Israel and the Palestinians – an ongoing crisis
Wednesday, 11 Jun 2008 00:00
Palestinian children in the West Bank hope for a better future
In Focus
Just as they did in southern Lebanon in the summer of 2006, the Israeli army is dominating headlines by pursuing military action against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Full Story
Efforts to forge a peace agreement between Palestinian moderates and Israelis are being undermined by militant group Hamas' rocket attacks.
September to October 2007 – Two Palestines
Pessimistic assessments of the outlook for those living in Gaza appeared to be confirmed on September 19th 2007 when Israel labelled the Gaza Strip an "enemy entity".
Justified on the basis of intermittent rocket-fire on Israeli border towns, the declaration meant Israel would not be bound by international law enforcing the supply of energy to occupied territories.
Already radicalised and still punished by the weight of crippling punitive sanctions from the international community, the prospect of no electricity sparked another wave of concern from aid agencies. But there was some temporary relief on October 30th, when Israeli attorney general Menahem Mazuz halted the planned cut on the grounds of its constituting collective punishment.
In the West Bank, attention focused on the run-up to potential peace talks with Israelis in Annapolis, Maryland, before the end of the year. US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice emerged optimistic from talks with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas on November 5th, despite the latter's lengthy list of goodwill demands.
November to December 2007 – Gaza still isolated
Pictures of Mr Ehud Olmert and Mr Abbas shaking hands in Annapolis were broadcast around the world at the end of November, but little of real substance was achieved at the peace conference at the end of the month.
Instead the talks were supposed to symbolise a restart of negotiations, despite numerous obstacles blocking the way to progress. At least the international community showed its willingness to encourage Mr Abbas, pledging well over the £2.8 billion requested to prevent his government's financial meltdown.
The absence of representation for Palestinians in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip continued to be a major problem, however. Such is the bleakness of the humanitarian situation that the International Committee of the Red Cross broke its politically neutral stance on December 13th to appeal for a cessation of sanctions against it.
Those at a Hamas rally two days later appeared unshaken in their resolve, however. Tens of thousands attended, indicating wide support for the shunned militant group.
January to February 2007 – return to blockades
Just two months into 2008, US president George Bush's upbeat confidence on January 10th that "there will be a signed peace treaty" between Israelis and Palestinians before he leaves the White House seem unrealistically optimistic.
In the days after his pronouncement "massive Qassam rocket fire" from the Gaza Strip prompted retaliatory Israeli airstrikes, incensing Palestinian opinion against Israelis. At least 25 died in the three days to January 17th.
A day later Israel continued its hardline stance by shutting down its crossings into the Gaza Strip, isolating the territory still further.
The only working power station shut down two days into the blockade, leaving thousands without power, as anxiety about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza surged around the world.
In the early hours of January 23rd militants destroyed part of the border wall between Gaza and Egypt in the frontier town of Rafah, seeing supplies flood into the territory.
More than half of the 1.5 million Gaza Strip residents were believed to have crossed at Rafah in the first week of the border breach, which Egypt seemed in no hurry to close.
Hamas continued its rocket-firing campaign in February, angering February still further. Over 100 Palestinians, more than a third of whom were reportedly children, were killed in seven days around the end of the month as airstrikes and a ground incursion took place.
In response Mr Abbas suspended all contact with Israel, leaving Mr Bush's ambitions for a peace treaty firmly on hold.
Update – March to May 2007 – prospects fading
Hopes kindled by Annapolis conference have faded in the last two months.
Although excluded from the negotiations, Hamas continued to influence the situation with its campaign of violence.
A Palestinian militant and an Israeli soldier were killed on April 9th before a Hamas attack on a checkpoint ten days later left three dead.
Concerns about suffering civilians in Gaza were intensified when, on April 24th, an Israeli fuel blockade forced the UN to suspend its humanitarian work in the region.
Middle East envoy Tony Blair clearly linked the situation on the ground to the stalled peace talks.
"Until you get a period of calm, you won't get the space you need for… a more rational political discourse," he told MPs in Westminster on June 5th.
Alex Stevenson