On Nov. 9, American college students and concerned citizens demonstrated to support the “Shut down for Palestine” protest. These rallies were a way of responding to Israel’s sieges and strikes on Palestinian militants and civilians, resulting from an earlier assault by the Hamas, the Palestinian military group.
Protesters from all walks of life attended the Madison Capitol wearing Palestinian colors and brandishing signs in support of a cease-fire.
“It’s really easy to fall into these pit traps of supporting who the U.S. supports, and following along with them. What happened to the Jewish people in the 1900s was terrible. It’s important to recognize the two are not tied to one another,” said Shafiq Kassees, a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and coordinator for the protest. “There is a distinction between the holocaust and what is currently happening to the Palestinian people.”
“A lot of times people shade our protests as antisemitism, but for me, it’s believing that my family members in Palestine deserve to be able to leave their homes and cities and have the human right to live. This is not an issue of religion but of morality,” Kassees said.
Since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, when the terrorist group Hamas conducted a surprise attack against Israel, there have been conflicted opinions with Israel’s response to Hamas attacks and whether it justified the current Palestinian death toll.
Some argue Israel’s stance was warranted because of Hamas’s antisemitism and inhumane acts against Jewish people.
“When it’s said to view people as human and view the Palestinians as human there isn’t a whole lot of viewing the Israelis as humans too, or the Jewish people,” said Ariel Niforato, a student at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. “So I think Jews and Israelis need to be viewed as human, too.”
This isn’t the first time Israel and Palestine have been at war, the conflict began when Israel became a nation in 1948. The U.N. split Palestine into two independent states—a Jewish state and an Arab state, with Jerusalem under the U.N. trusteeship in Feb. 1947. Palestinians did not want to recognize this, resulting in violent conflict between the two groups.
In 1948, Israel declared its independence, with five Arab states fighting this declaration, and the first Arab-Israeli war began. Israel won this battle because they received foreign aid, but over 750,000 Palestinians were displaced.
This victory split the territory into three parts: Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank of the Jordan River, the start of an endless war for land ownership, according to ABC News.
Conflict continued into the 2000s until Palestinian forces’ second Intifada (a Palestinian uprising against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip), placing the Palestinian people in control. Israel disengaged the Gaza Strip in 2005, uprooting its settlements in the region.
The following year, Hamas won an election to take control of the Gaza Strip, prompting Israel and Egypt to impose a blockade on the strip. This restricted the movement of people and goods to and from the area.
According to the U.N., 81% of the population in Gaza lives in poverty with food insecurity plaguing 63% of of its citizens. The unemployment rate is 46.6%, without access to clean water and electricity prompting “crisis” levels. Despite the blockade, Israel and Hamas continued to engage in conflict, prompting further issues for the people.
Additionally, the U.N. claims roughly 6,400 Palestinians and 300 Israelis have been killed in the ongoing violence since 2008, not including the recent fatalities.
On Oct 7, Hamas attacked Israel, targeting specific groups and resulting in 1,200 deaths and 6,900 injuries, according to ABC News. This violence included torturing and gunning down civilians, defense soldiers and open-air music festival spectators.
“There are moments in this life…when the pure, unadulterated evil is unleashed on this world. The people of Israel lived through one such moment this weekend. The bloody hands of the terrorist organization Hamas – a group whose stated purpose for being is to kill Jews. This was an act of sheer evil,” said President Biden in a National address.
Israel responded to these terrorist attacks by tightening its blockade, ordering the evacuation of the northern Gaza Strip, and firing over 29,000 munitions at specific points in Gaza before and during its ground offensive to destroy Hamas, freeing the hostages, and controlling the Gaza Strip.
According to reports, more than 22,000 Palestinians have been killed, many of them civilians, with thousands missing having been caught in the building’s destruction. The enormity of this retaliation in Gaza is among the most violent in modern warfare history.
More destruction between both countries took place, with many calling for a ceasefire, which leads us back to the Nov. 9 protests.
In late November, a seven-day truce took place where 105 Israeli hostages were exchanged for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
Despite the truce, amid global pressure to reach a cease-fire and fears of a widening regional war, Israel says it will continue to fight in Gaza until Hamas is defeated.
So far, there are no plans as to what happens in Gaza if Israel reaches its goal of eliminating Hamas. There is a general belief that Israel’s government lacks a strategy for the Gaza Strip beyond overturning Hamas.
Gaza is becoming unlivable. According to the U.N., an estimated 85% of Gaza’s people are now displaced. Even if the people were given the chance to return, most have little posession waiting for them. According to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal, nearly 70% of Gaza’s housing is damaged or destroyed.
But it’s more than Israel allowing the Palestinians to return to the Gaza Strip. Given the backdrop and history of war between the two, we know that even if there is a cease-fire, a humanitarian crisis exists and shows no sign of fading in the Middle East.