Israel and Palestine have never played nice.
In the most recent iteration of violence, Israeli ?spectators were seen watching the bombing of Palestine from a hilltop and cheering. Israel also sent troops into the Gaza Strip on Thursday.
The Editorial Board would like to see the fighting stop.
We know that is a difficult task. There’s so much ?history there with damage on both sides, enough blame to spread to everyone, and no easy solution.
The United States is not blameless in this fight. We’ve been pushing our influence in the Middle East for ?decades. We have people from both countries living in the U.S.
There are Jewish and ?Muslim people here at IU. This conflict divides many more people than just those living in the war zone.
Everyone should work ?toward a peaceful solution.
In any conflict, it is easy to turn your enemies into ?something less than human in your mind.
They become demons or animals or pure evil. They are the opposite of ?everything you fight to ?uphold. You fight for good and justice and the right way, of course.
If everyone thinks this, no side is fighting for the bad guys. It’s just a conflict of ?interest.
People care so much about their friends, family and homes that they would destroy anything and ?everything to keep them safe.
That is brave. But it is also dangerous, because war has a tendency to destroy things the fighters were trying to protect.
Israel and Palestine have been fighting for so long, it has become ingrained in the countries. Violence is a normality. And when it’s a missile flying in to destroy a faceless enemy, it’s easier to cheer as a victory. But when that missile kills innocent ?civilians, uprooting lives and ravaging families, the picture isn’t as nice.
We won’t begin to assert we know how to broker a peace between these ?nations. Many better minds have tried and failed. But we do firmly believe peace must be achieved.
The Middle East is violent enough, and the longer this fighting goes on, the more likely it is that other nations will get involved and ?contribute to the violence.
And what happens if the U.S. or other strong nations feel they must step in? Nothing good will come of it.
Maybe this new string of bombings will die down, and a calm standstill will ?return. But until lasting peace can be agreed upon, neither ?nation will truly prosper.
We hope they can figure it out soon.
