OBSTACLES TO PEACE

While the scale and sheer brutality of the acts of terrorism committed by Hamas militants in southern Israel on 7 October defy explanation, the unprecedented attack on Israeli civilians needs to be seen in the perspective of the specific circumstances applying to the Gaza strip.

       Some of the salient facts relevant to this conflict — facts which may well be lost on many people reading reports and seeing footage — are as follows:

• Gaza was under the administration of Egypt from 1948 to 1967, during which time Egypt did not establish a permanent Palestinian administration. The outline of Gaza is formed by a 1949 Armistice Line — which was established following the 1948 war initiated against Israel by its neighbours — and the southern boundary with Egypt. Israel took over control of the area after the Six Day War in 1967 until administration was handed over to the Palestinian National Authority under the Oslo Accords in 1993.

• Gaza is not the most densely populated place on earth, as is often It is not even in the top 100. Singapore, Dhaka in Bangladesh, and Bnei Brak in Israel are all examples of more densely populated places.
• The Gaza Strip shares a land border with Egypt in the south, and transit between Egypt and Gaza passes through the Rafah Crossing which is subject to Egyptian control. To the north and east, Gaza borders Israel with transit between Israel and Gaza passing through the Erez Crossing which is subject to Israeli control.
• The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005. The goal was to restore the momentum towards peaceful coexistence acquired during the Oslo Accords. Some former Israeli agricultural infrastructure and all services were left in place to assist with stabilising the administration and economy of the Strip.
• In 2006 a Palestinian legislative election was held across the West Bank and Gaza. Hamas emerged on top of a fractured ballot in Gaza, largely as a result of widespread concern with the levels of corruption exhibited by the principal Fatah authorities. Fatah remained the predominant authority in the West Bank.
• Initially, a unity government was established between Fatah and Hamas, but this was destroyed when civil war broke out between Hamas and Fatah in Gaza in 2007. Hamas hunted down members of Fatah and any other persons considered to be rivals. The Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens Rights found over 600 Palestinians were killed in that phase of fighting and many more were executed in the following years.
• Hamas systematically dismantled all the judicial, security, and administrative structures that the international community and Palestinian Authority had worked to put in place in Gaza. Hamas has remained in sole control of the whole of Gaza since 2007.
• Hamas was established in 1987 as an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and has been declared a terrorist organisation by many countries, including Australia.
• The Gaza Strip is not under occupation by Israel; under international law, the territory must be under the “effective control” of an occupier. There has been no Israeli administration in place or any IDF presence in the Gaza Strip since 2005. The latest attack by Hamas underlines that there is no effective control by Israel.
• Under the Hamas regime, there have been no elections since 2006, no trade unions are permitted, and LGBTIQA+ persons are frequently executed when discovered. The Hamas administration engages in routine torture and summary executions. There is no free speech or alternative organisations permitted in Gaza, other than Palestinian Islamic Jihad which is even more extreme.
• Several attempts have been made by the Palestinian Authority to forge a unity government and hold elections in Gaza — all of which have failed. This is because Hamas refuses to accept the underlying principles of the peace process, which were laid down by the “Quartet” of the European Union, Russia, the UN, and the United States in 2002, and accepted by the Palestinian Authority. These principles include: recognition of the right of Israel to exist, the renunciation of violence, and the acceptance of previous agreements.