Why are Israel and Hamas fighting in the Gaza Strip?

Answer 1

The Israelis and the Palestinians are not fighting over the Gaza Strip. There are

presently no Israelis living there and no Israeli military forces stationed there.

The area is presently governed by Hamas, a political/military entity listed by the

US State Department as an international terrorist organization, and with the

explicit, publicly expressed goal of destroying Israel. Weapons and ammunition

are constantly flowing into the area, from Sinai, through tunnels under the

border policed by Egypt, and from time to time, rockets are launched from

inside Gaza and land in civilian neighborhoods in nearby Israeli cities. Also

from time to time, Israel mounts a military operation designed both to take

rocket manufacturing and launching facilities out of operation, and to register

its disapproval of their use. Like, say, the US might do, if, say, rockets launched

from Tijuana were to rain down on residential neighborhoods in San Diego.

Answer 2

There are two simultaneous conflicts that are going on in Gaza and it is important to note the differences between these combatants and their goals.

Domestic Arena:

There is political infighting between different Palestinian Organizations. These organizations include Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and Fatah, all of which are considered terrorist organizations in the West, but actually have much more internal infrastructure and development than just inciting terror. They each have a constituent political party, entertainment division (which produces television and radio shows), and a welfare component. Each one has an agenda and direction in which it wants to take the Palestinian State. This conflict of interest became a full-out Civil War after the Palestinian Elections in the summer of 2006. This War led to the eviction of Fatah from the Gaza Strip and the beginning of a separate government in Gaza from that in the West Bank.

Hamas: Hamas sees its primary mission as the Restoration of Palestinian Glory and sees Israel as an enemy with which long-term peace is impossible. The Mission of the Organization is to unite all of the lands of the British Mandate of Palestine into one political unit. Hamas openly endorses suicide bombers and qassam rocket attacks as a way of achieving this goal. This leads to frequent and powerful Israeli retaliation and Palestinian suffering, which only further motivates Hamas.

Islamic Jihad: The Islamic Jihad sees its purpose primarily in the domestic context, although it, like Hamas, refuses to acknowledge Israel's Right to Exist. The Jihad focuses its efforts in conservatizing the Palestinian population and making them more receptive to "Proper Shariah" whose implementation is their goal. Contrary to Hamas and Fatah, who have no strong religious convictions (i.e. religion is an identifier not a belief system), the Jihad is interested in more religious Islamic Palestine. Christian Palestinians have often denounced the Jihad for its Islamicization of the Palestinian struggle which they believe belongs to all Palestinians.

Fatah: Fatah sees its primary mission to secure the stability for a Palestinian State. Therefore, they are willing to negotiate with Israel to bring that state into existence. For this, and because of their long grip on power, Fatah is seen by many Palestinians to be corrupt and not as interested in Palestine's future. Israel's support of Fatah, from among the Palestinian groups, does not help their credibility, but it has helped build their infrastructure. Fatah is also seen as powerless because it cannot stop the increasing amount of settlements in the West Bank whereas Hamas made settlements in Gaza undesirable.

International Arena:

The conflict between Gaza and Israel is a very sensitive topic where each side feels victimized by the other.

Gazan Perspective: Gazans feel that Israel is choking them off by allowing very minimal amounts of food, energy, and resources into Gaza. Boats form a blockade by sea, the checkpoints by land are monitored and Rafah, the crossing with Egypt, is monitored by the Egyptians in accordance with Israeli regulations. Palestinians in Gaza require Israel's consent to travel to and from Gaza, to take their goods to Palestinian and foreign markets, to acquire food and medicine, and to access water and electricity. Without Israel's permission, the Palestinian Authority (PA) cannot perform such basic functions of government as providing social, health, security and utility services, developing the Palestinian economy and allocating resources. As a result of this desperation, Hamas inspires the people to launch qassam rockets as an act of defiance against those who would try to snuff them out. This results in an Israeli attack that kills many civilians while the Israeli death toll is minimal. Israeli claims that Hamas uses Palestinians as human shields are flatly denied or considered minimal.

Israeli Perspective: Israelis feel that Gaza has consistently shown bellicose behavior and if left to its own devices would bring a far stronger attack against Israel. Israelis claim that they try to do everything in their power to effectively monitor what goes into and what comes out of Gaza. The Israeli government also has a duty to protect its citizens. Therefore, Israel needs to respond to the daily barrage of rockets and the people and property they hurt. Israelis account for the widely different numbers of dead by multiple means, the warning systems in Israel are very accurate and prevent many people from being above ground when the rockets hit, the dense population centers of Gaza lead to many innocents being in the crossfire, and the intentional use by Hamas militants of Palestinians as human shields.

Answer 3

Because of some indifferences between the two countries. Maybe, a simple disagreement.But I think they should sort it out before the world comes to an end.Because they will all go to hell: the people who are wicked!!!!

Answer 4

The Gaza Strip is a mostly-urban environment. Palestinians there have little choice about where they are going to fight Israelis without being in a city. (Gaza City is roughly 10% of the whole Gaza Strip.)

As for why Palestinians choose to fight Israelis at all, most would say that they do so to reclaim their homeland, which they argue is under "Zionist Occupation".

Answer 5

Israel and Hamas are not currently fighting anywhere. There are currently no Israeli military forces in Gaza and, as far as is known, no Hamas military forces in Israel.