Albert Camus once said, “The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”
When we take his words into consideration, we think about all of the people who are locked behind the shackles of oppression and persecution, or rather, we should. As of today, this year, 2023, we are living in a world filled with men, women, children; human beings that haven’t witnessed a single day of peace since birth. Year after year there is at least one dreadful situation occurring in a small corner of this planet and we, the people, stand so oblivious to everything that is happening. Very often do countries ever take part and when they do, it’s for the benefit of their own power, money, and status. But unlike the leaders of those countries, we have a beating heart and we stand against the mass killings of innocent souls. We stand with the thousands of martyrs every day because, “You don’t have to be Arab or muslim to support Gaza, you just have to be human.”
What Happened?
On October 7th, 2023, an ongoing tragedy broke down once again in the country of Palestine. Hamas – an islamic resistance movement based on the Gaza Strip – launched a surprise attack on Israel. At exactly 3:30 GMT, Hamas declared that they had fired 5,000 rockets into southern Israel, causing all civilians to take shelter. It went as far as reaching Tel Aviv. Their attacks continued leading Palestinian soldiers into the country until 6:45 GMT when Israel’s air force started attacking Gaza. About 230 Palestinians were killed and 1,600 were injured. The following Monday, the Ministry of Health in Israel stated 700 were killed and more than 2,000 were injured according to their media. There were multiple gun battles between the IDF and Hamas soldiers in southern Israel and even through all of the growing casualties, Israel is continuing to kill the innocent civilians of Gaza.
“I feel like people should look up and understand the history of what’s going on,” said Nicole Somersel, a student at John Dewey High School.
Nicole is completely right. When the tragedy first broke down, most Americans were confused on why this event would take place so suddenly, but what most don’t realize is how long this conflict has been going on for and how many times Palestine has been attacked – both the West Bank and Gaza included.
Background/Historical Information
Violence between Israel and Palestine has been going on for decades. Tensions started in 1917 during World War I when the British promised both the Jewish and Palestinian communities a national home on the same land with the Balfour Declaration.
“…in an effort to drum up support against the Ottoman Empire…they promised Arab and Palestinian nationalists a state when the war was over. At the same time they also promised Zionists a state…” said Mr Callis, history teacher at JDHS.
Regardless, brutality further increased during World War II when Jewish people started to migrate to Palestine from Europe. And so in 1947 the UN decided to adopt the partition resolution to settle this matter. The Jewish community accepted this resolution but the Arab state rejected it and launched a war against the Jewish state, causing the first Arab Israeli war of 1948 which resulted in Israel winning and taking more land than what they had. The reason this happened at all was because Palestine believed the land solely belonged to them, as they were the ones who touched its soil first, unlike the Jewish who migrated to Palestine years later. This conflict however, did not end there as a series of battles continued between Palestine and Israel such as the 6 day war in 1967, which resulted in more captured land: Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Golan Heights.
Fast forward to 1993, the Prime Minister of Israel decided to give back the land to Palestine wanting to make peace. While this sounded like a good idea, both Palestinian and Israeli extremists were against this. The land was barely divided as it was filled with Israeli settlements, leaving bits and pieces of land for the Palestinians. Nevertheless, Palestine was recognized as a country until extremists from both sides finally took action. The Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated by Jewish extremists. Simultaneously, the Palestinian extremists came together to form a resistance group named Hamas who not only went against Israel, but their own Palestinian government for making peace with the opposing country. This cause inevitably brought back the oppression and dehumanization of Palestinians. Leading to today in 2023, Hamas had finally struck on October 7th, causing Israel to fight back brutally. As you are reading this, the genocide of Palestine continues.
“…we have denied water access. They’re being told to evacuate to places that don’t exist…it amounts to an ethnic cleansing of Palestine… Hamas has nothing. I think a really big question in all this that’ll be asked over the next few decades is how could Israeli intelligence, the most well funded organization in the region, how could they have allowed this to happen?” continued Mr Callis.
How The United States Is Responding
These past 3 months, President Biden and our government has done little to nothing about this ongoing Genocide in Palestine. President Biden has made it very clear that he supports Israel and is a Zionist by continuing to supply the IDF with weapons, money, and other resources. He has rejected every call for a ceasefire, claiming that “It would not achieve peace.” On October 18th, when the United Nations called for a humanitarian pause to provide assistance to Gaza, the United States was the only country who vetoed against the UN’s possible resolution. For years our government has defended Israel’s actions as they use the term “self defense” to provide a clean image of Israel. It is nearly impossible for them to turn their backs against a country they developed a close bond with.
“I think the US should be calling for a ceasefire rather than continuously pumping weapons to Israel…it’s a geopolitics game. It’s very good for the US, for Israel to be strong”, stated Mr Callis.
No matter how much our people and those across the globe protest, we do not seem to be getting anywhere with our governments. People have been boycotting zionist brands such as Starbucks, McDonalds, and Chanel which has led to a vast amount of their profits plummeting rapidly. The entire world awakened to spread the word, to be Palestine’s voice. When Israel bombed hospitals in Gaza, the world rose up. When Israel bombed one of the oldest churches to exist in our time and their mosques, the world rose up. When Israel cut off Gaza’s water and electricity supply, the world rose up. Even now, as Israel is targeting journalists who are trying to update the outside world everyday, we continue to speak up and not a single one of us plans to keep quiet about something so devastating and inhumane.
As we speak with other people, go on with our daily lives, the people of Gaza are suffering at the hands of the IDF. Children are dying, men and women do not have the supplies to keep themselves alive, families are witnessing their loved ones get caught in between the lines and take their last breath. The lives of Palestinians, their very existence is an act of rebellion because of how beautifully they sing songs, how courageous their souls are, and how gentle they treat one another. Their culture, language, people, are all rebels because our world has never seen such mirthful and vivid individuals until now. We are witnessing an ethnic cleansing, we are witnessing an entire country fall down to ruin, and why? Because they exist, they breathe.
Please keep in mind, the citizens of Palestine should not be taking responsibility for the conflict between Hamas and the IDF, nor their whiplash. Innocents should not bear the weight of war. We as people cannot let the world forget Palestine. Just like us, they are human, and just like them, we too want peace.
