Jose Gonzalez-Campelo/The Cougar

Within the past year, a commonality among conversations about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the idea that it began on October 7, 2023.

While not always an idea pushed maliciously, it’s ignorant and harmful to perpetuate this, as the Israeli occupation of Palestine has been a subject for decades and has displaced hundreds of thousands of people throughout the years.

To give some basic history, the conflict started in 1947 with the UN partition plan that separated Palestinian territories into one Jewish and one Arab state; a far cry from the proposed year ago that some believe began the wave of bombings and bloodshed.

Don’t believe it? Look no further than The Cougar’s own archives.

The earliest records of the paper UH provides date back to April of 1928, far before the conflict began.

Looking as far back as the 1970’s, there are a multitude of articles and letters to the editor discussing Israeli occupation and the displacement of Arab populations.

In October of 1982, an article by Ghada Foty, a Palestinian immigrant who studied journalism at UH, titled “Conflict seen from Palestinian view” was written hoping to “clarify this popular misconception,” as Foty wrote, that Palestinians are terrorists.

It detailed the location of Palestine, explained the goals of the Palestinian people and even included quotes from four Palestinian students.

These students shared sentiments very similar to those that we hear today; feelings of detachment from their culture, wishes to return to their homes and hope that they may one day see their homeland free from occupation.

On the dissenting side lies a piece written by Patrick Newport in 1977 with the headline “Israel author says prose reflects war,” Israeli author Matti Megged is quoted, speaking on the ways war and conflict have morphed his and other authors’ writing.

“I believe we have to be prepared to live with war or with the threat of war for at least another generation,” he said.

There were also letters to the editor from readers of The Cougar slamming articles written by the UH Organization of Arab Students, who occasionally wrote in the paper discussing the conflict and addressing ideas surrounding it.

It wasn’t uncommon for heated discussions to be brought forth in the paper by both sides of the issue.

In the 70s, a multitude of both articles by the editorial board at the time and published statements from students were put out, arguing over a dispute between Israeli and Arab students at UH’s International Week.

In 1973, The Cougar published a letter by Zachi Wiezentrager, an Israeli commanding officer from UH stationed in the Sinai peninsula. Wiezentrager wrote, “eager to participate in the efforts to bring this war to an end and to a peace condition.”

This piece was commented on by student Ramzi Hakim soon after in a letter to the editor.

“I really can’t see… how a victory can bring peace unless Wiezentrager’s peace is built on injustice and oppression,” Hakim wrote.

This was one of many contentious letters published in the paper regarding the topic.

Regardless of one’s standing on the conflict, it’s important to note that the fight between the Israeli and Palestinian people is by no means new, and it’s a shameful misrepresentation to claim otherwise.

As Matti Megged reminds us today from the yellowed pages of The Cougar back in 1977, “peace can be a long and painful process,” and it is our duty to remember the history that has led us to where we are now.

Parker Hodges-Beggs is a sophomore journalism major who can be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com

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“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not a new issue” was originally posted on The Cougar