May 19, 2021 Reflection

 Today we continued our lesson on the Israeli and Palestinian problems. Firstly, we talked about how over half of the Palestinian population is under 20 because they are killed when they get older and that also half of the population relies on food aid as their supply of food. The reason I thought this was troublesome is that the cause of this isn't natural disadvantages or the fact that they are a third-world country, but is that because they use most of their money on the fight, and the rest is burned down by other people. This means that even though there is a solution to this problem it would be harder to fix because it is against other people. 

Secondly, we talked about the United Nations Security Council and how the veto was used by one of the 5 permanent countries in order to not allow something to happen. We learned that the system made it so that all 5 of the permanent countries had to agree on something to actually make it happen which means that if it was unfavorable for any five of those countries they could just veto the suggestion. I understand that the 5 countries were picked because they won WW2 and they are the countries that hold nuclear weapons, but I thought that this would just allow the stronger countries to do what they want making the gap between countries even wider. But on the other hand, if they make every vote equal to one another, it would allow the other countries to team up and go against the larger countries and may lead to a one-sided war. Therefore, I thought it may be a good idea that the vote should be allowed if more than half of the 5 countries allow something, it should be allowed. That way, even if we're a dispute between two countries, if the other three countries could think calmly and get a reasonable solution to the problem, the two countries can not deny it and activate a veto.  

After understanding the UNSC system we then learned about how America used 3 vetos in one week and was using it to support the Israelis. One thing that I found interesting is how the two leading countries using the vetoes were Russia and America, and even though they both used it the most, there was a clear difference in the way they used it and the reasoning behind it. America used most of it's veto to protect a country they support, allowing them to do whatever they want, but Russia used it for themselves and suggestions against themselves. 

Lastly, we talked about the restrictions put on the Palestinians and the places the Israelis bombed in the Palestinian territory. Firstly, we saw a map of the roads in Isreal and the places that Palestinians can't go. For example, most of the roads outside of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank were off-limits for the Palestinians, and the few roads they were allowed to go on, they had to have a special pass which the guard can deny it any time they want. In addition to that, the Israeli government wanted to make the Palestinians cut their affections to the land by bombing the grave yards, homes, and hospitals.