Perfectly said Benny, can’t disagree with a single word.
Just wanted to expand on this a little bit. Formal English plans for a Jewish state in the area were formed shortly after Sykes-Picot. They included the forced migration of Jews from Europe and the expulsion of some 500 000 Palestinians. The motivation for these plans was not grounded in a sense of justice (misplaced or mot) but rather through a solution to domestic problems caused by antisemtism at the time, or plain antisemtism from those politicians who designed those plans.
Those who fled antisemtic persecution in the 30s and 40s to Israel faced many legal difficulties, and were often deported shortly after arrival. As a result many, including many holocaust survivors, were forced to migrate illegally to Israel. It was a nasty, nasty time
I see the rockets as inevitable considering the geopolitical landscape. It’s the only vaguely impactful move that the Palestinians can take. With Iron Dome in place, the rocket strikes have been effectively neutered. I don’t support the violence, but there’s a bit of a vibe of “what did you expect was going to happen.”
Taking the high road when you have a massive military advantage over your geopolitical opponent means fighting with one hand behind your back. It means making difficult domestic political decisions regarding the settlements in Palestinian territory. It means actively pursuing a viable economic path for the Palestinian territories. Those are acts that come with danger in the short term, but if the current path continues there will be no end to this spiral.
Given that Israel has managed to make lasting peace with both Egypt and Jordan, maybe the Palestinians could stop shooting rockets…you know, show signs of wanting a peaceful outcome…and maybe then, Israel will be more interested in showing interest in pursuing a peaceful settlement.
Someone needs to make the move to allow peace to grow. One party has significant economic and military resources, the other is impoverished and backed into a corner militarily and politically.
Put blame to one side. Israel is the party here with the options and flexibility that is best equiped to lead this solution.
Israel was able to normalise relations with Bahrain and The UAE in 2020 which (along with prior deals with Egypt & Jordan) shows that they are willing to deal with Arab nations.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas rejected the accords as did Hamas.
I’m not sure that they want peace unless it’s on their terms (which includes Israel giving up East Jerusalem).
Is Hamas permanent or is it a response to the situation? There’s been more reasonable Palestinian governments historically. What does the landscape look like where moderates take back control? Can that scenario be fostered?
This is the right question. If every member Hamas were systematically eliminated tomorrow, another such organisation would take its place. Perhaps the ideology would be different but the violence would be a constant.
That’s not because Palestinians are genetically different, it’s because violence is the natural outcome to circumstances the Palestinians find themselves under. This is a constant outcome throughout history and across the world
Firstly I appreciate the more nuanced and less bullying nature of the discussion today.
Secondly I strongly believe that the situation that they find themselves in is more a result of their corrupt leadership who wish to perpetuate their suffering for political reasons than anything Israel have done.
The Arab Palestinians had an opportunity after the Oslo accords for a resolution and a better life and responded with a murderous spate of bus and cafe bombings that essentially was the reason Labor lost power to Netanyahu in 1996.
I don’t blame individual Palestinians, many of whom are indeed in a sorry state.
But they aren’t going to go away…and they don’t want to cede any land to Israel…they want to go back to pre 1967 borders…and that’s incredibly unlikely to happen.
How do you negotiate with people who are willing to strap explosives to naive young people and then send them off to kill others?
Can’t see Hamas being the solution. I see the Palestinian people being the solution, given hope and prospects that drive them to put forward a more moderate and accomodating political leadership.
Does any other path realistically end this, other than Palestinian prosperity?
With great difficulty and a lot of time. There’s no easy option here. Israel will still need to strike military targets, but hold themselves back much of the time and hit only when there’s zero collateral damage. Ground insertions are a terrible idea, they get out of control and cause massive push back.
The big thing is to provide economic opportunity. Currently Palestinians have one of the lowest incomes and weakest passport in the world. They are trapped with no hope. Find ways to bring economic activity to that population, increase their standard of living. Make Israel a source of economic prosperity instead of an opressor.
It’s clearly immensely difficult, but if something like that isn’t done then this is guaranteed to be a forever war.
Sounds easy, except they are surrounded by millions of Arab government and People who want them destroyed and fund terrorist groups like Hamas to achieve it.