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Image provided by: Hobart and William Smith Colleges
6 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2012 News Photo Courtesy of telegram.co.uk. The Gaza Strip after Israel launched a series of missle strikes on Nov. 14. l·srael and Gaza: What's to Come? In the past month, one would be hard pressed to tum on a television or pick up a newspaper without being confronted with the latest developments between Israel and Gaza. As their respective physical assaults have slowed and a new political battleground takes form, what can be expected of these warring nations? Following the Arab-Israeli War of 1949, at which point Israel was given legitimacy as a state by the United Nations, the Gaza Strip was laid out and forced on Palestinians di~placed by Israeli insertion. Caught in near~ constant conflict for the decades to· follow, in betWe.en' fleeting ceasefires and peace treaties, Israel has warred with internal and external opposition forces throughout much of its existence. During most. of this time Gaza's political voice was stifled by Israeli occupation or otherwise channeled through Fatah, a political party geared towards Palestinian liberation. In 2006, Gaza elected the Hamas political party over that of Fatah to govern their state and it has remained in power since. By Colleen Moore '16 Herald Contributor On Nov. 14, Israel launched a series of missile strikes against targets associated with Hamas, killing the commander of its military wing, Ahmed al-Jabari. .. From there the conflict escalated quickly as both sides scrambled to inflict more damage to the other. Hamas began with hundreds of missile strikes, most of which fell on unpopulated areas or were intercepted by Israel's \Iron Dome.\ Israel, with technologies and resources in stark contrast to those of Gaza, succeeded in eliminating leaders of both the militant and political wings of Hamas, ~triking them in their homes, on city streets, and causing tremendous civilian casualties. To cite some of their dramatic differences, since 2006 Gaza has cited over 500 civilian casualties at the hands of Israeli forces while Israel declared less than 20. In the current conflict, more than 1,400 Israeli rockets struck populated Palestinian areas, while fewer than 50 met the same for Palestinian missiles. While this variety of conflict is nothing new for the two warring states, the rapidity of escalat~on. paired the response of the international commun~ty, has made this set of events unique. Despite their moyement towards a :emporary peace treaty, supposedly in expectation of more :borough negotiations, the tensions between Israel and Gaza have - if anything '- increased. Soon after the close of the fire:fight, the U::J.ited Nations granted Palestine the role of a non-member observer state on Nov. 29 - 111 trerr_endous step for Palestine 1ha: may provide new leverage for the Palestinians' . claim .t~, gr~ater territory. Israel responded to this decision within hours by accelerating r: multitUde. of buildi'n~ projects-all directly outlawed by tlieUN-on Palestinian land, attempting to bisect their territories and further bar the possibility of a two-state solution. Though the physical conflict has ended and both sides have agreed to a temporary ceasefire, any true reconciliation between Israel and Gaza, in the foreseeable future, appears entirely unlikely.· Progress in EU ··Bailout · Finance ministers from the Eurozone met in Brussels on Tuesday in an attempt reach an agreement concerning the most feasible stil;nulus plan tc salvage the Greek economy. 1n spite of earlier bailouts, the privatization of previously government-run industries, and various other attempts to revive the economy, Greece still hovers on the edge of financial collapse. While their outlook remains bleak, the results of Tuesday's deliberations-the third in many weeks-brought new hope that member states could find a solution to appease all parties. involved. Northerr~ countries like Germany and the Netherlands have long opposed plans :hat call for them to forgive some of Greece's debt. Greek citizens haye also proven to be a roadblock over :he course o:' the negotiations, since internationally mandated austerity measures make life even more difficult for the increasingly large number of unemployed people. Although debt forgiveness would ease the stricken country's path to recovery, it wculd set a negative, and potentially dangerous, precedent of wealthy European Union countries essentially subsidizing their less competitive cousins. Instead, according to the New York Times, the· plan calls for a combination of discounted debt buybacks, lowered interest rates, extended payment deadlines, and other debt ·management and reduction techniques. The implementation of some of these techniques will allow Greece access to at of Greece By Taylor Degrosseilliers '14 Herald Contributor Photo Courtesy of duvidicke.com. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble. , least part of the €43. 7 billion of aid money startir:g as early as December. Access to these funds would bring relief following the cessation of foreign aid this pE.st June, after Greece failed to meet the minimum improverr.en: conditions imposed upon it by member states. Since aid was halted, the situation had only worsened both socially and economically.. This new capital, however, should mend most of those issues, helping to stimulate the Greek economy by aiding businesses directly and increasing investor confidence. In fact, the interconnectedness of European economies ensures that no cmmtry wants Greece to fall further into recession, not only .because of the cost to citizens already suffering under punishing austerity measures, but also because of the consequences to the stability of the European Union as a whole. To that end, finance ministers from Greece, Germany, France, and most EU nations are confident that others within their government will support the newly revised plan. J -~ :J ____________________ ___.
