Hate can spawn into the hearts of men within seconds, but for it to die, it takes generations of men. Unfortunately, ours is not such a lucky generation.Current world conflicts prove how hatred has penetrated people’s minds. Warfare and animosity between Israel and Palestine prove highlight the difficulty of finding solutions even after generations of fighting.After World War II, Jews were awarded Palestinian land to form a state of their own. Palestine — a predominantly Islamic country — lost the land without any significant reason other than its geographical location of Jerusalem.Now, Palestinian territory is divided into two separate regions: the Gaza strip and the West Bank. These territories comprise an Arab majority and are governed by the Palestinian National Authority. In 2003, the Palestinian government was fractured by the conflict between two major parties: Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza strip. Hamas — although winning a majority in Palestinian elections — is considered a terrorist organization by many states including Israel and the U.S.Currently, open warfare between Israel and Hamas has caused the world lots of distress. Despite calls for peace by the U.N., the U.S. and several other nations, the two proud states are unwilling to comprise.”Anything else” other than Hamas ending the rocket fire on Israel “will be met with the Israeli people’s iron fist. We will continue as long as necessary to remove this threat from our heads,” Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told The New York Post.Similarly, on Monday, Bloomberg taped Hamas’s political leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, claiming, “Gaza will not falter; our triumph over the Zionists is close.” After days of fighting, Israel is increasing its attacks on Gaza’s main city in the South. Israeli troops are fighting battles in the streets as the death toll spirals to more than 970 Palestinians according to CNN on Tuesday. Despite the deaths of his people, Hamas Prime Minister reaffirms his people “we are closer to victory than ever,” according to CNN.Each is accusing the other of attacking its civilians. Attacks on civilians show — despite claims of the war being strictly political — the religious and historical roots of the conflict. The future treatment of the loser by the winner is a matter to consider carefully. Each side has undeniable prejudices and hatred that cannot be simply erased by the end of this fighting. More people will inevitably continue to die because of this hatred. Countries asking for cease fire and peace ought to push for resolutions demanding tolerance between these two areas. Historical injustices should be pushed aside for the sake of preventing future injustice. Death, killing and war should not be the future of succeeding generations. Instead, people of today ought to work toward a peaceful and tolerant future for their kids.People were not born hating, but they were taught how to hate. Such is the case as children in Hamas are reading Al Fateh, a web site created for Arabian children preaching hatred and glorifying dying. The future generations are learning to hate as the current generations die for their hatred. It remains to be a seen who will ultimately claim victory, how long potential peace remains and what each does to move in the direction of tolerance. Let us hope neither nation destroys one another beyond repair as the battles continue. Perhaps the world will convince these nations to stop fighting and resume political negotiations to spare the civilians. —-Contact Dini Parayitam at [email protected]