The Voices Lost Between the Headlines

I grew up in a world where political conflict isn’t just another news story, but something that affects everyday life. For many people outside of the Middle East, the events happening in Israel and Palestine are just headlines on the news. But for me, the conflict is all too real. The blare of sirens, the worried glances at the dinner table, and the overwhelming fear for the safety of those you love are part of daily reality. It feels like being trapped in history that will never let our countries go. It is important to understand that the Middle East is not simply a conflict region on the map but is the heart of three world religions and a crossroad of cultures, where every newsletter, every event has meaning far beyond its borders.

 

The historical narrative of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is typically prejudiced depending on who is retelling it. In the Western media, Israel is often presented as a sympathetic victim. In Arab media outlets, this role is reversed, with Palestine portrayed as being unfairly oppressed by Zionists. Between these two polarities, the space for truthful, honest discussion is lost. In the The Iron Wall, Avi Shaim explores how many impressions of wars and discussions in the Middle East are constructed by politicians and the media to justify their own actions, rather than telling the full story. A similar pattern can be seen with newsletters whose stories often ignore and intentionally minimize the scale of the conflict. International agencies, such as Reuters and the Associated Press, provide dry and limited information for their readers, in comparison to local news who paint a full emotional portrait reflective of their own stances. This brings in the dichotomy of perception where it’s important to find the balance between the two polarities, learning how to hear both sides and analyzing context, rather than just content.

 

Behind all the words and storylines stands another important player in our history: The United States of America. The United States plays its own critical role in this narrative. For America, Israel is a critical ally in the Middle East; a proxy by which Washington can strategically control the whole region. The United States provides over 3.8 billion dollars annually in military aid to Israel. The military financing provided to Israel is a key part of America’s foreign policy to preserve the regional balance of power in the Middle East. Some political commentators call this phenomenon the “integration of power without military,” suggesting that the United States is using political, economic, and technological instruments to achieve its desired goals in the region.

 

The current conflagration in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was born on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing more than 1,200 and taking another 251 people as hostages. Predictably, Israel struck back, not only attacking Hamas but also hitting Iran, Hezbollah, and other militant organizations that Iran sponsors in the region. America’s tacit approval of Israel’s military response has led to the deaths of more than 68,000 people in Gaza in the two years since October 7. The military strikes have touched civilian populations on both sides of the conflict. And regrettably, the safety of one population has turned into the suffering of the other, leaving an impact on human lives, those waking up from their nightmares, and those unable to forget the shocking events that occurred on October 7th.

 

As a young adult living in the region, I have personally felt the effects that the conflict has had on our society. It feels like we are living in a regime of constant mobilization. Young people living in the region no longer have time for basic needs like educational, career, or personal development. Many of my friends on both sides of the border have given up their plans for the future because of the constant threat that the conflict will escalate even further. The instability and ever-present feeling of trepidation have had a chilling effect on the younger generations living in the region. In 2022, Sociologists from Tel-Aviv University noted that the level of anxiety and depression among teenagers in Israel is a lot higher on average than teenagers in other Middle Eastern countries due to the constant threat of attacks.

 

The way that the conflict has been presented by media outlets has made the situation even worse. Mainstream media outlets like Reuters and BBC often provide dull and repetitive statistics of dates and numbers. While social media channels like Instagram and X often transmit misinformation. Research conducted by Oxford University in 2023 on the Internet has shown that the amount of falsified information and overall false news spread on social media has reached record levels. Between the dry reports of journalists and misinformation coming from social media outlets, the human voices, those trying to tell the truth without propaganda, are lost completely.

 

With all the pain and suffering on both sides of the conflict, I don’t want the story to continue in a never-ending cycle. Our generation needs a different model based on love, truth and acceptance. History should not be focused on the statistics of war, but rather on the people suffering on both sides of the conflict. If I have a hope, it’s that there will be an opportunity to break free from the paradigms that define our society and instead look for a more complex and truthful understanding of the conflicts that divide us. From these hopes, the new era of journalism is born, the era of truth and humanity, rather than politics.