Conflict resolution vis‐à‐vis horrific events

• Published date: 01 December 2023
• Author: Helena Desivilya Syna
• Date: 01 December 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/crq.21416

EDITORIAL

Conflict resolution vis-à-vis horrific events

The massacre executed by Hamas terrorists in the southern Israel on October 7, 2023

manifestsactsofextremeviolence,defyingmoral codes, humanistic values and humane

behavior, unprecedented in the history of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Contrary to the

claims of Hamas supporters, such brutalities are not acts of freedom fighters protesting

against occupation, rather as accumulated evidence points out premeditated strategy to kill

Israelis.

The ruthless attack horrendously affected Israeli diverse citizens (Jews and Arabs) innocent

children, women and men. The war brought about by this assault has severely influenced the

civilian population—children, women, and men—in Gaza.

As the editor-in-chief of Conflict Resolution Quarterly, I feel compelled to sound my

voice, despite the difficulty due to my position as an insider eye-witness, and share with

colleagues and the readership, some thoughts on conflict engagement in the midst of the

horrific events. I reflect upon the current occurrences, referring to the intergroup relations

within the state of Israel and their ramifications on its future, including the Israeli–

Palestinian conflict.

As eloquently expressed by a Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska in her poem The End and the

Beginning (translated by Joanna Trzeciak):

After every war

Someone has to clean up.

Things won't

straighten themselves up, after all.

In our case, such attempts have already begun in the midst of the war.

I wish to remind the readers that one of the defining features of Israel is its divided society,

namely, deep intergroup ruptures with the most prominent schism emerging as a result of the

protracted intractable Israeli–Palestinian political discord. The latter conflict has manifested fre-

quent periods of violent escalation prior to the most recent assault by Hamas and the outbreak of

the war thereafter.

The horrific events have caught Israel in a period of internal hyperpolarization, fueled by

the attempts of the extreme right government formed in January 2023 to impose judicial over-

haul, or as termed by the parliamentary and the civil society opposition regime upheaval. How

is Israel handling the unprecedented grave crisis vis-à-vis Hamas and Hezbollah in Northern

Israel given the precarious internal circumstances?

Obviously, the inevitable retaliation to the brutal attack within the framework of war

comprises violent, highly contentious tactics employed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

These actions create numerous dilemmas concerning the civilian population on the other

side including provision of humanitarian aid. These concerns evolve against the backdrop

of attempts to free the abducted Israeli civilians (children, women, men some of them

Received: 25 October 2023 Accepted: 25 October 2023

DOI: 10.1002/crq.21416

Conflict Resolution Quarterly. 2023;41:113–115. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/crq © 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC. 113