Over the past few weeks, it has been difficult for me to write anything of substance here. My heart hurts for everyone who is affected by the war and murders in Israel and Palestine. This has been compounded by the fact that each day I see an influx of misinformation and “facts” stated without sources or corroboration. I wanted to do my best to give a brief explainer of the Israel Palestine Conflict (as it is frequently called in the media) for people who want to know more. While writing, it ended up being far longer than I initially anticipated. Still, I highly recommend you read it, especially if you are unfamiliar with the root of the current war.

Why Is There a Conflict at All?

After World War II, many of the Jewish people were scattered across Europe without a home to return to. There was a massive refugee crisis, and despite the war ostensibly ending, Jewish people were understandably terrified of something happening again. 

In May of 1948, the State of Israel was declared a country, making it the first Jewish country in over 2,000 years. Jewish people flocked to the state in massive numbers. This was amplified by the fact that they quite literally had nowhere else to go. The allied countries—such as the United States and the United Kingdom—refused entrance to the majority of Jewish people who wished to immigrate. The UK and US backed the formation of Israel.

Of course, there were already people living on that land when it was declared an Israeli state. Those people were the Palestinians. Palestine, a country of Arab people, has been populated by Islamic people since the year 637. After World War I, the British took control of Palestine and received mandates to create a Jewish homeland within the borders. Jerusalem is located within Palestine, and this city is considered a religious site and holy land for people of Jewish faith.

Between World War I and World War II, the Arab people and the Jewish people waged war for their land. A political group, called the Zionists, rose up to fight for their proclaimed right to an entirely Jewish state. Zionists are a political party who believe that the Jewish nation of Israel has a fundamental right to exist. The British initially took the Palestinians side, but as more Jewish people flooded into the country during WWII, they became overwhelmed by the fighting and referred the conflict to the United Nations. 

The US took the side of the Zionists, and the UN agreed to partition the country into two parts—one for Arab people and one for Jewish people. The legalized segregation of a country on the basis of religion or skin color is known as apartheid. According to the Cornell Legal Information Institute, apartheid is “a crime against humanity punishable under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court”². Nonetheless, it was condoned by the UN in the Middle East, and a plan was put into place.

Despite Palestine making up far more than half of the population, Israel was granted more than half of the land. Palestinians disagreed with this plan, as it would lead to overcrowding and a lack of enough resources to provide for themselves. Thus began the Six-Day War of 1967, during which Israeli forces claimed not only the land issued to them by the UN, but much of Palestine’s allocated land as well.

Aided by neighboring Arab forces throughout the duration of the intervening years, Palestine was able to negotiate for the Gaza strip in 1978. This meant that the majority of Palestinian territory is on one side of Israel, and a small slice, Gaza, is on the other side. 

In 1993, the Palestinian Liberation Organization recognized Israel’s right to exist, and requested that Israel do the same for Palestine. While peace accords were negotiated, Israeli soldiers continued their occupation of Gaza. Eventually, Gaza was given permission to elect a government. While internal people close to the situation begged for more time, citing that Hamas, an extremist organization, was poised to take control, the US encouraged the untimely election and Hamas was elected in 2006⁴.

Since then, there have been countless conflicts between Hamas and Zionists, and Hamas has continued their control of Gaza without any elections. Zionists give permission for Jewish Israelis to settle on land that was ordained for Palestinians. The two groups are constantly at war, resulting in a very high death toll, especially on the Palestinian side⁵.

Because Israel occupies the land surrounding Gaza, they are able to maintain control there despite it technically being independent. According to the Human Rights Watch, Gaza is the world’s largest “open air prison”⁶. Israel controls the food, water, and electricity for these people. They are fully dependent, something which is justified by Zionists because Hamas is in control of Gaza.

That brings us to October 2023.

What is Zionism?

Zionism is a philosophical stance which has turned into a political party. The Zionists believe that Israel should be a Jewish country, and that they should be able to do anything in their power to make that happen. In the 1900s, Zionists “employed terrorism against British forces in Palestine”¹ throughout WWII because they believed the British to be betraying their Zionist cause. 

Since gaining more power throughout Israel, Zionists have worked to try to make Judiasm and Zionism synonymous. They are not the same. White anti-zionists oppose the right to a Jewish-only state of Israel, anti-semites oppose the right to Jewish people existing at all. Many Jewish people are anti-zionist.

What is Hamas?

Hamas is a Sunni Islamist extremist organization which gained control in Palestine through United States interference and malpractice⁴. They have had control in Gaza since 2006 and have been deemed a terrorist organization by most of the world.

Just as not all Jewish people are Zionists, not all Palestinians support Hamas. In fact, the last election took place in 2006. 47.3% of Gaza is children⁷, so even if they had been Democratically elected—which it appears they were not, due to an intimidation campaign in the country—the vast majority of people currently alive in Gaza were not even born in time to vote for them.

What is Happening Right Now in Gaza?

