YDS 2021 in Review

P H O T O B Y A B D E L K A R E E M H A N A V I A
A S S O C I A T E D P R E S S
by Bella Baker
May and June of this year marked the worst fighting between Israelis and
Palestinians since 2014, in an eruption of conflict that saw civil and political unrest
sweep across Gaza and Israel. The violence saw the displacement of more than
72,000 people, and left more than 240 Palestinians, a quarter of whom were
children, and twelve Israelis, dead. Israel claims that their aerial bombardments of
Gaza were a justified response to rocket attacks launched by Hamas. In contrast,
Palestinians argue that their rockets were a reaction to ongoing Israeli oppression
and form part of the resistance movement against Israeli occupation, which has
continued since the creation of Israel in 1948.
Tensions began with escalations in occupied East Jerusalem, where Palestinians
protested an Israeli court ruling which forcibly expelled Palestinian families from the
Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood. These protests, compounded with violent incursions
by Israeli police into the Al-Aqsa Mosque during the last days of Ramadan,
exacerbated the long-standing conflict and socio-political divide between the two
groups. After weeks of Palestinian protests and demands for Israeli forces to leave
parts of East Jerusalem, Hamas fired rockets into Israel from Gaza. This instigated a
series of attacks and airstrikes between Israeli and Palestinian forces over eleven
days of violence and unrest.
P A G E 1 1 5 | 2 0 2 1 B Y Y D S