History Club Sponsors a Discussion on the Israel-Palestine Conflict

On October 7th, 2023, a Palestinian militant group by the name of Hamas attacked Israel and killed 1,139 people, keeping dozens in captivity. This was the deadliest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. 

Israel responded by a full military assault of the militants in Gaza. An aerial bombardment campaign began shortly, and the Israeli military began a siege to block food, water, and fuel from entering the territory, and on October 27th, 2023, they launched a ground assault. 

Hundreds of thousands of troops were mobilized, positioned strategically around the communes of the Gaza Strip, besieging the land of the Palestinian people for months. 

In this terror, they have killed over 33,000 people, including 13,000 children. The systemic war front has cut off Palestine’s access to necessities, shelter, and food. Their hospitals have been bombed. Their safe zones continue to be pushed farther and farther into Israel control. 

But what do we, as students, know? 

The Centenary University History Club took part in hosting a discussion revolving around the Israel-Palestine conflict, sitting the attending students down at a table with all cards laid out: It was a student-guided discussion overseen by Associate Professor of History Dr. Noah Haiduc-Dale.

Our discussion was on the vital topic. Nobody would be persecuted for what they knew or didn’t know. 

Where Do We Start? 

Most of us, if not all, had assumed the conflict was long-coming. One student even claimed it could go back as far as a feud from biblical times. As we discussed their theory, it became clear that it boiled down to one question: who was there first? 

It’s debatable whether it truly began with political unrest or if the tensions have been around for years, but we can find it really began in 1880.

Although the term was coined in the late 19th century, the Zionist movement began as a response to Ashkenazi Jews being persecuted in Europe. The rise of Anti-semitism, proven by the anti-Jewish programs in Russia and the Dreyfus affair in France, across the world the Jewish people rose to recreate the Jewish populace in Israel. 

In reference to a prayer often sung at the end of Passover Seder and the Ne’ila service on Yom Kippur, the Zionists began to establish their country. “L’Shana Haba’ah B’Yerushalayim,” or to translate, “Next Year in Jerusalem,” as they believed it as their right to reclaim their promised land. According to Dr. Haiduc-Dale, this could have been the encouragement they needed. 

In 1947, after gaining Great Britain’s support, the World Power relinquished their occupation of the Palestinian territory to the newly established United Nations for them to figure out, in which they attempted to partition it between the Israelis and Palestinians. Clearly, this wasn’t a peaceful agreement. 

With Israel declaring independence on May 4th, 1948, the surrounding countries of the Middle East attempted to take them out while they were new and upcoming. Instead, Israel won all conflicts, expanding from the city of Jerusalem to create the state borders we recognize globally today by 1967. This includes the territory recognized as the Gaza Strip. 

However, not all hope was lost.

In 1993, it was revealed that members from both the Israeli government and the standing Palestinian representatives had been meeting in secret to build an agreement. Negotiations were set in place by Norwegian sociologist Terje Larsen and a member of the Israeli Labor Party government, Yossi Beilin. 

The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) was represented by three officials led by Ahmed Qurei, and with a signed agreement, Israel withdrew from highly populated Palestinian areas to create two states side-by-side.

Dr. Noah Haiduc-Dale stated, “It was the closest to a peace deal that Israel and Palestine ever came upon.”

Despite the successes of the Oslo Accords, internal political opposition, lack of progress in negotiating final status issues, and outbreaks of violence undermined Oslo’s intentions to make a final peace agreement. The Oslo approach to Israel-Palestine peacemaking efforts effectively came to an end with the failure of the Camp David Summit in 2000 and the subsequent outbreak of the second Palestinian Intifada.

So now we know how far back this story really goes. That brings the next question, what is keeping this going?

The Presence of the United States in the War

It’s unfortunate to realize that the United States has played an active part in supporting the bloodshed that we spoke of today. While Israel limits aid, supplies, and necessities going in and out of Gaza, the United States has rather funded their unrelinquishing bombardment. 

Even if the world refuses to classify this conflict as a genocide, we cannot overlook that the money the United States is sending Israel is in direct correlation with civilian’s lives being lost.  

As shown by the bar graph above, the United States has been supplying monetary aid to Israel and other countries for years. In fact, Israel has been receiving more military aid than any other country since World War II. In recent months, their donations have been scrutinized due to the war upon Palestine.

