The conflict between Palestine and Israel is nothing new; it’s been going on for decades now. The conflict is deep, filled with so many aspects that an entire history book will be filled in the not so distant future in an attempt at understanding every facet of this horrific battle. In simple terms, it’s a war between two groups of people over the ownership of land.  To outsiders it can seem like a problem with a simple solution, but that’s far from true. While this land may be considered disputed territory, to me it’s all Palestine’s land, and the Israeli forces were the invaders.

While the dispute has many aspects to it, the underlying tension is that Israel is dictating Palestine. The way this is done is not only unfair, but also inhumane and immoral. Millions of innocent people have died from these useless bombs and brutal fighting. Politically, it’s complicated. Even though there have been so many attempts to resolve it, nothing ever works out, mostly because Israel insists on occupying land that isn’t theirs.

For a pro-Palestinian like me, the whole thing is horribly upsetting.  It doesn’t matter how much we protest and rally against the war, nothing ever really changes. The fighting doesn’t just affect the Palestinians living in Palestine, but the ones who live here in America too.  Here we are forced to endure the pain of family members getting hurt. There are several students here in Niles West who have family in Palestine, and every day they worry about what will happen to them. While this may seem as if I am simply talking about ethics and morals and not focusing on the bigger picture, lets consider just how much ethics and morals matter.

The Israeli forces would destroy homes, rape the women, and steal from the Palestinians.  The Palestinians were the victims; they were attacked by the Israeli troops and they gave up more lives than anyone else. Breana mentions suicide bombings by the Palestinians. I do not condone that; frankly, it would be quite foolish of me to say that the Palestinians have not contributed to the conflict, but that is what someone has to do when something that belongs to them is taken away. If the Israelis were merely fighting for self-defense, then why don’t the Palestinians have the right to do so as well?

Sophomore Isha Khalil and her younger sister, freshman Mariyam Khalil are from the small village of Battir, near Bethlehem.  The Khalils have relatives who were alive during the start of the war in 1948. According to their grandparents, it can only be described as horrific.

“My grandpa told me it was one of the hardest times of his life since there were no jobs, meaning no income. My mom said in a village not too far from ours, some women were even raped because they denied the Israelis go to into some rooms. They’d randomly arrest the men in the family, too. My mom once got an olive tree golden necklace from her mother, and when an Israeli had everyone evacuate the house he ripped it off of her neck, bit it so it bent and threw it down the mountains. She never saw it again,” Isha explained.

The Khalil family visited Palestine during the summer of 2011.  While they were there, they found themselves being treated with extreme disrespect from the Israeli police at the checkpoints. They were often asked suspicious questions and never treated with respect.  Neither Isha or Mariyam see the logic behind the dispute. While Breana points out that all the Arabs at Israel have equal rights and are rarely mistreated, that does not seem to be the case with Isha and Mariyam. And if the Israelis can treat American citizens in such a way, then how must they be to the Palestinians?

“It makes me sick. I can’t put into words how horrible it really is.  How the media can make us look like the bad guys?  How they’d make a big deal about a few Israeli deaths but never mention the hundreds of lives taken away in Gaza just recently? I’ve lost faith in humanity- honestly, how can people be so evil and cold?” Isha wondered.

Senior Seema Suleiman agrees with the Khalils and has had a similar experience.  Suleiman is from a village called Beit-Nabala, a Palestinian land currently occupied by Israel.  Suleiman used to live in Palestine and can attest to the suffering.

“When I lived in Palestine,  I had a gun pointed at me as I walking to school…I am always worrying about my family that are still living in Palestine. I worry that their house might get destroyed or that someone might get killed,” Suleiman said.

According to Suleiman, the Palestinians should fight and are fighting for a justified cause against the Israelis. Palestinians are being forced to leave their homes and live in an enclosed territory with borders set by the Israeli government, and the Palestinians have every right to fight for their homes back. Many argue that the Palestinians should not be fighting back if they do not want to get killed, but it is their land, so they must fight. Think about it, if your home was taken away, would you sit back and let it happen?  To me, not fighting back isn’t even an option.

Breana claims that the Palestinians were simply borrowing the land, and when Israel took it, they had the complete right to it. No, the Palestinians were not “borrowing” land. They had ownership to it. The Zionists took it when they couldn’t find a place anywhere else. If they were accepted elsewhere, they would have just stayed there and invaded that land.

Somehow, the United States actually supports Israel and its troops. While the people are being bombed in Palestine, America is providing Israel with the money and weapons to make that possible. The fact that the U.S. actually supports the Israeli government disgusts most Palestinians, including the Khalils, Suleiman, and myself.

“I absolutely hate, hate, hate the fact that the U.S. supports Israel. They are basically supporting terrorism,” Mariyam said angrily.

Suleiman agrees with her, “Israel gets weapons from the U.S. while the Palestinians fight with whatever weapons they have and with rocks. It is not U.S. business to get into other countries problems.”

In Nov. 2012, Israel bombed the Gaza strip… again. Even if Breana tries to argue that both Palestinians and Israelis are affected by this conflict in the same way, then they are just ignoring the statistics. In that bombing itself, the Palestinian casualties were over a 100, along with 850 injured. Israelis only reported three civilians dead and 60 people wounded. Where is the justice?

If the Israelis keep controlling the Palestinians, there will be no justice. There are no justifications for what the Israeli government is doing. No, it is not a two sided conflict. If it was, then there would be some sort of a similarity among the casualties that both sides have suffered. However, if you compare the statistics that I have provided, then you will see that next to Palestine’s casualties, Israel’s seem like none. The Palestinian army is also greatly outnumbered against the Israelis; a war is fought between two nations with at least some similarity between their statuses in the military. Breana’s article insists that the conflict will end when Palestine stops fighting. However, I can honestly say that will not happen. If the Palestinians put down their guns, then the Israeli government would just subjugate them under even more intense control. Saying that when the minority group stops fighting, the dominant one will too is absolutely ridiculous.

Yes, a life lost is a life lost and it is tragic, but in terms of the whole picture, Palestine is greatly outnumbered and suffering to the extreme. There will be no justice if Israel isn’t stopped, and even if we can’t stop them completely, we can try. It irritates me how this issue is overlooked by the media and by a majority of Americans, but it is occurring and it is hurting. The least we can do is pay a bit of attention to it, and one day Palestinians will gain back their land and their true rights.

The media influences a lot of judgement that may or may not be true. In order to understand exactly how the Israeli occupation is affecting Palestine, it is necessary to hear from the Palestinians themselves. In history it has always been common for the winners’ side to depict the story. Naturally, the media will depict the story from an Israeli Zionist’s perspective. But that is like listening to the Native Americans’ story from Christopher Columbus. While Israel has advanced very far and has many accomplishments to credit it as a successful nation, there is no reason as to why it should continue to keep the Palestinians in an apartheid; there will be nothing wrong if Palestine is given back its true land.