For a peace agreement has started between Palestinians and Israelis, it´s necessary, among other things, that the pre-1967 borders are respected. It is necessary that there is also an agreement on Jerusalem transforming it into an international city under United Nations control given that there is deep disagreement between Palestinians and Israelis on their division, the immediate withdrawal of Israeli settlers from Palestinian land, the return of refugees from Arab-Israelis to their old lands and the recognition of Palestine as an independent state. If both sides want to live in peace, they need to submit to international law. First, Israel should withdraw from occupied land in the West Bank since 1967, according to United Nations resolutions and Hamas should cease hostilities against Israel. Without this solution will only continue the war, with some respite, but not a lasting peace.

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RADICALISM PALESTINIAN NOT JUSTIFY GENOCIDE IN GAZA
Fernando Alcoforado *
The Gaza Strip (See map) is a Palestinian territory that consists of a narrow strip of land
in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, bordering
Egypt on the southwest (11 km) and Israel in the east and north (51 km). The territory is
41 miles long and only 6-12 miles wide, with a total area of 365 square kilometers. The
Gaza Strip has a population of about 1.7 million inhabitants. With an annual growth rate
of approximately 3.2%, the Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated areas of the
planet. The area suffers from a chronic shortage of water and has virtually no industries.
Its infrastructure is poor. The designation Gaza derives from the name of its main city,
Gaza, whose existence dates back to Antiquity.
Map 1 - Map of Gaza Strip
Map of the Gaza Strip showing urban areas, refugee
camps and border crossing points.
Source: http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faixa_de_Gaza
As a result of the First World War (1914-1918) with the defeat of the Ottoman Empire
which ruled Gaza and all of Palestine for hundreds of years, this region passed to the
control of Great Britain. Arab majority, the region, which until 1917 belonged to the
Ottoman Empire and later, until 1948, was a British protectorate, began to have a
growing Jewish population. In the early years of the British Mandate in Palestine, there
were clashes between Arabs and Jews. Both Israelis and Palestinians claimed his share
of the land based on history, religion and culture.

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The conflict between Israelis and Palestinians dates back to early last century. Between
the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, a mass
migration of Jews from various countries to Palestine led to a change in local
demographics. The major victorious powers of World War decided the fate of Palestine
for the Jews, serving it to the League of Nations, setting thus the arrogance that has
always characterized international relations throughout history. The Palestinians viewed
the sponsorship given by first Britain and then the League of Nations to the Zionist
project of creating a Jewish national home in Palestine denial of their right to
independence
In 1947, shortly before the withdrawal of the British from Palestine, the United Nations
(UN) has put in place a plan of dividing the territory into two parts: one for Jews and
one for Palestinians. Dissatisfaction around the map defined by the UN created a civil
war between the two peoples. With the departure of the British in 1948, neighboring
Arab countries tried to invade the newly created State of Israel. But at the end of the
conflict, the Israelis defeated the Arabs militarily, maintained its territory and the
Palestinians lost the chance to create their own state since Israel occupied part of the
territory allocated by the UN to the Palestinians, Egypt took control of range Gaza and
Jordan held the West Bank.
The Gaza Strip acquired its current boundaries at the end of the fighting of the war of
1948, confirmed by the Armistice Agreement between Israel and Egypt on February 24,
1949. The Gaza Strip has become an area directly administered by an Egyptian military
governor until 1967. With the Six-Day War, Israel annexed and occupied the Gaza Strip
in 1967. The 1967 war is the crux of the latest issue that created the difficulty to solve
the conflict with the establishment of two states (Israel and Palestine). With the 1967
borders, East Jerusalem would have to belong to the Palestinians that want as the
capital. And it seems that this is one of the least negotiable points by Israel, which has
decided to have Jerusalem as its capital.
In accordance with the Oslo Accords signed with Israel in 1993, the Palestinian
Authority became the administrative body that governs the Palestinian population
centers. In 2005, Israel decided to withdraw its settlers and military from the Gaza Strip,
handing his administration to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) due to the
difficulty of living in a small space with the Palestinian population. Nevertheless, Israel
retained control of airspace, territorial waters and borders. In practice, the Gaza Strip
suffers the siege of Israel by land and sea, and the border with Egypt, suffers from
constraints exercised by this country against its population. This situation is similar to
that faced by the population of Jewish origin who lived in the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland
during the Second World War and then was decimated in concentration camps by the
Nazis.
It is noteworthy that two political parties (Fatah and Hamas) have come to be fighting
for the power of the Palestinian National Authority-PNA which resulted in the Oslo
Agreement in 1993. Election of Hamas in January 2006 to lead the Palestinian
Legislative Council froze relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. After
several street battles Hamas expelled totally from Gaza, where it was concentrated, the
Palestinian Authority dominated by Fatah, considered too conciliatory with Israel,
leading the country to cut the input in this region for all supplies. The recent agreement
between Hamas and Fatah to form a government coalition hindered the return of
negotiations including Hamas in the peace process. The impasse is mainly due to the

