Israel v. Palestine: A War with No End in Sight

War is always a dreadful topic to discuss, especially when it is in regard to wars that aren’t stories of days past. When discussing wars of the present, it may be easy to forget the reality of the situation, especially for people like us, those in different countries watching from the sidelines, or those unaffected by the disastrous effects conflict can bring to one's life. For us to see those wars as merely a topic of discussion is nothing short of a blessing. We can pick and choose when we engage with it, however, thousands have had it shoved into their lives with little way to escape it, trying to survive the unilateral destruction of everyday life brought about by war on a scale that is so rarely seen in today’s day and age–this is the reality of the current war in Gaza. 

October 7, 2023, shook the world as it was hit with the news of the rising conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group, Hamas. This conflict seemingly burst to life from nothing, and just as quickly divided much of the world over who was truly “right” in their efforts to kill the other. Now as more and more time has passed more blood is spilling every single day, fueling the war further and further, seemingly taking the place of gasoline as the Scarlet Fuel that runs the engines of war, and they are roaring ever louder.

On October 7th, some 4800 rockets were fired into Israel, followed by a swathe of Hamas fighters who assaulted Israeli military bases and massacred civilians in 21 communities. The deaths totaled over 1000 people and about 250 people were kidnapped by Hamas and brought to Gaza, many of which have yet to be released. And while this is what would ultimately spark the conflict in the eyes of the world, it is in reality merely the straw that broke the camel's back.

While the events that took place on October 7th were certainly some of the heaviest motivators that lit the fuse for war in Gaza, it is merely one of the many items on a laundry list of things that is the conflict-ridden history between Israel and Palestine. Their history goes back somewhere in the ballpark of 80 years, stemming from land disputes, and, long before Israel was, well Israel, it was Palestine. The territory was eventually split into what we know it as now after an initial movement by the UN in 1947; something which would only lead to disputes between the Jewish and Arab sides of the proposed deal. This would be the starting point for years and years of conflict based entirely on the desired occupation of land in the area that we currently know as Israel. During these years multiple wars took place, Hamas became a prominent figure in Palestinian politics, and many attacks were made against and by each side. All of that eventually led to what we know as modern day Israel, with Gaza and the West Bank being home to the Palestinians. This is a beyond extreme simplification of what took place, but to dive into even the most rudimentary details of everything that took place in the time spanning from then to the events of October 7th would be an endeavor too far out of scope for a mere high school newspaper paper article. But there are always sources outside of this article for those interested in doing a deeper dive.

But looking away from the deep history of conflict which this war stems from, we must focus on its present. Ever since the unfortunate events that took place on October 7th, that war in Gaza has seen a massive progression in scale that makes it so hard to view any side as a truly viable option to proclaim as being “right” as this war already has such complex inner workings contributing to the difficulty in seeing any of the warring sides as correct. Hamas may think itself to be fighting for the Palestinian people who have historically faced many issues with Israel, but that does not justify the lengths they have gone to try and achieve this, with one obvious sin of theirs being the intentional murder of Israeli civilians. Likewise, although Israel started this war in retaliation to the multiple attacks Hamas has made against them over the course of time, they have been blinded by this goal to try to eliminate this threat and have in turn caused harm to thousands of innocent civilians within Gaza because of their repeated military assaults. Especially with the repeated launching of missiles into Gaza, a very small space being only about 140 square miles, which inevitably harms civilians. Beyond just collateral damage, however, there are even instances when Israeli commanders condemned the lives of thousands of innocent Palestinians in hopes of killing a high-ranking member of Hamas. All this is just to say that neither side has any real moral high ground to stand on over the other. But there stand large “gray areas” among the two adversaries, those being the innocent civilians that reside in both countries.

As an opinion editor, here are my personal thoughts on the war as it stands now. My view is rather simple, and that is to put an end to this senseless violence. I know that bringing a war to a complete standstill by way of a ceasefire is no easy endeavor and, in some cases, it can seem impossible, especially for cases like this with both sides fighting, despising the other, and wanting to strike back. If Hamas punches then Israel will punch back, and if Israel punches back so will Hamas, and this vicious cycle will continue ad nauseum until one of the sides can’t punch back. But while they fight each other, they drag in the same innocent people they wish to protect. Whether this be on purpose, such as Hamas purposefully murdering innocent Israelis on October 7th, or the thousands of innocent Palestinians being killed by the collateral damage caused by the repeated bombings of Gaza by Israel, as such, it seems far more reasonable to try and put a stop to the conflict now to try and find some way to help both sides find a way to slowly mend their deeply rooted conflict without constantly risking the lives of innocent people, many of which are children. A cease-fire requires much more than just talking to the people actively involved in direct combat and their supporters, such as the USA, which has been giving Israel massive amounts of funding to help its efforts against Hamas. Instead of focusing on trying to give Israel more firepower to try and wipe out Hamas, they should realize the massive collateral damage taking place on both ends and push hard to try and find ways to push towards a non-violent solution to the conflict as it stands so that no more lives are lost.

There is so much more to this war; the history of it, the complexity of both sides’ reasons for wanting to wage war against one another, and even the current and ongoing developments of the war itself. The war in Gaza is still ongoing, even as these final sentences are being typed, and it is growing to an even larger scale with other countries becoming involved in the fighting. 

This is why I wholeheartedly believe that both Israel and Palestine must focus on ending the fighting as best they can so as to prevent the massive loss of life that this war has and will inevitably entail.