The Current Situation Between Gaza and Israel
There has not been a moment of peace in former Palestine since the United Nations proclaimed the land as the State of the Jewish people in 1948, which changed the name of the land to Israel. In the Gaza strip, just above Egypt, there are constant fire attacks from both Hamas into Israel, and in defense, from the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) into Gaza. Since Hamas took over Gaza in June of 2007, Israel began a blockade preventing food, gas and medical supplies from entering the Gaza strip with the intention of forcing those living in Gaza to stop firing missiles within the Israeli border (Israel Hasbara Committee). With recent events currently occurring in this region; the breakdown of the border between Gaza and Egypt, and the Palestinian “human chain,” a large number of newspapers victimize the Palestinians. Though many international newspapers seems to hold a biased against Israel and the countries recent decisions in dealing with Gaza, such as such as the Palestine Times and the Economist, several international newspapers such as The Hindu Times of India, The People’s daily of China and The Jerusalem Post go a step further to explain Israel’s actions. When Hamas, a radical Islamist group with the main goal of eliminating the State of Israel, took over the Gaza strip last summer in June 2007, Egypt began a blockade against this Palestinian region. After Hamas leaders captured Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit, Israel followed Egypt and began a blockade upon Gaza, as well (Human Rights Watch). The Israeli blockade denied the Palestinians from purchasing “food, fuel and medicine” and later in October of 2007 reduced the fuel supply to the Gaza strip (Human Rights Watch). Since the blockade thousands of missiles and attacks from the Gaza territory have landed into large cities in Israel, including the city of Sderot. After being attacked for numerous months, which resulted in 82 wounded Israeli civilians, Israel placed a total blockade on January 17, 2008
Links: Short,” Shelly Paz and Rebecca Anna Stoil, mention a positive thing that Hamas did that no other newspapers included, “some 2,000 hard-liners marched to a point several kilometers away from the Erez Crossing, but Hamas police blocked the main road leading to Erez and called on the protesters to obey the law.” Paz and Stoil explain that after hearing rumors that the Palestinians would form a “human chain” and possibly cross across the Israeli border, the Israeli Defense Force practiced scenarios for the situation but hoped not to use them. They quoted IDF deputy spokesman Colonel Ze’ev Sharoni who spoke on behalf of the IDF, "We are prepared for any scenario, but we hope it won 't develop into anything beyond a simple demonstration." From all the sources I have read from research, I feel that the articles that are written with a biased against Israel, fail to justly explain the whole truth. These newspapers such as the Palestine Times and the Economist fail to provide the complete truth to their readers, creating propaganda. These articles fail to explain that the missiles being fired into Israel threaten the security of the Israeli people. Until the missiles stop entering Israel from Gaza, Israel will no longer have to defend itself from Gaza and the blockade will be taken away. With Gaza firing missiles into Israel on a daily basis peace will just be prolonged. Some countries and organizations view the blockade on Gaza as a humanitarian issue, but non have analyzed the real question; why should Israel support a region that has rulers who are terrorists fighting against it’s existence? In my opinion, it is not Israel’s responsibility to provide for the Palestinians, the responsibility should be solely upon Hamas, Gaza’s ruler. I agree with the Israeli General Council, Jacob Dayan, who spoke at the UCI campus on Thursday Feburary 28. Dayan mentioned that Israel still provided enough fuel to Gaza for hospitals and schools to have proper electricity, but Hamas chose to use the limited fuel to produce more bombs to launch into Israel. From this assignment I have learned that newspapers from China, India and Israel are unbiased towards this situation and I will look to these newspapers to receive information on the current situation among Israel and Gaza. As long as the Palestinians in Gaza continue firing bombs into Israeli territory, there will not be peace between Gaza and Israel.