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resistance of Hamas to recognize Israel's right to exist, to renounce violence, or accept
previous agreements between Israel and the PNA and the strength of world powers to
recognize the legitimacy of the Islamic movement as a representative Palestinians.
Seen as a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and European countries, Hamas
suffered a series of sanctions for those countries. The Israeli government expanded
surveillance of Gaza, increasing their control over the borders and restricted the
movement of goods and people between the two territories. Since then, a series of open
confrontations between the two parties: the Israeli government and Hamas. In general,
the confrontations involving the launching of rockets by Hamas at Israeli cities and
Israeli attacks on Gaza, through shelling and ground offensives. In addition to the open
clashes that resulted in hundreds of deaths (mostly Palestinians), the relationship
between Israelis and Palestinians over the past decades have been marked by attacks,
clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians, intifadas (riots) and attempts
agreements peace that is always stuck for some reason.
In recent days, the world has been following the intensification of the conflict between
Israelis and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. To date, more than 600 Palestinians were
killed in the wake of the bombing started in July by the Israeli government against the
Gaza Strip, as well as 25 soldiers and two Israeli civilians. The new spiral of violence
was unleashed after the kidnapping and murder in June, of three young Jews in the West
Bank (an attack that Israel attributed to Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza
Strip) followed the death of a young Palestinian in Jerusalem burned by Jewish
extremists. From there began the release of Hamas rockets and bombardments of Israel.
The response to the terrorist’s attacks committed by Hamas against the State of Israel
should not be indiscriminate bombing against the civilian populations of Gaza Strip and
not specifically against Hamas targets as it has been practiced by the Israeli military.
This is a true act of genocide against the defenseless Palestinian people of Gaza that
should be subject to punishment of the rulers of the State of Israel by an international
tribunal. Both the rulers of the State of Israel and the Hamas leaders need to understand
that there is no military solution to this conflict. Israel will not live without the attacks
of Hamas, nor will the people of Gaza be free of bombings in Israel without a peace
agreement.
For a peace agreement has started between Palestinians and Israelis, it´s necessary,
among other things, that the pre-1967 borders are respected. It is necessary that there is
also an agreement on Jerusalem transforming it into an international city under United
Nations control given that there is deep disagreement between Palestinians and Israelis
on their division, the immediate withdrawal of Israeli settlers from Palestinian land, the
return of refugees from Arab-Israelis to their old lands and the recognition of Palestine
as an independent state. If both sides want to live in peace, they need to submit to
international law. First, Israel should withdraw from occupied land in the West Bank
since 1967, according to United Nations resolutions and Hamas should cease hostilities
against Israel. Without this solution will only continue the war, with some respite, but
not a lasting peace.
* Fernando Alcoforado , member of the Bahia Academy of Education, engineer and doctor of Territorial
Planning and Regional Development from the University of Barcelona, a university professor and
consultant in strategic planning, business planning, regional planning and planning of energy systems, is
the author of Globalização (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova
(Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São
Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado.

4. 4
Universidade de Barcelona, http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e
Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX
e Objetivos Estratégicos na Era Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of
the Economic and Social Development-The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Muller
Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe
Planetária (P&A Gráfica e Editora, Salvador, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e
combate ao aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011)
and Os Fatores Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012),
among others.