Waking up to news about Palestine is rarely, if ever, a good thing

It’s hard to find many positives when the country is left in a state of limbo, occupied by a powerful regime that has made life in Palestine a living nightmare. It’s also very hard to see through the media storm, bias and inconsistency in the news making a terrible situation somehow even worse.

They’re fighting again. They always are. Hamas with their slingshots, versus one of the world’s most powerful, sophisticated armies. It never stops, not for the elderly Muslims whose prayers are interrupted by gunfire, the mothers and fathers trying to protect their families, and innocent children who got caught in the crossfire. It never stops, and how can it? The Gaza Strip is a wreck, a shell of what it once was and could be. The Al Aqsa Mosque seems to be constantly under siege, one of the holiest places for 1 billion people on Earth desecrated with inhumane acts. Villages are pillaged with bulldozers and taunts, as homes that have passed through generations are stolen. Water ways are blocked with cement, electricity is cut and civilian homes are bombed. This is not war, this is decades of violation in Palestine.

IDF members litter the streets, hanging around like school bullies waiting for a child to look at them wrong. The child will then be beaten, maybe worse. Usually worse. A mother loses a son, a sister loses a brother. It has become gut wrenchingly normal; up until the latest round of conflict began, at least 38 children have been killed in the occupied West Bank in 2023, the deadliest year for young people since records began, according to Save the Children.

It is unlikely that we’ll ever know the true human cost of Israel’s war on Palestine. That is quite blatant, in the face of media bias coming out of every mainstream news outlet as conflict unravels. Rhetoric surrounding the conflict is damaging, misleading and infuriating. Painting Palestinians as terrorists at every given opportunity is certainly a way to sell newspapers, and world leaders across the globe are also joining in on the fun.

Joe Biden is offering “rock solid and unwavering” support to Israel's security, ready to offer “all appropriate means of support”, meanwhile the UK’s defence secretary, James Cleverly, has, rather ironically, branded Hamas’s attack “unprecedented”, as violence erupts in the region on 7th October, 2023. This comes after years of occupation, stolen land, assassinations, crimes against humanity. But it is a tale as old as time that the West sticks together.

As it all unfolds, protests against Israeli occupation are erupting across the world, despite the agenda being pushed by conservative Twitter. In Sheffield’s city centre, Sheffield Palestine Campaign Against Israeli Apartheid and Palestine Solidarity Campaign gathered to protest the governments ‘anti-boycott’ bill.

The organisations are concerned that the bill will ‘erode local democracy, restrict freedom of expression, and undermine campaigns for social and climate justice’. Whilst they view the bill as being a direct disruption to protesting for Palestinian rights, the groups argue that it will affect many other societal issues, and how public bodies express concern over unethical practices.

When asked about the latest spark of conflict in the region, Paul Kelemen, a protestor, said: “We are all very shocked.

“The British Government condemn it as an attack on Israel, ignoring the fact that Israel has been occupying Palestine for 76 years.”

Mr Kelemen is referring to The Nakba, also known as the Palestinian Catastrophe of 1948, when Palestinians were displaced and land was stolen during the Arab-Israeli War. Since then, the situation has declined further, with the Gaza Strip being placed under Israeli occupation for the last 16 years. This has meant that Israel has controlled their access to clean water, electricity and healthcare; most Palestinians require a permit and permission from the Israeli government to be allowed their basic human right of medical attention, even in the most severe, life threatening cases.

“The international community has done little about it.” Mr Kelemen continued, referring to the lack of international political support for Palestine.

“Recently there have been a wave of attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, some response by the Palestinians was expected.

“International opinion will be divided on it. Progressive people will see that the Palestinians have the right to resist and the right to make a point.”