Israel-Gaza Conflict

Three years ago, the political party Hamas rose to power in the Palestinian elections. Immediately after, Israel responded by blocking off the Gaza strip to the free flow of people, equipment, imports and exports. Ever since then, there have been conflicts ebbing and flowing. On December 19th, Hamas’ shaky six month truce with Israel came to an end. Since then, Israel has attacked Gaza, who has responded with rockets. The fighting has escaladed, and Israel refuses to cease fire.
In my opinion, Israel should immediately end its attack on the Gaza strip. Israel claims their disagreement is not with Hamas, but with their ability to launch rockets into Israel. However, Israel’s air, land, and sea attacks are causing more damage then the rockets. As of today, January 11th, 879 Palestinians and 13 Israeli have been killed. If Israel’s concern was with the military power of the Hamas, it would seem logical that Israeli militia would target the rocket-launching sites. This proves to be more difficult then it seems. Hamas currently uses tall buildings as their launching sites, and these buildings are filled with civilians. Schools and medical centers have been attacked, and the number of Palestinian civilian causalities continues to rise. Israel obviously cannot complete their goals of disarming Hamas without hurting civilians. Therefore, they should cease fire before more civilians are killed. On January 8th, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1860 was approved by all but the United States, who wishes to wait for the results of the Egyptian peace efforts. Israel has stated they will not accept the resolution.
Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak stated that this was a “war to the bitter end” against Hamas, while Hamas vowed to “fight until the last breath.” If the fighting continues, which at the moment seems inevitable, the United States is in a difficult position. The United States may feel compelled to get involved with the conflict, which will result in a slippery slope. Getting involved is easy, but getting out is the hard part. Intervention does not solve the problem, and can make it worse. American occupation can cause alienation, and to extreme degrees in an Islamic world. An American presence may only serve to exacerbate the problem and create new ones. The United States has already exhausted itself with intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan, and if we continue to intervene, we will waste billions of dollars. The optimal solution is for Israel to immediately end its attack on the Gaza strip. If they choose to persevere, United States needs to stay clear of this slippery slope.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123115402029453553.html#project%3DSLIDESHOW08%26s%3DSB123117403930054195%26articleTabs%3Darticle

Personal Freedom for Chinese Young Adults

Freedom is a matter of perspective, and the young adults of China have an interesting perspective. They have been exposed to a communist government for some time, and in their view, life is good. If life is going well, there’s simply no need to become involved with politics. While their parents grew up witnessing radical events such as the Cultural Revolution and the student protests at Tiananmen Square (with its subsequent suppression), their children were raised to associate politics with the horrific repercussions of the Cultural Revolution and Mao’s “Great Leap”. Since the 1979 Chinese one-child policy was introduced, the upcoming generation is the first generation in history to be largely comprised of only children. Only children are characteristically spoiled, and sinologists are observing that the Chinese youth really do have a solipsistic outlook. Their world is filled with iPods, Facebook, and Blogging. They care about their personal freedom, and under a communist government, they have that freedom. As long as China is amidst an economic boom, the youth couldn’t care less about politics.

Simon Elegant wrote an article for TIME magazine in which he interviewed a young woman by the name of Vicky Yang. In regards to politics, she voiced that “When it comes to democracy and all that, well, that doesn’t play a role in my life.” Our Chinese guests said they saw little difference between a capitalist and communist government. Although my peers and I see obvious differences in censorship and rights, maybe our guests don’t view freedom in the same way. If so, in their eyes, they are free. If someone doesn’t feel oppressed, they don’t feel denied freedom. They may not have the freedom to publicly criticize their government, but in their perspective, they are free.


Additional Reading:
China's Me Generation
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1647228-1,00.html