So, I've done a lot of defending Israel, to the point I'm kind of uncomfortable only sharing that side of the story. It is no secret I think they're the better party of this conflict. But let's not dance around the issue, they're kind of crap too.
I admit, for much of Israel's history, I'm more supportive of them, and it's so for this reason. In 1948, both parties were offered 50% of the land roughly. Israel said yes, Palestine said no. A war broke out, Israel won. Took more land. Then the same thing happened in 1967. War broke out, Israel took ALL the land. It just gets worse than worse. I'm not INHERENTLY opposed to a Palestinian state, but when the cycle throughout history is one side tries to be fair and compromise, and the other says no, and tries to declare war or in recent decades, commit terrorism, and they end up losing, well, for me, that's just "you F-ed around, and you found out."
But...at the same time. I honestly am sympathetic to palestinian civilians. And ultimately, as these cycles of violence keep repeating themselves, it is them who suffer. And that...kinda sucks for them.
In an ideal world, I would be opposed with both factions doing their thing. I only side with israel because it seems like most of the blame is squarely on the palestinian faction for not being willing to negotiate.
But let's not let Israel get off easy here.
First of all, Israel keeps pushing their settlements. The hardliners in the LIKUD party are not innocent little angels, at the end of the say, they want a one state solution...under Israel. And they don't really hold up their end of the agreement either a lot of the time. If Palestinians are to live in peace, the settlements on their land need to stop, period. And Israel needs to leave them alone. That would help in deescalating tensions.
And honestly, I think through that whole cycle of violence earlier, even though it is the palestinians who often incite crap, the Israelis....take advantage of it. Every time war breaks out, they take more land, they expel and kill more palestinians, and in a sense, it really is a slow genocide. This isn't the same as the active genocide the palestinians want. If they had their way they would just barbarically murder every jew they came across. But look at what's happening now. Israel is emptying out gaza, encouraging civilians to move south. Then a military operation happens, tens of thousands of palestinians who couldnt evacuate would likely die, and those who did flee would have to make do with even LESS land. Will Israel give the land back? Eh, they might, if the international community makes them, but their goal is basically, to get the Palestinians out, and to colonize the land themselves.
Both sides ultimately WANT a one state solution with them in charge. And Israel does take advantage of these situations in which the world is sympathetic to make gains.
I honestly wouldnt be surprised of Netanyahu let the attacks happen just so he can do this. he knew about them, after all. I mean, sure, you can claim that much like Bush before 9/11, he just didnt take the warnings seriously, and things ended up blowing up on him in a bad way.
But again, Netanyahu and LIKUD are conniving. They know what they're doing and they have their own goals, and I do honestly think that the reason this situation got as bad as it did is because every time this cycle repeats itself, Israel does try to expel more palestinians, and even more die in the bombing campaigns they wage. And eventually, perhaps there will be none left.
So, let's face it, both sides are, in a sense, genocidal against each other. Palestine is more in your face with the "WE WANT TO MURDER YOU" aspect of it, and they're more barbaric and cruel. But Israel will take advantage of Hama's extremism and stupidity to make their own political gains in their retaliation, and that slowly forces the Palestinians out like a bad boss trying to make their employees so miserable that they quit without being fired.
And that's what's happening now.
Now, I do support Israel's right to defend themselves. I ultimately, in an ideal world, believe both factions need to come to the table and agree to leave the other alone. Both have a right to live. And rather than a two state solution, I think Palestine should quite frankly be assimilated into Israel, and Israel should move from being just a Jewish state that seems to mistreat and systematically deny minorities their rights, to being a secular constitutional republic in the image of the US where they tend to guarantee the rights of all, and allow them to practice the religions they want. This area has a strong tradition for all 3 Abrahamic faiths, and they should ultimately respect the rights and practices of all 3. Rather than this being about Jewish nationalism or Palestinian nationalism, because let's face it, this kinda reminds me of the whole ethnostate thing that some weirdo white nationalists wanna do, they need to learn tolerance and to get along with each other.
Just dividing up the land isn't gonna work. We tried it, we keep trying a two state solution and variations of it where palestinians have their own places to live. But they are entirely dependent on the israelis for their survival due to the logistics of running a "state" like this, and honestly, the reason we got these "open air prisons" is because of the insanity of trying to give them their own state where a state is not really the answer.
I'm gonna keep saying it, with the borders, both current, and historical, a two state solution between Israel and Palestine WILL NOT WORK. And this cycle of violence will just continue if we try. Because the palestinians will want it all and be actively genocidal toward the israelis, and the israelis who feel entitled to the land will keep doing their settlement crap and brutal retaliatory strikes toward palestine.
The only way this crap is EVER going to fix itself is if the israelis are willing to assimilate the palestinians under fair terms and have some sort of joint state that values everyone's rights, and the palestinians are actually willing to accept those terms. As long as the palestinians insist on genociding israelis and committing terrorism, violence will happen, and when violence happens, the far right parties will just kill and expel more palestinians from the land and make their claims smaller and smaller. This is not a solution. THis conflict will not end this way until one side genocides the other (either by killing or expelling all palestinians from the land), and the way things are going, israel will win. And while israel is the lesser evil faction, that solution is still a "slow genocide" in my eyes, and it still sucks.
Israel is NOT innocent. I might defend them as the lesser evil, because let's face it, they are, when the alternative is a bunch of murderous psychopaths, but at the same time, their strategy is a slow genocide we don't really call a genocide and it's crappy both ways.
I really don't see a solution though, as long as both sides are as polarized as they are. And ultimately, ending the cycle means moderating the palestinians first. You do that, then the palestinians can argue for their rights more effectively, and it may politically pressure the Israelis into taking them seriously and treating them decently. But as long as Hamas is in charge, or someone like Hamas, the world is gonna be more sympathetic of Israel, and rightfully so, because who wants to defend the psychos who murder concert goers and behead babies? NO ONE. Except for leftist weirdos and palestinian nationalists. But the vast majority will be sympathetic to israel. And the palestinians will keep sabotaging their own cause.
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