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Conflict in the Middle East

Hamas don’t want peace

588 replies

Icanthinkformyselfthanks · 06/11/2024 10:19

A two day ceasefire was offered to them in return for four hostages but they declined. Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said Hamas “once again refused to release even a limited number of hostages to secure a ceasefire and relief for the people of Gaza”.
Isreal has now offered a million dollars for each hostage and safe passage out of Gaza for their captors. Hamas have yet to respond.

OP posts:
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10
Feelingathomenow · 13/11/2024 12:12

myearthisflat · 13/11/2024 11:21

What is your suggestion for peace? What can stop Israel from killing more children and starving ALL Palestinians in Gaza?
Or, do you mean 'once your understand all the millenial trauma you'll support the extermination of Palestinians'?
I honestly don't understand why there are preconditions for stopping the genocide and ethnic cleansing.
For me, the death of children is enough reason to do all to stop the conflict and talk. For you that's not enough. I've run out of arguments. You win.

And what do you think will happen to Israel if they just stop? What will happen to all the Israelis who are there. Do you think they will be allowed to live freely in their homeland without any threats to them? Or will they be wiped out by invaders crying “from the river to the sea”?

Feelingathomenow · 13/11/2024 12:19

Daftasabroom · 13/11/2024 11:12

@Feelingathomenow

Well Israel existed a very long time before the Holocaust.

But not consistently, particularly not since the Roman period.

I would ask you, without the constant persecution and exile of Jews and the passive acceptance of anti semester throughout millennia do you think the Holocaust would have happened?

Good question. I personally doubt it. I don't think the Holocaust was because of historic antisemitism, it was part of it and not a separate thing.

Without reinstating the Jewish Homeland what do you think would continue to happen to the Jewish people

All the evidence would show that they would have become as integrated and valued as any other previously persecuted minority. Antisemitism obviously still exists as does homophobia, Islamophobia, racism etc. I don't see any reason to suggest that it is only the creation of Israel that has prevented another Holocaust.

(clue history has a habit of repeating itself)

You must be talking about the genocide and ethnic cleansing meted on the Palestinians by Israel?

Well why wasn’t Israel there consistently- was it because of the persecution and continued exile the Jews?

I agree and I don’t think the holocaust would have happened without the ongoing persecution of the Jews - many people stupidly think it’s almost ok - quite often people who rally against racism, sexism and Islamophobia. It’s become almost normalised throughout most of history that people d don’t even seem to realise what they’re doing. But Jews have been exiled and mistreated in every country they have tried to settle in. Having their homeland is supposed to give them a sanctuary from the persecution they have faced for millennia.

wjat evidence have you got they would have become integrated?

myearthisflat · 13/11/2024 12:38

Feelingathomenow · 13/11/2024 12:09

You see, what you’re doing is confusing Netanyahu with Israel (a common theme here). Tbh the who world has let down Israel and continues to do so. We should have really stepped up earlier so Israel didn’t need to try and rely on one set of terrorists and Gaza to keep the other regional terrorists at bay. It’s a precarious position for Israel surrounded by people who want to annihilate you. I’m not saying mistakes haven’t been made in dealing with the threat to Israel. Hamas and the othe terrorists threatening Israel should have been wiped out years ago.

So, Palestinians should be 'held accountable' for voting for Hamas under occupation, but the 'only democracy in the ME' is not really accountable for its elections?

myearthisflat · 13/11/2024 12:40

Feelingathomenow · 13/11/2024 12:12

And what do you think will happen to Israel if they just stop? What will happen to all the Israelis who are there. Do you think they will be allowed to live freely in their homeland without any threats to them? Or will they be wiped out by invaders crying “from the river to the sea”?

By invaders you mean the largest cohort of child amputees?
Or, do you believe the US supports Israel only on the condition of continued genocide?

