The Time to End: Israel and Palestine In A World Of Change

Greetings all!

This post comes after a short hiatus on my part in order to re-charge and plan out changes for this site in the near future. I also took a break to attend to my schoolwork; it’s a necessary thing sometimes, as my education is important. This post concerns the conflict just experienced (and still ongoing) between Israel and Palestine this year. While the violent attacks between the Gaza Strip and Israel have mostly ceased by now, problems are ongoing. With the recognition of Palestine as a non-member state by the United Nations and new settlement plans by Israel in retaliation, the situation has heated up from the relative peace experienced beforehand. My opinions on most of the issues concerning the region have not changed drastically since I last wrote about this, although some points have. And in the end, I’m writing this to make known what must be done to solve these conflicts, and to prevent the atrocious violence we continue to see. This week’s quote comes from Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of Fatah, the group which controls the West Bank. I support him and Fatah, and found it fitting I include something from him today.

Normally, I would not post if nothing about the situation or my opinions had changed. This is true of what I am writing right now; while my distaste for Hamas remains, I have switched sides on a major point of contention. After much thought, research, and reflection, I now support immediate Palestinian independence. My reasoning for this is due in part to the recent conflict the region experienced. For every rocket shot at Israel, hundreds more fired at the Gaza strip. Very few Israelis died, yet over one hundred Gazans perished, mostly non-combatants. I realize that every death counts, and that every Israeli had friends and family who will weep over their losses. Yet hundreds more will grieve in the Gaza Strip. I realize now how terrible things have become, and how wrong this all was in the first place.

I split my support for Palestine into two portions accordingly; the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Prior to the conflict, I already supported the West Bank. The Israeli occupation of the West Bank was no better than the Syrian occupation of Lebanon; the Palestinians were trapped away from their home, controlled by a government incredibly hostile to themselves. While Israel no longer exerts direct military control over the West Bank, life has not improved at the pace it should have. The West Bank remains under a tight economic leash from Israel and the United States. Infrastructure and education are in poor condition, and poverty is a nearly endemic problem. At the very least, the West Bank has remained under good leadership. Fatah and Mahmoud Abbas remain paragons of secular strength in the West Bank; their leadership has remained confident that negotiation can lead to a two-state solution. These commitments to secularism, democracy, and peace have fostered my support for the Palestinian Authority and Fatah. In a small piece of land constantly threatened by Israeli settlers, Fatah remains a voice of reason. Impressive, for a place where reason is often cast aside.

I have found the Gaza Strip harder to support ever since Hamas took power in the 2006 elections. To me, Hamas had always represented an antagonistic group which ran perpendicular to Fatah. Hamas is a conservative Islamist group, and supports much of the missile strikes on Israel. Just like Israel and the U.S., I always viewed and still do view Hamas as a terrorist group. They do not have any commitment to peace and few ties to democracy, despite what they may say. Hamas has killed and made its own people suffer in order to appear strong and fiercely independent. I have always viewed their priorities as being out of order, and their policies very much wrong. The Islamism of Hamas restricts Gazans significantly, limiting the secular freedoms that Fatah and all governments should provide. Hamas has also driven the economy of the Gaza Strip further into the ground with their confrontational attitude.

However, the position of the Gaza Strip is a desperate one indeed. They are blockaded by Israel and suffer the economic woes of sanctions. Their infrastructure and education are often worse than that of the West Bank. They are plagued by violent Islamism spilling over from the Sinai Peninsula. True, the Israeli military unilaterally disengaged from the Gaza Strip in 2005. But again, the fear of occupation and settlers remains. The fear of strikes by Israel remains. Israel has taken their land before; it is not beyond Israel to do it again. Especially with an ultra-conservative government in power like right now, under Binyamin Netanyahu and the Likud Party. As long as both of these sides retain hostile policies towards each other, the Gaza Strip will suffer more significantly. I might not support Hamas, but I do support Gazans. I cannot tolerate the violence, the death, the hatred that builds between these peoples any longer. I cannot support such blatant, solvable inequality between peoples that both claim a “holy land.” It is not worth it to see such horrors occur.

My final point is as follows: Palestine deserves independence. Not eventually; it must happen as soon as we can make it happen. It must happen now. Israel must agree to stop all settlements and take Israelis off of Palestinian land. In return, Palestinians must stop firing rockets at and sending suicide bombers into Israel. This is not difficult, and these conditions are not unreasonable. If Israel can afford to build Palestinian settlements, it can afford to build homes in Israel for those uprooted by the removal of settlements. The only thing really stopping Palestinians from ending the use of weaponry is Hamas and other militant extremist tendencies. When elections come, replace Hamas with Fatah and the clear-headed leadership of the Palestinian Authority. Hamas has proven to be one of the worst things for the Gaza Strip yet. I can see no reason they shouldn't be kicked out of office. With two states in place, there will no longer be a need to fight. It can all end now. It is up to Israel and Palestine. We must make this right.

That is all for this week, and I am still available for contact through the comments. I can also be reached through my email at zerospintop@live.com, my Facebook, Twitter, DeviantArt, Steam, and Tumblr. However, from now on I will not be using my Google+ for contact. My Gmail usage has become split between three accounts, and is now too hectic for these kinds of things. Two announcements before I go; this site’s URL and name will still be switched at the beginning of 2013. Remember, I will be using the name KnoFear from now on. Also, I am now searching for a co-author here. I will only be accepting a co-author through DeviantArt, and I will be asking my friends first, so don’t expect a position unless all else falls through. The new author will likely be helping with moderating the blog and may even be posting his/her own work. However, there will be more on that later.

For now, this is KnoFear, signing off.