Tensions Escalate in the Gaza Strip

"You cannot have discussions on borders while the territory you want to set up your state on is being eaten up by the settlements."

Saeb Erekat,the Chief Palestinian negotiator, has expressed skepticism at the idea of resuming peace talks with Israel after Hillary Clinton stated on Friday "Resolving borders resolves settlements; resolving Jerusalem resolves settlements."

But can anyone really blame him for his skepticism? A year on since the three-week Israeli military offensive known as Operation Cast Lead - which claimed the lives of 1,300 to 1,400 people (according to B'TSELEM - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, 1,021 of the deaths were non-combatants, including 320 children and 107 women), Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip have once again began to escalate since mid December. On the 19th of December a small skirmish broke out between militants from the Popular Resistance Committees and Israeli security forces who had entered the town of Beit Lahiya, located in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. No casualties were reported from this fifteen minute firefight.

On December 26th the Israeli military conducted an air strike near the Erez crossing, a key pedestrian and cargo terminal in the Gaza Strip barrier, killing three men that they had suspected of trying to "infiltrate from Gaza". Meanwhile, in the city of Nablus in the West Bank, the IDF conducted a several hour raid that resulted in the deaths of an additional three men, two of whom were militants belonging to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, said to be the militant wing of the Fatah party. The Brigades has been suspected of killing an Israeli settler that had occurred on December 24th.

A day after the Viva Palestina aid convoy led by British parliament member George Galloway arrived, December 8th saw multiple Israeli air strikes across the Strip, according to two separate Palestinian Telegraph reports (read about them here and here). The first strikes took place in western Gaza strip, conducted during the midnight hour by Israeli F16s. No causalities have yet to have been reported from these initial strikes, but four civilian deaths were reported during strikes on the food tunnels. The food tunnels, of which there are approximately 1,500, are considered a key lifeline to keep the overcrowded populace of the Gaza strip sustained, while the Israeli government alleges that they are used to smuggle guns and explosives.