Media Evidence

Brief History

Palestine is the Holy Land, significant in all three major
religions – Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. The people
of Palestine, be they Muslim, Christian, or Jewish, lived
in a peaceful and prospering society, engaging in trades
such as fishing and farming, and contributing to a shared
and rich culture. Palestine was ruled by the Ottoman
Empire until it was captured by the British. In 1917, the
British Government promised the land of Palestine to the
Zionist Jews as a homeland for the Jewish people. Jews
began to migrate to Palestine with the help of the Zionist
movement at the start of the 19th century. After WWII,
Jewish migration to Palestine especially intensified. The
Ally Powers recognized and supported the new state of
Israel on this colonized Palestinian land.

This resulted in the Nakba, a catastrophe that ethnically cleansed over 800,000 Palestinians, including Muslims, Jews, and Christians, from their land through evacuation, displacement, and genocide.

Since then, Global powers
have legitimized the occupation of Palestine by the
Israeli state. Israel has continued to confiscate more and
more land from the indigenous Palestinian people,
forcing them into smaller areas of land and controlling
every aspect of Palestinian life to maintain control over
the region through a cruel system of apartheid.

Currently, Israel operates a siege over Gaza, a portion of
land bordering the Mediterranean Sea currently under
Israeli occupation. Gaza is described as the largest
open-air prison in the world. The West Bank is another
region that is under Palestinian authority by legality but
controlled heavily by the Israeli state. The
over-militarized power has used undue force to
intimidate and dehumanize Palestinian citizens, surveil
and control movements, and even unlawfully arrest,
detain, and kill them. Palestinians have struggled to
break free of the apartheid state that has been
implemented by the Israeli Government, as recognized
by Amnesty International as well as renowned human
rights organizations across the world.
Israel’s abuse of human rights and consistent violation of
international law are also well-documented and have
been recognized by the United Nations. Still, the Israeli
Government continues to abuse the indigenous
Palestinian people and has rendered them stateless to
prevent them from returning to their land. Palestinian
people continue to resist, whether in Gaza and the West
Bank or across the world where they exist as refugees
and immigrants remembering their homeland from afar.