By: Gianna Campos
Do you ever wonder where the U.S government puts their money annually? Well, 3.1 billion of it goes to Israel in Foreign Military Financing where $815.3 million out of that then goes to offshore procurement where it is then put into the terrorism that happens to the Palestinian people.
So what exactly does this mean? Why are the Israeli people doing this to the Palestinians? Well this goes back all the way to the ending of WWII. There had been many Jewish people who very much wanted their own country and they had been given a large part of Palestine, which was considered “homeland”, but the Arabs living there had thought that to be unfair.
Thus, came the Arab-Israeli War in 1948. (“Guide: Why Are Israel and the Palestinians Fighting over Gaza? - CBBC Newsround.” BBC, BBC)
When this war ended, Gaza had been taken over by Egypt as well as the West Bank by Jordan. This land held many Palestinians who fled from Israel, the new Jewish home.
But in 1967, after another war, Israelis had settled on Palestinian areas and their troops stayed there for years. The Israelis hoped they would exchange the land won for Arab countries giving them recognition for their right to live and put an end to fighting.
In 2005, the Israelis finally left Gaza, a small Palestinian territory, but it wasn’t much longer that a group named Hamas (a Palestinian Sunni-Islamist fundamentalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing) won elections and took over most of the control. They refuse to give Israel what they want and will go to full extreme to give Palestine their old home.
Since Hamas has taken over, Israel has held Gaza on under a blockade (they control its borders and limits who can get in and out).
That’s only the background story. The actions take place now are terrifying, to say the least.
It’s said that Gaza is one of the worst places in the world to live due to all violence that takes place daily.
According to bbc.co.uk, “Israel controls its coastline and all the entry and exit crossings into Israel. There is another crossing point into Egypt. There is no working airport. Because access is so restricted, not many goods get into or out of Gaza. Food is allowed in, but aid agencies say families are not eating as much meat or fresh vegetables and fruit as they used to.”
To add on, the Palestinians don’t even have their own army; they don’t let that stop them from firing rockets from Gaza into Israel though. The Israelis living in the border towns have been forced to adapt their lives to deal with the rockets and constantly take shelter.
As for the children, it has been discussed in an interview between Zakaria Odeh and Jody Sokolower for rethinkingschools.org , that there is little to no hope for them.
Most kids cannot attend school because they cannot reach it. If they can reach their school, they arrive almost an hour or two late. They’re also afraid to go as well. In October and November, of 2015, there had been 22 Palestinian children who were killed, including six in Jerusalem. There is no way to imagine the psychological trauma these children have faced. They do not want to sleep by themselves nor go outside because they fear they will be killed and/or arrested.
While talking to one of YB’s Government/Economics teachers, Mr. Butchko, he stated how he believes it is rough, with the U.S taking Israel’s side, since we don’t want to see terrorism win.
“There has been a lot of attacks on the Israelis, so you can [kind of] understand the Israelis decision. But on the other side, if you felt your homeland was taken away from you, you felt like you were always a second class citizen, and you didn’t have other options, violence might be just the possible solution,” Butchko said.
Especially with all the bad blood between Israel and Palestine, it’s understandable they result to violence.
This world has always been taught that violence is the answer and it’s never fully been untaught and it’s only that much harder to unteach in third world countries. But with the upcoming generation, this is only another chance to help teach agape love(brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence). We have the capability, we just have to realize that and use it to our fullest extent.
Do you ever wonder where the U.S government puts their money annually? Well, 3.1 billion of it goes to Israel in Foreign Military Financing where $815.3 million out of that then goes to offshore procurement where it is then put into the terrorism that happens to the Palestinian people.
So what exactly does this mean? Why are the Israeli people doing this to the Palestinians? Well this goes back all the way to the ending of WWII. There had been many Jewish people who very much wanted their own country and they had been given a large part of Palestine, which was considered “homeland”, but the Arabs living there had thought that to be unfair.
Thus, came the Arab-Israeli War in 1948. (“Guide: Why Are Israel and the Palestinians Fighting over Gaza? - CBBC Newsround.” BBC, BBC)
When this war ended, Gaza had been taken over by Egypt as well as the West Bank by Jordan. This land held many Palestinians who fled from Israel, the new Jewish home.
But in 1967, after another war, Israelis had settled on Palestinian areas and their troops stayed there for years. The Israelis hoped they would exchange the land won for Arab countries giving them recognition for their right to live and put an end to fighting.
In 2005, the Israelis finally left Gaza, a small Palestinian territory, but it wasn’t much longer that a group named Hamas (a Palestinian Sunni-Islamist fundamentalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing) won elections and took over most of the control. They refuse to give Israel what they want and will go to full extreme to give Palestine their old home.
Since Hamas has taken over, Israel has held Gaza on under a blockade (they control its borders and limits who can get in and out).
That’s only the background story. The actions take place now are terrifying, to say the least.
It’s said that Gaza is one of the worst places in the world to live due to all violence that takes place daily.
According to bbc.co.uk, “Israel controls its coastline and all the entry and exit crossings into Israel. There is another crossing point into Egypt. There is no working airport. Because access is so restricted, not many goods get into or out of Gaza. Food is allowed in, but aid agencies say families are not eating as much meat or fresh vegetables and fruit as they used to.”
To add on, the Palestinians don’t even have their own army; they don’t let that stop them from firing rockets from Gaza into Israel though. The Israelis living in the border towns have been forced to adapt their lives to deal with the rockets and constantly take shelter.
As for the children, it has been discussed in an interview between Zakaria Odeh and Jody Sokolower for rethinkingschools.org , that there is little to no hope for them.
Most kids cannot attend school because they cannot reach it. If they can reach their school, they arrive almost an hour or two late. They’re also afraid to go as well. In October and November, of 2015, there had been 22 Palestinian children who were killed, including six in Jerusalem. There is no way to imagine the psychological trauma these children have faced. They do not want to sleep by themselves nor go outside because they fear they will be killed and/or arrested.
While talking to one of YB’s Government/Economics teachers, Mr. Butchko, he stated how he believes it is rough, with the U.S taking Israel’s side, since we don’t want to see terrorism win.
“There has been a lot of attacks on the Israelis, so you can [kind of] understand the Israelis decision. But on the other side, if you felt your homeland was taken away from you, you felt like you were always a second class citizen, and you didn’t have other options, violence might be just the possible solution,” Butchko said.
Especially with all the bad blood between Israel and Palestine, it’s understandable they result to violence.
This world has always been taught that violence is the answer and it’s never fully been untaught and it’s only that much harder to unteach in third world countries. But with the upcoming generation, this is only another chance to help teach agape love(brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence). We have the capability, we just have to realize that and use it to our fullest extent.