. And this is the tragedy of what we see today. Hamas doesn’t believe in diplomacy, the money went into creating military infrastructure, tunnels, and rockets,” he tells us.

Using the West Bank town of Ramallah as a reference, some insist that it is, in fact, possible to create a better future. In Ramallah, Palestinian authority—not Hamas, is in charge. “What we see in the West Bank today, okay, this is demilitarization, that’s it. We do not see military threat coming from the West Bank,” Ayalon asserts.

In contrast to these aims though, Hamas’ spokesman Fawzi Barhoum insists that, “anyone who owns a knife, a baton, a weapon and a car, and doesn’t use it to run down a Jew or settler, and doesn’t use it to kill dozens of Zionists—that person doesn’t belong to Palestine!”

Still, the proposal for a deal involving disarmament in exchange for economic and structural development in Palestine is gaining momentum. All 28 foreign ministers from the European Unions have stated their support in demilitarizing Hamas, and for the most part, the Obama Administration is on board. Meanwhile, there are strong indications that the governments of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates would back the idea as well.

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