Manitoba's Palestinian, Jewish communities hope for peace amid latest conflict in Israel, Gaza

People from Manitoba's Palestinian and Jewish communities are hoping the latest conflict between Israel and a Palestinian militant group de-escalates soon.

"It's always sad to see when things like this happen because innocent people are always the ones that are affected," said Ramsey Zeid, president of the Canadian Palestinian Association of Manitoba.

He said people from the Palestinian community in Manitoba are watching the situation and hoping for a peaceful resolution.

"We hope and we pray that people in Gaza and in Palestine and in Israel are safe and no more innocent lives are taken or wounded," Zeid told CBC on Saturday.

Dozens of armed Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip launched surprise attacks in Israel Saturday morning — the day of a major Jewish holiday — crossing into Israeli towns and firing a barrage of rockets. Israel responded by launching airstrikes in Gaza.

The attacks, which are the latest exchanges in the long-standing conflict between the regions, has left more than 200 Israelis and more than 200 Palestinians dead and thousands more injured.

Following the attacks, Israel's prime minister has said the country is "at war."

Zeid said he wasn't surprised to hear Hamas launched the attacks.

"You can only push somebody back into a corner so many times so much before they fight back, before they explode," Zeid said.

While Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza in 2005, Israel largely controls all movement in and out of the strip.

The leader of Hamas's military says the assault was in response to the 16-year blockade of Gaza and Israeli raids over the past year. 

Saturday's attack was the deadliest in Israel in decades.

Harold Shuster, who is part of Independent Jewish Voices Winnipeg, said he stands in solidarity with Palestinians.

"While I don't condone the violence, I can understand how somebody might be forced into a position where they see violence as their only means of gaining freedom," he said.

'No resolution on the horizon'

Meanwhile, the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg says the organization stands with Israel.

"We pray for the safety of Israel's citizens as well as the brave military forces working to protect our people and the country," said a statement from the organization's president Gustavo Zentner and CEO Jeff Lieberman.

Both Manitoba's premier and premier-designate also condemned Hamas's attacks.

"I condemn the terrorist attacks against Israel, the targeting of civilians, and affirm Israel's right to self-defence. My hope is for a swift de-escalation of this conflict," Premier-designate Wab Kinew said in a statement Saturday.

Premier Heather Stefanson said, "We stand with the Jewish community," in her own statement.

The recent violence is the result of simmering tensions between the regions since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in 2007, said Tami Jacoby, a University of Manitoba professor who studies Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"It's been the same kind of back-and-forth in a cyclical motion of strikes and counter-strikes for over a decade," she said.

The conflict is in limbo, Jacoby added, since Hamas and Israel can't seem to find a middle ground.

"I hate to say it, but I'm pretty cynical right now that anything's going to change," she said. 

"There is no resolution on the horizon."

Jacoby said she hopes activists on both sides of the diaspora don't add fuel to the fire.

"All you're doing is escalating the hatred and the violence around this conflict, which does not help the vast majority," she said.

Ideally, other countries will step in to help put an end to the conflict, she added.