In the award-winning documentary “Occupation 101-Voices of the Silenced Majority” a young woman is in labor. She is suffering intense pain during contractions and feels her body weakening, while medical personnel are nowhere in sight.
Her life depends on an 18-year-old soldier giving permission to go to a hospital. With a machine gun in hand, he waves for her to sit down. All she can think about is how her unborn child will suffer her same fate.
Silence of the people is a deadly weapon, but how can the American public be vocal about a conflict that they know very little about? American news portrays Israel as being the innocent victims within this conflict as its civilians are being killed by the terrorist organization Hamas. Within a conflict though, the truly oppressed takes the last act of desperation by forming suicide bombings.
Suicide bombers are known as the “weapons of the weak.” According to “Palestinian Suicide Bombers: A Statistical Analysis” by Sean Yom and Basel Saleh, “Suicide bombers often experience personal trauma related to the Israeli forces prior to their volunteering, such as the death or injury of a family member.” Knowing this makes one question why Hamas members would feel threatened by Israelis if they were not victims in this political disaster.
When Israel completed the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005 the government decided to build a separation wall. The wall is built like the former Berlin Wall but is twice the height and four times longer. It separates families and friends, prevents people from obtaining decent health care and deprives them of work and education.
The Israeli initiative is to regain land no matter what the cost of human life might be. With even minimum facts, it is obvious that politics plays a dirty hand in the abuses of human rights.
After World War II, the United Nations was formed to protect basic human rights because of the massive death toll of Jewish victims in the Holocaust. Many can sympathize with Jewish victims that suffered torture and death under Hitler’s regime, but one must understand the abuses that Israel is committing against the Palestinians.
Palestinians living in occupied Gaza are ordinary individuals and families who want the basic necessities of life and liberty. But how can one gain these basic human rights if the oppressing country is militarily stronger and wields more political power?
America plays a role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The U.S. government financially supports Israel because it is one of our strongest allies in the Middle East and Congress is financially manipulated by Jewish lobby groups.
It is the duty of the American public to research further than the daily newspaper or the Internet to understand both sides of the argument. Journalism is often tainted with biased opinions, but accurate information is available. Therefore, form your own opinions and continue to research.
Speak out against what you know to be right or wrong. Even though most political unrest seems like it’s a world away, know that your political decisions can affect another child or family in a distant country.
Jenna Vande Kieft is a senior journalism major and a contributing writer for the Daily Forty-Niner studying abroad in Ireland.
Nothing like those big bad Jews always oppressing the Palestinians. Please, the Palestinians brought all this upon themselves.
Thank you for writing this article Jenna. I think everyone should watch occupation 101. And when i debate for palestine, i always encourage people to do their own research as you did in your article. Thanks again.
Jenne, I commend you for writing a well thought out, level headed, and objective article regarding this issue. The issues of this conflict are extremely complicated, and you give them equal consideration. I appreciate that, even though this is an opinion peace, you refrain from taking it personally and remain even keeled. There are a lot of people who could learn a valuable lesson by taking this approach. I look forward to reading more of your articles.