Israel-Palestine: The reasons behind the rubble

Palestinians search through the rubble in Gaza following a bombing.

 

This conflict’s been dragging along for a long time now- over 100 years. Whose land is it? Whose land was it? Who can live there now? For Isrealis and Palestinians, the answer to that question is very different. It’s a poisoned chalice to get involved in, as many who tried to help has found out. Like one, hate the other. A middle ground doesn’t seem to exist. And although religion isn’t directly the cause of the conflict, it is yet another separation barrier. And this conflict has been influenced by what went on elsewhere- the Holocaust and Jewish immigration to Israel as a result of persecution to give a couple of examples. But seeing the rubble of decimated buildings, seeing the families torn apart by this conflict, seeing the hate it fosters for a group of people(on both sides), one is tempted to ask: What’s it all for?

This conflict, and others that have gotten violent, have (naturally) negatively shaped our perception of conflict. But arguably, our future depends on our ability to have conflict and disagreements peacefully. We need to be prepared for it, and be able to stick to our values at the same time as listening to others and considering what they have to say- putting the collective over the individual in our decision making. Despite all the negativity, I think this is still a beautiful world, and society has improved markedly over, say, 200 years ago. But we didn’t achieve today’s rights and freedoms without conflict or disagreement. Women didn’t get the vote without entering into, it must be stressed, peaceful conflict. Racial equality and LGBTQ+ rights were the same. People knew something was wrong, and unfair, and they rose up against it. We do need to do the same, and challenge what we don’t see as right- we live in a part of society where we can do that without as much fear of the consequences. And we should- just peacefully. Here’s hoping for peace over violence 100% of the time. Well, it might sound ambitious, but surely we need to strive towards it?

This conflict- one of the world’s most long-lasting, arose in the early 19th century when efforts were made to create a ‘Jewish homeland’ in an area of land which at that time was populated by Palestinians. The area though, was actually controlled by Britain at that point (post WW1). Both Jews and Palestinians claimed the land to be their ancestral home. Over the next couple of decades, the Jewish population grew, fleeing from persecution and the Nazi regime. There was a lot of infighting going on now- between Jews and Palestinians and also against British rule. In 1947, the UN voted to split the territory in two - a Jewish state and a Palestine state. The Jews accepted the idea, but the Palestinians said it was unfair. It was getting confusing for everyone, and in light of this British forces left the territory a year later- leaving behind them a state of turmoil. Against this backdrop, the Jews declared the creation of Israel. This was never likely to go down well with the Palestinian community, and a war broke out that forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians out of their homes. Many were expelled from their land and to this day neither they nor their families or descendants are allowed to return into Israel- most now live in Jordan, and 5 million Palestinians to this day are considered refugees by the UN.

Little has really changed in the seventy years since the creation of the Israeli state. Deep tensions remain, fighting continues, land is contested and families are suffering. And my question is, what do they make of it all? By they, I mean the general Israeli and Palestinian population, a mix of people with different levels of involvement and connection to the conflict. And on my journey looking for opinions, one of the biggest shocks was how much religion was used, especially by the Isaelis, as justification for violence against Palestinians.

The Israeli sentiment is very much ‘kick out the Arabs’, among worse threats. Why? Because this is Jewish land, they say. This is the home of the Jews. Honestly, it’s sickening to listen to this hate speech. One man described Islam as a ‘very bad disease’. The previous passer-by had said ‘I wouldn’t trust them on anything.’ The worst thing is that it’s not just a few people that think like this- the vast majority of passers by replied along these lines. When asked whether non-Jews were equal, the answer was that God effectively made Jews more special- again, tracing it to religion. ‘It’s not my opinion, it’s God’s opinion’ was a frequent quote.

And on the Palestinian side, there’s similar rhetoric. The first passer-by in a video was asked ‘Would you feel proud of killing innocent Isaelis?’. ‘Yes’. ‘Even children or old people?’. ‘Yes’. It’s important to learn Herbrew, many of them say, because the Koran says you should learn the language of the enemy.

On both sides, there’s hate. Hate for a whole society. For a whole culture. For a whole way of life that is believed ‘inferior’. But it is so important to emphasise that there are plenty of loving, peace-wanting people, both Jews and Arabs, in Palestine, Israel and around the world. People will get drawn into this spiral of hate, often unknowingly, when they grow up around it. When Israeli and Palestinian history books teach two starkly different versions of history, people will grow up believing different things to be fact.

Human rights activist Ronnie Barkan, who grew up in Israel, explained how they were trained to think ‘Like anyone who grew up in Israel, I went through the whole indoctrination mechanism, and we’re being trained to be soldiers from kindergarten- literally, from kindergarten. And the moment I realised, I managed to -sort of- overcome that indoctrination. One of the main successes of Israeli propaganda is to convince the world that the situation is complicated. The situation here is not very different other than the way it's perceived around the world and among Israeli society themselves.’ 

Maybe now the world sees it as a conflict of religions, states, and cultures, but Palestinian immigrant Amal Amireh summarised the root of the conflict well ‘I see it in two ways: it’s a national conflict between two groups of people. One of these groups, the Israelis, got their national aspirations fulfilled by establishing a sovereign state. The other group, the Palestinians, did not have their national aspirations fulfilled because no sovereign state exists for them. The Israeli state existed at the expense of many Palestinians who were displaced from their land and are still awaiting a solution to their problem.’

Yes, religion plays a massive part of the conflict. Yes, it is a clash of ideas and beliefs. But the actual source of the conflict is the aforementioned- both groups wanted the same thing, one got it, one didn’t. It’s easy to think of this just as ‘whose land was it first?’. Palestinians and Israelis will both claim that they were first, and unfortunately humans haven’t yet developed a time machine that can confirm either account. We know who’s there now, that’s all. We don’t know everything though. We don’t experience the conflict as a reality everyday. We just hear ‘Oh, there was a bombing in Gaza, nine people died.’ So it’s not necessarily within what’s fair for an outsider to tell them what to do, what the solution is, without being biassed. But what we can do is look from a different angle, add a viewpoint that sometimes those so firmly entrenched on one side can’t see. We can encourage and spread love and tolerance for different beliefs, and if we treat Israelis and Palestinians as equals, then that may guide them to treating each other as equals. And more dialogue and understanding seems the only way towards a solution.

The one thing that we can pick up from this is how there may be one underlying cause, one root of a conflict, but it can get muddled up in so many other factors that shape it- in this case, religion did that, and is now used by many as justification for what they are doing. To solve conflicts though, we need to get to the root of them, and truly understand what influences them and the people involved in them. What’s the cause of the conflict, and what amplifies it? Knowing this will give us a better perspective on any conflict, and although we may not be able to solve it, we will be in a better position to help.