On Dec. 27, while most Americans were still caught up in holiday cheer, Omar Manci felt something else: anger.

He watched the television in disgust as the satellite news broadcast from the Middle East displayed images of women and children — bodies blown to pieces — being pulled from the rubble of Gaza City.

Manci, senior in accounting, traces his ancestry to Palestine. He said he has good friends in Gaza, whom he has not been able to talk to since Israel began its attack on the area several weeks ago.

“I haven’t been able to get a hold of them, I haven’t been able to talk to them to see if they’re OK. I hope they are and pray to God everyday that they are, but I still haven’t found out,” Manci said.

On Dec. 27, the Israeli military launched an attack on Gaza in response to repeated missile attacks on southern Israel by Hamas, the governing group in Gaza. To date, Israel’s latest round of attacks has killed 898 Palestinians and wounded 3,695, with women and children making up 45 percent of the casualties, according to CNN.

 As the bombs continue to drop, many people worldwide are joining the chorus of protesters against Israel’s actions, including Manci and other members of the Ames and ISU community.

Manci said he organized two protests in Ames, one on Sunday at the corner of Lincoln Way and Grand Avenue, and another  on Monday in front of the Memorial Union.

He said he was disturbed by the way the United States and Western media have responded to the conflict. He said he believes the news coverage has been favoring Israel, and that the world is overlooking the disproportionate and inhumane response of the Israeli military.

“Even if you want to use the fact that Hamas fires rockets into southern Israel as an excuse, it’s inexcusable. The infrastructure damage and the amount of death is just unbelievable,” Manci said.

Manci said he understands Hamas’ frustration because Israel has been treating the Palestinians there unfairly, blocking supplies to Gaza.

“If you corner someone enough they’re going to fight back. I think it’s provoked by Israel, and I think it’s justified by Palestinians to fight back and resist,” Manci said.

However, others believe the Israeli attacks on Gaza were necessary for the protection of Israel’s civilian population.

Michelle Garland Stern, graduate student in curriculum and instruction for educational psychology, was born and raised in Iowa. She gained dual citizenship with Israel in 2001 and spent more than four years living and raising her kids in Haifa. She said she sees Israel’s actions as a logical defense.

“What in the hell were the Israelis supposed to do? Missiles are being shot into Israel on a daily basis,” Garland said.

In March of 2003, Garland witnessed an attack by a Hamas bomber. She and her three children were on their way to the bus stop when they heard the explosion. As they neared the bus stop, they saw the burning wreckage of what was once a public bus filled with passengers. She said she will never forget what she saw that day.

“It was unreal. It was absolutely unreal. I saw someone without a head on their body,” Garland said. “The thing that struck me the most is how much hatred it had to have taken for someone to do this.” 

Fortunately for her, Garland and her children were running late that afternoon. If it hadn’t been for a few unexpected phone calls, she and her kids would have been sitting in the path of the explosion. 

Later, she read online that the mother of the bomber was praised by her neighbors, and was treated to a party with pastries and sweet coffee.

“Just think, they could have had this celebration over the death of me and my children,” Garland said.

Richard Mansbach, professor of political science, specializes in foreign policy and said Hamas was among the first groups to orchestrate these types of attacks.

He said he understands the outcry from the Palestinian community in the wake of the Israeli attack on Gaza, but he said the fault does not lie completely with Israel.

“I don’t blame them for not being happy about what Israel is doing. But they should probably be even less happy with what their own leaders have done,” Mansbach said.

Mansbach said Hamas has been firing rockets into Israel since it took control of Gaza in 2006. In June of 2008, the two sides worked out a six-month truce in which Hamas was  expected to halt rocket-fire on Israel, and Israel agreed to lift its blockade on supplies to Gaza.

Mansbach said both sides failed to respect their agreements completely, though both sides disagree about who crossed the line first.

At any rate, the truce expired on Dec. 22. In the following week, more than 300 Hamas rockets were fired into southern Israel. 

According to the BBC, Israel was in favor of prolonging the cease-fire, but Hamas refused the offer because Israel had failed to respect the original terms of the truce.

“It was an absolute invitation to war,” Mansbach said. 

Though he said the loss of civilian life in Gaza is undoubtedly tragic, Mansbach said it could hardly be avoided due to the dense population of Gaza and the fact that the missiles striking southern Israel were launched from the homes of civilians in Gaza.

“You either turn the other cheek and say, ‘Keep launching your missiles,’ or presumably you strike at where the missiles were launched from,” Mansbach said. “In effect, Hamas is using their own citizens as human shields.”

Manci said this is an unfair argument because Hamas is firing its missiles from the same densely populated areas that Israel boxed them into in the first place. 

But Mansbach said constant rocket-fire is just the beginning of what is at stake for Israel in this conflict.

According to the New York Times, the Israelis believe Hamas is being backed by Iran, a country Mansbach said is seeking to increase its influence in the Middle East and is on the verge of obtaining nuclear weapons.

“That’s really scary stuff. That’s what the Israelis refer to as an existential threat,” Mansbach said.

