3 things you should know about Gaza
The history, current events and peace efforts
Regardless which social media platform you prefer, news and updates about the war in Gaza are everywhere. Unfortunately, most posts and opinions are dogmatic and narrow-minded. Instead of focusing on stopping the war and the conflict altogether, they fuel the hatred and make the end of the conflict seem ever so distant. Even worse, many of them come from famous individuals, who influence a lot of people and hence widen the chasm between Palestinians and Israelis.
The motivation behind this post, is to share some information that will help understand the situation a bit better, and promote constructive dialogue, instead of going on social media and spreading hate towards either side.
I do not plan to share an opinion, because I believe that I, like the vast majority of people who comment on the topic online, know actually very little about it. My goal is to share some resources, 3 to be exact, that should help everyone broaden their perspective on the matter.
Overall, all 3 resources will cost you approximately 80 minutes of your life.
1. The history of the conflict
It is only fair that, if you come from another place of the world, you don’t know so much about the history of the region1. The first video gives a bit of background about the history of Gaza, the reasons that have led to conflicts in the past, and the former attempts for peace. I chose it because it is relatively short (it lasts about 8 minutes), it gives a good overview and it does not mix religion with politics. On top of that, it was uploaded approximately 8 years ago, so it is not biased by the current events. Below, I quote the epilogue of the video. Remember, this was said 8 years ago:
No one really knows where the conflict goes from here. Maybe a Third Intifada. Maybe the Palestinian Authority2 collapses. But everyone agrees that things, as they are right now, can’t last much longer -that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinians is too unstable to last, and that, unless something dramatic changes, whatever comes next will be much worse.
2. The war today: Israel vs. Hamas
The second video is from the show Last Week Tonight, which in my opinion, is more reliable than most news outlets in the US. In this episode, John Oliver and his team, go through Hamas, Benjamin Netanyahu’s shady techniques to gain power and remain in it, his relationship with Hamas, how mainstream media polarize people’s opinion and finally, why we should not confuse fanatics of either side, with everyday people.
3. An Israeli and a Palestinian Talk Peace, Dignity and Safety
In this last video, an Israeli and a Palestinian, who have devoted their lives in bringing peace to the region, sit together and discuss how that can become reality and what are the main hurdles. This episode of the TED podcast series34, hosts two men that, even though on paper they come from opposing camps, and even though they have suffered losses from this conflict or past acts of violence, they still seek peace instead of revenge. They advocate in favor of the people, all the people, who live in the region and want to have a peaceful life.
This post does not follow the regular, Saturday-morning-publication schedule, but that is because I considered it too important to wait.
- The Naive Ignorant
That is also how I ended up searching for such resources.
The first and second Intifada, as well as the Palestinian Authority, are explained in the video.
In case you don’t like sitting in front of a screen, you don’t actually need to watch the video. You can just listen to the podcast instead.