Scirocco · 13/11/2024 12:56

Feelingathomenow · 13/11/2024 12:09

You see, what you’re doing is confusing Netanyahu with Israel (a common theme here). Tbh the who world has let down Israel and continues to do so. We should have really stepped up earlier so Israel didn’t need to try and rely on one set of terrorists and Gaza to keep the other regional terrorists at bay. It’s a precarious position for Israel surrounded by people who want to annihilate you. I’m not saying mistakes haven’t been made in dealing with the threat to Israel. Hamas and the othe terrorists threatening Israel should have been wiped out years ago.

I'm not confusing Netanyahu with Israel. I'm pointing out that he was in charge of the government and that was his opinion on supporting Hamas. His government has held a strongly anti-Palestinian position throughout, been committed to expansionist policies and the prevention of a two state solution, and sought to continue occupation and annexation. Hamas was useful to them, until it wasn't anymore. While Hamas was still useful to them, they weren't going to help people opposed to Hamas.

Scirocco · 13/11/2024 13:02

Feelingathomenow · 13/11/2024 12:12

And what do you think will happen to Israel if they just stop? What will happen to all the Israelis who are there. Do you think they will be allowed to live freely in their homeland without any threats to them? Or will they be wiped out by invaders crying “from the river to the sea”?

The point of a peace process is to reach a point where people can live in peace. Part of that process involves addressing and mitigating security risks for everyone. Nobody - not Israelis, not Palestinians, nobody - should be invading or occupying other people's territory, nor should they be seeking to 'wipe out' everyone else 'from the river to the sea' (a phrase also used by Likud, the IDF and the far right in Israel).

Usernamesareboring1 · 13/11/2024 14:51

Feelingathomenow · 13/11/2024 10:59

Again I would point you to history. Look at the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah - particularly the Great Split, regarding the placement of the territories.

No one is saying that children dying isn’t a terrible thing, people starving in eats is a terrible thing, but just going on and on about how terrible Israel is, isn’t going to stop that, they have enough experience of that happening to them that they want to also protect themselves. In fact I think the rampant narrative of poor Palestine, evil Israel is uneducated and will prevent peace. If you want peace, the only thing that will stop those children dying and people starving is to also understand the perspective of Israel. At the moment all the Palestinian waving protestors are having the opposite effect. I pressure you would like to stop this, but I know plenty of ME nations would like nothing better than people to keep fanning those flames, they are after the annihilation of Israel.

The 44% of victims in this "war" are children, most between the ages of 5-9. How exactly are they in any way at all accountable for Hamas where the last election was in 2006?!
If you want peace, the only thing that will stop those children dying and people starving is to also understand the perspective of Israel.
Agree with the people killing you that you deserve to be killed and they'll stop killing you is no way to create peace. Peace relys on listening and accomodating both sides perspectives.

Feelingathomenow · 13/11/2024 14:52

myearthisflat · 13/11/2024 12:38

So, Palestinians should be 'held accountable' for voting for Hamas under occupation, but the 'only democracy in the ME' is not really accountable for its elections?

Well, I agree that hopefully Israel will vote for someone else. So you agree that Palestinians should be held accountable for Hamas?

Feelingathomenow · 13/11/2024 14:55

Usernamesareboring1 · 13/11/2024 14:51

The 44% of victims in this "war" are children, most between the ages of 5-9. How exactly are they in any way at all accountable for Hamas where the last election was in 2006?!
If you want peace, the only thing that will stop those children dying and people starving is to also understand the perspective of Israel.
Agree with the people killing you that you deserve to be killed and they'll stop killing you is no way to create peace. Peace relys on listening and accomodating both sides perspectives.

What you are doing here though is conflating individual victims of war and the state.

Unfortunately, just like their supporters, the people who hold the cards in Gaza have no intention of listening or compromising - From the River to the sea remember

Feelingathomenow · 13/11/2024 14:58

Scirocco · 13/11/2024 13:02

The point of a peace process is to reach a point where people can live in peace. Part of that process involves addressing and mitigating security risks for everyone. Nobody - not Israelis, not Palestinians, nobody - should be invading or occupying other people's territory, nor should they be seeking to 'wipe out' everyone else 'from the river to the sea' (a phrase also used by Likud, the IDF and the far right in Israel).

