The War for the Holy Land

Since the Declaration of the Establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, the Israeli and Arabic population have been in a power struggle in the regions know as Gaza and the West Bank. Bordering Egypt and Jordan and between the Mediterranean and Dead Sea, this area has been at the forefront of conversations in regards to the Middle East. The conflict between the two groups involves several elements of discussion.

                 

First, the two groups fail to mutually recognize/respect each other, which are obvious reasons for tension. In addition to that, borderlines have reinforced the hostility especially with opposing settlements within them. A human necessity, better yet for all life, is control over water sources that exist in the region which are constantly being disputed. Finally, add to that the holy city of Jerusalem, which sits right in the middle of these two opposing groups. Combining all this together makes for a messy situation, which has cost the lives of not only military personnel, but many civilian casualties. This conflict is something that has remained in the news over the years and continues into present times. Peace talks between the two groups have done little to actually stomp out the issues at hand. While solutions are not easy, there may be a way that the two groups can come to an understanding.

The first issue raised was the lack of mutual recognition and respect coming from each side of the fence. From the way it seems each side is claiming entitlement based their own ideals. Religion is something that is alive and well in this area of the world. Research shows that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are what make up the bulk of the main population in an area that is considered sacred to each of them. It is because of this fact that the people are unable to come to an understanding because each group believes that they are correct in their beliefs while others are have it wrong. It is too bold to state that each person that believes in something is not able to accept other’s beliefs, but much of the conflict occurs with the extremists that have zero tolerance.

A good idea would be to avoid peace treaties that involve religious talks altogether and look that the entire population as a whole rather than separate. In this type of situation, the governing body would be able to equalize rights amongst everyone rather than making them specific to each affiliation. Granted, the struggle with extremists is not ousted so easily as history as shown. Even if the general population were to come to an understanding, those who choose to incite violence on the opposing group would still attempt to do so. In response to that, intervention may be necessary by the UN perhaps to neutralize these threats. But as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have shown, the solution is much more complicated once the idea leaves the paper.

The Eradication of Polio

Following the end of the Second World War, horrifying violations of human rights carried out by the Nazis were brought to light. Learning of such cruel and inhuman actions towards Jews and others, the UN General Assembly swore to protect every human’s natural rights. Subsequently, the UN implemented The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This document stated that all humans are created equal, therefor have certain rights such as liberty, right to marry, own property, and freedom of religion. The document also demanded that every individual should have the ability to receive medical care, and now this has become one of the major challenges of the 21^st century.

The UN with combined efforts with other world agencies, have had great advances in improving life in many 3^rd world countries. Furthermore they have elevated health opportunities in these countries, as it was seen when due to collaboration of agencies and countries, successfully eradicating chickenpox, and have since then sought out to have the same success with polio. As of 1988 there a reported 125 countries were battling with polio, paralyzing or killing 350,000 people per year. However due to great work by these organizations, excluding for Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria polio has been eliminated in the rest of the world.

The efforts to vaccinate the people in Pakistan and Afghanistan have been hindered by series of attacks carried out by the Taliban, they incorrectly claim that this immunization is a plot to sterilize their people, and have gone to violent measures to stop the immunizations from being given by the organizations. Furthermore negative propaganda by the Taliban has become extremely influential in these areas, due to the fact majority of these people are very illiterate and believe the allegations spread by the Taliban.

World health has become one of the top challenges of the 21^st century, thanks to tremendous advancements in the medical field; the task is far becoming more manageable. Many will argue that America spends too much in foreign aid, but the reality is these countries are in unimaginable conditions, we all live in the same world and deserve the same living standards, these countries due to violence, and oppressing governments have been held back, therefor it is our duty to assist as much as we can. As we have seen with the eradication of smallpox, a great outcome is possible thanks to collaboration of these organizations. Furthermore although these UN organizations continue to deal with complications, there is high assurance the same can be achieved against polio and diseases alike.

Guns in America

      There are roughly 270 million civilian firearms in America, this is a number that might seem shocking to a lot of citizens, statistics like these are commonly thrown around in order to install fear, but what about the 200,000 times a year women use gun to defend against sexual abuse, or the 89% drop in Georgia after in house mandatory gun law was passed, these are rarely shared. This biased sharing of news and information is as dangerous as individuals who carry out mass shootings, or bomb public areas. If the America simply educated their citizens on the reality of weapons, these horrible disasters could be prevented, or quickly be stopped.

         As anti-gun advocates will tell you firearms are responsible for almost a million violent crimes yearly, also that an estimated 40,000 Americans die each year due to guns. They will use these statistics to install fear and turn the masses against weapon ownership, as well as stricter gun laws. Although these statistics are true, they must be put into perspective, for example alcohol is related to a shocking 75,000 deaths per year, yet there is only one restriction to acquiring it. Furthermore, statistics representing positive gun facts, such as that firearms are used 80 times more yearly to protect lives, rather than to take lives are never shared. Which continues to add to the biased sharing of information, regarding gun use and ownership.

         The reality regarding guns is that stronger restrictions, wont due anything except harm and harass law-abiding citizens. In states, which endorse concealed weapon laws, crimes are drastically reduced. Attempting to take weapons away from citizens will not reduce mass shootings, these individuals will continue to illegally acquire weapons and carry out their plans. The media and society needs to educate instead of continuing this biased coverage, if we arm and educate more citizens we will reduce crime, mass shootings are simply to difficult to prevent from happening, but in all recent scenarios if one citizen would have been armed, casualties would have been drastically lower.  

References

Guns in America | Facts and statistics about firearms in the USA. 2014. Guns in America | Facts and statistics about firearms in the USA. [online] Available at: http://americangunfacts.com [Accessed: 6 Apr 2014].

Hematite.com. 2014. Taking On Gun Control - The Anti-Gun Statistics. [online] Available at: http://hematite.com/dragon/antigunstat.html [Accessed: 6 Apr 2014].

msnbc.com. 2005. Alcohol linked to 75,000 U.S. deaths a year. [online] Available at: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6089353/ns/health-addictions/t/alcohol-linked-us-deaths-year/#.U0Hh_16GsTs [Accessed: 6 Apr 2014].