Content warning: This article contains descriptions of violence and mentions of anti-Semitism.

Origins
This is the second article published in The Monitor about the Israel-Hamas war (2023-present). The first was written by Alee Dickey and is available on The Hilltop Monitor’s website or in last semester’s Issue 7 print edition. Dickey does an excellent job of explaining Israel’s rise to statehood. It does not, however, address the rise of Hamas – the other main agent in this conflict. This article will examine the rise of Hamas and its involvement in Palestine.

Maps are critical to understanding this conflict, and this article would not be complete without one. The Monitor has created such a map for this article. For the cartography connoisseurs who are not satisfied with just one map, here are multiple other maps from other news outlets on the subject.

Jewish involvement in Palestine dates from between eighty to three thousand years ago. We have to start somewhere, though, so the scope of this article begins in 1967  with UN Security Council Resolution 242. The resolution came out of the Six-Day War between Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Syria. The details of the Six-Day War are beyond the scope of this article. In practice, the resolution demanded “termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force”. In part, if this resolution had been adopted, each state in the region would have maintained its recognized borders at that time. UNSCR 242 did not include a specific list of states, but the UN’s website implies that Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Israel would have been included.

This resolution was not legally binding, however. The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), then the recognized government of Palestine, initially rejected Resolution 242. According to the PLO, Resolution 242 implied Israel’s “sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence,” which the PLO would not accept.

Later, though, the PLO became more open to input from the international community. In 1988, the PLO began talks with the US government shortly after the start of the First Intifada. Intifada is an Arabic word that literally means “shaking off [Israeli invasion],” although the term can also be used to generally refer to revolutions or revolts. Around this time a group now known by an acronym, Hamas (short for Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamah al-Islāmiyyah, which translates to English as “Islamic Resistance Movement), split from the PLO. In 1993, the PLO signed the Oslo Accords, which, among other things, called for a two-state solution via “arrangements for a smooth and peaceful transfer of authority from the Israeli military government and its Civil Administration to the [PLO].” 

Overthrow
Hamas is not solely a military organization, as it has political aims and represents “one of the Palestinian territories’ two major political parties.” Given its Islamist origins, Hamas rejected the PLO’s vision of a secular state, claiming in its original manifesto that “we are unable to exchange the present or future Islamic Palestine with the secular idea.” Hamas called for the destruction of Israel as a state: “Our struggle against the Jews [will continue],” reads their 1988 manifesto, “until the enemy is vanquished and Allah’s victory is realised.” This anti-Semitic slant has caused multiple countries and regional entities to designate Hamas as a terrorist organization, including the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union.

Hamas updated its manifesto in 2017, stating that “its conflict is with the Zionist project not with the Jews because of their religion. Hamas does not wage a struggle against the Jews because they are Jewish but wages a struggle against the Zionists who occupy Palestine.” Hamas does not define Zionism in this manifesto, however.

In 2006, Hamas won a majority of seats in parliamentary elections. On June 15, 2007, Hamas took complete control of Gaza with violence and by force. Hamas representatives announced via radio that “the past era has ended and will not return… The era of justice and Islamic rule have arrived.” Hamas has ruled in the Gaza Strip and West Bank ever since. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, “Palestinians have not voted for a legislature since 2006, nor a president since 2008.” For comparison, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was elected to the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in 2009. He has been the Prime Minister from 2009-2021, and then again from 2022-present.

As of the time of writing, Israel has only declared war on Hamas. However, another entity must be understood for a full picture of the conflict: Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which backs Hamas.

Hezbollah claims direct involvement in the conflict: its leader, Syed Hassan Nasrallah, claimed in a Nov. 3, 2023 speech that “[t]he Islamic resistance in Lebanon started operation the very next day” after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Nasrallah further described the Oct. 7 attack as “a big event to shake this oppressive … occupying, usurping Zionist regime and its supporters in Washington and London.” Hamas has not explicitly accepted or rejected this labeling, though.

Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Israeli government represent the major players in this conflict.

