Orion Griffin: Today in history: The Shelling of Beit Hanoun

Nov. 8—On November 8, 2006, the Israeli Defense Force shelled Beit Hanoun following a week-long operation in Gaza. It killed 19 people. In the last few weeks, the world has watched, with horror, the atrocities being committed in Gaza following the attack from Hamas on October 7. The Israeli government responded by dropping more bombs on Gaza than the U.S. did on Afghanistan in one year. These bombs have leveled homes, schools, hospitals and refugee camps, killing over 10,000 people in a country where the average age is 18 years old. This did not start on October 7.

To understand 2006, as well as today, a look into the long history between the two countries is required. The reality of the situation dates back to the late 1800s to early 1900s, when a rise in anti-Semitism in Europe led the father of modern Zionism, Theodor Herzl, to believe that Jewish assimilation would be impossible and that the only solution would be a Jewish state. This promoted Jewish immigration to Palestine.

Following World War One, when Britain was assigned to mandate Palestine in 1920, it was required that Britain put the Balfour Declaration into effect. The declaration was issued in 1917, announcing support for a national home for Jewish people alongside the Palestinian Arabs, who made up the majority of the population in Palestine. Britain oversaw the country until 1948, witnessing several protests and revolts between Palestinians and the Jewish populations. Where Palestinians were losing their homes at a rapid pace, Jews were facing hate crimes from around the world and being pushed to move to what would become Israel.

In 1948, when the British pulled out of Palestine and declared a two-state solution, what Palestinians call "Nakba," or "the catastrophe," followed. After years of being ignored by the British, who sent more and more Jews to Palestine, but ignored the needs and rights to land by those already living there, irregular bands of Arabs resisted the two-state solution. In retaliation, Israel depopulated villages and displaced 700,000 Palestinians, committed several massacres that left over 800 civilians dead and barred Palestinians from returning to their homes (for a time) and allowed Jewish settlers to move into the homes of Palestinians (which cemented the reality that Palestinians could not move back).

The root of the issue is that last sentence: Israel barred Palestinians from returning to their homes and allowed settlers to move in and occupy the homes, despite border agreements. Since 1948, Israel has built settlements in Gaza and the West Bank, diminishing the amount of land that Palestinians own. Currently, as officials green-light the bombing in Gaza, settlers in the West Bank have begun driving Palestinians from their homes, again. In Jerusalem, Armenians are also facing the same treatment.

Since 1948, Palestinians have had to endure an oppressive regime that has kept the population in an open-air prison. The long list of atrocities committed by Israel towards the Palestinians has pushed them to resist colonialism and fight back, which brings us to 2006.

Following several rocket attacks (by Hamas) on Southern Israel, the IDF conducted what's known as "Operation Autumn Clouds" at the start of November 2006. The IDF entered the Gaza Strip to locate and stop Hamas rocket attacks into Israel and after six days of sporadic fighting around residential Beit Hanoun, the IDF pulled out of Gaza, leaving 53 dead, 16 of which were civilians.

The following day, shells struck Beit Hanoun, killing 19 civilians and wounding 40 more. 13 of those killed were a part of the same family. The Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya (political party being Hamas) and President Mahmoud Abbas (political party being Fatah) called the attack a massacre, that women and children were targeted and claimed that Israel does not want peace. The Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, offered humanitarian aid and expressed regret towards those killed and wounded. Human rights groups around the world called the attack a war crime, while the UN representative for Israel, Daniel Cameron, blamed Hamas for Israel killing Palestinian civilians. At the same time, the IDF claimed that the attack was a technical error in the counter-battery system and that it was an accident.

When the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution that called for an investigation of the attack, the IDF refused to cooperate. Israeli military and government officials said that they "were sorry" and that there was no need to investigate, while adding that no one cares when Hamas kills Israeli civilians, but the world goes up in arms when the IDF kills Palestinian civilians.

The investigation was completed in 2008, although many felt it was inadequate since the ones that held all the information refused to cooperate. This has been a regular occurrence for Israel, having pushed back against the investigation into Al Jazeera's Shireen Abu Akleh's murder last year and a long list of other events. Although Akleh's murder and the shelling of Beit Hanoun are only small portions of the history, the events highlight the fact that the issue has gone on way longer than 2023. The history is muddled, with the IDF attacks that leave the same trail of blood, tears and bodies as the attacks from Hamas and other groups have launched on Israel.

For those looking for more reading into the issue, I recommend two books that got me interested in the history. One lays out the history pre-British mandate, the other shows how each side of the conflict has their beliefs and ideas as to who owns the land.

—Jerusalem 1913: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, by Amy Dockser Marcus; As the title says, the book goes back in time to when Jerusalem was still under Ottoman control. The book shows the history and how nationalism, Zionism and WWI halted any possible solution.

—The Lemon Tree, by Sandy Tolan; Takes place in 1967 with a man named Bashir Khairi returns to the home he was kicked from in 1948. He finds Dalia Eshkenazi Landau and her family, who fled the Holocaust in Europe, living there. The two form a friendship while they discuss who has the right to the land.

Opinions expressed in this column are those of the writer only and do not necessarily represent those of the newspaper.