Since as an Israeli-born young boy, I've always wanted to do work internationally, whether it be development, peacebuilding-related work, or conflict resolution. I was born in Israel, a country founded in 1948 after the newly established Israeli government declared its independence. Since then, Israel has been a close piece of my heart, but I also have a conflicted feeling about my homeland and colossal disappointment. With the blow, it is not only Israel's fault, but they do not help the situation in the region either.
While I felt a new leaf was turning once Israel left Gaza in 2005, it began to appear that the peace plan was so close in a grasp that things between Israel and their Palestinian neighbors fell through once again when Hamas took over the Gaza Strip after the Israeli 'disengagement'. During that time, I felt torn between feeling sorry that many of the Israeli soldiers and the citizens who resided in the Gaza Strip at the time by ways of Ariel Sharon.
On the other hand, it felt as if the Palestinian people finally could feel they had land that Israel took from them back into their own hands. Still, instead, Hamas and the alike terrorist groups started to retaliate for the land stolen. They wanted to seek revenge and make Israel feel the suffering the Palestinians had had for decades prior. One thing is different, though; Hamas and the like do not care about Palestinian people's values but rather only their ambitions by using Gaza as a targeting point for retaliation from the Israeli government. In contrast, Hamas [and others] had shot up to 12,000+ rockets since the Israeli 'disengagement' from the Gaza Strip.
According to many sources, Hamas has been designated a terrorist group by many nations across the globe, though some do not. The most recent country to designate Hamas as a terrorist group in its entirety is Australia, as of 2022.
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