As an American, it’s difficult for me to understand the plight of every Israeli and Palestinian family grappling with what to do after the loss of their loved ones. I will never feel their pain or their hopelessness.
When a 6-year-old Palestinian American, Wadea Al Fayoume, was killed last week in Chicago, it made me think of the hateful response by some Americans to the COVID-19 pandemic. For some people, every Asian American suddenly became disease ridden when we had our first shutdown.
Similarly, after Hamas’ egregious killings earlier this month, some Americans suddenly believed that every Palestinian became a terrorist.
Apart from the killing of Al Fayoume, mediocre Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis thought it was helpful to declare that all Palestinians are anti-semitic and that Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip were not entitled to the basic human right of clean drinking water.
A hateful response to a tragic situation will never help. On the other side, it was incredibly disappointing when several American political organizations, like the Democratic Socialists of America, staged a rally in support of Palestine immediately after the attacks by Hamas. Their callous disregard for the loss of innocent Israeli lives only adds fuel to the fire. Violence and hatred can never justify “resistance” to Israel.
What’s disappointing about the whole situation is that this violence could have been avoided altogether.
In the past, Israel and Palestine made great progress in reconciling their differences. Israel agreed to give Palestine indirect control over parts of the occupied Palestinian territories through the Oslo Accords in 1993. The agreement has been the bedrock of future plans for peace in the region.
Yet the Israeli governments after Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin never made progress toward giving Palestine true independence. The 30th anniversary of the signing of the accords passed this September, and the framework for limited Palestinian authority has not improved since then. Israel has refused external international solutions to the problem, leaving it partially responsible for the lack of progress toward peace.
After the Hamas attack, it’s clear that we should stand with Israel in the short term. But in the long term, we should question what Israel intends to do with the Palestinian people. Israel has failed to find a solution to the statehood problem while Palestinians suffer from enormous economic pressure and stagnation.
Israel claims its operations in the Gaza Strip are to restore order and eliminate the leaders of Hamas. However, the Israeli government seems content with the great number of Palestinian casualties.
As of Oct. 16, Israeli military operations cost the lives of at least 2,802 people and wounded 10,000 more people in the Gaza Strip. In addition, Israel ordered the evacuation of around 1 million Palestinians from the northern end of the strip to continue its aggressive bombing campaign.
President Joe Biden has promised solidarity with Israel. But that solidarity should not be blind to the loss of Palestinian lives. Since a great amount of foreign aid goes to Israel, our politicians should be mindful of what the Israeli government spends that aid on. Foreign aid to Israel should constitute humanitarian assistance to aid the bloodied Israeli and Palestinian families reeling from the Hamas attacks and Israeli bombings occurring in and near the Gaza Strip.
The far-right Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently declared war against Hamas. But Netanyahu has already been at war with Hamas for years, most notably retaliating against them in 2014.
Hamas gained power from the hopelessness of the Palestinian people and Israel’s desire to maintain the status quo. If Netanyahu wants to wipe Hamas from the face of the Earth, his government has to improve the lives of the Palestinian people and give them what they have sought and deserve: freedom and statehood.
Hamas and Netanyahu have blood on their hands. Both the people of Israel and Palestine want to live in peace. It’s already clear both want to use the tragedies of the attacks to their political advantage. Biden should respond with a helping hand and prevent hostilities from worsening, not with blind support to Netanyahu’s inept regime.
Nathaniel Dela Peña is a 20-year-old political science and history senior from Alexandria.
