Gaza behind the scenes
CONFLICT
By Rev SEIK PITOI
IT is a tiny strip of land in a tiny little country. Yet it dominated world news for at least 11 days.
This is Gaza – the scene of the most recent battle between Israel and the terror group Hamas. The world sat up and watched on nightly television news in May as war broke out on Gaza, lasting just 11 days until a ceasefire was brokered.
Such is life in volatile the Middle East. But where is Gaza and how did this strip of land become the scene of this battle?
The Gaza Strip is 25 miles long and seven miles wide and is situated in Israel. It is a strip of land on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and has a border with Egypt. Yet this small strip of land is one of the most fought over. Its history spans around 4,000 years.
Ruled, destroyed and repopulated by various dynasties, empires and peoples, Gaza was originally a Canaanite settlement before coming under the control of the ancient Egyptians for roughly 350 years. It was conquered and became one of the Philistines’ principal cities. Gaza was situated on the great caravan route between Mesopotamia and Egypt, at the junction of the trade route from Arabia. This made Gaza the ideal rest stop and commercial centre for merchants and travellers.
Gaza in the Bible
Gaza city was one of the five principal cities of the Philistines, the others being Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron. The Philistines, usually referred to by modern Palestinians as their ancestors, hailed from the island of Crete! They were seafaring people and settled mostly near the coast. When Canaan was conquered by the Hebrews and land was distributed amongst the tribes, Gaza was allocated to the tribe of Judah.
However, it was not immediately occupied as the Anachim were still in the land (Josh 11:22; 13:3). Soon afterwards, the Philistines conquered Gaza and that was where the mighty Samson, betrayed by a Philistine woman, Delilah, met his death (Judges 16). King Solomon ruled over Gaza but it was not until the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah that the final blow was struck.
Through the Prophet Amos, God threatened Gaza with destruction by fire for its sins (Amos 1: 6-7). This prophecy was fulfilled by the army of Alexander the Great in 332 BC, when Gaza was destroyed and her inhabitants massacred (Zeph 2:4; Zech 9:5).
In the New Testament, the evangelist Phillip was directed by God to preach the gospel along the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. There, the Ethiopian eunuch professed faith in Christ and was baptised (Acts 8:26).
Modern Gaza
Modern day Gaza was under Egyptian military rule from 1949 to 1956 and again from 1957 to 1967. At the end of WW2, persecuted Jews travelled to Israel from Europe, looking to settle back in their Biblical homeland after the horrors of the holocaust. In 1947, the UN made a plan to divide Palestine into two lands, one for Jews and one for the Arab people.
Backed by US president Harry Truman, David Ben Gurion, Israel’s founder, proclaimed the state of Israel on May 14, 1948. The next day, neighbouring Arab armies attacked Israel, with Egypt attacking through the Gaza Strip. Israel was victorious but Gaza remained under Egyptian control, and an influx of Palestinian refugees began. In 1967, during the Six Day War, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria attacked Israel. Again, Israel won, taking the Gaza Strip back from Egypt and keeping it for nearly 40 years!
In 2005, after then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s controversial decision to evict all Jewish settlers and remove army bases from Gaza, Israel handed over all infrastructure to the Gazans to run their own affairs. This was to appease them and motivate them to build their economy and better the lives of their own people.
However, this action simply paved the way for the terrorist group, Hamas, to take over leadership from the weak and corrupt Fatah (emerged from Palestinian Authority, founded by Yasser Arafat). They won a landslide victory in 2006 in the local legislative elections and took control of Gaza.
Fatah controls the West Bank. However, instead of helping improve the lives of their people, they turned Gaza into a terror base to attack Israel. In fact Hamas and other Moslem terror groups like Palestinian Authority, Fatah, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah based in Lebanon all have in their charter their stated aim which is the total destruction of Israel!
Due to the constant terrorist attacks, Israel has maintained security access into Gaza. The sea and land borders to Gaza are under scrutiny while the border they share with Egypt is open to smuggling arms and weapons into Gaza. Underground tunnels are also dug from the Egyptian side into Gaza, which some humanitarians say is to bring in food and medicine, yet it is common knowledge that weaponry is the main import!
