On October 7, 2023, catastrophe struck southern Israel as a terrorist organization, Hamas, attacked people during the Nova Music Festival. This invasion was considered one of the deadliest days for Israel in decades. This attack launched a war and the Israeli IDF (Israel Defense Forces) started to retaliate by firing airstrikes into the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict has raged since 1947 when the United Nations adopted Resolution 181 or the Partition Plan. This plan would divide the British Mandate of Palestine into Arab and Jewish States. The State of Israel was created on May 14, 1948, and on May 15, 1948, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and the local Arab militia forces invaded the newly formed State of Israel. This war lasted until March 10, 1949, ending with the victory of Israel and the redrawing of borders from the Partition Plan. The outcomes of this war led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians which still fuels the conflict to this day.
There is a deeply rooted cultural and religious significance to the conflict as well because the land where Palestine was prior to the Arab-Israeli War included areas like Jerusalem that have religious and historical significance for three major religions: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Unfortunately, these disputes have led to an extensive death toll on both sides, including the current war.
When asked about the issue, San Marcos history teacher, Ms. Snyder said, “I always encourage people to understand what the historical context is of these issues, to be looking at primary sources and the facts’ timelines…I also try to look at the difference between religion, race, ethnicity, the state, and the people. Understanding all those different things helps us to better understand the ways in which those interact…I really encourage people to understand the context of these issues before coming to conclusions about this.”
The early October attack by Hamas led to around 1,400 deaths of Israelis and an estimated 150 people kidnapped, two of whom have been released. There have also been an estimated 3,000 Palestinians killed since the beginning of the war from retaliation strikes. Thousands of missiles have been sent from both IDF and Hamas these past few weeks, causing death and destruction. The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated areas in the world with approximately 2.2 million people inhabiting a 140 square mile area. This causes a high number of losses when any type of fighting occurs, with civilians becoming casualties of conflicts.
U.S. history teacher, Mr. Ohrn said, “I listened to President Biden’s speech this morning [October 18], he is in Israel and he made a speech and I was impressed by his speech, and one thing that he said was he can understand the pain. He said that it is easy to be angry about the situation… so I was impressed that he encouraged the world to reflect and to have a thoughtful response to this even in the midst of our anger.”
President Biden’s words carry deep meaning as this entire conflict has left the world grieving for decades and recent events have caused upheaval in many communities. Protests have been happening across the world both in support of Israel and Palestine. Although ideas are divided on the future of this Middle Eastern strip of land, all can hope for peace and for death to stop. Which is something that a local nonprofit is attempting to help with. Santa Barbara-based efforts from Direct Relief are bringing humanitarian aid equipment through the Gaza-Egypt border. Other fundraising efforts have taken place worldwide as this difficult time passes.
