Analysing Israel-Hamas Conflict Based on Game Theory Approach
Abdullah Hamida
Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, School of Economics and
Management, No.10, Xitucheng Road, Haidian District, 100876, Beijing, PRC
Email: abdullah.hamida@hotmail.com
Yongsheng Jin
Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, School of Economics and
Management, No.10, Xitucheng Road, Haidian District, 100876, Beijing, PRC
Email: jys1900@bupt.edu.cn
ABSTRACT
The Islamic Resistance Movement (AKA: Hamas) has taken control over Gaza Strip,
Palestine, in 2007. Since then, the organization was in a continues hit-run conflict against the
Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). The conflict is very resistant to any sort of resolution, and
Hamas and Israel engage frequently in what it seems an endless cycle of resentment and
violence. Despite numerous mediations by global and regional powers, this conflict appears
to be further away than ever. This particular conflict can’t be addressed according to the
common negotiation theories that based on rationality and hard politics, which seems not that
functional. Instead, a model based on the game theory approach is presented in this study to
explain this phenomenon. In this work, some facts about Israel - Hamas regional concerns are
explained. Moreover, the study analyses the reasons behind Hamas enforcing calm in Gaza,
even though Hamas considers Israel as its arch enemy. The presented model shows that
whenever Israel and Hamas reach an agreement, both sides can collaborate in maintaining a
state of calm. Moreover, results show that the proposed model is applicable to analyse a
conflict in terms of actions, duration and terms of settlement.
KEYWORDS: Israel; Israeli-Palestinian conflict; Hamas; Gaza strip; Game theory