While Hamas claims they represent the oppressed Palestinian people in their fight against the ‘oppressors’ (Israel), the fact is most Gazans are innocent people who just want to live in peace and get on with their lives. Most confide that they do not see Hamas as their liberators, yet are afraid to talk out. Hamas are known for their brutality towards their own people whom they suspect may be opposing them!
Moreover, it is well known that Hamas squanders millions and millions of dollars from donors by funding the lavish lifestyles of their leaders, most of whom live in safety and luxury in Turkey and other Moslem states. Meanwhile, the rest of the budget is spent on purchasing rockets and other weaponry in their arsenal of war.
Much is also spent on building a huge network of underground tunnels from Gaza into Israel. Sadly, schools, hospitals and other infrastructure handed over by Israel in good condition are now run down and most of the 1.8 million Gazans live in abject poverty. So who do we blame?
The 2014 Gaza War
The 2014 Gaza war is still clear on my mind. My ministry group had planned our annual Israel convention with Pastor David Lazarus of Kehilat Beit Emmanuel in Tel Aviv as our guest speaker. Everything was set and with just a week to go before he was to come to PNG, the war broke out. Having two of his sons drafted in for military action, David couldn’t come. We cancelled the programme and instead devoted it to a daily prayer watch over Israel.
After seven weeks of fierce fighting, 2,251 Palestinians and 73 Israelis were killed. A ceasefire was brokered and the lull in fighting was a great relief. However, seven years later, it flared up again. It was found that the ‘lull’ was what Hamas needed to rebuild and refill their military arsenal, including digging a network of tunnels into Israel, ready for the next war.
Any slight provocation is enough to rekindle another fire and a scuffle on the volatile Temple Mount in Ramadan set the scene. Hamas grabbed the opportunity and begin firing rockets into Israel, resulting in Israel’s response by bombing Hamas infrastructure in Gaza. So the next war was underway!
The Cause of 2021 Gaza War
Resident David Silver of Mt Carmel in Israel reports that during Ramadan, the Supreme Court of Israel was hearing the cases involving seven homes in the East Jerusalem suburb of Sheikh Jarrah that have been inhabited by Arab families since 1948. He states: “A Jewish organisation had filed these cases calling for the eviction of these families for the following reasons:
- Before the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948 these homes were legally owned and inhabited by Jewish families, who were forced to flee to safety when Jordan annexed East Jerusalem during the war of 1948;
- Jordan placed Arab refugee families in the homes that the Jews vacated during the years that Jordan annexed the eastern side of Jerusalem; and
- The families occupying these homes have no legal right to them and have never paid rent – they are illegally occupying these homes owned by Jewish people”.
He said that the court decided to delay its decision as it could create unrest during Ramadan. But violence began to break out at the Damascus Gate area and on the Temple Mount and the Israeli police knew that rocks and other items of violence were being stored inside the Mosque. There was an increased police presence to maintain peace and order, and it was tense. Soon, the stones started flying at police, teargas was fired, and unrest erupted!
Hamas gave Israel one hour to remove the security teams from the Temple Mount or face the threat of rocket attacks. They followed through with their threat and began to fire rockets into Israel. Israeli jets retaliated by bombing Hamas military sites.
The “possible forced eviction” was used as an excuse to begin the war. The sentiments of owning all of the Temple Mount and expelling the Jews from Israel is still the driving force behind every confrontation. The blame game is on again and, as usual, ‘victory’ was celebrated by the Palestinians when the cease fire was announced. That is, peace until the next round!
Indeed, the loss of life is regrettable. While one group tries to avert collateral damage by specifically targeting terrorist hideouts and military sites, the other side specifically targets civilians.
If the charter of each of these Moslem terror groups is the total annihilation of Israel, what ‘peace’ are they talking about? Anti-Israel protests are happening all over the world and nations are rising up against Israel in condemnation. Jews have been attacked on the streets in many countries and hate crimes are rife.
What does that mean and how will it play out in the coming days? What does the Bible say about this?
We will discuss these in the next article. In the meantime, stay vigilant!
- Rev Seik Pitoi is a freelance writer.