The issue of territorial sovereignty in the Middle East is arguably one of the most complicated issues in human history. The author goes so far as to assert that anyone who claims to fully understand the problems of the Middle East must not understand anything about the problems in the Middle East at all. Therefore, the main purpose of this article is only to bring a different perspective that the audience can use to look at this issue. After all, it is easy to just support one party that meets the geo-political needs of one’s own country, but there are other important perspectives.
With the Al-Aqsa Flood operation launched by Hamas on October 7, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict once again returned to the spotlight. Palestinian militants successfully broke through the separation wall and invaded the Israeli-occupied territories around Gaza, causing heavy casualties to Israeli soldiers and civilians before most militants were annihilated; Hamas said its attack was in response to Israeli violations of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and rising settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel subsequently declared war on Hamas. US President Joe Biden and others described the day as "the worst mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust."
After the initial attack, Hamas took a large number of civilians hostage into Gaza to prevent Israeli retaliatory bombing. Following the Hamas attack, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu announced a mobilization order for 300,000 Israeli troops and a full-scale blockade of the Gaza Strip. Now, Israel has launched a ground offensive , but these days of siege and continuous bombing of Gaza have increased the number of civilian casualties.
Since the attack, the United Nations Security Council has launched several draft ceasefire resolutions, but, unfortunately, none of them were passed because its five permanent members could not reach consensus; the closest to being passed among them is Brazil's draft . Brazil's resolution clearly recognizes Hamas as a terrorist organization and calls for a humanitarian ceasefire; it received twelve votes in favor and was rejected by one vote. The reason for the vote to reject is that the draft resolution did not include Israel's right to self-defense. If the Security Council cannot reach an agreement, the decision will be made by the United Nations General Assembly. The United Nations General Assembly subsequently held an emergency meeting and adopted a resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire. The resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly are not mandatory. Only the resolutions of the UN Security Council can have mandatory binding force ; the resolutions of the UN General Assembly can only serve as political expressions.
After the initial weeks of almost unanimous condemnation of the Hamas terror attacks, public opinion now appears to be polarized. The first thing that needs to be said is that those who support Palestine are not of the same origin as those who support Hamas, and Pro-Palestinian voices also condemn Hamas’ terrorist acts/attacks. As far as I know, from New York to London, people in Western countries that are stereotypically more pro-Israel have held large-scale demonstrations in support of Palestine. Such divisive remarks may be because of the increasingly extreme behavior on both sides of the conflict.
Supporters of Israel emphasize Israel's right to self-defense and human rights; they also emphasize Hamas as a terrorist organization (therefore Israel's military operations are just counter-terrorism operations), and condemn its terrorist acts. Such voices condemned Hamas' terrorist attacks and the act of taking hostages to prevent retaliation. They also condemned the periodic launching of rockets by Hamas to attack Israel, and Hamas’s indiscriminate attacks on civilians.
However, the people who support Palestine think these actions by Hamas may be due to the greater humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's siege . Pro-Palestinian voices also emphasize human rights; they condemn Israeli supporters for ignoring the human rights of Palestinian civilians. They state that the fundamental problem of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is Israel's policy of encroaching on Palestinian territory. The UN General Assembly condemns Israel's actions after occupying former Palestinian territories almost every year , this does not go away and ultimately leads to its own bitter consequences. As UN Secretary-General Guterres says : “This [crisis] did not happen in a vacuum.”
As of November 2, this conflict has caused almost 9,000 deaths and more than 20,000 injuries of Palestinians according to Gaza authorities and UN news ; the Israeli authorities claimed that there were only more than 1,000 deaths in Gaza, with no information on civilian injuries, and Israel has suffered approximately 1,400 deaths and 5,400 injuries. Due to the blockade by the Israel Defense Forces, only 272 trucks carrying relief supplies have entered the Gaza Strip so far, yet urgently needed fuel and life-saving supplies are still unable to enter the Gaza Strip due to the band of Israeli authorities. It is conceivable that in the Gaza Strip , which lacks fuel, food, freshwater and medical supplies, death is approaching step by step. For now, as the Gaza Strip is still in a state of blockade and war, the assistance that individuals can offer is very limited. As of October 27, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) issued a statement stating that 14 people had been killed in the past 24 hours, and the total number of UN staff killed in Gaza had increased to 53; as of November 2, the death toll had reached 70 and 22 injured. Perhaps a donation to UNRWA and dissemination of the organization's work is the best place to offer support. Whatever your views on the issue, the existence of a humanitarian crisis in Palestine is clear and well-documented; we must condemn all civilian casualties caused by any party and condemn all the humanitarian crises caused by any party, as this is the first step to call for peace.
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