The Gaza Strip: What’s Going On and What To Consider


The Gaza Strip, the self-governing Palestinian territory, familiar to much conflict is currently under great scrutiny as Israel has begun work on strengthening the fence along the border. The border is said to be constructed based on the pretext of “preventing infiltration of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip”, a top priority as stated by the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Several questions have been raised regarding the construction of this border with respect to the socio economic impacts it will have on citizens of both states. Military action comes into play as the amount of patrolling soldiers are seemingly increasing with heightened reports of mistreatment of protesters near the border while raising concerns regarding the cost the Israeli government are accepting.


Image result for israel palestine border wallA few things to consider are the implications of the cost the Israeli government are taking on for this construction. How does this impact low income Israelis'? Will this construction only heighten tensions between the states and lead to greater protests? Are the opportunity costs of not building this fence greater? Careful consideration of these questions is important to how you guys approach the upcoming conference in March as these are pressing issues and will impact the relations and state of all the countries involved.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Resource: Palestinians in Israel

Image
Hello once again delegates! The entire dais of the OIC is looking forward to reviewing and offering you feedback on your position papers in the next week or so. We appreciate your hard work and diligent research, and we cannot wait to meet you all at conference March 1st! In the meanwhile, we have found a good resource for you all as you continue to prepare for upcoming debate! One of the most important details mentioned in Serena’s topic synopsis on the Israel-Palestine Conflict is the notion of the Arab-Palestinian identity. Essentially, despite technically living within the state of Israel, Palestinians have wholly split from the Israeli identity due to the various social and cultural differences between the two groups. This growing divide, compounded by recent rises in Palestinian nationalism and a so-called “national awakening,” fortunes for a one-state solution have collapsed while societal tensions have skyrocketed. The article linked below details how specific, vital
Read more

Resource: Women’s Activism in the Maghreb

Image
Hello once again delegates! The entire dais of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has been busy grading your papers this past week and putting the final touches on committee planning and we are honestly so thrilled with all of your work and can’t wait till conference-time to see you guys in action! For my final blog post, I wanted to focus on an angle of the first topic that doesn’t typically receive as much traffic as it should. When we analyze the specific workings of the OIC and its member states, we tend to overanalyze (which is, at times, necessary) the Middle East when the OIC, in reality, covers much of the MENA region, which also includes Northern Africa or, as it is alternatively known, the Maghreb. The Maghreb exists in an extremely unique position geographically and culturally; many of the Muslim-majority members of the Maghreb - Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia in particular - form a unique bloc due to relative proximities of Europe and the Middle Eas
Read more

Absher: Help or Hindrance?

Image
Hello Delegates! Hope you've been having a great week and we are super excited to meet you all very soon. As you know from reading the topic synopsis, the first issue that we are going to discuss is on the Empowerment of Muslim Women. Therefore, this week I've decided to discuss a pressing issue within the Arab community and the Western World regarding an app called 'Absher'. Absher is a mobile application that was launched in Saudi Arabia by the Interior Ministry in 2015 with the goal of creating an online government platform for its citizens to free people from bureaucratic inefficiency for day-to-day services. The app allows citizens to make appointments, renew IDs (drivers licenses, car registration and other services), check visa validity and make appointments at hospitals etc. What seems like an app that can only bring ease towards its citizens has in fact stirred response from the international community. This is due to the fact that one of the features
Read more