It was over fifty years ago, on May 14, 1948, that Britain ended its mandate over Palestine and Jew declared the establishment of Israel. At 4pm local time in Tel Aviv, David Ben-Gurion read the proclamation of independence, declaring the birth of Israel as of midnight. Although Ben-Gurion's proclamation promised freedom and justice for all, this was not to be. Suppression of the Palestinians followed, and coupled with the conquest of their land, a formula for war was born.
Since the inception of Israel, the Palestinians have been subjected to a use of force that is indiscriminate and unjust; physical as well as psychological. It is the force of one of the strongest and well funded armies in the world against a people armed only with rocks and stones. It is a force that goes largely unchecked and rarely criticized. It is a force whose blatant disregard for human life is blanketed by the support of the most powerful and influential nation in the world: the United States of America. In a time when national securities are tighter than ever, and the threat of "terrorism" is ever present, we are bombarded with images of organizations intent on murder, destruction, and the fall of the west. Organisations such as Al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hizbullah are often rattled off by the media. However, in the midst of this one-sided reportage, we fail to see where these organizations get their fuel from; we fail to see the reasons people resort to such means; and we fail to see that not only "fundamentalist" organizations can be classified as terroristic, but also governments. We always ask about the "who" and the "what", but never the "why".
Many people are now familiar with the situation in Israel. It is a region often on the news and in the papers. Unfortunately, we too often only see the conflict from an Israeli perspective, and know little of the harshness of life for the occupied Palestinians.