Five words

Five words uttered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “May God avenge their blood,” set off the most deadly round of violence between Gaza and Israel since 2009.

Netanyahu was responding to the murders of three Israeli teenagers by members of the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas. The fighting re-ignited debate over who the aggressor is in the longstanding conflict.

The three Israeli teenagers were Eyal Yifrach, 19; Gilad Shaar, 16; and 16-year-old dual U.S.-Israeli citizen Naftali Frankel. The bodies of the three teenagers were found on June 30, almost three weeks after they were kidnapped while hitchhiking home from school in West Bank, Palestine.

As the views differ between Israelis and Palestinians on how the conflict between their countries should be resolved, many of them live in the same city, state or country. Some even go to the same school outside of their homelands, much like two TCU students, junior biology major Laila Abdeljalil and sophomore nursing major Rachel Rudberg. Most would argue that they display nationalistic views towards their homelands, even though both were born and raised in Texas.

Abdeljalil, whose family is Palestinian, condemned Hamas for the murdering of the three Israeli teenagers.

“I personally think violence on any side is wrong and you shouldn’t go after citizens who haven’t done anything,” Abdeljalil said.

Almost immediately after discovering the bodies, Prime Minister Netanyahu began arresting Hamas activists, closed dozens of institutions in Gaza and intensified airstrikes in Gaza, the Palestinian land controlled by Hamas. According to the Israeli military, it launched 34 airstrikes that targeted terror facilities in response to 18 Gaza rockets aimed at Israel.

Rudberg, whose family is Israeli, believes that Israel did the right thing to begin firing at Gaza.

“I think it was fair for them to start firing,” Rudberg said. “However, the issue now that has been occurring is that [Hamas] keeps sending rockets into Israel and the only reason Israel’s sending them back is in retaliation.”

The difference in opinions, even though the two students live in the same country and go to the same school, shows a sense of nationalism and advocacy for their homelands. According to Nationalism, Patriotism, and Group Loyalty: A Social Psychological Perspective, an essay by Daniel Druckman, the root for national loyalty is widely reasoned to be embedded in human needs.

“As Terhune (1964) has observed, the nation achieves personal relevance for individuals when they become sentimentally attached to the homeland, motivated to help their country, and gain a sense of identity and self esteem through their national identification,” Druckman said in his essay.

In an email interview, Druckman, a sociology professor at George Mason University, said, “people can identify with the land of their ancestors, although this alter-identity is unlikely to be as strong as their own national identity.”

He also said the paramount starting point of this ancestral identity is the socialization method.

“They are part of a diaspora that constructs stories about the homeland,” Druckman said. “This is particularly strong for American Jews whose identity is strengthened by historical discrimination. Persecution identities are also strong for Palestinians living in diaspora communities.”

Druckman summarizes that although there may be a need for group identity, or nationalism, “the form that this takes is constructed and reinforced by like-minded ethnic communities.”

Living amidst the conflict

Molly Parker, Rudberg’s friend and an American, lives in Tel Aviv, Israel and has lived there for the past two years. What started out as an internship program led her to make Aliyah, or officially immigrate to Israel, as she wasn’t ready to leave yet and already had a job lined up. She described living in Israel at the time of the conflicts to be not as bad as most thought.

“There was one point where there was at least one siren going off a day in Tel Aviv, in which you would go to the stair well or shelter, wait for the booms, wait a few more minutes, and then go back to normal,” Parker said. “As sad as it sounds, when you would hear the sirens going off, it became part of your normal day and routine.”

There were many instances where Parker thought about going home. Even her mother would call her begging her to come back to the states, but Parker decided that she needed to stay and that she belonged in Israel.

Blockades by Israel and Egypt

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 2,131 Palestinians were killed through September 4, 2014 since the conflict began this past June. Within that number is 1,473 civilians, of whom 501 are children and 257 are women. In that same time span, 71 Israelis were killed, including 66 soldiers, one security coordinator and four civilians.

Gazans were hit harder, as they lack the resources the Israelis have. According to the OCHA, the Gazan economy was already poor before the conflict began in June. Since Hamas began controlling Gaza in 2007, Israel and Egypt began imposing tight restrictions and blockades on the tiny coastal strip. These blockades, according to Egypt and Israel, are needed to limit Hamas’ access to materials, such as rockets that they’ve been firing into Israel by the hundreds.

