Academic Scientific JournalsThe dark side of intractable conflicts: Unveiling the causes and implications of the Israel – Hamas war
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26881/jpgs.2025.3.02Keywords:
conflict, internal displacement, military, terrorism, two-state solutionAbstract
The long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the foundation of the Israel-Hamas War. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict began toward the end of the 1800s. Israelis and Palestinians created separate movements to protect their own interests as they fought for sovereignty over the region and the right to self-determination. Israel’s independence in 1948 expanded its control resulting to large displacement of Palestinians which was considered as “Nakba,” or “catastrophe” in the Arab World. This study attempts to explore the current Israeli-Hamas war and its causes and implications. The escalation theory was used as the theoretical underpinning. The study was based on a documentary research design. Findings showed that Hamas’s perception of «Israeli excesses» was what set off the current Israeli-Hamas conflict. The implications of the conflict were identified to include economic upheavals, the potential of contagion, increased political polarization, novel strategic challenges, and the evolving character of warfare as a result of aggressive non-state players. The study recommends the adoption of a two-state solution as the most potent resolution of the Israeli-Hamas war.
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