The Exponent - Purdue's Student Newspaper

"It's not really easy to see so many children getting killed and nobody in the world is saying this is wrong," said Mohamed Saadi, a junior in the College of Technology. "So far, 760 people got killed in 14 days; 360 of them are just children and more than 150 of them are just women."

For Philip Schlossberg, director of Purdue's Hillel Chapter, any loss of life affects him.

"My friends and family (who live in the region), I worry about them on a daily basis," he said.

Although there have been bombings and deaths in Gaza for both sides, it hasn't extended to the rest of the region.

"The mood in the country Ð if you're not near Gaza, you don't feel it; there is no sense of impending danger," said Schlossberg, who recently returned from Israel with 13 Purdue students.

Schlossberg does not think the turmoil in the region will disrupt students' desire to visit the region in the future.

"One cannot live under the threat of rocket fire every day," he said. "There was no concern about going; I can't say the same for their parents. It was very comfortable and secure."

To Saadi, the issues going on in the Middle East is feeding the negative image associated with Arabs and Muslims in the U.S.

"It's hard for an Arab and Muslim to live here in the U.S., especially with what's going on," he said.

Both Saadi and Schlossberg hope for the war to end soon and for Palestine to become an independent state in order for a peace process to take place.

"My hope is that Israel can do anything she can to dismantle Hamas and let the Palestinians work for a free democratic government," Schlossberg said.