Gaza Strip: What are the reasons for the recent bombings?

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The Israeli government has attacked nearly 100 targets in the Strip in recent weeks

Last Monday, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu launched an attack on military positions in the Gaza Strip following the outbreak of a rocket north of Tel Aviv. According to the Spanish newspaper ABC, seven wounded resulted from the attack originated in Gaza, which was attributed to the nationalist group Hamas. However, that organization has already ruled and rejected their participation in the attack.

Leer en español: Franja de Gaza: ¿A qué se deben los recientes bombardeos?

These exchanges of rockets between Gaza and Israel are not new. Moreover, according to the newspaper El País of Spain, there have been intervals of bombing in recent days, followed by a few hours of calm. This same newspaper noted that ending the official visit that took him to the United States, Netanyahu said that "Hamas must know that we will not hesitate to enter (to the Gaza Strip) and take the necessary measures".

According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, both Egypt and the United Nations have tried to intervene so that violence does not escalate to greater proportions. On the other hand, there have been no pronouncements from the Donald Trump government, even though Netanyahu was visiting the United States. Also, this newspaper assures that in spite of the tensions, the Israeli government is in the process of reopening points of migratory flow, which had severe restrictions for a year, since the protests called "Marches of Return".

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The context of the conflict

The Arab-Israeli conflict can be traced to the founding of the State of Israel in 1948. While there is a history of negotiations for the establishment of a national home for Jews since the First World War, it was with the declaration of independence of the Israeli settlers, that the conflict established the Middle East as a fragile zone, in geopolitical terms.

The political commitments of the colonial powers like Great Britain and France prevented that a division of the territory was given of effective form. Once the British mandate on Palestine expired, the fate of this land was left to chance. With the clamor of independence of the Jews, the so-called Arab-Israeli war of 1948 escalated, where a coalition of Arab countries counting Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen were defeated by a compact and well-organized offensive on the part of the Israelites. In the process, the Jews conquered more territory than they had been assigned.

From that point forward, tensions escalated repeatedly. In 1967, the remembered Six Day War once again pitted Israel against Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, and Syria. Once again the Israelites were victors and captured more territory, such as the Syrian Golan Heights and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, in addition to the Gaza Strip, occupied by Egypt and the West Bank, by Jordan, as well as conquered East Jerusalem.

Subsequent peace treaties such as Camp David in 78 allowed Israel to have lasting peace with Egypt, but the conflicts did not cease. As in 1936, Arab revolts rebelled against Israeli territorial control. The intifadas of 1987 and 2000 and the Lebanon war of 1982 demonstrated a change in Israel's perception of the oppressed country as the oppressor.

Although progress was made in the legitimization of an independent Palestinian government, with the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority after the First Intifada, the conflict continues to be degraded. With the rise of nationalist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah in the 1980s, Israel has established an offensive in the context of the struggle against "Arab terrorism."

In recent years, violence has been seen in more symbolic ways. Although the launching of missiles from Israel to Gaza and vice versa has normalized, since the Israeli government efforts have been made to colonize territories belonging to Palestinians, obstacles have been placed for Arab citizens to enjoy the same privileges as Jews and it is of legitimizing Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem, which is problematic for religious and ethnic minorities.

LatinAmerican Post | Iván Parada Hernández

Translated from "Franja de Gaza: ¿a qué se deben los recientes bombardeos?"