According to Abdeljalil, Hamas is not a terrorist organization; rather, they are fighting to relieve these restrictions with their underground tunnels for the Gazan people.

“The tunnels are also used to bring in water, to sneak in food, medical supplies and things being restricted because they have the blockade on the Egyptian side,” Abdeljalil said. “I think the fact that they’re only used for weapons is not true.”

Abdeljalil believes that the weapons that are brought in are for the protection of the Gazan people, even though she also believes that using the weapons on either side is wrong.

Rudberg, however, believes Israel does give supplies to Gaza and that the blockade is to stop Hamas’ retrieval of weapons though the underground tunnels.

“I do think those tunnels could be very harmful if they were not destroyed because they’re not only transferring weapons, but they get the weapons to stock hold them,” Rudberg said. “Also, if they were to get into a big city and put a bomb in Israel and detonate it, they could do a lot of damage.”

Underground tunnels

Women and children were seen as targets of this round of conflicts between Israel and Palestine. It began with the murder of three Israeli teenagers by Hamas, then Israel pounded dozens of shelters and schools filled with women and children seeking refugee. Little do people really know that underneath those refugees lie the underground tunnels that belong to Hamas, whom Israel and the West see as a terrorist organization. The goal of Israel, Egypt and even the West is to destroy these tunnels that Hamas utilizes.

Parker finds Hamas to be a terrorist organization and doesn’t find them to truly care about the Palestinian people.

“They use kids and civilians to hide behind with all of their explosives and such, putting innocent people in unnecessary harm,” Parker said.

However, Parker was conflicted when it came to the thought that Israelis may be oppressing Palestinians.

“I think Israel is being a little over controlling,” Parker said. “On the other hand, if they were to lighten up a little, I think Hamas would take advantage and end up trying to take back all of Israel, or at least will try getting to Jerusalem and would put Israelis in danger in the process.”

Rudberg found that it was not all too right for Israel to attack schools where women and children were known to be, but believed that Israel had no choice, even after numerous warnings to these refugee camps.

“Hamas was storing so many weapons, and from my understanding, [Israel] told them to leave,” Rudberg said. “I mean, I don’t think it’s necessarily right, but at the same time there been hundreds of rockets that could’ve been fired into Israel.”

Rudberg explained that if it weren’t for the Iron Dome protecting Israel, then Hamas could’ve killed thousands of Israelis.

Abdeljalil sees that Israel keeps attacking innocent civilians who support Hamas, whom she says is trying to help the Gazans survive with the blockades and restrictions.

“Some of them support Hamas and some of them don’t, but it’s kind of their last resort,” Abdeljalil said. “We’re sitting on top of each other in these refugee camps because we can’t go back to our homes. We’re just stuck here because we can’t go anywhere, so we’re going to resort to Hamas because they’re willing to help us and the only ones that are willing to support us.”

A fight for land

Many argue that Palestinians deserve their land back from the Israelis; many say the Israeli’s ask for conflict because they allegedly take land from both West Bank and Gaza for Israeli settlements.

According to Abdeljalil, her grandparents and their families had to escape Palestine when Israel began driving Palestinians out of their homelands in 1948.

“They had to leave their houses,” Abdeljalil said. “Israelis were going in and massacring a couple of people and then they’d scare off the rest. They were kind of like scare tactics to get people to leave, so my family left in fear.”

Abdeljalil’s family fled to Jordan first before going to Kuwait, where both her parents were born before coming to the United States.

Ever since 1948, Israel and Palestine have been fighting and disputing the borders of their countries, arguing over whose land it really belongs to. Today, Israel continues to take land from West Bank.

Rudberg says that the lands that Israel is taking are still technically Israel.

“The Israelis have given West Bank territories to different groups of people so that they can live there,” Rudberg said. “According to all the peace treaties, it is in Israel’s hand, but Israel is allowing people to live there.”

Abdeljalil feels that everything was taken away from Palestinians.

“I just feel like as Palestinians, we just felt like Israel has gone way past what it should’ve been,” Abdeljalil said. “They’ve left us with, what, five percent? One country is separated. [Israel] has all the resources, they have all the land, and they leave the Palestinians with nothing.”