Very nice in theory… now back to reality. Imagine - you could almost write a song!

So in the real world what’s going to happen?

Feelingathomenow · 13/11/2024 15:00

Scirocco · 13/11/2024 12:56

I'm not confusing Netanyahu with Israel. I'm pointing out that he was in charge of the government and that was his opinion on supporting Hamas. His government has held a strongly anti-Palestinian position throughout, been committed to expansionist policies and the prevention of a two state solution, and sought to continue occupation and annexation. Hamas was useful to them, until it wasn't anymore. While Hamas was still useful to them, they weren't going to help people opposed to Hamas.

I guess why were Hamas useful? Who was creating the problem where Netanyahu needed Hamas to be useful?

Usernamesareboring1 · 13/11/2024 15:10

Feelingathomenow · 13/11/2024 14:55

What you are doing here though is conflating individual victims of war and the state.

Unfortunately, just like their supporters, the people who hold the cards in Gaza have no intention of listening or compromising - From the River to the sea remember

No you who are conflating individual victims with the state by basically dismissing the criminality of their deaths by saying "well there's a legitimate war aim against the state" and when people are trying to talk about the war crimes by saying "The Palestinians need to be accountable" . If you don't want to conflate the innocent victims with the state then it's perfectly possible to accept the reality that Israel are committing a genocide against Palestinian civilians and that that their are legitimate reasons for Israel want to destroy Hamas. They're not mutually exclusive unless you refuse to accept that the Israeli government or IDF can possible do anything wrong.
44% is not a minority that you can sweep away as collateral damage.

Feelingathomenow · 13/11/2024 15:12

myearthisflat · 13/11/2024 12:40

By invaders you mean the largest cohort of child amputees?
Or, do you believe the US supports Israel only on the condition of continued genocide?

I can see where your username comes from🤦‍♀️

SinnerBoy · 13/11/2024 15:16

Scirocco · Today 09:42

The occupation and oppression of Palestine did not mean the actions of Hamas and other terrorists were justified. The trauma experienced by Israel did not mean the actions of the Israeli government, IDF and extremists were justified. In both cases, other options existed and people chose these actions. Those people did not and do not lack responsibility for their actions, and they should be held accountable within the established frameworks for doing so.

How very well put.

To those talking about Gazans being responsible for Hamas, do you not know that they were supported, even financially, by Israel?

Or that the last election was in 2004 and to avoid another one, Hamas liquidated the opposition? That they are a brutal dictatorship and democracy has no bearing on the situation?

Usernamesareboring1 · 13/11/2024 15:18

Feelingathomenow · 13/11/2024 15:00

I guess why were Hamas useful? Who was creating the problem where Netanyahu needed Hamas to be useful?

Becauae the alternative was "peace offensives" which would put too much diplomatic pressure on Israel to compromise and agree peace since their negotiating partner was willing to compromise..much easier to continue an occupation and ethnic cleansing when your opponent is as violent as you are.

Feelingathomenow · 13/11/2024 15:18

Interesting how 70% of votes agree that Hamas doesn’t want peace, yet there are a few posters here who will respond day and night with the same old trope - it appears that there’s only one or two individuals who are actually forming any kind of coherent arguments. I mean, I don’t agree with the perspective of @Daftasabroom bit at least they are actually discussing and formulating arguments

Feelingathomenow · 13/11/2024 15:20

Usernamesareboring1 · 13/11/2024 15:18

Becauae the alternative was "peace offensives" which would put too much diplomatic pressure on Israel to compromise and agree peace since their negotiating partner was willing to compromise..much easier to continue an occupation and ethnic cleansing when your opponent is as violent as you are.

