Staff photo / Daniel Newman ... Ray Nakley, Raed Khatib, Mousa Kassis, Ramsey Ahmed and Arab American Community Center President Suhad Hadi, standing, address the recent outbreak of war in Israel and Gaza.

LIBERTY — The Arab American Community Center of Youngstown hosted a forum Wednesday night to address the history surrounding the ongoing, generational Israeli-Palestinian conflict and recent aggressions.

Four panelists and host, AACC President Suhad Hadi, presented a compilation of information and historical context during the “Palestinian Response to Israeli Aggression” forum before opening the event for questions and comments.

“The loss of innocent lives is always tragic and never condoned,” Hadi said. “We mourn the losses on both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli War that’s taking place today. The recent state of affairs in Palestine have left many wondering what sparked an ‘unprecedented attack? For Palestinians there is a long, historical perspective that seems to be unheard, or in some instances, neglected, when questions ensue in an effort to find an answer.”

Hadi mentioned the tragic and catastrophic events of death as “all too familiar” to Palestinians. She continued, “Sadly, these deaths are often casualties of war, but have also resulted from psycho-social factors and the restrictive conditions of being victims of military occupation.”

The Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip and West Bank portions of the well-known “Holy Land,” bordering the Mediterranean Sea, was described by many at the forum as the sites of the deepest form of terrorism.

Raed Khatib, one of the panelists and member of AACC, detailed some of the history of the conflict before other panelists spoke deeper into the topic, and offered answers.

“Gaza is about 140 square miles of land, and it’s not really a vast amount of space for people to move around,” Khatib said.

Khatib said the conflict goes back further than most people seem to think about, explaining points in time where the land was pushed to and away from Palestinian inhabitants. With about 2.5 million people living in Gaza, Khatib said, “they can not move freely, they can not leave, they can not come back.”

Panelists Mousa Kassis, Ray Nakley and Ramsey Ahmed also talked about the history of the conflict, discussing the outcome of the Holocaust and the United Nations’ decisions of plotting, and assigning Palestinian land.

Students for Justice for Palestine members Tala Alsharif, Batool Alkarairi, Aleen Kanan, Naji Sibai and Maysa Smith spoke about their newfound efforts to collaborate and speak for Palestine on Youngstown State University’s campus.

“Our organization was created to inform the community about the Palestinian issue,” Alsharif, president of the group, said. “We also want to raise awareness about the struggle that Palestinians have gone through, on a daily basis, for the past 75 years. I think we need this organization now more than ever. We encourage students of all backgrounds to come together to broaden the understanding.”