No matter what the age, race or ethnicity, NO ONE deserves to live a life of violence or fear.
In
a variety of locations around the globe, civilians are surrounded by
violence and live in fear because of it. In the middle east people live
with this fear daily. Specifically in Israel and Palestine. For near a
century, Israelis and Palestinians have been disputing over land,
including The West Bank, The Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem. The political
disputes over the territories have lead to violence and war endangering
the lives of innocent civilians in both states. Despite all the effort
and support from the UN and international community, an agreement has
yet to be made. And as a result the situation is slowly being neglected
while violence continues to rise.
In 2000, Israel proposed an agreement to give Palestine a territory in
Gaza and nearly all of the West Bank. The Palestines refused this offer
and responded with bombing that killed more than 1000 Israelis. Five
Years later, Israel withdrew from Gaza, but the Palestines didn’t
populate the region for shelter. Instead they build rocket bases that
destroyed towns and villages claiming the lives of many in southern
Israel. Due to the constant change of territory, Israelis and
Palestinians are frequently interacting with one another which results
in violence, injury, and casualties in towns near the Green Line,
borders. And when one group is attacked, they retaliate and the violence
goes in a cycle. The cycle of violence has resulted in the death of
over 2,546 Palestinians and 816 Israelis, and the injury of over 23,930
Palestinians and 5,616 Israelis from the beginning until now. Sadly,
young children have been affected by this cycle. Currently, a total of
1,619 kids have lost there life to this conflict in warfare. 129 Israeli
children and 1,519 Palestinian children have been victims to this
conflict and more and more continue to lose their lives today.
Imagine your child or loved one at risk every single day because of a
situation like this. Even I can’t think of how I would feel if I lost my
younger sibling or cousin. I would be absolutely devastated.
In the memoir, The Hour of Sunlight
by Sami Al Jundi, Al Jundi w tells the story of his youth and his
hatred for the Israeli occupation and his ambition for overthrowing it.
In the beginning of the memoir Al Jundi retells the story of his mothers
youth and what she experienced when she was very young. She was also
blind, which in her view is a gift and a curse because although she
couldn’t see the beautiful things in the world, she couldn’t see the
evil. She discussed how her father died when she was young. She said,
“My father…was shot in the heart...I was only five years old”, (7,
Al-Jundi). In addition to the sorrow of losing her father, she was
forced to cope with death threats from Israelis who were responsible for
a massacre resulting in the death of over 100 innocent villagers. "[The
israelis] are warning us to leave the village or they will do...what
they did to the people in Deir Yassin...where over one hundred villagers
had been killed", (9, Al-Jundi).
These massacres, attacks and threats have been extremely frequent and
nothing is changing, its only getting worse. As citizens of a privileged
country with a strong government to provide us with safety, its our
duty to help those abroad who aren't blessed with the privileges that we
have. We must raise awareness and spread the word to let the government
know that we care for the Israelis and Palestinians before they're are
entirely neglected and violence possibly reaches the extremes of
genocide. We can use social networking like Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram to spread the word. Together we CAN do this.
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