"I struggle to see how you can’t understand why a population that has been violently subjugated for 76 years would turn to a violent party to achieve their goals when the peaceful parties were being destabilised and ignored."
The turning point in the history in the Middle East was the year 1929, in particular the Hebron Massacre. That was Arabs murdering Jewish people based on nothing more than rumour at the time. The Jews murdered in Hebron were Sephardi Jews who didn't support Zionism. But that made no difference to the Arabs who murdered them.
That year was the turning point because "Across Palestine the events of 1929 led to increased physical separation between Jewish and Arab communities. After 1929, Jews who had not been Zionists increasingly looked to the Zionist leadership in Palestine for protection. Increased separation strengthened support for Zionist ideology and leadership and made for a more unified Jewish community."
And:
"The events of 1929 did not only act as a stimulus to the development of the Yishuv; they also had a major impact on the development of Palestinian nationalism....Anti-British and anti-Zionist agitation became more and more militant, with some calling for armed resistance."
Source: "Palestinians And Israelis" by Michael Scott-Bauman
So, it's not accurate to suggest Palestinians were always the oppressed or underdog in the conflict!
The irony is their actions in 1929 not only sped up, but made partition of Palestine increasingly inevitable. This would lead to both Jewish and Arab-Palestinian peoples smuggling in weapons to the British Mandate of Palestine. The first armed insurrection was conducted by Izz ad-Din al-Qassam in November 1935. He later became a kind of hero for the PLO in the 1960s so a terrorist.
History tells us Arab leaders rejected all the British proposals as well as the 1947 UN Partition Plan. Indeed, every single deal ever tabled since. In 2011, Mahmoud Abbas admitted that Arabs were WRONG to reject the UN Partition Plan!
And you blatantly ignored the periods of time in the last 76 years when Egypt ruled Gaza and Jordan ruled West Bank! 🤦♂️
Problem is, if you keep on rejecting every deal ever tabled you end up leaving yourself with one option - violence/terrorism. US President Bill Clinton said he got Yasser Arafat 97% of PLO demands, but Arafat still rejected it. Exploding in anger, Clinton told him he was "leading your people and the region to catastrophe".
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman in 2018 told the Palestinians they have to accept a deal or shut up.
Hamas knew that Israel was succeeding with normalisation of relations with Arab States such as Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia with US help. They started war on 7th October 2023 to deliberately destroy the peace process!
You see, Palestinians have been failed by their own leaders for 70 odd years and those leaders have deliberately led their people up the one way garden path to an end result in which their monuments is dead bodies and Palestinians in prison.
"While I disagree with what Hamas did, you can’t be confused as to why some Palestinians would support it?"
Some!?
Let's not downplay it as over 70% of Palestinians support Hamas' actions on 7th October 2023.
And they are wrong to do so.
The MINORITY Palestinians who do not support Hamas are absolutely in the right, especially since they can see that Hamas' actions only hurt Palestinians and their own cause.
I assure you I'm not confused one whit.
"Israel broke the ceasefire too..."
Incorrect. Hamas broke the ceasefire that had been in place since Summer 2023 on 7th October 2023.
Israel retaliating to that does NOT mean they broke the ceasefire! 🤦♂️
"Quite telling how you say I should ‘leave it to the experts’ when you yourself are making judgements too."
That's not what I actually said. However, I and my family DO have real life experience of terrorist organisations, how they work, what they do, how they think, etc. It's how we stayed alive whilst going in and out of "their" areas.
I advised you to listen and learn from people who know what they're talking about. No mention of experts of whom I read a fair amount in the field of terrorism, security and counter-terrorism.
"Of course other opinions are valid, what I’m saying is that just because Western institutions do not declare their own countries and allies as terrorists does not mean their actions cannot be classed as terrorism. "
My point is your argument is based on mere opinion and nothing else. You certainly don't have indepth knowledge of terrorism, security and counter-terrorism.
So, I easily dealt with it by turning your opinion back onto you and added detail such as the view of Sovereign States, EU Court, various courts and other instruments of law. Whataboutery is another one.
Finally, all opinions are NOT equal. That's why posts that can be interpreted as support for terrorist groups or explicitly expressing support for them are deleted by Mumsnet in accordance with the law. People who make such posts also run the risk of attracting attention from the authorities. It does happen.