And what “compromises” were expected of Israel? You don’t think it was anything to do with trying to stop Israel being attacked from all sides?

Usernamesareboring1 · 13/11/2024 15:21

Feelingathomenow · 13/11/2024 15:20

And what “compromises” were expected of Israel? You don’t think it was anything to do with trying to stop Israel being attacked from all sides?

To accept a Palestinian state. You're lecturing everyone on 3000 years of history so surely you should know that?

Feelingathomenow · 13/11/2024 15:25

Usernamesareboring1 · 13/11/2024 15:21

To accept a Palestinian state. You're lecturing everyone on 3000 years of history so surely you should know that?

And what would that state look like? How could it be guaranteed they would not be a threat to Israel?

Usernamesareboring1 · 13/11/2024 15:36

Feelingathomenow · 13/11/2024 15:25

And what would that state look like? How could it be guaranteed they would not be a threat to Israel?

Well isn't the question how do we guarantee everyone's safety? What about the safety of Palestinians and their children, who represent 44% of the dead? There's a lot of talk about the threat to Israel when what we see in reality is none of their enemies pose the realistic existential threat that you're claiming. Israel completely outguns it's enemies which is why we are seeing the catastrophies that are taking place. I don't see why that would change considering their support form the US etc. I'd also say that by engaging in a peace process we know historically hasn't endangered countries, it actually secured their peace and safety.

We should be able to guarantee countries safety by states following the international laws they signed up to and being held accountable when they don't. It doesn't help Israel or anyone when Israel act with complete disregard to these laws and makes them worthless pieces of paper.

Auvergne63 · 13/11/2024 15:38

Feelingathomenow · 13/11/2024 09:56

Well Israel existed a very long time before the Holocaust. I would ask you, without the constant persecution and exile of Jews and the passive acceptance of anti semester throughout millennia do you think the Holocaust would have happened? Without reinstating the Jewish Homeland what do you think would continue to happen to the Jewish people (clue history has a habit of repeating itself)

Once again the state of Israel didn't exist until 1948. It was proclaimed as such on 14 May 1948 by Ben Gurion, when he declared "“We hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel."
This is what he also said:
“If I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an agreement with Israel. It is normal; we have taken their country. It is true God promised it to us, but how could that interest them? Our God is not theirs. There has been Anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They see but one thing: we have come and we have stolen their country. Why would they accept that?”
David Ben-Gurion.
"“Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves … politically we are the aggressors and they defend themselves… The country is theirs, because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we want to take away from them their country. … Behind the terrorism [by the Arabs] is a movement, which though primitive is not devoid of idealism and self sacrifice.”
"“We must do everything to insure they (the Palestinians) never do return.”

Feelingathomenow · 13/11/2024 15:46

Auvergne63 · 13/11/2024 15:38

Once again the state of Israel didn't exist until 1948. It was proclaimed as such on 14 May 1948 by Ben Gurion, when he declared "“We hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel."
This is what he also said:
“If I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an agreement with Israel. It is normal; we have taken their country. It is true God promised it to us, but how could that interest them? Our God is not theirs. There has been Anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They see but one thing: we have come and we have stolen their country. Why would they accept that?”
David Ben-Gurion.
"“Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves … politically we are the aggressors and they defend themselves… The country is theirs, because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we want to take away from them their country. … Behind the terrorism [by the Arabs] is a movement, which though primitive is not devoid of idealism and self sacrifice.”
"“We must do everything to insure they (the Palestinians) never do return.”

Please at least google the
kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

Feelingathomenow · 13/11/2024 15:48

Usernamesareboring1 · 13/11/2024 15:36

Well isn't the question how do we guarantee everyone's safety? What about the safety of Palestinians and their children, who represent 44% of the dead? There's a lot of talk about the threat to Israel when what we see in reality is none of their enemies pose the realistic existential threat that you're claiming. Israel completely outguns it's enemies which is why we are seeing the catastrophies that are taking place. I don't see why that would change considering their support form the US etc. I'd also say that by engaging in a peace process we know historically hasn't endangered countries, it actually secured their peace and safety.

