The reflexive support for Israel’s right to wipe out Hamas is nearing an end. With non-stop coverage of the war in Gaza [the Israel-Hamas War] alongside continual protests by pro-Hamas activists, the average person who does not know the history of Israel and Gaza will begin to turn against Israel in the name of sympathy. So, it’s up to us, the friends, neighbors, and co-workers of those who did not receive this education, to inform people of the history when they ask for it. So, we must be prepared. For brevity, this will be limited to the history between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
After the UN Partition Plan of 1947, the area currently known as the Gaza Strip, along with more land to the north and part of the Negev Desert to the south, was designated as part of an Arab state. On May 14, 1948, when Israel declared a Jewish state along those lines, Egypt declared war along with other Arab nations, telling the Arabs living in the war zone to get out of the way, and assuring them that they will be returned to their homes once Israel was defeated.
When Israel won the war in 1949 [i.e., the Israel War of Independence], the armistice lines became what the Gaza Strip looks like today. Egypt took military control of Gaza, installed a military governor, and put its 141,700 Arabs into refugee camps supervised by the newly formed United Nations Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA. The United Nations has two agencies dealing with refugees, UNRWA and UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). UNHCR deals with all refugees in the world except Palestinian refugees, which fall under the purview of UNRWA. Seventy-five years after being given this responsibility, Palestinians are still considered by the world to be “refugees,” and those 141,700 turned into 2.2 million (while Israel was being accused of a genocide).
The remaining Arabs, who fled the newly formed Israel, received a scarlet letter from the rest of the Arab world, where they were deemed “Palestinians” and used as pawns in the continuing war against Israel. In 1964, the Arab League decided to move their pawns along the chessboard, so they formed the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and put Egyptian-born Yasser Arafat in charge of directing terror attacks against Israel. In June 1967, when Israel won the Six-Day War, they now had control of not only the Gaza Strip, but also the Sinai Desert.
Over the next 38 years, frontier Israelis began populating land conquered by Israel during the Six-Day War. In 2005, Israel determined that it was no longer possible to protect Israelis living in the Gaza Strip from the relentless terror attacks. Sending in the army, they forcibly dismantled 21 Jewish settlements, removed 9,000 fellow Israelis, and resettled them in Israel, turning over control of the Gaza Strip to Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah party.
The Jewish settlers wanted to take their expensive greenhouse equipment with them, but Jewish businessmen in America bought that equipment for $14 million for the sole purpose of giving it to the Palestinian people. Within weeks of transferring those 3,000 greenhouses, Palestinians completely decimated them, looting what they could and destroying the rest.
In January 2006, the people of Gaza gave control of their government to Hamas, the terrorist organization. Hamas began eliminating their political rivals in Fatah, resulting in the deaths of over 600 Palestinians. Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia did not recognize the authority of Hamas. The Palestinian Authority stopped issuing passports to Gazans in July 2008, citing “security reasons” to prevent Gazans from traveling abroad. Hamas began smuggling weapons in through Egypt, resulting in the closure of the border between Egypt and Gaza. Egypt discovered around 60 terror tunnels in 2007. Israel, needing to secure its people, also closed its border and worked with Egypt on a naval blockade to prevent terrorists from getting weapons into Gaza.
While the world blames Israel and refers to Gaza as an “open-air prison” of Israel’s making, this is actually one of the few times where Israel, the PA, Egypt, and the Arab world were in complete agreement. Hamas and their supporters in Gaza were a major problem to the surrounding areas. Only when Hamas realized that they were not getting the headlines they needed to help fund their terror campaigns by attacking Egypt and Mahmoud Abbas, did they put all their attention on Israel. When Egypt shoots water cannons at women trying to get into their country, no one pays attention. When Israel shoots a rocket facility, that is worldwide news.
Thus began Hamas’ relentless rocket barrage of Israeli cities, riots at the border, incendiary devices on balloons and kites, and terror tunnels into civilian areas – leading to direct conflicts in 2009, 2014, 2018, 2021, and today. Hamas and Gazans have received billions of dollars in humanitarian aid from around the world. Aid workers have gone into Gaza to build infrastructure, schools, hospitals, and everything else they need to live. Al-Shifa Hospital was expanded and made modern by Israel. Gaza has been given everything they need to not only survive but to thrive. Yet Gaza had a nearly 50 percent unemployment rate prior to the war. Hamas removed water pipes from the ground and turned them into rockets to shoot at Israel. Hamas educates their children to hate Jews and become martyrs. Hamas turned Shifa Hospital into their base of operations.
The blockades and the defensive measures like Iron Dome failed. Israel tried for 18 years to separate Hamas from Gaza, yet they only got more powerful. When Israel began issuing work visas to Palestinians in Gaza, the Palestinians gathered intel to share with Hamas, which they used on October 7. Israel has been more than fair until this point, and now they are doing what they have to ensure the security of their own citizens. That is their responsibility. So, when people at your office or on the street want to talk about what is happening in Israel, you need to tell them. Tell them that if the Palestinians put down their weapons tomorrow, there would be peace. If Israel put down their weapons tomorrow, there would be no more Israel.
