Mark Green

Mark Green represents Williamson County in the U.S. House of Representatives as part of Tennessee's 7th Congressional District.

 By Alexander Willis

As violence continues to escalate between the Israeli and Palestinian people, Congressman Mark Green weighed in on the increasing number of civilian casualties amassing as a result of the conflict, the vast majority of which have been Palestinians.

Recent escalations of violence between Israel and Palestine

While regular flare-ups of violence have occurred as part of the greater Israeli-Palestinian conflict since at least the late 1940s, the recent escalations have reached levels of violence not seen since the Palestinian uprising of the early 2000s.

More: Resources for background on Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Earlier this month on May 6, Palestinians gathered in mass to protest the pending evictions of four Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem, an area declared by international law to be Palestinian territory.

Those protests eventually devolved into violence, with the Associated Press reporting that Palestinian and Israeli protesters "hurled rocks and chairs at each other," resulting in at least seven arrests.

The next day on May 7, Israeli police stormed into the Temple Mount — a holy site in both Judaism and Islam faiths — and clashed with Palestinians after they reportedly "threw rocks and bottles" at Israeli police. The ensuing violence resulted in the injuries of 17 Israeli police officers and 200 Palestinians, The Times of Israel reported.

It would be on Monday, May 10, that the first exchange of missile fire occurred after Hamas militants launched a series of rockets at Israeli territory. Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida said the strike was a response to the May 7 Israeli police raid, which occurred on a holy day in the Islamic faith known as the Night of Decree.

The Israeli Defense Force responded that same day with a barrage of missiles targeting Gaza, with the two forces exchanging fire since as of Sunday, May 16.

To date, Israeli authorities say at least 10 people have been killed from rocket attacks, including two children, whereas Palestinian authorities say at least 197 have been killed, among them 58 children.

"The sovereignty of Israel is at risk"

In a phone call with the Home Page, Green touched on the ongoing violence between Israel and Palestine, saying that while he felt it was "sad what's going on," Israeli reserved the "right to defend themselves."

"We do know that Hamas basically started firing rockets into the civilian sections of Israel from the Gaza Strip and it's just been devastating; you can see the videos online of little kids running," Green said.

"So obviously the sovereignty of Israel is at risk. They have a right to defend themselves and they did. I think Israel is very good about doing everything they can to minimize civilian casualties; you look [and] they're targeting weapon storage places, weapon manufacturing places and leadership."

The Home Page asked Green whether the far disproportionate number of Palestinian casualties would ever 'cross a line' and warrant a response from the United State or other countries.

Green argued that the Palestinian casualties were of their own doing through the use of strategically placing military targets near civilian areas, something the Israeli Defense Force has argued as well.

"The problem is that the Palestinians put their rockets in people's homes — that's where they hide them — so they're basically creating human shields around their weapons," Green said. "So in that case, there is potentially going to be some casualties. It's tragic, but that's the actions of Hamas and not the actions of Israel."

Speaking of the greater Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Green pointed to recent peace talks between Israel and the surrounding Arab countries bordering the Persian Gulf, collectively known as the Gulf States.

"It's sad what's going on; the Palestinians don't seem to understand what some of their Sunni brethren believe, that peace is possible with Israel," Green said.

"You look at the Gulf States and you look at the outreach and the cooperation between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Israel, it's just unbelievable — yet you got the Palestinians that just aren't getting there I guess."