The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been an ongoing struggle for the better part of more than 50 years. The Western world tends to focus on suicide bombers in Israel, dubbing them “terrorists,” who wreak havoc and commit senseless violence.
These same people are hailed by many Palestinians as martyrs, selfless heroes of the rebellion against Israeli occupation.
Since 1948, Israel has increasingly taken over Palestinian ground, bulldozing all that is deemed an obstacle to its agenda. Houses and agricultural land owned by families for countless generations were, and still are, being unapologetically demolished by the Israeli government.
With nowhere else to go, people have been forced to move into refugee camps, apartment compounds tagged with names to honor those who have died, or were killed in the continuing struggle. Posters are plastered on walls in remembrance of people who have given their lives in the name of their country, their homes and their families.
Israeli tanks roll through borderline cities and shoot “warning shots” around random civilians. As the military tanks steam through, Palestinians throw rocks in an attempt to demonstrate some sort of resistance, to feel a semblance of control in their country where they are being terrorized.
Children in the United States play cops and robbers. In Palestine they play “Shoot the Jew.” The kids have come to understand their oppressed existence and have identified the oppressors as the rightful enemy.
These children then grow to see the atrocities being committed, bury many they know and love, and eventually devote themselves to the only form of resistance they have learned – martyrdom.
Anyone would be hard pressed to attempt to fully excuse the acts of suicide bombers. Those who target civilians in order to create the most chaos and inflict the highest death toll or casualties, commit inexcusable tragedies.
This is not an attempt to exonerate suicide bombers. However, it is imperative that people understand the extreme situations which motivate such seemingly thoughtless behavior.
Palestinian civilians die daily at the hands of the Israeli government and are seen as collateral damage. Israeli civilians who die due to the effects of the occupation are seen as victims. This inconsistent view of human life has surpassed unacceptability and now resides in inhumanity.
The majority of the Palestinian people are not equipped with tanks or helicopters, let alone guns. Battles often occur with tanks versus stones.
These people have had their land, their country, their homes and at least one family member taken from them by the Israeli occupation. Still, the Western world condemns the Palestinian rebels as being cold-hearted killers and murderers of innocent civilians. Yet, the Israeli army that kills the innocent is doing the same thing in the name of democracy.
The people of Palestine are locked in a vault of desperation and have come to use any means necessary to retaliate against the country that has stripped them of their own.
It is not a question of Arabs versus the Jewish people. Many Arabs have come to hold an anti-Semitic sentiment due to the occupation of Palestine and the continuing boundary extensions placed on them by the state of Israel.
Still, people will not agree with this standpoint and thus I shall argue this: If China came to occupy the United States and caused immeasurable destruction in order to set a boundary between “their land” and “ours,” or if citizens felt the loss of a family member, were stripped of their rights, their land and their sense of self, would we allow that to happen?
Would we stand idly by in the name of peace and welcome oppression, or would we retaliate by any means necessary?
These are the questions that, once answered, provide only a glimpse into the mentality of these freedom fighters.
Sarah Al-Mulla is a senior journalism major and a contributing writer for the Daily Forty-Niner.
