Can Violence Lead to Peace? – David Orme 

The U.S. has long provided military aid to Israel, primarily justified as necessary for maintaining stability in a volatile region. While this aid is framed as a way to secure peace, the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine raises the fundamental question: Can violence ever truly lead to peace?

History shows that violence often perpetuates cycles of conflict rather than resolves them. The Israel-Palestine conflict is no different. Since the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, military confrontations frequently erupt, with both sides suffering immense casualties and deepening political and social divides. During the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, further complicating prospects for peace by entrenching territorial disputes. The United States, over the last half-decade, has provided billions in military aid to Israel, particularly to maintain its security in an environment where it faces hostile neighbors, the Arab states around it. However, this aid has led to a significant military imbalance in the region, enabling Israel to acquire a far superior military to install blockades, airstrikes, and other security measures. Palestinian groups like Hamas retaliate with rocket attacks. Each round of violence, whether it be Palestinian or Israeli-led, undermines peace efforts.

This expanse of militarization leads to the escalation of human rights abuses; Israeli and Palestinian civilians bear the brunt of the conflict. Israeli security measures, including the construction of the separation barrier and the military’s responses to protests, violate human rights. Conversely, rocket attacks from Gaza into Israeli cities harm civilians, perpetuating fear and hostility. In this context, military aid, while ensuring Israel’s defense capabilities, contributes to a perpetual state of war rather than fostering a region of peace. While military action can stop immediate threats, it often does so at a long-term cost. For example, military operations against Hamas, while aimed at stopping rocket fire, often result in civilian casualties, which serve to radicalize more people against Israel and its Western allies. Thus, rather than creating the conditions for peace, violence perpetuates a destructive cycle. 

Violence tends to harden positions and foster long-term distrust. Nonviolent methods, such as diplomacy and dialogue, are more promising for building lasting peace. The 1993 Oslo Accords, though ultimately unsuccessful in bringing a permanent solution, demonstrated that when the parties engage in negotiation rather than confrontation, there is a glimpse of progress. If the United States were to shift its focus from military aid to diplomatic and humanitarian efforts, it could promote reconciliation instead of enabling conflict. 

Ultimately, violence cannot bring about the kind of peace that allows for mutual understanding and coexistence. While force may address immediate security threats, sustainable peace can only be achieved through nonviolent means, such as diplomacy, dialogue, and investment in human rights. The case of Israel and Palestine shows that violence, even when justified as defense, prolongs suffering and deepens divides.

The Cycle of Violence – Yasmine Sakr 

In Joe Biden’s 1986 speech to the United States Senate, he states that if there were no Israel, the United States would have to invent one to protect her interests in the region. To make this statement and face no repercussions demonstrates a deep-rooted alliance based on military supremacy rather than the promotion of peace and prosperity. While it may be the uncomfortable truth, for decades, the United States has stood as the protector of Israel from its enemies in the Middle East. The world turns a blind eye to the billions of dollars dedicated to bolstering Israel’s military and the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes, beginning in the Nakba of 1948. My grandma was only a child when her family was forced to flee Palestine after the Israeli Defense Force seized their home; she has not been able to return since. 

While these circumstances do not justify Hamas’s attack on October 7th, it’s essential to recognize that American aid has made decades of apartheid and violence possible. By September of 2023, Israel had killed more Palestinians in the West Bank than in any year since the UN began recording fatalities. The rise of Hamas exemplifies this phenomenon. Forcing people to live in fear, putting targets on their backs, and denying them the right to embrace their roots and history naturally provokes resistance rather than submission. 

Israel claims that its mission is to destroy Hamas, but what is the logic behind indiscriminately bombing civilians in displaced areas and blocking routes out of Gaza? What is the justification for 41,000 deaths in the last 11 months, most being women and children? The United States and Israel are failing to realize that for every mother, sister, father, and brother lost to missile strikes and bombings funded by the United States, a young Palestinian boy has joined the ranks of Hamas, developing misplaced hatred against the Israeli people and the motivation to dedicate the rest of his life to their destruction. This brutal cycle won’t end until the United States stops military aid and forces Israel to end its siege on Gaza and the rest of Palestine. Hamas cannot be eliminated as long as Palestinians continue to die without mercy.

Nearly a year into the war, the struggle is far from over. Palestinians have been fighting for liberation for eighty years, and now many in America recognize the urgent situation and are prepared to support them. We are tired of being complicit in the finances of our government; not a single cent of American tax dollars should be spent on Israel’s military anymore. While my grandma was able to build a life for herself outside of her home country, the millions of Palestinians who have suffered generational trauma need us to keep protesting, boycotting, and raising awareness concerning America’s military aid. Ultimately, it’s time to break the cycle. Defunding Israel and fostering commitment from both sides to end the atrocities is the only way to achieve peace for Israelis and Palestinians. 

American Military Aid and Greed – Cole Grant 

The United States of America is known around the world for using its gargantuan military might to act as the free world’s most well known peacekeeping force. Although some may argue that US aid towards certain countries is the work of saints or the curses of devils, it is important to never divide situations in our modern world into black and white. Despite this, I believe American military Aid is primarily a dark, inky shade of gray that is ineffective in promoting peace, a terrible stain on our country driven by one thing: greed.

Our country, and especially our military aid, is driven primarily by greed. Make no mistake, the United States in its current state never helps another country out of the goodness of its heart, or out of the desire to help others in our leaders, but it is primarily driven by the goal of placing other nations into our debt, securing natural resources, and extending our power to others. The invasion of Ukraine may have seemed to cause an economic burden on the United States, but the 60 billion dollars in funding our Nation has given to Ukraine is no gift, but rather a loan. When Ukraine comes out victorious, they will be indebted to us for an incredible amount of time, giving our leaders leverage, not to mention allowing military contractors to sell drones, guns, and tanks to the Ukrainian fighters. While justified in Ukraines case, our aid here will only increase the amount of total deaths over time, much like our aid to Israel. Israel does use some of the money we give them to fight against terrorists, but anybody with a television or the internet can tell you just how many innocent civilians have been exterminated for no good reason other than wiping them out of a place Israel controls. Our military knows that its aid is causing innocent deaths, but chooses to continue to support the nation but continues to support them because this places Israel in our debt, solidifying our access to the oil of the middle east that cost us several wars, thousands of soldiers, and billions of dollars to get. This greed will not bring peace to Israel, but will instead continue the endless slaughter of our fellow man until this genocide is complete.

Citizens of America, we have only one choice. If we desire a peaceful world where innocent men, women, and children do not die to enrich the richest, then we must speak against it. Our nation could be a shield to defend the innocent with our aid, or it could continue on as it is: a cog that keeps the profitable machine of war going, stained with the blood of innocents. We, as Americans who believe in the freedom of a human to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness cannot stand by as our nation helps others crush these rights for its own gain.