We should be able to guarantee countries safety by states following the international laws they signed up to and being held accountable when they don't. It doesn't help Israel or anyone when Israel act with complete disregard to these laws and makes them worthless pieces of paper.

Ill ask again- what would this Palestinian state look like- geographically., we know how it would be run - we only need look at Amnesty Internationals report on Gaza and the West Bank

Violations of international humanitarian law
Abuses by armed groups based in Gaza
In May, Al-Quds Brigades, affiliated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and smaller armed groups, fired hundreds of indiscriminate rockets towards Israeli towns, killing two civilians in Israel and three Palestinian civilians in Gaza, including two children. Israeli forces had killed Palestinian fighters as well as 10 civilians in Gaza on 9 May (see Israel and the OPT entry).
On 7 October, Hamas fighters and members of other Palestinian armed groups, and armed individuals, entered southern Israel and attacked military and civilian areas. Video evidence showed fighters deliberately shooting at civilians and taking civilians as hostage. According to Israeli official records, at least 1,000 people were killed, the majority civilians. One of the sites attacked was the Nova music festival in Re’im in south-west Israel, where 364 people were killed, according to the Israeli police.1 Among those killed were Palestinian workers from Gaza and migrant workers from south-east Asia.
Hostage-taking
On 7 October, Palestinian armed groups took some 245 hostages and captives, including children and older people. Hostage-taking is a war crime under international law. Palestinian fighters abducted two-year-old Aviv Asher and her four-year-old sister Raz from kibbutz Nir Oz on 7 October and held them hostage until 24 November. Hamas released four hostages on 20 and 23 October, in coordination with the ICRC. Between 24 and 30 November, Hamas released 105 more hostages, some of whom reported ill-treatment. The ICRC was denied access to those held.
Other unlawful attacks
Some 12,000 indiscriminate rockets fired in the 12 weeks from October killed 15 people in Israel, according to Israeli authorities, and damaged buildings in Israel and Palestine. A rocket fired from Gaza on 7 October killed five children aged between 11 and 14 in the Bedouin village of Kuhleh in the Negev/Naqab in southern Israel. Some 120,000 Israelis were displaced from their homes in southern Israel due to Palestinian armed groups’ attacks.
Freedom of expression and assembly
According to the Palestinian Centre for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA), assaults against journalists increased, especially when they covered events that were critical of the authorities. Palestinian police generally dispersed independent protests quickly, using excessive force.
West Bank
Palestinian security officers routinely harassed protest organizers and dissidents with threatening phone calls and visits. On 18 June, Palestinian Preventive Security forces beat Abdel Majid Hassan, head of Birzeit University student council. They then detained him and fellow student Yahya Farah in Ramallah for a month. The students’ families reported that they were tortured.
In October, Palestinian police used force to disperse demonstrations in solidarity with people in Gaza, in apparent coordination with Israeli military officials. On 17 October, after al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City was hit, protesters in Ramallah, the West Bank’s administrative centre, gathered to protest the inaction of Palestine’s President Mahmoud Abbas. They were dispersed with stun grenades and tear gas.
Gaza Strip
On 30 July and 4 August, thousands of demonstrators in Gaza City and Khan Yunis demanded that the Hamas administration supply fuel and electricity reliably and stop requisitioning welfare payments from families in poverty. The demonstrators were violently dispersed; dozens were arrested. Plain-clothes officers assaulted a journalist covering the protest on 30 July in Gaza City, according to MADA. In Khan Yunis, police destroyed the phones of protesters who had filmed the events, according to journalists at the scene.
Freedom of association
West Bank
Presidential decrees appointed favoured officials throughout governmental and judicial institutions in the West Bank, undermining the independence of the judiciary.