Checkpoints

Restricted by 20-foot-walls filled with graffiti and the Israeli military justice system, many Palestinians from West Bank have to go through several checkpoints just to go into Israel where many of them work or go to school. On average, two children are arrested each day.

Abdeljalil finds crossing the borders humiliating and miserable.

“I just feel like they’ve gone way past the point of, ‘Hey, let’s live in peace,’” Abdeljalil said.

From Rudberg’s perspective, the checkpoints are awful, but they’re a way to keep Israel safe.

Rudberg remembers a scary time when she traveled to Israel in the 11th grade with her youth group and encountered a situation that could’ve harmed her and those she was with. Luckily, Rudberg and her youth group traveled with a soldier that kept them out of harms way.

“We all went to the playground to play soccer and there were three men in their 20s or 30s and they asked to play,” Rudberg said. “We were like, ‘Sure, whatever, it’s fine.’ We were accepting, but our soldier ended up taking them aside and asked them to leave because he saw that they had a gun in their back pocket. He knew they were not Jewish and did not feel comfortable with them playing soccer with us.”

Rudberg now sees the checkpoints as a necessity because of the number of people—and countries—that want to harm Israel.

“I think that it is very much a pain and I’m aware of that because I’ve gone through those checkpoints before,” Rudberg said. “Those checkpoints are necessary.”

A message to the world

Abdeljalil and Rudberg both participated in peaceful protests in North Texas to support their countries during the deadly conflict.

Abdeljalil joined an organization called the North Texas Boycott, Divest, and Sanction of Israel Campaign, which wanted to raise awareness for the Palestinian people. The group boycotts Israeli products like Starbucks, McDonalds and Sabra because it doesn’t support weapons being given to Israel to kill Palestinians.

In addition, members held protests nearly every day of the conflict this summer in downtown Fort Worth in front of Tarrant County College and the courthouse. Every Sunday they’d hold it in Dallas at Dealey Plaza.

Abdeljalil joined these protests, wearing the colors of the Palestinian flag of green, red and black, with a sign that said, ‘The whole damn world turns its face.’ Others had signs that read ‘Free Palestine,’ or ‘End the Apartheid.’

“At the last protest in Dallas, Tariq Abu Khdeir, who is the kid that was the Palestinian American citizen that got kidnapped by Israeli soldiers and got the hell beat out of him on video, came and protested with us,” Abdeljalil said. “That fundraiser event raised $80,000 in like, 20 minutes.”

Abdeljalil said that for every $100 donated, a family of five would get clothing bags and food sets to prepare for the cold winter ahead for Palestine.

Rudberg explained that there really aren’t clubs or organizations like the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) in Texas, but Israelis and Israeli supporters did rally by Dallas City Hall this summer. Rudberg attended that rally, wearing blue and white with the Israeli flag wrapped around her like a cape.

“We went there and just showed our support for Israel,” Rudberg said. “We had different rabbis and leaders of different synagogues reform through orthodox.”

Rick Perry spoke for the Israeli rally as well, showing his support to the Israeli community.

Rudberg hopes that the world will stop only seeing Israel as the one firing into Palestine. She believes the media doesn’t show the whole story.

“The only reason Israel is firing is because they were fired at,” Rudberg said. “I think everyone’s going to view Israel as the bad guy because that’s how it’s been for so long. That’s how people have grown up and raised their kids. That’s the sad part, I think.”

Abdeljalil wishes that The West would not think of Hamas so instantly when they hear or think of Palestine.

“I think that Hamas has nothing to do with Palestine as a country,” Abdeljalil explained. “We’re just one of the Arabs, so I think we’re not terrorists, we’re not human shields, we don’t like violence. Also, not all Palestinians are Muslims, we’re not terrorists, we’re normal, chill Arabs.”

Although Israel and Palestine go about the conflict with violence, Parker hopes to see peace between the Israelis and Palestinians in the future.

“I really would like to see Israeli kids and Palestinian kids play together one day,” Parker said. “It’s gotta start with the younger generations as the older ones have, in my view, have been brain washed by Hamas and trained to believe Israel is bad.” 

Molly Parker does not want her photo printed in this story.