Israel should leave Palestine

Palestinians have been forced to live under Israeli military rule for thirty-four years, and are now, more than ever, determined to be free of it. The occupied territories, which include the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, are not recognized as a part of Israel by the international community and are maintained through force.\nThe Palestinian narrative is usually absent from U.S. media, resulting in a distorted political context of the conflict. The conflict arose when Palestinians were dispossessed from their country, yet refused to give up rights to their historical homeland, of which they now only claim 22 percent. This distortion often ignores the suffering of the entire Palestinian people, as well as their nonviolent appeals for human rights.\nIt is important to recognize the occupation as the root of current violence. This system enforces dominance of one group over another based on ethnicity and has frequently been compared to apartheid in South Africa. \nIsrael's policy of collective punishment is an affront to the value of Palestinian life. Many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip live in the utter squalor of refugee camps, having been forced off their property by Israel. Other forms of collective punishment include Israeli checkpoints, home demolitions and bombings.\nOver the past sixteen months, Palestinians made several attempts at peaceful demonstrations against the occupation. Each protest was met with Israeli tanks, tear gas, live ammunition or metal-coated rubber bullets. While few Palestinians have weapons and bombs, the majority has only rocks and tiny shreds of dignity remaining. Terrorism is an illegitimate method of resistance to occupation. But the longer Israel continues its violent grip on the territories, the more voice it will give to violent fundamentalist groups.\n United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson has called upon Israel to stop bombing the West Bank and Gaza Strip, saying that Israel was "terrorizing and terrifying the civilian population." Various UN resolutions, supported almost unanimously by the international community, have called for Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories and the dismantling of Jewish-only settlements.\nSince the beginning of this second Intifada, or uprising, for freedom, over six hundred Palestinian civilians have died, 26 percent of them children. Over two hundred Israelis have died, 64 percent of them soldiers and settlers illegally residing in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. \nDespite the fact that the transporting of settlers into occupied territory clearly violates international law, since 1967 Israel has transferred more than 350,000 settlers onto Palestinian land. In the past decade 2,650 Palestinian homes have been destroyed by Israeli occupation forces leaving thousands homeless. In their place are many of these Jewish-only settlements.\nRecently, 173 Israeli Army reservists signed a statement refusing to serve in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The group emphasized that it was willing to defend Israel behind the Green Line (the pre-1967 borders), but unwilling to continue Israel's policies of "dominating, expelling, starving and humiliating an entire people."\nPalestinian rights to self-rule are inalienable rights inherently protected by international law and the fourth Geneva Conventions. Peace should be based on justice and mutual respect, not forced Palestinian acceptance of an apartheid structure. A person stripped of all hope, dignity and freedom will do anything to regain this. As long as the root of grievance is ignored, peace is impossible.