Do You See the Conflict in the Middle East as a Religious War or a Land Grab?

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And let's not forget this little nuance...



You're perfectly aware that not only did Hamas win control of Gaza by murdering Fatah members but half of Palestinians are under 18 and couldn't have voted in 2006.

And Israel have been defending themselves against that for years with the iron dome. Nobody has a problem with Israel defending themselves. Of course they should. The problem arises when you announce that you are going to 'eliminate everything' and then set about doing so.

Israel have also been land grabbing for years and killing Palestinians in the process and Palestinians don't have a way to defend themselves. That really needs to be fixed. Both 'sides' should be allowed to defend themselves in legitimate ways.

Anything else be it terrorism or 'eliminating everything' needs to be loudly condemned and the perpetrators brought to justice.

Territorial expansion under the cloak of religion. The Israelis are already planning what they are going to do with the land in Northern Gaza, once they have cleansed it of Palestinians.

”Ifs” are imaginary hypotheticals not reality. Can we just stick to this reality and not go off into some multi-verse rabbit hole?

@Oodiks who has done most of the killing In the last year? Hezbollah, Hamas or the IDF?

It was superseded in 2017.
As with any formal document, you don’t repudiate an earlier version, you just issue a new one and it supersedes the old.

Only Jews are disbelieved about their fears of obliteration
Nonsense.

Well said, and to add that if they had turned most of Israel into rubble and repeatedly bombed hundreds of schools and hospitals, placed hundreds of thousands under siege and withheld life saving aid. I think alot of people would be fixated on that.

Only Jews are disbelieved about their fears of obliteration, despite the historical record.

I don't think anyone doubts that Israelis feel that way. I think a lot of people recognise that there is only one set of people actually being 'obliterated' though and they don't really think that fear of 'obliteration' is reason enough to, as the Israeli defence minister said of Israels plans, 'eliminate everything' in Gaza.

In the same vein I don't think anyone would agree that Palestinians fear of their occupiers means that they should get a free pass to 'eliminate everything' in Israel. If Palestinians killed close to 200,000 Israelis(adjusted for Israeli population vs Gaza) in a year, most of them women and children, I think lots of people would be 'fixated' on that too.

Yes of course I knew that. Sorry, not sure what I was thinking when I posted!

The conflict, like any conflict, is complicated. The history of the Middle East is the most complex of anywhere on earth.

But if there is a unifying concept to Israeli action it’s a well-founded concern for the very existence of the homeland and its people.

Only Jews are disbelieved about their fears of obliteration, despite the historical record. Only Israel is fixated on by protestors in this country and elsewhere who want to challenge its actions. We all know why those attitudes persist.

I'm not sure it matters when Israels withdrawal of settlers from Gaza(it is important to mention that Gaza has remained under Israeli military occupation) happened in one of the very few years in decades that Israelis didn't choose Netanyahu as their prime minister. In fact wasn't Netanyahu so against it that he resigned from his position as finance minister? So has Netanyahu wanted Gaza to be settled by Israelis all along and is now just seizing his moment?

It disengaged, it never withdrew, Gaza has been occupied by Israel since 1967.

Why is it now demolishing as much as possible and hosting conventions on making Palestinians migrate to “other countries” and making plans to settle Gaza? Why are some companies in the US already holding real estate events to “sell” Palestinian land in West Bank and Gaza to American Jews so they can emigrate?

A land grab. I recommend reading ‘My Promised Land’ by the Israeli journalist, Ari Shavit. He describes the development of Israel and how, from the beginning, there were some zionists who thought they would need to fight the Arabs for the land. During the 1930s, they trained so that when the time came - and the UN plan gave the opportunity - they had a well trained guerilla force ready to attack Palestinian villages and cities to drive them out and claim the land.

From the beginning, Israel has consistently used attacks as an opportunity to expand.

Shavit also describes the different experience of the jews from Europe and the Middle East. While Israel was created as a refuge from European antisemitism, Middle Eastern jewish populations had experienced ‘tranquility’ before the creation of Israel.

So yes, a land grab.