Goals
Each side of the conflict has stated goals, which are briefly explained here.

Hamas, according to its 2017 manifesto, “believes that no part of the land of Palestine shall be compromised or conceded, irrespective of the causes, the circumstances and the pressures and no matter how long the occupation lasts. Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea.” It is willing to consider the 1967 borders as a possibility, though it rejects Israel as a state. Its stated goals involve destruction of the state of Israel, which it labels as “the Zionist project” and thus as an occupying power.

Israel’s goals are threefold. Israeli ministers have spoken about the war as a three-stage operation. The first stage – invading Gaza – has been ongoing since the Hamas attack on Israel in Oct. 2023 that killed approximately 1,200 people. According to AP reporting and the Gaza Health Ministry, as of Feb. 5, 2024, the Palestinian death toll as a result of the ongoing war is 27,478 people. 

Israel’s second stage, according to Netanyahu, is “to destroy Hamas’s governing and military capabilities and to bring the hostages home,” referring to the more than 200 hostages Hamas took in its initial attacks. More information about the hostages Hamas took will be published in part two of this series.

Israel also seeks to maintain security in Gaza. According to Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, “The third step [of the invasion] will be the creation of a new security regime in the Gaza Strip, the removal of Israel’s responsibility for day-to-day life in the Gaza Strip, and the creation of a new security reality for the citizens of Israel and the residents of the [area surrounding Gaza].” Gallant did not provide further details as to what this “security reality” meant.

Iran-backed Hezbollah supports Hamas. Its role in this conflict would likely be as a spoiler. Hezbollah has little involvement in this war so far, but its strategic location – to Israel’s north – would force Israel to fight on two fronts if Hezbollah were to invade.

This article serves as background for the Israel-Hamas war. In this series of articles, I will address the initial attacks, war crimes committed by both parties and the path to a sustainable peace. 

If there is something in this conflict you believe needs featuring or would like Mr. Naber to write about, please contact the Hilltop Monitor’s email address. He will respond to comments as he is able.

2021 is here, and with a new year comes new goals. This infographic shows the different goals of Jewell community members throughout the ages.

My least favorite time of the year is a little over two months away. No, I’m not talking about Christmas – I’m no Scrooge – but rather the holiday that comes just one week later. New Year’s Day seems like a perfectly innocent time for celebration. We get a day off work and school, ring in the start of a fresh calendar year and try to get our friends and family to devour the rest of our Christmas leftovers. 

However, with New Year’s Day comes the all-powerful New Year’s resolutions. A resolution is defined by Lexicon as “A firm decision to do or not to do something.” Our society seems to believe these decisions that we set on Jan. 1 have some sort of sacred majesty and become set in stone, as if a calendar reset automatically resets our personalities. 

The truth is that the calendar year is an arbitrary concept created by man, not some powerful resolution-former. Every second we start a new year. If we could simply say “I am going to eat healthy” and then magically never again eat a cookie on the first day of the year, it would work any day of the year.

However, life isn’t like that. We can’t just say we’ll never again do something or act in a certain way and expect it to come into fruition. We need to know how we will make change happen instead of just saying that it will happen. 

Even if resolute willpower was possible, it wouldn’t allow for the fluidity of our lives. Sometimes we change our minds about what we want and that’s okay. Resolutions leave no room for us to stray – whether by mistake or intentionally. They attempt to lock us into a life change, which causes us to give up the minute we deviate.

Instead, I say we make well-planned goals and bucket lists. Every moment is the start of a new year, which means any moment is the perfect time to make a change – and make it stick.

The first step is to choose your goals. Compile a list of things that need to change or that you’ve always wanted to change. Maybe your grades have been a little rough or your room is always a mess. Do you want to improve your mental health? Start attending church? Maybe there’s something you’ve always wanted to try, like a cooking class or hosting a podcast. 

Write down absolutely everything you can think of – travel destinations, dreams and aspirations. Take a week to compile this list, that way you can come back and add more things.

