On Sunday, Israel military said that it launched an air strike against Palestinian militant group, Islamic Jihad, in Southern Damascus and the Gaza Strip. This was in response to rocket fire. Islamic Jihad, which is backed by Iran, is one of the strongest militant groups in Gaza. Allied with Hamas, it has fought in a number of wars against Israel in recent decades. The conflict began when Israel killed a Palestinian man, part of Islamic Jihad, in the Gaza Strip on Sunday morning, claiming he had attempted to plant an explosive device. Many Palestinians were outraged at this, and hours later, a barrage of twenty or so rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, setting off air raid sirens. Islamic Jihad took responsibility for these, claiming that Israel had no right to kill one of their men. Because of this, Israel launched attacks targeting these areas. Such violence has a history of repeating itself. For example, in November, Israel targeted two senior Islamic Jihad commanders in a simultaneous attack, killing one in the Gaza Strip and missing the second in Syria. In addition, a missile attack blamed on Israel in mid-February killed three Syrian and four Iranian fighters in the Damascus airport area, according to the Syrian Observatory.
aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/israel-claims-air-strikes-syrian-capital-damascus-200223232221593.html
1) Who is in the wrong in this specific situation? Why?
2) Is this ongoing conflict a battle over territory or religion? Why do you think so?
3)What are the obstacles to peace? Is peace possible?
I think that it is very hard to say who is right and who is wrong in this situation. Both sides do not like each other. I think that this ongoing conflict is both a battle over territory and religion. Both sides have conflicting religions and are trying to gain territory that they believe is theirs based off of their religion. The obstacles to peace, is that both sides are so close together, that they don't feel secure. I think that peace is possible, but not during the current time.
ReplyDeleteI think that in this specific situation, you could say that the Islamic Jihad is in the wrong, because they fired missiles at Israel. However, you could say that Israel is in the wrong for assuming that the Palestinian was planting an explosive device when it could have been false. Overall, there are a lot of assumptions made in this situation which lead to the animosity between the two sides. I think their history also contributes to this because they always feel vengeance to the opposite side.
ReplyDeleteI think it is both a fight over the land and religion. since the religions are so different it is hard to find a common ground between the two. the issues is so rooted in the history of the Palestinians and the Jews that coming to peace might be a challenge. I do think with a lot of effort and persistence that peace is possible.
ReplyDeletei think both sides are wrong in this situation because they both responded with violence against one another. Israel shouldn't've killed on of their men but Islamic Jihad shouldn't of responded with rockets knowing that they were going to get a response like they did. Both sides need to start talking to one another and stop fighting or things are just going to get worse
ReplyDeleteThere is a moral grey here, which is very hard to traverse. Israel killed a member of Islamic Jihad, but the group in question fired rocket s back, which was an act of unneeded aggression. These fights are both over territory and religion, seeing as they are tied to each other in these conflicts. Religions claim land, and if there is an overlap, fights break out. These are obstacles to peace, and with perseverance, they can stop this cycle of violence. However, so far, it isn't happening.
ReplyDeleteI think both sides are in the wrong. Neither side is trustworthy and have been known to lie to get their way. Both sides just want an excuse to attack the other. Because both sides aren't trustworthy it is hard to decide who is in the right and who is in the wrong. This is a battle over both religion and territory. Territory and natural resources are very scarce in that region so fights are bound to break out. They also both have very different religions label each other as enemies. The obstacles to peace are hate from both sides and disagreements. I do not think peace is possible until both sides root out the extremists and kick them out. According to this article: https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/israel/palestine Israel oppreses the Paletinians and the Palestinians respond with violence further escalating the problem.
ReplyDeleteI think that attacks like these should not be judged as just single incidents, as they are caused by the ongoing Israeli-Palestine conflict that has been continuing for decades. Because of this, I think that Israel is to blame in this situation, as their actions and continued occupation of Palestine territories have been a major cause for this conflict still being present. I also think that this attack was motivated by both religion and the desire for territory, as the Israeli-Palestine conflict allows those concepts to be linked through Jerusalem and the area surrounding it. It's a piece of land that neither side is willing to give up for religious reasons, thereby causing many smaller territorial disputes and conflicts.
ReplyDeleteThese attacks that have happened are part of a much larger conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people. It is a matter of land and of religion. This fighting will continue as long as both sides refuse to sit down and talk about peace.
ReplyDeleteIn this specific situation I feel as if both sides are to blame. Although Israel had killed a Palestinian man a part of the Islamic Jihad, the latter responded even more violently, spiraling into a series of events. The ongoing conflict has undoubtedly extended from being just about primarily "land." Thus, the religious dispute manifesting between them and their strive for dominance has caused the continue on, almost as if both sides are unwilling to admit defeat since they have already put too much at stake to "not win." Peace would be very hard to gain at its current, violent state, but anything is possible.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to say who is in the wrong in this specific situation. It can be argued that Israel is to blame, since they were the ones to launch the air strike and kill a Palestinian man. It can also be argued that Islamic Jihad should not have responded with unnecessary violence, and that Israel had the right to kill one of their men. Because the reasoning for killing this man is not backed up by any evidence and we have no way of telling if it is true, it is difficult to decide if Islamic Jihad rocket fires can be justified. Overall I'd say that both sides carried out excessively violent acts that could have been resolved in a different way.
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