Israel vs. Palenstine

Posted by TIM HAZURE on

A wise man once said not to speak about religion or politics, but fuck it. The Israel Gaza war has been making the papers lately. Depending on which media outlet is reporting it, you can't really pick a side without doing extensive research. The conflict has similar elements to the Russia/Ukraine battle over land and territories. 

A major problem of the conflict is the "holy land" of Jerusalem that has a significance in multiple religions; it boils down to religious faith. Unfortunately, religious battles are usually the most dangerous situations to deal with. Religions have the most zealous followers that will die for their beliefs.

israel and palenstine map

Timelapse map of Israel slowly taking over Palestine territory.

 

The Israel Gaza war has been going on for decades, making it one of the world's longest continuing conflicts in modern history. The conflict dates back to the early 20th century. Jewish immigrants began settling in Palenstine late 19th/early 20th century. Before 1948, Palenstine was composed of Arabs, Jews, and Christians due to a majority of religions have rich ties to Jerusalem, that's within those bondaries. The Jewish settlers began the Zionist movement. The Zionist are people that advocate for an independent Jewish state where Jews can live in safety.

The Jewish State in which Zionists speak of corresponds with the land of Israel spoken of in the Jewish bible. Unfortunate for Palenstinians the land of Israel is right under their feet. 

The State of Israel was established in 1948, a little after World War II and the Halocaust, which wiped out millions of Jews in Germany, in a massive geneocide committed by Hitler and the Nazis. Immediately after the United Nations granted the Zionist a portion of Palenstine territory, it triggered the Arab-Israeli war; which is going on to the present-day.

The closest to peace agreements came in the mid-90's when Yitzhak Rabin was elected as prime minister of Israel in 1992. He was able to make concessions with Palenstine, signing what is known as the Oslo Accords. Oslo Accords gave Palenstine the right to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Palenstine in exchange recognized Israel's right to exist on their native land and pledged and end to terrorism.

Peace agreements came to a halt when Yitzhak Rabin was assasinated in November 1995 at the conclusion of a rally held in Tel Aviv, Israel. Rabin was murdered by a far right wing Israeli law student who opposed the Oslo Accords.

Even though the Zionists have good intentions with wanting a safe haven, it violates basic human rights of people who already live there. This situation is like moving into a stranger's house and claiming, "God told me I own this house." Can we use the Bible to claim territory? Can we show up to someone's house and claim it as ours because God said so? At the same token, people can't tell Jewish people, "The Bible is wrong, this is not your land." At the same time, it's wrong to show up to an occupied home and tell them, "God said this property belongs to me." This situation being tied to religion makes the average person uncomfortable picking a side (well at least out loud).

British giving part of a land that's not theirs (Palenstine) is a problem that has been a recurring theme with the British across the globe; claiming and distributing territory also known as colonialism. 

Unfortunately, the United States government is not innocent in this situation either. The American government has been funding Israel with American tax dollars. America has been providing Israel with over 3 billion dollars a year in military funding for missile defense, dating back to the Obama administration. The U.S. is actually Israel’s biggest arms supplier providing two-thirds of their military weapons between the years of 2013 and 2022.

The Arabs are essentially victims in the situation, fighting invaders off their homeland for generations. A lot of innocent lives have been taken due to this unnecessary war, maybe one day Israel and Palenstine will come to a reasonable resolution that both sides can live with.

 

 

 

 

 

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