So I decided to watch several youtube videos discussing the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict in order to better inform myself, since I didn't want my pro israel take to come out of ignorance, but out of facts. So I watched some vids to reorient myself on it. And...this is how I generally feel about it.
Balfour declaration/British Rule (1923-1947)
Man the Brits REALLY F-ed everything up. Much like with a lot of their post colonial legacy in general, they ended up just promising stuff to everyone, and then ended up creating situations leading to massive ethnic conflicts that spanned the decades post WWII. And yes, this is primarily an ethnic, not a religious conflict. Both Palestine and Israel wanted a nation state, and both were promised it. And while it looked like for a while the British were just stringing people along while keeping hold of the land, between WWII, and them wanting to be done with their former colonial holdings and the holocaust, they eventually decided to make both Israel and Palestine's dreams come true...by handing it off to the UN.
UN mandate and the first Arab-Israeli War (1948)
So the UN decided to draw some borders. And they were all jigsaw, they made little sense, but I guess they were based on the areas where the factions lived, I guess? I mean, this is why I don't think the two state solution is realistic. If it were split cleanly, with one faction living in the north and another in the south, that's one thing, but wtf is this clusterfudge?
Anyway, the Israelis accepted and the Palestinians rejected it. While one video mentioned that while the land was split evenly between the two factions given the Palestinian faction was larger, I guess it made sense to reject it. This led to a war where several Arab states in solidarity with Palestine attacked....
...and Israeli kicked their butts. And they took even MORE land for themselves.
And then there was the six day war...
Six Day War (1967)
Yeah so a bunch of Arab nations sympathetic to Palestine ended up just ganging up on Israel, and Israel beat them all in 6 days. And took over the entire country. And the Sinai peninsula and the Golan Heights in Lebanon. And...they won. Outright. Full stop. I would say at this point, regardless of how you feel things should've went, the war kind of settled it. Israel has a right to exist. Not only do they keep defending themselves but they keep taking more land every time they were attacked. And then they basically forced the Palestinians into Gaza, the West Bank, and out of the country.
The PLO, the first intifada, and the Oslo accords (1967-1993)
But Palestine wouldn't give up and with the help of their Arab allies in neighboring countries, started committing acts of terrorism in the region. And eventually Israel agreed to cede Gaza and the West Bank back to Palestine. And in 1979 Israel gave Sinai back to Egypt in order to make peace with them. But then Israeli settlers kept settling in gaza and the west bank, illegally mind you, and that kept pissing off the Palestinians, causing them to engage in more terrorism and armed conflict.
This eventually led to the Oslo Accords in which the boundaries were set between Israel and Palestine. But of course illegal settling continued.
The Modern Era (1993-present)
And things just never really settled down. Terrorism continued on the Palestinian side, settlements continued on the Israeli side.
Eventually Hamas formed and broke off from the PLO. This led to a civil war between it and Fatah, the more moderate faction, and Hamas won. This led to Israel to crack down on Palestine more, especially in Gaza where they were headquartered.
Eventually the two sides formed a unity government. And fighting continued. Things eventually quieted down in 2021, but it's been a powder keg waiting for things to kick up again, and now Hamas basically committed a literal 9/11 level act of terror, and Israel is responding.
My opinion on all of this
Honestly, I'm going to be honest, there's blame to be held on all sides on an objective, historical level. The British horribly mismanaged the crisis. The UN seemed like they tried to be fair, albeit tone deaf, and Arab nations kept trying to gang up on Israel. But every time they did, Israel kept winning, and eventually took over the whole country and then some.
As far as the original 1948 deal, it wasnt perfect, but it wasn't terrible. You could argue Palestine should've had a bit more land but other than that, I think it was a fair solution overall. And Israel accepted it...and Palestine didn't. And rather than resolve it peacefully, the Arab nations went to war. And lost.
And honestly? That kind of settled that. But then the Arab nations tried again. And Israel won. Again. They won so hard in my mind, i think it just completely decimated any claim Palestine had to the region. Nope, they lost a war, full stop. They F-ed around and found out. And they ceded their claims.
But for some reason, the Palestinians kept committing terrorism, and I feel like the international community tried to keep brokering peace deals. So eventually Israel was like okay, we'll give Palestine some land, and it should've ended there. But then Israel kept pushing their settlements, which was scummy, and Palestine kept committing terrorism.
And then Hamas formed, and honestly, I think Hamas is...a huge issue. I mean, I'm not really sure how sympathetic I feel for the Palestinians at this point, it seems like this whole time they won't accept reality that Israel has a right to live there, and they keep fighting them despite it being futile and despite them winning several wars already. I admit, Israel isn't perfect, but it really does seem to me like Palestine won't just accept reality that they lost, badly, and they need to make the best of the situation. They'd make more progressive being peaceful and framing the issue as Israel is bad and the bully and the aggressor, but they just won't do that. And they keep committing terrorist acts, and now Hamas is in the picture, they're radical, and genocidal, and yeah. Now they basically committed Israeli 9/11.
What happens next isn't going to be good for Palestine. I see a lot of leftists moralizing about how a lot of Palestinian civilians are gonna die, and while that's regrettable....honestly, it seems like the Palestinians need a reality check. This has NEVER gone well for them. I feel like Israel has largely always been the reasonable ones, and they've always been the one holding all of the cards because whenever war breaks out Israel ends up clearing house and coming out even stronger than before, and most progress the Palestinians made seems to have come from israeli generosity, and from them coming to the bargaining table. And it seems like every time a deal is struck, the terrorism continues, and you got these radical factions that just won't accept that Israel has a right to exist, and the cycle continues.
I hate this conflict. it's a hot mess. But generally...I support Israel. As far as I'm concerned, this was settled in 67. Israel won. Get over it. And just accept the fricking deals. Sure, protest the settlements, the settlements are wrong, and Israel isn't being honest and sticking to their own terms there. But it seems like the Palestinians keep creating problems and a lot of them are just...delusional with their demands, and monstrous with their methods, and it's like...yeah no. This crap isn't gonna fly.
I have no doubt that's about to happen is gonna be really really bad for the Palestinians. And if history says anything, eventually the conflict will end, tens of thousands will die, some other deal is hammered out. And then the Palestinians keep committed terrorism and Israel keeps building settlements and then it's gonna blow up again in another couple decades.
Honestly...Israel needs to lay off the settlements but otherwise I largely sympathize with them. And again, Palestine...they need a reality check. If they keep F-ing around, they're just gonna keep finding out, and it's not gonna go well for them. Honestly, they need to learn to just accept whatever deals they get and stop trying to get rid of all Israelis in the area. It aint gonna happen.
I don't even really sympathize much with the palestinian position at this point other than the sheer loss of human life that occurs whenever they push Israel too far where they start bombing crap. I mean, the Palestinians deserve better than Hamas. But as long as Hamas is representing them, well...the same old crap is gonna keep happening.
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