On 5 June, officers interrogated the directors of Aman, a coalition of civil society organizations working for governmental accountability. The directors were accused of “defamation of high officials” after the publication of their annual report on 17 May.
Gaza Strip
In January, Palestinian police officers disrupted workshops for journalists and students organized by a women’s group in Gaza City. Police interrogated staff about violating rules on gender segregation, and forced them to sign morality “pledges”, according to testimonies given to the UN commission of inquiry.
Arbitrary detention
According to the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR), which acts as the Palestinian national human rights institution, 235 Palestinians were arbitrarily detained in the West Bank and 61 in Gaza, where no data is available from October.
In the West Bank, Palestinian legal services organization Lawyers for Justice reported that in June and July, at least 20 journalists, political activists and lawyers were arbitrarily arrested on charges of defaming the Palestinian authorities, inciting ethnic strife, and slandering the president.
Legal proceedings in relation to the 2021 death in custody in the West Bank of dissident Nizar Banat stalled amid bureaucratic delays and intimidation of witnesses.2
Torture and other ill-treatment
ICHR received 94 complaints of torture and other ill-treatment in Palestinian detention in the West Bank and 86 in Gaza.
In Hebron in the West Bank, Palestinian forces arbitrarily detained 22 Palestinians on 23 May and tortured all of them, according to Lawyers for Justice. Consequently, five had to be hospitalized, their families said.
Unlawful killings
On 8 April, members of a Palestinian armed group in Nablus city in the northern West Bank killed a man they suspected of working for Israeli surveillance, the first killing of an alleged “collaborator” in nearly 20 years. On 24 November, members of an armed group in Tulkarem refugee camp west of Nablus publicly killed two Palestinian men who they claimed were “collaborators”. Palestinian police made no arrests in either case.
In Gaza, armed men affiliated with Hamas rounded up approximately a dozen men on 21 November, alleging that they worked for Israeli forces, and summarily killed them.
Death penalty
The Palestinian authorities in Gaza imposed new death sentences, according to Palestinian human rights organization Al Mezan. Executions of prisoners on death row for “collaboration with the enemy” were carried out on 7 October.
Women’s and girls’ rights
Women still did not have equal rights to men in personal status law, which continued to be subject to religious law. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, 59% of married women and girls experienced violence at the hands of their partner, and the Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling expected the numbers for 2023 to rise due to conflict and deprivation. Less than 2% of survivors complained to the police, and of those cases, 40% were investigated, according to the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy.
Sisters Wissam and Fatimah al-Tawil were arrested without explanation on 5 January from a safe house where they had escaped their father’s abuse. Hamas security services handed them over to their paternal uncle, who drove them to their father’s home in Rafah in the south of Gaza. They were subsequently not heard from directly, as their father held them captive.3
On 25 September, Palestinian police together with UN agencies opened an office for investigating and prosecuting domestic violence in Hebron, after a similar office opened in Nablus.
LGBTI people’s rights
Consensual same-sex sexual conduct continued to be banned in Gaza on the basis of a 1936 British Mandate ordinance.
In September, after the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) published guidance to staff regarding treating all genders and LGBTI people equally, the Hamas authorities condemned the guidance for promoting “deviance and moral decay”.
Right to a healthy environment
Palestinian authorities in the West Bank failed to meet their goal of recycling 30% of domestic solid waste, which was generated at the high rate of 1kg per capita daily, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. Less than 10% of plastic was recycled, and a third of solid waste polluted the environment in unregulated dumps, according to Heinrich Böll Stiftung, a political foundation affiliated with the German Green Party.

