Ethical analysis of the Israel Palestine Conflict.
The topic I have chosen regards the warfare that has been occurring in Israel and Gaza region since the 7th of October 2023. The article ‘a cease fire in a time of genocide’ which shares a Palestinian view on the ethical atrocities which are occurring on behalf of Israel. The article itself challenges the ethics between both Israel and Palestine, sharing the atrocious war crimes committed by the Israeli government. This factual resource shares how inhumane the Israeli’s targeted bombings are and explains how over, “forty-five days of barbaric massacres have claimed the lives of 14,000 people” (Eid, H, 2023), this alone is terrible but factoring in who the Israeli defence force targeted shows the tragedy, amongst those deaths more than “6,000 children and 3,000” (Eid, H, 2023) women were slaughtered. This article demonstrates the war-crimes Israel is committing. The dilemma forms when considering the atrocious acts which have occurred because of the militant group HAMAS in the Palestine regime.
The article puts in perspective the terrible atrocities, which have resulted in an emotional outcry and the clear violation of Palestinians rights, as they are under the control of the Israeli’s agency, committing crimes against humanity and UN prohibited war crimes such as dropping of white phosphorus.
These statistics show the lack of care for the Palestinian community and the ethically atrocious warfare they have resorted to. So far in this war more than “17 million people have been displaced” (Eid, H, 2023). The article is full of quotations regarding the lack of ethical rights and the de-humanising effects of this war, including bombings of hospitals. The result is an emotionally tormenting restriction amongst the Palestinian community where “Israel, with Egypt’s help, has turned Gaza into an open-air prison,” – (Omar Shakir, 2022). The Israeli brainwashing starts in Israeli school books are written for youngsters who will be drafted into joining compulsory military service at the age of 18 and carry out the Israeli policy of occupation in the Palestinian territories” (Paled-Elhanan, N, 2023).
Articles such as these can scrutinized as propaganda, making it exceedingly difficult to develop an opinion as a moral subject. Modern day media and the propaganda conveyed by both sides, creates radical opinions. Whilst this article will explain the devastating and morally absurd crimes Israel has committed, there are still war crimes Palestine has committed. Emotional responses are erupting globally over this debate, with protests and acts of violence perpetrated by both Israeli and Palestinian affiliated individuals.
Lawfully Palestine is not getting the help it deserves. Personally, I am against any form of death whilst in warfare, yet I do agree with the Palestinian cause. After more than 70 years of Palestinian trade restrictions, lack of basic freedoms and the displacement of Palestinian community’s war is a certainty.
The article shares a well-developed opinion on oppression, stating that “they (the Palestinians) are to appreciate the trickle of food and water that is allowed to sustain them barely alive and accept their slow death” (Eid, H, 2023). These actions currently exhibited by the Israeli government has been through its own deliberate ethical agency, dictating the Gaza strip and the influx of staple produce and basic human rights, stating that “Israeli officials committed the crime of apartheid under international law” (Amnesty International, 2023).
There is also a sacred aspect to this war, Judaism and Islam have been in conflict for thousands of years. Religion has been at the forefront of countless conflicts throughout history. The Zionist political movement claim Israel is their sacred land, and they are the soul and intended habitants of that region as appointed by God.
This ongoing history creates a very heated debate regarding who belongs here? These debates origins were in 700 BCE whilst the Romans occupied the area, religions created in the now called Palestine and Israel occupied sacred territories such as Christianity in 100 CE, Judaism in 1800 BCE and Islam’s development in the Middle East in 610 CE.
Due to media skewing deaths, tragedies and choosing to share extremely specific instances of warfare, it creates a very conflicting and hard to decipher situation, trying to grasp an understanding on the conflict is exceedingly difficult due to propaganda. The article I have chosen share’s skewed news, as there is not a mention of any atrocities committed by HAMAS.
References
Eid, H. (n.d.). A ceasefire in a time of genocide. [online] Al Jazeera. Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/11/27/a-ceasefire-in-a-time-of-genocide.
Human Rights Watch (2022). Gaza: Israel’s ‘Open-Air Prison’ at 15. [online] Human Rights Watch. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/06/14/gaza-israels-open-air-prison-15.
Amnesty International (2022). Everything you need to know about human rights in Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories 2020. [online] Amnesty International. Available at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/middle-east-and-north-africa/israel-and-occupied-palestinian-territories/report-israel-and-occupied-palestinian-territories/.
Peled-Elhanan, N. (2013). Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education. [online] Google Books. Bloomsbury Publishing. Available at: https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=3J6LDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT5&dq=israel+propaganda+scholarly+articles&ots=LXfWwqGto8&sig=euPUp8li53a_1lRHRZEGUk_Glug#v=onepage&q=israel%20propaganda%20scholarly%20articles&f=false [Accessed 8 Dec. 2023].
