An Overview of the Current Israel-Palestine Conflict

As many students at Blake know, there is a war going on between Israel and Palestine. As of today, around 12,000 people in Israel and Gaza have been killed, and many more have been injured and displaced due to the conflict.

The current conflict started when Hamas attacked Israel as part of its resistance against the state of Israel itself. Hamas (which is an acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement) is the group that is in control of Gaza, a city it has been in control of since 2006. Its militant wing, however, has professed its willingness to commit acts of violence as part of its goal to eliminate the Israeli state.

After the Hamas attack on Israeli soil in October, Israel started a series of targeted raids in Gaza to get rid of Hamas’ infrastructure and leaders. Many Palestinians living in the area have been injured and killed due to Israeli airstrikes.

Israel issued notices directing Gazans to evacuate so it could start a ground offensive against Hamas, but relocating the 2.2 million people who live in the Gaza Strip has proven to be a difficult task. Many tragic events have happened during this evacuation. On October 17, Palestinians who were sheltering at the al-Ahli Arab Hospital were killed in an explosion, and Palestinian and Israeli authorities are debating whether it was caused by an Israeli airstrike or a rocket misfired by Hamas.

Another reason why this conflict is so controversial is because Hamas took around 200 people hostage from Israel, and though two have been released, the rest are still being held captive. Qatar is leading negotiations to release the hostages, but the efforts have been mostly unsuccessful.

This conflict has divided many people around the world on religious, political, and cultural lines, including many of our fellow students. Our fellow Bengals have a variety of opinions on this issue.  One sophomore believes that the conflict is “a genocide, point blank. [The Israeli government] is trying to eradicate Palestine and America is supporting it.” This student urges other Blake Bengals to “advocate for Palestine … voice your support and denounce Israel for the crimes against humanity that they are committing.”

There have been many protests in support of Palestine since the conflict started. However, other students support Israel.

“I think what they [Israel] are doing is right … and [Hamas] is just being stubborn,” one junior asserts. “There are times to keep fighting and there are times to admit you have lost the fight, and they have severely lost this fight. … If they truly care [about Gazans], they will surrender.”

Other Bengals have more neutral opinions on the conflict.

“I believe both sides are wrong, [since] killing civilians, especially children is never ok. However, Israel … isn’t innocent in the slightest and it was [its] … government’s oppression that pushed … Hamas to go to such extreme measures,” one junior states.

Regardless of your opinion on this conflict, there is one statement a senior said that everyone in the world can agree with: “I think what’s going on is awful and upsetting.”

Image Credits: World Peace Tracts