Israel-Hamas War: Protracted Social Conflict and Challenges for Conflict Resolution

Abstract

The ongoing Israel-Hamas war, an off-shoot of the broader Israel-Palestine conflict led to widespread violence, displacements, and destruction in Gaza and Lebanon. The overall conflict has witnessed the recurrence of violence and armed confrontations since its origin. Israel with support from the United States and like-minded states resorted to unabated violence to suppress the genuine calls for the right of self-determination and independence of Palestinians. The Al-Aqsa flood launched by Al-Qasam brigades of Hamas on October 7, 2023, revived and galvanized the movement of Palestinian liberation but invited a ruthless response from powerful Israel that has repudiated the international humanitarian and human rights laws through indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force resulting in thousands of Palestinian killings. The fundamental question is whether the military solution that conflicting parties resort to would bring a lasting peace in Palestine? The research, therefore, tries to explore critical questions of what causes the recurrence of violence within the Israel-Palestine conflict? What efforts have been taken to resolve the conflict? Why have these efforts broken down and could not yield peace? While finding answers to these questions, we try to find the best possible way(s) to address the longstanding-unresolved issue of Israel-Palestine conflict by applying Edward Azar’s Protracted Social Conflict (PSC) model and Abraham Maslow’s model of hierarchy of needs. The paper is divided into four sections. First, a brief historical background of the conflict is given to assess the origins and identify the root causes of the conflict. Second, we analyse international efforts to resolve the conflict. The third section identifies why peace efforts broke down leading to the ultimate recurrence of violence (particularly, the contemporary Israel-Hamas war). Fourth, we apply Azar’s PSC and Maslow’s needs models to assess causes of the recurrence of violence and provide credible, compelling and critical recommendations for conflict resolution and bringing sustainable and lasting peace in Palestine.

Keywords: Israel-Hamas War, Israel-Palestine conflict, Conflict Resolution, Two-state solution, Human Rights Violations, Gaza crisis