Israel is waging war upon Palestine with American bombs. 

“If the attacks were more guided towards Hamas, that’s different. These bombings are directed towards the people” (A student participating in the discussion, 27 March 2024).

With current President Joe Biden seeking additional aid, (Represented by the last dot, his aid request for 14.3 billion dollars from Congress), the risk of the United States prolonging the one-sided war is almost solidified. Israel’s current allyship and presence in the Middle-East has been greatly influenced by the conflict, many countries taking a stand by the country of Palestine. 

Until October 27th, Israel had the support of nearly every modern and western country of the globe, but with their onslaught against Palestine, many have stepped back or cut ties with the nation. 

However, this isn’t the case. 

We are seeing the erasure of the Palestinian people and their country on a daily basis, watching as the Israel-Palestine conflict is transformed into Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip. The country of Palestine itself was removed from many maps online, and they’ve been referred to just as a state of nations rather than a nation itself. 

Never has a culture liked the idea of normalization, and the Palestinian people are the same. Once the violence dies down, the media also backs away. 

Quiet does not aid Palestine. They gain nothing by being civil with Israel, yet have nothing to grasp on to. They have to watch Israel build settlements, houses, and militant bases on Palestinian land.

To clarify: The term of ‘Palestinian Land’ is in reference to land outside of Israel’s nationally recognized borders, specifically on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

With everything we discussed laid out on the table, we’re brought to what we can do with this information. 

Why Isn’t There a Solution? 

Believe it or not, this conflict is more than just a fight over land. 

It is a long-standing, political and cultural divide that has been brewing for decades and has simply spilled over. No third-party country is able to step in, not with the looming financial advisory of the United States behind Israel’s back, and the pressure of nations upon their back if they were to escalate it. 

While there is factually nothing in this conflict that could lead into a world war, conflict breaking out among the Middle-East is likely. 35,000 lives have been lost in a nationalist government feud and the greed in human nature. 

There are anthropological, and psychological answers to how war really begins, but it boils down to a simple human rhetoric: When one is different, we see them as such. When one is the same, we see them as so. It is this inflexible, limited human tendency of the “Us vs Them” mentality that sparks the flames of every conflict. 

“Whether or not this war continues for the next decade or two decides when, not if, one of them is going to wipe out the other” (A student participating in the discussion, 27 March 2024).

While sitting through the discussion, I learned a lot from my peers. For such a widespread topic online, few of them knew a lot of the details of the ongoing conflict across the world. Many have passed by protests, seen videos and celebrities online, even looked into the conflict through means of research. Yet, sitting down and laying everything out before them all, many were surprised by what they found. 

One student admitted, “October 7th, and what happened since, made me realize at least on the Palestinian side, I was completely misunderstanding the conflict… I knew what Hamas was, I knew it was designated as a terrorist group, what I did not know was that the people of Palestine elected Hamas as their designated government in 2006… when I saw the protests going on in the cities… It turns out there is a difference between the people who are marching to free Palestine. I have realized there is a difference between those who support Hamas and those who just want freedom for the Palestinian people.” 

My Takeaway 

The entire discussion was eye-opening and captivatingly educational. There were no abrupt interruptions when a student spoke up, leaving people to trust that they would be heard, and heard they were. 

The two sides of this story were told, yet everyone was firm in agreement: this conflict should not continue as it is. 

Although what we are seeing is not going to end in our generation, we can still inform ourselves of it. It can only be hoped that there is a legislative decision that could end the conflict before an entire populace is lost. 

I urge everybody to take some time to discover the history and truth behind the land that blood is being spilled on. Despite the many wars we have had in history, we have yet to have learned from them. It’s with shame that we can look upon our history unflinchingly and see the same before our eyes. 

There is no real answer for peace in this war. We can only educate ourselves and call for further recognition of those being persecuted against across the world. 

I’d like to thank Dr. Noah Haiduc-Dale, with his doctorate in Middle Eastern Studies and History, who was a beacon for this discussion and provided great information to the group. Also thank you to the participants of the Israel-Palestine discussion for letting me sit in and even include my own input within the conversation. 

It sparked my old desire for historical knowledge and has informed me greatly about this topic. This was a wonderful experience, and I fully encourage those also interested in topics such as these to reach out to the History Club! Even if you just sit in on one discussion, it could be enlightening, just as it was for me.