Realism As An Explanation for the Israel-Palestine Conflict
By Andrew Perez | October 16, 2024 (Writing Contest)
Andrew Perez
Professor Greenhill
Paper 2
October 16, 2024
Realism As An Explanation for the Israel-Palestine Conflict
At around 1 AM on Monday October 14, 2024, Israel’s military bombed Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital along with its surrounding land. Thousands (Shurafa & Magdy, 2024) of Palestinians have fled to the hospital to set up their tents around it, in hopes they would be safe from Israeli strikes, as hospitals are often protected by UN law from being attacked during times of war. Israel chose to bomb the hospital regardless, as it has many times, claiming via social media that Hamas was operating a command center nearby. This attack however was profoundly more devastating than the previous ones as it led to a chain reaction of civilians’ gas foisons exploding and tents catching on fire. Swaths of the encampment were set ablaze as many burned alive. An estimated 30 tents were burned down, dozens of people injured, and 5 people killed with death tolls expected to rise considering many of the survivors with severe injuries sustained extreme burns. One man who was interviewed articulated how despite these recurrent deadly attacks his family plans to stay in the encampment, fearing moving to somewhere else, even if they could somehow manage, would only be more dangerous without the aforementioned protection of international law. (Shbair & Solomon, 2024)
Realism does an outstanding job of explaining why Israel decided to bring about these events, as well as the context of the larger war it is ensuing against the Palestinian people. States are the main actors, and it is evident that the far more developed and organized governmental body in this conflict is Israel compared to the disheveled, conflicting governing bodies of Palestine. Taking these factors into consideration, it is apparent why Israel is the main actor in this war from making decisive, effectual military decisions to having a firm grasp on the narratives surrounding them. The voices of citizens of the countries involved, humanitarian organizations (Oxfam, 2024), and even the inefficient UN, which America (Israel’s ally) has veto power in, are all secondary to the true actors of this situation, those being Israel and the countries supplying it with propaganda support (Makdisi, 2022, p. 48) and weapons. IGOs are largely ineffective at making any substantial positive change in this war, even if they try. The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has even made attempts to issue warrants for the arrests of Israel’s defense minister and prime minister, evidently to no avail (Vock & Gregory, 2024). The religious beliefs of either country play very small parts in the issue, mere excuses for genocide and land conquering. This was boldly displayed in last summer’s protests when a group of Jewish religious leaders demonstrated at the U.S. capitol, pointing out how hypocritical the Israeli government is being in going against the values of Judaism to antagonize this war (Jewish Voice for Peace, 2024). Any claimed ideologies of religion, morality, and even democracy are secondary to Israel’s and its allies’ real goals, which are to obtain more wealth and security. In its pursuit of the war the state of Israel has made this largely apparent through actions such as its undemocratic attempts to muzzle its own judicial system (Kershner et al., 2024).
Realism does an atrocious job at explaining the causality behind these events. The Israel-Palestine conflict is a prime example of a complex international relations situation where there are many more actors than just state governments. For example, social media platforms like instagram and tiktok have played a key role. It’s difficult to scroll through any of these sites without soon stumbling upon a video of a palestinian displaying the situation they’re in, showing their suffering children and family to the world, and advertising fundraising services, often to assist in buying essentials that have now become extremely expensive due to scarcity, or to pay for crossing across the Egyptian border into safety (Kaur, 2024). Everyday citizens across the world being exposed to these videos they otherwise would’ve never seen has played a crucial role in garnering sympathy and support for those trapped in Gaza. State governments had nothing to do with these posts, and if anything would probably like them to end if they had any say, but because states aren't the only actors in this war these influential videos continue to be posted and to attract attention all the same. Hamas is yet another undeniably prominent, non-state actor in the war, its actions being the center of Israel’s invasion (Austin, 2024). IGOs also play a pivotal role in the war. There are consistent reports of UN aid having life-or-death importance in helping Palestinians survive, along with many reports detailing Israel’s brazen attacks on UN workers and their convoys (Human Rights Watch, 2024). Israel knows how crucial IGOs are in the conflict and that’s why it puts so much care into its actions regarding them, from carefully stepping around international laws to targeting the aid they send, knowing these decisions will have a profound impact. Contrary to the gloomy picture realism paints of distant politicians who ignore their people and act only toward security and wealth, the Biden administration has exemplified that the policies of hegemon nations are more than that by shifting his support for Israel toward being less tolerant of Israel’s war crimes, as per the wishes of the American people (Ward & Youssef, 2024). Additionally, it’s important to consider that one country’s actions can’t give an accurate representation of the way the whole world at large interacts; just because a country may act selfish and only toward its own interests doesn’t necessarily mean every single country in the world is the same. This conflict is a vast web of states from across the world interacting with the situation and investing loads of resources into aid, security, statements, etc. and a person would be remiss to see this complex system and reduce it to nothing but a dog-eat-dog example of anarchy. The fact we aren’t currently in a World War 3 is testament enough to the organized, cooperative nature of the international politics stage.
Realism accurately explains the happenings of the Israel-Palestine conflict because it displays states being the main actors, the states involved seeming to have wealth and security as their only real goals, IGOs playing insignificant roles, state ideology having little influence in states’ decisions, and democracy being of little concern to state governments as a result. Realism fails to describe the Israel-Palestine conflict because it can’t account for there being many essential actors other than state governments, IGOs playing a pivotal role, politicians having broader interests than simply wealth and security, and the war being carried out in a relatively organized manner. Personally, I believe realism sufficiently explains the Israel-Palestine conflict. The actors at play seem to have the exact interests and levels of impact that realism foresees, and there is no one definitive voice bringing order to the situation.
