Gaza War | The Traumas of the Shoah and the Nakba

Who started it? In a bloody conflict that has now lasted for over three-quarters of a century, this seems like a moot question. Yet it must be asked. Again and again, and especially today. Because it's about much more than the Gaza Strip.

"The path out of violence is made more difficult by the fact that both Israeli and Palestinian societies are deeply traumatized. The collective traumas of the Shoah and the Nakba intensify the current experiences of suffering and leave little room for empathy with the other side," states Muriel Asseburg in her book about the war in Gaza. Born in Stuttgart in 1968, the political scientist and Middle East expert examines the historical background, the escalation, and the possible consequences for the future.

Much is known through extensive media coverage. What has been missing, however, is a contextual context, a critical presentation of the facts, and a (naturally) preliminary assessment based on scientific judgment. This is what the research associate at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) provides.

Regarding Hamas's insidious attack on Israel, the gruesome facts are clear: More than 1,000 people were murdered, and 250 hostages were kidnapped. Israel completely sealed off the Gaza Strip and launched a major offensive against Hamas.

The massacre of residents of several kibbutzim and peaceful visitors to the Nova Music Festival on October 7, 2023, must be condemned and condemned as a crime in violation of international law and human rights. However, that fateful day also revealed a blatant failure of the Israeli intelligence services and the army, which subsequently attempted revenge and, in doing so, subjected an entire population to war. The phrase "proportionate" means nevertheless seems questionable in this context, unless one considers Israel's goal of eliminating "once and for all" the threat posed by Hamas to its state and its citizens unjustified.

Muriel Asseburg attempts to reconstruct the war's impact on the population in Gaza, also in calendar form, based on the fighting and the blockade. While she does not present a war diary, it is in a sense a kind of reference work. The author relies not only on Israeli sources, but rather on sources from the victims. An "objective" assessment of events on the ground and abroad is likely to be difficult for anyone, and may never be possible. In this conflict, in this war, taking sides is certainly understandable. A comparison of the numerical casualties of the Hamas attack with those of Israel's war in Gaza is stirring up emotions. Large sections of the global public are outraged. In this respect, as Muriel Asseburg notes, Hamas appears to have achieved two "successes": First, the Palestinian question has returned to the international agenda, with the utmost urgency, and second, the war has led to a dramatic loss of prestige for Israel, the consequences of which are not yet foreseeable.

The author, who also studied international law in Munich, expertly discusses issues of international criminal law. Top Israeli political figures are set to appear in the dock in The Hague, and the Hamas leaders targeted by the International Criminal Court are now dead. Israel carries out its own death sentences through targeted military strikes, although so-called collateral damage cannot be ruled out.

In this context, Muriel Asseburg also analyzes the role of Iran (weakened by the elimination of its air defenses and the loss of Syria in the "axis of resistance") and that of the Gulf states, led by Saudi Arabia. She presents the mood of the populations there, in Israel, and around the world, and provides information on the so far futile peace efforts of the UN and friendly and "neutral" states. She shows how the war has spread and continues to spread: from the West Bank to Syria and Iraq, through Lebanon, to the Houthi militias in Yemen.

It's not a heartening book. It's written with great empathy, but it doesn't offer any solutions either. Muriel Asseburg presents her view of what should not be done politically and warns against further escalation through ill-considered decisions and actions. Will this warning be effective, given the traumas she herself identifies in the affected societies?

Muriel Asseburg: October 7 and the War in Gaza. Background, Escalation, Consequences. C. H. Beck, 286 pp., hardcover, €20.