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WHY DOES ISRAEL INSIST ON ARMED CONFLICT?

Washington Report on Middle East Affairs: November / December 2024

The claim that the brutality of Israel’s ongoing Gaza campaign is completely justified by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel is outrageous. Only someone unaware of Israel’s history could honestly believe that the Hamas attack was entirely unprovoked. I wonder how Israelis or any other group would behave had they been trapped in a blockaded territory since 2006.

One thing is certain, though. None of Israel’s past assaults on Gaza have succeeded in pacifying the strip’s population. The high-tech violence of the “most moral army in the world” has also severely damaged Israel’s global reputation and guaranteed a new generation of enemies.

There must be a reason for the current military campaign.

Perhaps it is to justify the increasing militarization of Israel’s economy and society. Or maybe Israel’s cynical leadership has prioritized the use of force over rules-based negotiations because they can’t otherwise legally keep the Palestinian and Syrian territories seized in 1948 and 1967. A constant state of war and violence helps Israel legitimize its never-ending effort to ethnically cleanse Palestine and expand its territory.