Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re aware of the conflict going on between Israel and Palestine. For many years now, Israel and Palestine have been at war over ownership of the land. It is said that Israel came into Palestine believing that they have the right to take over the land. However, it is also said that Israel claimed Palestine all along. Recently, this topic reached new extremes. Many have strong opinions on this topic. Despite what side you are on, we can all agree on something. The acts being committed are downright inhumane and immoral. Innocent people, including children, are being killed at the hands of this war. We spoke to members of the MBHS community to get their opinions on this violent dispute.

Anna Sasson, a science teacher at Millennium Brooklyn High School, takes a neutral stance on the dispute.“ I think the conflict is bordering on the absurd.” She believes both sides are at fault. There are many things that factor into the start of this conflict. “Well, ‘the land’ belongs to a few people,” claimed Sasson. “The holiest section of land for Israelis and Palestinians is most likely Old City Jerusalem, which Israel won in the six day war.”

Sasson has an idea of what should be done in terms of resolving this problem. “In short, Israelis need to stop “settling” or stealing land, and Palestinians need to try and arrive at compromises concerning land.”

This war has been going on for years on end, and appears to be getting worse. Many have different opinions on what the next step should be.

Ms. Sasson thinks that, “Israel has to stop being ready for war all the time. Second, Palestine has to come to peace talks with intentions of agreeing on peace and sticking to peace talks.”

A Senior at Millennium Brooklyn, Tamara Dari, was also interviewed. Being that Ms. Dari is personally affected by this situation and is up to date with the fights, outbreaks, and the change in lifestyle, which has and continues to take place in Palestine, she is able to provide us with her own detailed opinion on this matter.

Ms. Dari described her past experiences in Palestine, which led her to believe that “Israel has to be fair in the sense that it is, and was, originally Palestinian land.” With this being said, she defends her opinion by stating that any country should not have the right to take land away from another country. A side effect would be the treatment of citizens. Dari explained that if the treatment of Palestinians by Israelis was different, she would most likely view this issue a whole lot differently. She stated that “It would be nice if they could live side by side[…] but they [Palestinians] are faced with constant fear, living in their own native land.”

This fear includes not only being harassed, but being sent to prison without valid reason, due to a lack of power. She explained that the overall fear amongst Palestinians is that “their land is slowly getting taken away, and they soon won’t have a place to call their home, and represent them.” This conflict also instills a similar fear in Palestinians living in other countries, due to the idea that they possibly won’t have a country to identify themselves with.