Since October 7th, 2023, Israel and Palestine have been fighting a devastating war. Israelis and Palestinians have both gone through a tremendous amount of unfortunate events and have received millions of dollars from the United States hoping to help all of the innocent people within these countries.
History
Israel and Palestine have been experiencing conflict since 1948 when Israel declared their independence. In the past, the land of Israel belonged to Palestinians, but after World War II and the Holocaust, all Jewish people wanted to obtain an independent state where they could live freely without persecution. In 1967, Israelis and Arabs participated in the Six-Day War. The Six-Day War began because Palestinian Arabs wanted to have the land back that they lost to Israelies, but then Israelis ended up winning the war and gaining up to four times as much land as they already had prior, which included the Gaza Strip. In 2006, Israel withdrew from their occupation of Gaza, but still imposed tight restrictions within the air and water space. This limitation made it hard for Palestinians to have control over the movement of goods and people coming into Gaza. Smaller events occurred between 2006 and the current day, but now Palestinians are fighting for the ownership of the Gaza Strip while Israel Jews are fighting for a land without Jewish persecution.
Palestine
Palestinian and Israeli citizens have had to face terrible consequences because of the unfortunate conflict in Israel. Palestinian civilians have “no safe place left to go” as violence has intensified as stated by the World Health Organization. Although conflict has been occurring between the two groups for years, this current war is being extremely publicized compared to other wars. Filters on TikTok have been created by people around the world, mainly in the United States, to raise money and awareness for Palestinians. Hundreds of protests have also been organized around the world, again specifically within the U.S. Palestinian civilians are continuing to persevere through hardships and hopefully will be able to live in a safer environment soon.
Israel
Israeli civilians have also gone through horrid and violent occasions within the last couple of months. Israel continues to have some altercations regarding Their motive. Palestine’s main goal is to claim ownership of the Gaza Strip and West Bank, while Israel’s objective includes protecting its “Homeland” (Israel) because it is free of Jewish persecution and anti-antisemitism. Palestine has been gaining more support than Israel on social media which was supported by the statistic made by The Economist which writes, “By October 19th pro-Palestinian posts were 3.9 times more common than pro-Israeli ones.” However, some of this support is transforming into Jewish hate. An example of this Jewish hate is hidden within the popular phrase, From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. The American Jewish Committee writes, “It calls for the establishment of a State Israel and its people.” This phrase states that Palestine will only be free once all Israelis (which includes their entire Jewish population) are completely out of Israel. The AJC also reminds us that, “There is of course nothing antisemitic about advocating for Palestinians to have their own state. But, suggesting that the Jews alone do not have the right to self-determination, is antisemitic.” The Israeli and Palestinian wars will continue to divide different areas of the world, but all anyone can hope is that everyone is safe.