Human rights in Palestine (State of)

Stay up to date on the state of human rights in Palestine (State of) with the latest research, campaigns and education material from Amnesty International.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/middle-east-and-north-africa/middle-east/palestine-state-of/report-palestine-state-of/#endnote-2

Usernamesareboring1 · 13/11/2024 15:53

Feelingathomenow · 13/11/2024 15:48

Ill ask again- what would this Palestinian state look like- geographically., we know how it would be run - we only need look at Amnesty Internationals report on Gaza and the West Bank

Violations of international humanitarian law
Abuses by armed groups based in Gaza
In May, Al-Quds Brigades, affiliated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and smaller armed groups, fired hundreds of indiscriminate rockets towards Israeli towns, killing two civilians in Israel and three Palestinian civilians in Gaza, including two children. Israeli forces had killed Palestinian fighters as well as 10 civilians in Gaza on 9 May (see Israel and the OPT entry).
On 7 October, Hamas fighters and members of other Palestinian armed groups, and armed individuals, entered southern Israel and attacked military and civilian areas. Video evidence showed fighters deliberately shooting at civilians and taking civilians as hostage. According to Israeli official records, at least 1,000 people were killed, the majority civilians. One of the sites attacked was the Nova music festival in Re’im in south-west Israel, where 364 people were killed, according to the Israeli police.1 Among those killed were Palestinian workers from Gaza and migrant workers from south-east Asia.
Hostage-taking
On 7 October, Palestinian armed groups took some 245 hostages and captives, including children and older people. Hostage-taking is a war crime under international law. Palestinian fighters abducted two-year-old Aviv Asher and her four-year-old sister Raz from kibbutz Nir Oz on 7 October and held them hostage until 24 November. Hamas released four hostages on 20 and 23 October, in coordination with the ICRC. Between 24 and 30 November, Hamas released 105 more hostages, some of whom reported ill-treatment. The ICRC was denied access to those held.
Other unlawful attacks
Some 12,000 indiscriminate rockets fired in the 12 weeks from October killed 15 people in Israel, according to Israeli authorities, and damaged buildings in Israel and Palestine. A rocket fired from Gaza on 7 October killed five children aged between 11 and 14 in the Bedouin village of Kuhleh in the Negev/Naqab in southern Israel. Some 120,000 Israelis were displaced from their homes in southern Israel due to Palestinian armed groups’ attacks.
Freedom of expression and assembly
According to the Palestinian Centre for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA), assaults against journalists increased, especially when they covered events that were critical of the authorities. Palestinian police generally dispersed independent protests quickly, using excessive force.
West Bank
Palestinian security officers routinely harassed protest organizers and dissidents with threatening phone calls and visits. On 18 June, Palestinian Preventive Security forces beat Abdel Majid Hassan, head of Birzeit University student council. They then detained him and fellow student Yahya Farah in Ramallah for a month. The students’ families reported that they were tortured.
In October, Palestinian police used force to disperse demonstrations in solidarity with people in Gaza, in apparent coordination with Israeli military officials. On 17 October, after al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City was hit, protesters in Ramallah, the West Bank’s administrative centre, gathered to protest the inaction of Palestine’s President Mahmoud Abbas. They were dispersed with stun grenades and tear gas.
Gaza Strip
On 30 July and 4 August, thousands of demonstrators in Gaza City and Khan Yunis demanded that the Hamas administration supply fuel and electricity reliably and stop requisitioning welfare payments from families in poverty. The demonstrators were violently dispersed; dozens were arrested. Plain-clothes officers assaulted a journalist covering the protest on 30 July in Gaza City, according to MADA. In Khan Yunis, police destroyed the phones of protesters who had filmed the events, according to journalists at the scene.
Freedom of association
West Bank
Presidential decrees appointed favoured officials throughout governmental and judicial institutions in the West Bank, undermining the independence of the judiciary.
On 5 June, officers interrogated the directors of Aman, a coalition of civil society organizations working for governmental accountability. The directors were accused of “defamation of high officials” after the publication of their annual report on 17 May.
Gaza Strip
In January, Palestinian police officers disrupted workshops for journalists and students organized by a women’s group in Gaza City. Police interrogated staff about violating rules on gender segregation, and forced them to sign morality “pledges”, according to testimonies given to the UN commission of inquiry.
