You’ve probably heard people talking about the “conflict in Gaza,” but what does that even mean? Some say that this is a war, others call it genocide. At the end of the day, 2,000 Israelis and 68,000 Palestinians have been killed.
Some history: following WWI, Palestine was placed under Ottoman rule by the British administration, who then agreed to make the land a Jewish national home. Many Zionists, or Jewish nationalists looking for an independent Jewish State, who saw the land as their ancient homeland supported this. Sam Mandell, ‘26, member of the Jewish community, said that “the term Zionist is [now understood] as a bad thing… All Zionism really means is that you believe that Jews have self determination.” Self determination, in this case, means the right to govern themselves as a nation.
The shock of WWII left many Jewish people wanting a place of security, which is why many agree that they have a right to the land. The United Nations divided the state into two sections, Palestinian and Israeli, though Israel later took control of the Arab Palestinian areas, except for the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Palestinians fled, becoming refugees in those two sections.
More than 90% of homes in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to Rescue.org. Families in Gaza are suffering from starvation, with over half a million Palestinians trapped in famine. When asked about what she thought was one of the big-
gest misunderstandings people had about the conflict, Fatumata Swaray, ‘26, member of the Muslim student union, replied “[that] people who are pro-Palestine are antisemitic.” This could also apply to many thinking that being pro-Palestinian means being pro Hamas.
On October 7th, 2023, Hamas—a Palestinian terrorist organization—struck Israel, killing around 1,219 people and taking 251 hostages. In response to this, the Israeli military hit back. In the past two years, over 68,159 Palestinians have been killed—over 20,000 of whom were women and children—and 42,000 maimed. “Two things can be true at once. Hamas is bad and [so is] Netanyahu’s government. It doesn’t have to be one or another” explains Mandell. Another misconception people have, Swaray states, is that “it’s not a genocide. People think it’s a war when it’s not… It makes me feel really sad that people don’t truly know what’s going on.”
Although many are divided by what they believe is right, no one should be unwilling to hear
from all different perspectives. Like Mandell said, “the second you stop having [these] conversa-
tions is when really bad things start to happen.”
