Last week the U.N. (United Nations for the politically illiterate) voted to allow Palestine (currently the West Bank and the Gaza Strip) non-member observer state status within the U.N.
This means that Palestine may now act within the United Nations fully, with the exception of having the ability to vote. It isn't as clear cut as allowing Palestine to become it's own state, but it is pretty close to it.
Palestine is currently being occupied by Israel. In other words, the lands that belonged to Palestine (West Bank and Gaza Strip) have been taken control of militarily and the Israeli Defense Force has placed checkpoints all over the Palestinian territory. But this has been going on for many years.
Slowly the Israeli government has allowed settlements to be placed into the West Bank in order to slowly chip away at Palestinian-owned land.
And with the recent vote to allow Palestine the powers of what could be considered an 'almost-state,' the President of Israel angrily fought back by saying he will build another 3,000 homes on Palestinian land.
Who was against this vote? Canada, Czech Republic, United States, Israel, and three other small islands in the Pacific (mostly tourist places for US citizens).
Out of 193 countries, only seven voted against Palestinian statehood. And that angers Israel. But Israel is going to have to face a harsh truth sooner or later; they aren't going to survive if they continue to oppress the Palestinians and mistreat them.
Currently the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) is the recognized head of Palestine. It has gained some support for this vote, but with the recent attacks on the Gaza Strip and the constant attacks on West Bank soil by the Israeli Defense Force the PLO is losing support as the one to deal with this matter. Instead, it is turning to Hamas.
Hamas is the government that those within the Gaza Strip have set up. They are a radical Islamic organization.
They deal in terrorism, but they also provide social programs and welfare programs to those within the Gaza Strip (about 85 percent of Hamas' yearly budget is spent on welfare and social programs, while the rest usually goes to military matters). However, they are still a terrorist organization. But Hamas is gaining more support because the Palestinians are slowly getting fed up with how they have been treated.
And the Palestinians have been mistreated by Israel. Before Israel was a state, the land was both set upon by Britain and France, and before that the Ottoman Empire. The tribes in the area were both "Palestinian" and Jewish tribes.
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It never really belonged to the Palestinian people, but that's because they never really had the reason to build a massive state in small tribes, just like the Jews didn't really have a reason to until after World War II.
Slowly, the line between the Palestinian territory and the Israeli territory faded, and the Israeli portion became bigger and bigger. Israel now controls the majority of the land even within the West Bank.
And now what is happening? Palestine is gaining traction and is close to becoming a full member state. The Jewish population has a rich culture and history all throughout the entirety of the world and they have a state of their own to call home. Now the Palestinians want that same chance to develop a state of their own.
They would rather do it through peace, but peace usually gets them into being more violently overtaken than before. And that is the reason Hamas is gaining traction. Israel wants to protect itself from Hamas, yet Hamas is being fueled by the "protections" Israel is implementing in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
Many children have been killed in this conflict, as well as adults, but most of the casualties seem to come from the Palestinian sides of the borders.
That is why Israel must allow Palestine to gain statehood. Hamas, an anti-Israel terrorist organization, only gains traction when Israel continues to oppress Palestine. So the obvious solution would be to stop with the oppression and the unwarranted violence.
The only legitimate ally Israel can hide behind is the U.S., but against the world the U.S. is nothing in comparison. The cards are in the hands of the Israeli government.
The choices they can make are to continue raising the pot and pressure more violent reactions, or fold and let the Palestinians have a peaceful win for once.
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