On October 7th, 2023, Hamas launched an attack on Israel, bombing civilians. This resulted in over 1,000 deaths, even more injuries, and many Israeli people taken hostage by the group. It has since returned some of the nearly 200 hostages to both the US and Israel. Hostages reported being beaten when taken hostage, and later given medical treatment and food while in custody. 

Israel responded by bombing Gaza. Since October 7th, Israel has been bombing the Gaza strip nearly constantly. The 2.3 million people—mostly children—living there have been subjected to the heaviest bombings of their lifetime.  In just the 6 days after the initial Hamas attack, Israel dropped over 6,000 bombs and killed over 1,000 Palestinians¹⁰. Israel has since directed civilians to move south even as it increases the bombing of that area⁹.

The Zionist government has cut off all food, water, and electricity to the Gaza Strip, leaving them unable to care for their wounded. The Human Rights Watch has called for a pause in airstrikes in order to provide aid to Gaza, but as of yet only 20 trucks have been allowed into the strip¹¹.

A bomb hit a Palestinian hospital, killing many of the people inside. It has been hotly contested whose bomb this actually was. Initially, some Israeli state social media accounts took credit for the incident, before rolling it back and claiming it was actually a misfired Palestinian rocket. The evidence they provided for this has been proven false by the New York Times¹².

The US has been providing aid to Israel, and has been helping to fund their military since after WWII. 

Because of the widespread decimation of Gaza and the siege preventing humanitarian aid to the area, many people are calling what is currently happening in Gaza a “genocide”¹³. At this point, the Israeli response has passed from self-defense to an all-out war of a group of people without a military. Civilians are being killed at an extreme rate, and an immediate ceasefire is necessary.

Along with calls for a cease fire, there have been massive protests across the world in favor of freeing Palestine. Palestinians are trapped in a country without rights, and the only way to truly “defeat” Hamas is to free the people and give them a possibility of a better life. At the same time, pro-Israel protests have continued. Jewish people are divided over their support for Zionism and Israel. If Not Now is a Jewish group for the freedom of Palestine. Zionist Organization of America is a group that opposes Palestinian statehood completely.

There has been violence between the two groups, including one man being arrested for an anti-Arab hate crime at a protest Chicago where two separate pro-Israel individuals fired a gun into the air and pepper-sprayed pro-Palestine counter protesters. At the same protest, a pro-Israel man was tackled to the ground by a group of pro-Palestine protesters. All of this occurred after a 6 year old Chicago was murdered and his mother stabbed in a suspected anti-Muslim hate crime.

Jewish people fear a rise in anti-semitism and Arab people fear a rise in anti-Muslim attacks. Before the Hamas attacks, this year was already on track to have a record rise of anti-semitic hate crimes. Both Muslim and Jewish groups have received bomb threats throughout the United States. The war in the Middle East is also happening on a smaller level in our communities, and my heart goes out to everyone who is being affected, both in Gaza and across the world.

What Can I Do?

Here are some things you can do in the wake of the ever-rising death toll in Palestine and Israel. 

1. Get your news from multiple sources— As I stated, the US funds the Israeli military, and so many US news sources may be biased towards Israel. Al Jazeera is a Palestinian news source which may be biased towards Palestine. Reading multiple sources is the only way to truly educate yourself, as the truth is likely somewhere in the middle.
2. Donate to relief groups— Humanitarian aid is desperately needed in Gaza at the moment. Find groups to donate to, and help provide food, water, and other necessities to the Palestinian people living there
3. Hold others accountable— The Jewish people are not defined by Zionism and the Palestinian people are not defined as Hamas. Be skeptical of anyone trying to conflate extremist viewpoints with the general public. Anti-semitic and anti-Muslim attacks have been on the rise since the escalation started, and neither are okay.
4. Attend protests— There are constant protests calling for ceasefires throughout the United States and many other countries. Find one in your area and attend. Remember to stay peaceful and protect yourself. If you are not Jewish or Muslim, use that privilege to protect those around you who are.

Learn More

Below are all of the sources I used to write this so that you can learn more.

1. State of Israel proclaimed
2. Apartheid
3. Palestine
4. The Gaza Bombshell
5. The Human Cost of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
6. Gaza: Israel’s ‘Open-Air Prison’ at 15
7. Children make up nearly half of Gaza’s population. Here’s what it means for the war
8. Hamas surprise attack out of Gaza stuns Israel and leaves hundreds dead in fighting, retaliation
9. Israel again urges people to flee to southern Gaza, even as it strikes there.
10. Israel says 6,000 bombs dropped on Gaza as war with Hamas nears a week
11. Gaza Receives First Aid Trucks Since Hamas Attack as Egypt Border Opens Briefly
12. A Close Look at Some Key Evidence in the Gaza Hospital Blast
13. Gaza: UN experts decry bombing of hospitals and schools as crimes against humanity, call for prevention of genocide