Why can’t the Israelis and Palestinians just live in peace?!!

Because most of the Middle East politically want to annihilate Israel, and religiously extremist Muslims want to kill every Jew in the world. Don’t underestimate the Jew hatred embedded in Islamic culture.

Because most of the Middle East politically want to annihilate Israel, and religiously extremist Muslims want to kill every Jew in the world. Don’t underestimate the Jew hatred embedded in Islamic culture.

I remember once hearing a talk given by a diplomat and he said it is a well-recognised problem reaching a negotiated peace in a conflict where one side is much stronger than the other - the reason being,
the weak side won't compromise because it can't afford to
and the strong side won't compromise because it doesn't have to

I know the feeling op

When I was 10 I had this sentiment and thought the adults would eventually come to their senses and just get over themselves.

But they don't! And they haven't!

Look, even if Palestinians & Israelis got to place where they were no longer a risk to one another which is possible if Ireland is anything to go by, from the Israeli perspective, their Jewish culture would be eventually 'bred out' by the sheer differences in numbers. They, like many other western nations are steeped in fear about race/culture 'eradication' & see it as an existential threat hence all the 'resistance' to peace.

Th naïveté here is the expectation that they can stop the tide coming in. They might be able to slow it down somewhat but the idea that race mixing & by extension cultural progression can be stopped is ludicrous not only because its impossible given the worlds overwhelming demographics but economic suicide to try.

IE, you are not the naive one, ethno nationalists are..

I’m not sure it is. People have used religion as an excuse going back to the crusades (and probably before then, too). But really, it’s to do with land grabs and asset stripping, isn’t it? Whoever has the most land and the most assets has the most power. Religion is just the excuse they use to take what they want.

Radical Islam and anti-semitism.

Because the top and bottom of it is that the powerful on both sides want the whole of the land. They don't want to have only part of it. They want it all and to drive out the ordinary residents who are not 'of them'.Therefore they will continue to fight.

We have a ceasefire now. It may continue for six months, a year, five years. But it won't last. One side will decide that it's time to claim the other's land and it will all start up again.

Why don’t you open the doors to your home for a year. Advertise widely that people can come and go as they please. If it works you can make your case for open borders. Maybe it will be the start a new utopia.

Have you heard of Northern Ireland?

Hamas has created a culture of hate and indoctrination, such that the people there do not want peace. Their charter calls for the death of all Jews worldwide.

There is a peace deal in process, but for there to be lasting peace, Gaza needs to be freed from Hamas, and a programme of deradicalisation for the population of Gaza.

No one who lives there wants a one state solution, so that's not a great option. Well , that's not true. Hamas and also the "peaceful" marchers earlier today do want a one state solution, just one without any Jews present. "From the river to the sea" and all that. https://www.instagram.com/p/DPrLaHijPH8/?img_index=1&igsh=MXZwNTBlNmN2OHN2cg==

A peaceful two state solution would be great though. It will hopefully happen, but I doubt it. The whole world is too right-wing extremist at the moment for any kind of tolerance of 'others'.

Because war has never been about achieving peace...

The upper, dominant group with authority on both sides rage war to either gain material wealth, a plot of land, or power - or all the three.

It's not about the poor civilians on either side who just want to go about their day and live.

Tim Minchin asked the same question, and tried to answer it through the medium of song:

BBC 3, Apr 16, 2007

At each others what’s??

From the River to the Sea
Live in Peace and Amity

i wish …

Exactly that.

What the fuck is wrong with you?

Or to get into the weeds of it, using religion as a beard in order to justify the use of relentless shock tactics on and occupation of a vulnerable population (usually residing on a resource rich, real estate goldmine the oppressor wants).

Where there’s a passionate desire for peace and a willingness to compromise, it can happen.

Israel has just dropped 200,000 tons of bombs on Gaza. There will be no peace any time soon, certainly not in our lifetimes.

We managed it in the UK - we were at each other's phroats as Catholics and Protestants for many years back in Henry VIII days and after and yet these days we would hardly know who is or in the past their family was Catholic or Protestant in England. We mixed and it became a none issue.

Anyway I hope Israel (our friend) can achieve the peace it deserves and Hamas can be vanquished.

There can’t be real peace without equality.
But answering this

So why can’t they all just lay down the weapons and live together, in harmony? Open the borders and live as one, forging a brighter future for their kids?
why don’t we do this here?