Between Sympathy and Holistic Study: Seeing the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict from Different Perspectives

The Israeli attacks on Palestine have drawn global attention. At least 10,000 Palestinians, including more than 4,100 children, have died, and over 2,300 people are reported missing or believed to be buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings (Jobain et al., 2023). Additionally, these events have heightened global awareness of Israel’s occupation of Palestine since 1967 (Amnesty International, 2021b).

I first became aware of the Israel-Palestine conflict during elementary school. Growing up in a devout Muslim family, I received a lot of information from my parents about the condition of Muslims worldwide. From a young age, they emphasized Israel’s crimes as a manifestation of God’s warnings about Jews. This sparked my interest in the conflict and increased my sympathy for Palestine, which was portrayed as oppressed by Israel.

My parents’ hatred toward Jews was strong. When I was in high school, my father once asked, “If a Jew stood in front of you, would you dare take their life?” I answered, “Yes, I would,” because I was taught that Jews were a group of evil people who always wronged my fellow believers.

Thirteen years later, after finding a life path no longer aligned with my parents’ beliefs, I began to question long-held views. One of these was about the Israel-Palestine conflict. By reading various perspectives, I opened myself up to other viewpoints on the matter, striving to free myself from the biases shaped by lifelong experiences and environment.

Some who support Israel argue that it has full rights to Palestinian land because it won it through war. They believe the defeated must accept the consequences of their loss. They also perceive Palestinians as Muslims with a mob mentality—barbaric, backward, and ignorant. For them, Hamas justifies Israel’s occupation and annexation of Palestinian territory. They are even disappointed to find Gaza not as dire as they imagined, expecting an occupied territory to be poor, neglected, and chaotic.

These two extreme positions fail to objectively view the conflict. The Israel-Palestine conflict is complex but can be analyzed in depth to determine one’s stance. We don’t always have to fully support or oppose one side.