Arbitrary detention
According to the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR), which acts as the Palestinian national human rights institution, 235 Palestinians were arbitrarily detained in the West Bank and 61 in Gaza, where no data is available from October.
In the West Bank, Palestinian legal services organization Lawyers for Justice reported that in June and July, at least 20 journalists, political activists and lawyers were arbitrarily arrested on charges of defaming the Palestinian authorities, inciting ethnic strife, and slandering the president.
Legal proceedings in relation to the 2021 death in custody in the West Bank of dissident Nizar Banat stalled amid bureaucratic delays and intimidation of witnesses.2
Torture and other ill-treatment
ICHR received 94 complaints of torture and other ill-treatment in Palestinian detention in the West Bank and 86 in Gaza.
In Hebron in the West Bank, Palestinian forces arbitrarily detained 22 Palestinians on 23 May and tortured all of them, according to Lawyers for Justice. Consequently, five had to be hospitalized, their families said.
Unlawful killings
On 8 April, members of a Palestinian armed group in Nablus city in the northern West Bank killed a man they suspected of working for Israeli surveillance, the first killing of an alleged “collaborator” in nearly 20 years. On 24 November, members of an armed group in Tulkarem refugee camp west of Nablus publicly killed two Palestinian men who they claimed were “collaborators”. Palestinian police made no arrests in either case.
In Gaza, armed men affiliated with Hamas rounded up approximately a dozen men on 21 November, alleging that they worked for Israeli forces, and summarily killed them.
Death penalty
The Palestinian authorities in Gaza imposed new death sentences, according to Palestinian human rights organization Al Mezan. Executions of prisoners on death row for “collaboration with the enemy” were carried out on 7 October.
Women’s and girls’ rights
Women still did not have equal rights to men in personal status law, which continued to be subject to religious law. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, 59% of married women and girls experienced violence at the hands of their partner, and the Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling expected the numbers for 2023 to rise due to conflict and deprivation. Less than 2% of survivors complained to the police, and of those cases, 40% were investigated, according to the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy.
Sisters Wissam and Fatimah al-Tawil were arrested without explanation on 5 January from a safe house where they had escaped their father’s abuse. Hamas security services handed them over to their paternal uncle, who drove them to their father’s home in Rafah in the south of Gaza. They were subsequently not heard from directly, as their father held them captive.3
On 25 September, Palestinian police together with UN agencies opened an office for investigating and prosecuting domestic violence in Hebron, after a similar office opened in Nablus.
LGBTI people’s rights
Consensual same-sex sexual conduct continued to be banned in Gaza on the basis of a 1936 British Mandate ordinance.
In September, after the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) published guidance to staff regarding treating all genders and LGBTI people equally, the Hamas authorities condemned the guidance for promoting “deviance and moral decay”.
Right to a healthy environment
Palestinian authorities in the West Bank failed to meet their goal of recycling 30% of domestic solid waste, which was generated at the high rate of 1kg per capita daily, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. Less than 10% of plastic was recycled, and a third of solid waste polluted the environment in unregulated dumps, according to Heinrich Böll Stiftung, a political foundation affiliated with the German Green Party.

Honestly I started skipping past the content of the rest of your post because you either misread or misinterpreted my comment. Hamas and Terror groups are exactly that because they are not recognised international governments signed up international law. Countries such as Israel and any future Palestinian state are and would be and what I was saying is that those laws prosper safety and security for those countries if they mean something to the countries who sign up to them and they are abided by. Perhaps if you're so worried about a future Palestinian state acting in violation of these laws it's because you routinely see Israel do just that?
As for the geography of the state I would never assume to be educated enough to be the deciding person ( pretty sure that's out of the remit of everyone on Mumsnet!) the issue with the "peace offensives" is that they were willing to compromise in order to secure a two state solution and Israel did not want to compromise on there being a Palestinian state at all.

Auvergne63 · 13/11/2024 16:05

I don't need to but do google the term "the state of Israel" and come back and tell me in which year it was created.

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