Israel v Palestine: The Breaking Point
- No Silence Just Action
- Oct 15, 2023
- 5 min read
If you've been following the news lately, you've probably seen the recent event where Hamas, a Palestinian Militant Group based out of the Gaza Strip, launched a major offensive attack against the Israeli Government, resulting in the deaths of 1300 Israelis, with a hostage situation also occurring with 150 hostages taken by Hamas. However, before forming an opinion about Hamas, or even the Palestinian population as a whole and considering Israel to be a fault-free victim, has anyone bothered to look into the other side of this story? Let's take a trip down history before we come back to the present day:
In 1947, after World War II, Israel and Palestine formed a two-state system at the behest of the United Nations and the United States. The reason? The 100,000 Holocaust survivors needed a place to stay without being persecuted or judged. President Truman had recognized the formation of Israel, but promised that both the Jews and Arabs of the region would be consulted about this. In the meantime, the city of Jerusalem would remain under the United Nations' control, as it is a significant religious site in both Islam and Judaism.
However, this did not sit well with Palestinians, as to them, this appeared to be a biased resolution that benefited Israel more than it did Palestine. Once Israel declared their independence, it also signified the start of the Israeli-Arab War of 1948.
During this war, Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudia Arabia, and Yemen, all in support of Palestine, invaded Palestine, to prevent the establishment of Israel, as they refused to recognize a Jewish State being established alongside an Arab one, when they had recognized the independence of Palestine. As a result, they commenced their invasion to assist Palestine.
During this war, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), had taken control over 9 major Palestinian cities: New Jerusalem, Jaffa, Haifa, Acre, Safed, Tiberias, Baysan (Beit She'an), Samakh, and Yibna (Yavne). In order to win, Israel crossed a line and used biological warfare in an operation known as "Cast Thy Bread", where they used typhoid bacteria to contaminate the water in Arab Villages and Jewish Villages that were in threat of being captured by Arab forces.
Even in spite of all this, once this war reached its end, during the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Israel did not give up the land they occupied. Rather, compared to the initial UN partition agreement, Israel had control of over 1/3 more territories than what was originally decided with the UN Partition agreement.
As a result of this war, 6,000 Israelis lost their lives, while 7,000 Arabs, including 3,000 Palestinians lost their lives. 750,000 Palestinians had become displaced, and rather than be offered refuge in other allied countries, they were settled in refugee camps and denied citizenship in their allies. Instead, these allies insisted they return home to their motherland. As of today, more than 1.4 million Palestinians still live in refugee camps to this day.
Now let's move a little away from the war, and focus on the loss of Palestinian Land, and the Increase in Israeli Occupation.
As you can see, even up to 2012, The amount of Palestinian land loss from 1947 is substantial. Over the course of the last 50-60 years, Israel increased its occupation, taking control of more land than what was originally designated to them to say the least.. With such a prolonged forceful occupation, could we really expect the Palestinian people to not raise their voice?
Even with occupying so much land, the Israeli government is not satisfied. To this day, there have been attacks, disrescpect, and a total violation of human rights for the Palestinian people, especially since the early 2000s. I could continue to go on about the 4 major bombings by Israel on the Gaza Strip. I could talk about how Israel had continued to oppress the Palestinian people by preventing them from celebrating their own holidays. But I think you get the picture. Even in terms of this attack by Hamas, has anyone even bothered to talk about the raid on Al Aqsa Masjid on October 5?
In order to celebrate their own Holiday, hundreds of Israeli settlers, with police protection, forced their way into the Al-Aqsa Masjid on the 5th of October, 2 days before Hamas launched their attack. You can read more about it on Google, but here is 1 link that describes the event: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/hundreds-of-israeli-settlers-storm-al-aqsa-complex-on-5th-day-of-sukkot-holiday/3008427. Why did we not see this on mainstream media? How can we call the attack on Israel by Hamas, "unprovoked", when it was clearly evident that this raid, which occurred two days prior, was a blatant disrespect to the Palestinian Population?
Let's come back to the present day. As a result of the attack by Hamas on Israel, Israel has declared war on Hamas once again, making this war number 5. I personally DO NOT CONDONE Hamas' attack. This attack made the matter worse not better. However, I cannot say I do not understand where they are coming from. If you look at mainstream media, you will see how Palestine has been completely neglected by major governments in Today's era. The blatant violation of human rights, and the decades-long occupation of Palestine by Israel, has pushed Palestine to its breaking point.
In this sense, what else is Palestine supposed to do? From their point of view, no government seems to care for them, and the only ones that appear to care for them is Hamas, a militant group. In fact, until this attack occurred, you wouldn't see any aspect of Palestinian suffering on the mainstream media. Now, because it was Hamas that made the first attack, every mainstream media continues to victimize Israel alone, with no revelation of Palestine's suffering in the mix.
Do not misunderstand, I sympathize with the victims and families of those lost on Israel's side in this attack. However, I cannot say I stand with Israel either. I stand with the victims on both sides.
If you only hear one side of the story, you have no understanding at all -- Chihua Achebe
The fact remains, that the Jewish population that arrived in Israel after the Holocaust, are now no different than the Nazi Germans who persecuted them for days on end leading into World War II. I say this, because in order to make their home, they persecuted the Palestinian people for decades, and even now continue to persecute and oppress them in the same manner they were oppressed during the Holocaust. So what makes them any different?
I could continue to talk about how we should be reaching out to our leaders and making sure they learn not to differentiate, but the point of this post is to bring the Palestinian side to the forefront. Therefore, before deciding on a side, make sure you do all your research before coming forward as a supporter. If you come out in support of Israel, question yourself whether you support their actions over Palestine before this attack. You cannot come in support of Israeli victims, if you cannot sympathize with the Palestinian victims of Israeli oppression.
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