Delfino, Charles Andrei B.

November 06, 2023 3BAPS

Towards Peace and Humanity: Prioritizing Lives over

Differences in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, I quote from Martin

Luther king jr. I speak now to address what needs to be known about the issue
between Israel and Palestine. We need to open our eyes and see that something
needs to be done and that no matter what your reasoning or purpose is, nothing can
justify the injustice that is happening to the thousands of people suffering and losing
their lives over the irrational choices made by their state. And to those that are
listening that feel disturbed towards this topic, you should be and rightfully so. As I go
on with my speech, I’d like to leave a disclaimer that this is not to glorify my biases
towards any affiliation, but rather to shine light upon this issue and speak of the facts
for everyone to understand that it is happening and that lives are being lost as we
speak.

Before I enter this speech, I believe providing the history as to why Israel and
Palestine are at conflict is vital for our understanding. The Israeli and Palestinian
conflict has been going on for quite some time dating back from the creation of Israel
in 1948 and the war that had followed its establishment that led to the Nakba — the
displacement of around 700,000 Palestinians. One important detail to note is that
Israel was established within the territory of the former Ottoman empire where the
Palestinians resided and where the British ruled – mandatory Palestine was located
prior to Israel’s establishment that happened with the support of the UN in their
partition plan for Palestine, which divided the territory into Jewish and Arab sovereign
states, and an international Jerusalem. Within that same territory Israel waged war
on Palestine due their belief that they have historical claim over said land and that
war is currently known as the war of independence for Israel, and the 1948 Palestine
war that led to the displacement of Palestinians where they were removed from their
own lands, and the thinning of the Palestinian territory. This then leads us to the
present, to the escalation of the conflict between Israel and Palestine through the
initiative of Hamas — An Islamic militant group that governs Gaza, wherein its
establishment was in fact aided by the Jewish state confirmed by Brigadier general
Yitzhak Segev, who was the Israeli military governor in Gaza in the early 1980s. The
relevance of this to the topic is the display of how the product of their actions brought
back a negative result and their claim towards the funding being a mistake on their
part, in addition to claiming that there was lack of foresight on the matter leading to
such trouble, shows their lack of accountability on the matter. We then go back to the
initiative of this Militant group that had bombed Israel and started this chain of events
that further escalated the conflict leading to hundreds of deaths in Israel and
Palestine specifically in the Gaza strip. Children losing their lives, Families being
separated, lives being taken by the minute with the war stopping at nothing and
sparing no one. I’d like to take a moment for everyone to understand that the most
pressing issue here is not the question of who is right in this conflict, but rather onto
the fact that deaths are happening, people are losing their loved ones, children
Delfino, Charles Andrei B. November 06, 2023 3BAPS

losing their breath and opportunities for a future, and the innocent people being
dragged in this long-standing war. This war and conflict arose because of the
invasive motivation of the Israelian state. The need for segregation, the need to
reclaim land by virtue of religious belief at the expense of human lives, and the need
for differences in terms of superiority from birthright and lineage. People, we need to
open our eyes and see that there is something so wrong in this matter. In fact, if we
lean towards our religious beliefs whether it be Islamic or Jewish, neither of which
push for such grim and extreme actions but rather for camaraderie, love, and peace.
This is no longer about religion, pushing for patriotism, or protection of a religious
site like the Holy land. This is literal genocide and war brought by the greed and
aspirations of these state leaders that were seated to protect and support their
people.

If we look at how deep this conflict has gotten, I personally cannot think of an
overnight solution that can fix what has already been broken, because the pain and
suffering the victims of both sides have experience cannot be washed away with
half-hearted initiatives. However, the first step will always be the biggest and that can
start from us. By understanding and opening our hearts to see that under all of our
differences, we are all human; vulnerable, compassionate, curious, and ambitious.
And if only we learn to accept these differences or communicate around them only
then can each and every one of us prosper and grasp the future, we all want. I end
this speech with one quote: “Smiling is very important. If we are not able to smile,
then the world will not have peace” so let’s work to protect each other’s smiles.
Thank you.