You may think that this article is going to be about what is going on in school, but it is not. What is going on in the world? This tracks back to the 1900s, the holocaust, and so many other wars that have been started because of the conflicts with Arabs and Jews.
On the morning of May 14, 1948, the British flag was lowered in Jerusalem marking the end of Britain’s rule. When that was happening people were scared because they knew that there were going to potentially be consequences. The Arab people who lived there wanted to claim the land as theirs because they took up most of the population. The next day the armies of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and what is now Jordan, invaded Jerusalem starting the first of many wars between Israel and its neighboring lands. Today Israel is home to 9.7 Million people, holding most of the world’s Jewish people. Jews and Arabs continue to strike violence today. In October, The Palestinians and Hamas Attacked Israel and Israel declared war against Hamas. In 63 B.C, Romans seized Jerusalem and sold or killed Jews. With Adolf Hitler’s rise about 60,000 German Jews faced attacks restricting their natural born rights. While World War II was coming to an end Jewish and Arab nationalists battled for land still. These brutal attacks started in 1920 and reached its peak in the 1947 Civil War.
In 1947 there were bombings of civilians, civilian buses, sniper killings, village massacres that left hundreds of thousands of dead. In 1948 Israel declared independence and Arab neighbors attacked them. In 1967 Israel captured east Jerusalem, this was called the Six Day War. 1987-1990 Palestinians begin an uprising, starting suicide bombings against Israelis. In 1993 Israel gave up control of parts of the West Bank and Gaza to Palestinians. 2000-2005 they tried to make peace and failed. Hundreds of suicide bombing kill nearly 1000 Israelis. 2023, Hamas and his group attacks Israel, which declares a war.
When asking people around Weedsport if they knew what was going on, many of their responses were they knew that something bad was going on but they didn’t care, because it didn’t affect them and it hasn’t made its way into the United States of America. When many people were told what was happening they said it was sickening. Why should others have to educate others when they should learn about what is happening themselves and actually care?
For the people who do not know what is going on in Gaza and what is happening between Israel and the Palestinians, here’s what is going on:
During the first attack on October 7 of 2023, Hamas took about 240 hostages, keeping them away in what he called “ a safe place.” More than half of the hostages were children, 10 were aged over 60, and 25 hostages were people from different countries. On December 1 of 2023, 105 hostages were freed in return for 240 Palestinian officers who were being held in a jail. Almost 200 people are still being held hostage. More than 1 million Gaza residents have been placed in shelters because of the scarcity of food, water, and supplies that they no longer have because of Hamas’ attack.
You may think that this is just like any other war, but it is not. Many people do not know that in almost every war that has ever been started there has been hundreds of cases of rape reported from women, reported against the US, British armies, and so many more. Hamas and its soldiers have raped young women and children. If you were to go on social media and watch videos of the real emotional and mental damage that Hamas is doing, you would be disgusted. It doesn’t just stop at rape, Hamas has done unthinkable things to babies, newborns, and children.
Just because this hasn’t erupted into the United States of America doesn’t mean that it won’t tomorrow morning, or within the next hour. Just because it doesn’t affect you personally doesn’t mean you cannot help. People should educate themselves and help. People call for world peace and then do nothing when something like this happens. You shouldn’t call for the things you appear to support and then don’t help. No one knows what is going to happen within the next couple of days, but even one person can make an impact on the world.
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