Mansbach said Israel’s situation is made more complex by the fact that it not only faces opposition from Hamas to the south, but also from Hezbollah fighters positioned on its northern border. Neither Hamas nor Hezbollah recognizes Israel as a sovereign nation.

“Imagine just for a moment that Iowa was a country and you had two terrorist groups with missiles who refused to recognize you, in Nebraska and Illinois. How do you react?” Mansbach said.

But Manci said this is an unfair comparison as not all countries consider Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist groups, and the Palestinian people see the situation from an entirely different perspective.

“Imagine if someone came in, stole your house, took your land, set up shop there, expanded, made it nicer, prettier and everything. They called it their own, and you have no right to it just because it was taken by force,” Manci said.

Garland said Jews and Arabs have both had a constant presence in Palestine for more than 3,000 years, and both sides claim the land as their own.

The conflict between Israel and Palestine has been going on since 1948, when Israel was established as a home for the Jews, while the Palestinian people living there, including Manci’s ancestors, were forced to leave their homes. 

Last summer Manci said he traveled to Palestine and saw his ancestors’ homeland for the first time. He is the first member of his family to return since 1948.

After 60 years of conflict in Palestine, Mansbach said a solution to the problem is closer than most people realize.

“I think almost everyone knows what the outcome is going to be within a few kilometers. There’s going to be two states,” Mansbach said.   

The problem is, Mansbach said, though most people favor a two-state solution, Palestine is divided among three groups: Israel, Hamas and Fatah, which presides over the West Bank. Mansbach said attempts at getting the three sides to agree has proved nearly impossible.

Garland said most Israelis support the two-state plan. 

Manci said the fighting won’t stop until Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory comes to an end.

Both said they just want peace.

“I could almost lay out for you what a final agreement would look like,” Mansbach said. “The problem is how to get there.”

The current conflict

Hamas — Hamas is the smaller of the two main Palestinian political groups. It has been in control of the Gaza Strip since June 2007, after seizing power from the Fatah party in multiple conflicts. Hamas said it fired missiles into Israel in response to Israel blocking supplies to Gaza.

Israel — The state of Israel was established in 1948 and is the world’s only Jewish state.  It is bordered by Lebanon, Egypt and Syria, and is also adjacent to Gaza and the West Bank. Israel is a parliamentary democracy led by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. On Dec. 27 Israel launched an attack on Gaza in response to repeated missile attacks on southern Israel by Hamas.

— Information from the New York Times

Timeline of Israel and its relations with neighboring regions

May 14, 1948 — Israel officially established itself as a state after the British Mandate expired, forcing Palestinians out of the area. Israel faced opposition from its Arab neighbors, and on the following day Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq invaded Israel, launching the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

May 11, 1949 — Israel joined the United Nations.

June 1967 — For years Arab countries refused to acknowledge Israel’s independence and intermittent fighting was common. Israel accused Egypt of blocking its access to an important waterway. This launched the Six-Day War between Israel and Egypt, Jordan and Syria, although Algeria, Iraq, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Tunisia contributed to the Arab forces. Israel captured four territories including the Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, Sinai Peninsula and West Bank.

Sept. 1970 — The month is known as Black September as King Hussein bin Talal of Jordan attempts to restore his monarchy from the Palestine Liberation Organization’s invasion of his country. Thousands of Palestinian armed forces were killed and the rest were forced to Lebanon.

April 25, 1982 — Israel withdraws from the Sinai Peninsula in accordance with a 1979 Israel-Egypt treaty. 

Jan. 1991 — Operation “Desert Storm” begins with a U.S. attack on Iraq.  Former President Saddam Hussein responds by firing missiles at Israel and Saudi Arabia. Israel does not respond to the attack. In February, Iraq offers a complete withdrawal from Kuwait but insists Israel pull out from all Arab territories it occupies.

Sept. 13, 1993 — A Declaration of Principles, commonly known as the “Oslo Accords,” which stated that “a transfer of authority from Israeli military government … to authorized Palestinians” would begin as soon as the declaration entered into force.

Oct. 26, 1994 — In a peace treaty with Jordan, the international boundaries between the two countries were established as following the Jordan and Yarmouk Rivers, effectively resolving the territorial disputes between the two.

May 25, 2000 — Israel withdraws from southern Lebanon, a territory occupied since 1982.

April 2003 — A quartet among the U.S., EU, U.N. and Russia attempts to bring peace between Israel and Palestine but is thwarted by violence between the two from September 2003 to February 2005.

Feb. 2005 — An agreement is reached and a Palestinian cease-fire is brokered, causing violence in the region to drop significantly.

Summer 2005 — Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip but maintains control of most access points to the region.

Jan. 2006 — Hamas is elected in to head the Palestinian Legislature, which causes a halt in relations between Israel and the authorities in Palestine. Hamas refuses to recognize Israel’s sovereignty, won’t honor previous peace agreements between the two countries and is rejected as a legitimate leader by the international community.

— Information for this timeline compiled from the CIA World Factbook, USA Today Gulf War Chronology, the Yale Law School Avalon Project and the United Nations