EU staff and students work towards understanding the Israel-Palestine conflict

In their webinar “Understanding the Israel-Palestine Conflict,” Timothy Hazen, political science professor, and Inamul Haq, religious studies professor and Muslim chaplain, helped students understand the conflict from multiple perspectives.

Hamas’ unprecedented surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 sparked a retaliatory campaign and ground operations from Israel. While the Oct. 7 attack served as a wake-up call to many non-Muslims in the West, the Israel-Palestine conflict has a complex history of over 75 years, so Haq and Hazen aimed to educate students on this history. 

Hazen focused on offering an “academic, political science” angle to supplement mainstream media coverage and provide an opportunity to educate the student body and the university.

Then, Haq shared his reflection on the current conflict, focusing on a humanist perspective. He felt it was important to address the conflict for students to help them make sense of what’s going on since he said it’s a “hard, contested issue.”

In the lecture, Hazen defined a state as a defined territory with a government that oversees the citizens of that territory. Citizens within that territory perceive the governing body as legitimate, and there are also people outside the territory who see the government as legitimate. 

Israel is recognized as a state by approximately 160 countries in the world. Palestine is not fully seen as a state, but many countries, about three-fourths of the world in areas such as the Arab world, Africa, Latin America, and South Asia recognize Palestine as a state. 

However, Palestine doesn’t have the same measure of state legitimacy as Israel. This raises the question of what happens when individuals in world politics, such as Hamas and national militaries, commit crimes.

Hazen’s definitions of statehood and other relevant terms gave students an academic lens to look at the conflict. 

From the humanistic lens, Haq wanted students to understand the complexity of the issue and the importance of investing in a solution that is humane and doesn’t dehumanize any group.

Haq said the most fundamental issue, in his opinion, is that Palestinians are not being given basic human rights. 

“From my point of view, the key problem right now in Palestine is abuse of Palestinians,” Haq said. “That is, in my opinion, the key issue, that Palestinians, for the past 50 years since they occupied these territories, that Israel is neither taking them in nor letting them go, and they are stateless people.” 

Haq noted that he traveled to the Middle East with Jewish and Christian friends and saw what was going on. He mentioned that none of his friends supported what was happening and said his Jewish friends were “more angry than I am.”

“They were not supporting it,” Haq said. “Because you have people who have the right of basic human dignity. Basic human dignity. They virtually have no rights.” 

He also went to the military courts and saw how children are “just in prisons for long long long times and their lives have been ruined.”

In addition, he observed that one can tell a Palestinian town from a Jewish town because in Palestinian towns, every home has a tank of water on its roof since Palestinians get water only a few hours a week and must store it. Jewish homes get 24-hour running water of the same water, so they don’t need to store it. Palestinians also pay a much higher price for the water  — which is coming from Palestinian territory — despite not having access to it nearly as often. 

All of these oppressive practices are part of an apartheid structure, according to Haq.

“What you have there is actually an apartheid structure, and that is what is creating this anger and militance,” Haq said. “And I think that if you dehumanize a population, then it loses its sanity, it cannot think rationally, it responds in anger, and it gives a counter to humanization.”

Hazen also spoke about the power imbalance and noted that it needs to be addressed.

“If individuals really want this to change, there needs to be a change to the power dynamic or at least to the actors involved in it,” Hazen said.

Both Haq and Hazen agree that a third-party actor would need to intervene to resolve the conflict; however, they also both agree that there is a long way to go before that solution even becomes close to happening. 

In the U.S., interfaith tensions have increased, and this has led to an increase in Islamaphobia and anti-semitism. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a warning that the intensification of Israeli airstrikes on Hamas and a potential ground incursion into Gaza could keep the U.S. in a “heightened threat environment in the near-to-mid-term.”

Furthermore, the Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism reported that 312 incidents of harassment, vandalism, and assault were recorded between Oct. 7 and Oct. 23, and more than half of those (190) were directly linked to the Israel-Hamas war.

In light of this, Haq emphasized the importance of trying to understand the other when dealing with international conflict. 

“I think we need to recognize each other’s opinion,” Haq said. “It is very important, and listen to each other’s narrative. It doesn’t mean we agree, but at least we should listen to what is the narrative, so I think in that sense that we never did a good communication between two communities that they should understand each other’s narrative. That will humanize the other and create a mental acceptance of the other.”

Both Haq and Hazen shared a few important points they want students to keep in mind as they follow the news of this conflict. Haq wants students to know that political conflicts are always complex and have “historical baggage,” and he emphasized the importance of looking for the facts to understand them.

“They should look for the facts because facts cannot be denied, and we can reasonably agree on facts,” Haq said. “We cannot agree on interpretation of the facts, but we can reasonably agree on the fact.”

Haq also said it’s important for students to understand that we should never deny another’s humanity.

“The Jewish life, the Palestinian life, the Christian life, are all equally sacred and respected,” Haq said. “That is non-negotiable. So, this is important. If we don’t have facts, then we are just lost in prejudice and opinion.”

Hazen wants students to be mindful of where they receive news, as “tremendous amounts” of misinformation on Jewish and Israeli propaganda have emerged on social media.

“I think using traditional media is important — not that it’s perfect because there are many problems with it  — but … just the aspect of having that formal mechanism, that hierarchy, that editor,  I think it’s very important to not lose sight of traditional media,” Hazen said.

He also encourages students from the U.S. to look at the Israel-Palestine conflict from international angles, such as a European and/or Middle East view, to gain multiple perspectives on the issue.