Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Palestine's Oppression

t’s so hard to believe that Palestine used to be an independent state before, now all they have is the West Bank and Gaza strip.  The oppression of the Palestinian people began with the migration of the Zionists. Zionists were overzealous Jewish people seeking a land to settle down in. They found one: Palestine.  With the help of the British and the U.N the Jewish people were able to take over Palestine. They called it Israel and left the Palestine’s with only the West Bank and the Gaza strip- which is getting smaller and smaller every day. 
It does not take a genius to figure out that the Palestinians are being oppressed. This conflict goes back to the issue of colonialism and “white” supremacy; in this case the Jewish people are acting as the Colonists. The history of Palestine and Israeli says it all- Israel is in the wrong. Over seven hundred and fifty thousand innocent Palestinian men, women, and children have been killed and yet Israel is still being supported.
  
I am very pro U.N. involvement but I am beginning to question their motives because I feel at this point they aren’t doing much to help the Palestinians recover their land and their human rights. It has been sixty years since Israel’s founding but there are still many Palestinian refugees who have not found a permanent home. The Gaza strip now holds many Palestinian homeless people and is also underfunded by the Israeli government. People die there every day and it seems as if no one notices.  Even at that, it’s crazy how Palestinians are discriminated against and dehumanized in their land. They are subject to discrimination in almost every aspect of life: from education to housing to healthcare. 


I know it might seem like the Israeli-Palestine conflict does not really affect the average American, after all, it is all the way in the Middle East right? Well, wrong. Israeli is reaping the benefits of YOUR tax dollars.  Studies have shown that Israeli-not even up to the size of New York- have received most of your foreign taxes. In other words you are giving Israeli more money to mistreat and oppress more Palestinian people. We as Americans and global citizens should be more empathetic towards people in other parts of the world.  

 We can start with small things like educating ourselves and shedding light on the matter-or go all out like Mona and protest (By the way,  watch the video of Mona exercising her rights to free speech below if you want to feel inspired to do something). 

If you want to educate yourself further on the Israeli/ Palestine conflict you read the articles below.
 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/flash/world/israel/IsraelHistory.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/09/hague-warned-abstention-palestinian-statehood-vote

- Jasmine Mbadugha 

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