Once you’ve made your list, choose a time frame. Are you looking for goals to complete in the next six months, five years or a decade? Once you’ve decided on a timeline, eliminate any goals that seem improbable to complete by that deadline or that you don’t have a very strong desire to complete – but be sure to stretch yourself.

Now that you’ve selected your goals, here are some tips to make them happen.

Pick a format that works for you

There are several ways to format your goals depending on their time frame and the level of ambition required. 

If you have three to five goals that are focused on achievement, health or personal growth, my favorite method is the poster method. 

Write each goal down on a sheet of paper – after all, you are 42 percent more likely to achieve goals that you write down. Be as specific as possible. Beneath each goal, write the steps you plan to take to make this happen and dates for when you will take these steps. 

For example, if your goal is to eat healthy, write beneath the goal three steps that you plan to take to do this. Maybe you will only eat added sugar on weekends, or you will have a serving of fruit at each meal. Be sure to include exceptions. If there’s cake at a wedding, will you eat it? Don’t frame these exceptions as cheat days – you aren’t cheating on anything if you already decided that this leniency would help you reach your end goal. 

Tape your goal poster above your bed, on your door or on the bathroom mirror. Make sure it is some place that guarantees you will see it everyday. 

If you have more than five goals and some of them are less growth-focused and more experienced-based, consider creating a bucket list. 

My sister-in-law recently turned 30 and finished her 30 things before 30 bucket list. She included items that were easy to check off, such as attending a yoga class and going to a movie alone, as well as more challenging dreams, like going to Santorini, Greece. 

She typed her 30 before 30 into a spreadsheet ordered by how much effort the item would require. She finished her 30 before 30 by writing a letter to herself to open on her 40th birthday. This is a fun format for long-term items that you’ve always had a desire to complete.

Check up on your progress frequently

Whatever format you choose for recording your goals, make sure you also have a format for checking on your progress. 

I like to look at my list of goals each night and reflect on if I have made any progress toward my goals that day. If it’s a daily goal, such as keeping your room clean, record whether or not you cleaned each night before bed. This way, you can notice your progress and remind yourself to do better the next day. 

If your goal is more long-term, such as going on a roadtrip with friends, create checkpoints and mark them in your calendar. By what date will you have confirmed which friends can come? What date do travel arrangements need to be made? Setting alerts on your phone can keep you on track.

Control what you can control

In the words of my high school tennis coach, “control what you can control.” Don’t stress about the rest. Sometimes you aren’t going to achieve a goal due to circumstances that are out of your control. 

All you can do is your best. Be specific, make your checkpoints and work hard – but don’t be hard on yourself. We can’t control every aspect of our lives, but we can control our attitudes about the roadblocks. Make sure your attitude focuses on the things you’ve done well and the things you can do better tomorrow, not the things you did poorly today.

Be nice to yourself when you don’t reach a goal. The process of working toward a goal is still beneficial, even if you don’t succeed in the way you had planned.

Be flexible

Not everything goes according to plan, which is why those firm resolutions I discussed are impractical. Sometimes you realize that a goal you had set doesn’t interest you anymore. 

Maybe you had always dreamed of going to New York City, but now it doesn’t sound very appealing. Don’t keep a New York City trip on the bucket list. There’s a big difference between never doing something you want to do and deciding that you no longer want to do something.

Our interests change, as do our dreams. Write your bucket list in pencil, not Sharpie. 

Get excited

Never imagine your goals as painful homework assignments. They should be things you look forward to – even if you have to stretch a little. 

If your goal is to eat healthy, think about how excited you are to eat food that makes you feel good. If you want to do better in school, remind yourself of that awesome feeling of accomplishment that comes after an hour of studying. Yes, it’s difficult, but it also improves your life in a way that makes any discomfort worthwhile. If working toward your goal doesn’t make you feel good, it’s the wrong goal.

Having experiences that you’ve always wanted to have should be exciting. Our ability to grow and turn our lives into something better should cause us joy. There’s no reason why this joy should be reserved for New Year’s Day – afterall, a new year begins every second.