Tears in the sand

Imagine hearing the deafening thunder of bombs and artillery shells exploding as you do household chores. Imagine being greeted in the morning by the earsplitting sounds of nearby rockets and grenades detonating. You find it hard to get a good night’s sleep because the screams of innocent civilians along with injured troops pleading for medical aid haunt you. These are the kind of events that can only take place in our worst nightmares. But the Israel-Gaza conflict is no movie. It is the reality that people in Gaza and Israel face for the past few weeks. It’s already like the end of the world for the people in Gaza and Israel. The conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians about the territory in Gaza got the whole world’s attention because it violated human rights and murdered thousands of innocent civilians within a one month period. The sad thing is the rest of the world cannot stop it. There are no plans for the ‘international community’ to intervene in Gaza to protect civilians (Gowans).

In the end, it is still up to the Israelis and Palestinians to end this tragic nightmare. In 1948, the two sides went to war. When it ended, Gaza was controlled by Egypt and another area, the West Bank, by Jordan. They contained thousands of Palestinians who fled what was now the new Jewish home, Israel. But then, in 1967, after another war, Israel occupied these Palestinian areas and Israeli troops stayed there for years. Israelis hoped they might exchange the land they won for Arab countries recognizing Israel’s right to exist and an end to the fighting. Since Israel decided to pull out from Gaza in 2005, following a 38-year occupation, the strip has been subjected to near constant bombardment from the air. It has also acted as a base for various rocket attacks that have pounded Israel over the years. (BBC UK) In short, this conflict is mainly about territory.

The Palestinians of Gaza want to make the Strip a state but Israel won’t let them. Because of this, thousands of lives have been lost and they are still willing to endanger their people’s lives just for a small piece of land. The truth about what is happening today in Gaza is not just a story of two sides. There are three players here, the Israelis, Hamas and the Palestinian people and without question, the losing side… the Palestinian people. (Swann) This conflict first started when the three young Israeli teens were abducted and murdered, while Palestine celebrated and posted greetings on social networking sites. They saw the murderers of Israelis as heroes and addressed them with respect. (ABC News) Because of this, the Israeli army set off a huge explosion in the home of one of the suspects to avenge their fellow countrymen.

At the same time, Gaza also launched rockets at Israel which provoked Israel to bomb the Gaza Strip. On the other hand, when the government discovered an Israeli killing a Palestinian, they treated that person as he is, a murderer. They did not show sympathy to the criminal even though he killed one of the state’s enemies. They also warned the Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip to evacuate to be spared from the Armageddon awaiting the strip. The one thing most people aren’t aware of is that the Hamas is both tactical and perverted at the same time. They stated that they want the removal of the Zionist presence in Israel (Le Brun) but they hid their weapons under a densely populated area and used that as bait so that Israel would launch rockets at the area killing thousands of Palestinian civilians. They used the civilians as a shield to protect their precious artillery.

Israel has only claimed that they want to destroy tunnels and stop mortar fire (Le Brun). They have good intentions but their means can be described as extreme. Because of this, Gaza has changed a lot since the start of this conflict. Inhabitants of Gaza live in terror and anxiety of imminent death. According to the Washington Post, the Israel-Gaza conflict, since it began, has killed 1,323 people. 65% of those killed were Palestinian civilians; 130 were women and 239 were children among those Palestinians killed (Gamio). Imagine the unnerving fear they experience daily because of all the explosion and missile attacks that happen in Gaza. Because of this, they became wild and savages who only exist because of luck. Violence has become the status quo and that trying for peace is risky, so leaders on both ends seem to believe that managing the violence is preferable, while the Israeli and Palestinian publics show less and less interest in pressuring their leaders to take risks for peace (Fisher).

The fidelity of the terrorist group Hamas showed how they are not willing to give up for Gaza even though Israel already destroyed it. I think because of Israel’s intervention in the affairs of Gaza made Gaza’s inhabitants prone to extremism that is why the Hamas is willing to endure all of Israel’s attacks even though the Hamas has slim chances of winning against Israel. The Hamas’ dedication to their cause is like a form of liberation showing their dissociation from a society that used to be under Israel’s control. In the world today where ethics are usually ignored and one’s own interests are the main priority; Hamas’ depravity begins to make sense. This is a world where massacres are made into movies and murders are made into operas – where criminals are shown as victims.

The Israeli’s, amid all this madness, hasn’t lost their morality even if the rest of the world sees them as heartless villains as showed by the media. The main problem of the Israel-Gaza conflict is not merely about territory, but is also about the humanity and their intentions for the welfare of their people; whether it be putting them at risk or saving them from the edge of destruction. This conflict only brought chaos and destruction to the two nations. If they would just think of the consequences before acting, Gaza would be a better place. Before all this chaos happened, Gaza was a blissful paradise. Before, children were having fun while playing on the streets. I can imagine their cheerful faces and cute laughs as they were playing with each other while the bright future awaits them. It’s a shame that they were not able to see the future.

Possibilities are lost and we can only imagine what they could have achieved if the world was different. Its majestic coastline with breathtaking views of the ocean was surely a tropical paradise. But now, only ruins of man’s hard work are left on the once busy streets of Gaza. Because of this conflict, the paradise was lost and only wild creatures remain. If only Israel and Hamas could communicate better instead of using human shields and weapons against each other, the world would be a better place. In the future, we will end up helping each other because no one else is there to help us but us, humans. Mankind must put an end to war — or war will put an end to mankind. (Kennedy)