There's an argument to be had for a lot of "religious folk" whilst not being themselves extremists, are acquiescent to the extremists.
I'm afraid in this case, religion is at the heart of the problem and has been for centuries.
In this case yes, but still more of an extremist view of the 2 religions at the centre of it. There are still plenty of wars that were not religiously motivated though, including Russia's Ukraine invasion, the main motive there is Putin needs their resources and a buffer zone of dictatorships to keep his own population subdued.
You speak for me too, more eloquently than I could manage. For the first time in my long life I often can't listen to, let alone watch, the news now.
I asked the question because I'm not sure what exactly you meant by 'understand'. Do you also understand why those actions make things worse and how it results in terrorism more likely, rather than less?
Yes I also agree too.
Iran, the backers of Hamas, is a Shia Muslim country, in the midst of Sunni Muslim countries, run by a theocracy since the overthrow of the Shah. It has religious police units who monitor the adherence of their religious beliefs and customs and come down hard on dissent. Under those circumstances, how is it possible to "educate as much as possible to allow a natural change from the current position"?
Spoken far more eloquently than I could ever hope to, and therefore I won't try. Am in full agreement besides that.
I agree. Netanyahu has been such a disaster for Israel, and now both he Palestinians and Israeli citizens will suffer further thanks to his overreaction.
It certainly does appear that Netanyahu has been helped by Hamas in his agenda for Israel’s foreign policy of forceful repression, and Hamas has been helped by Netanyahu's policy in their recruitment and radicalisation of Gazans and perhaps persuasion of the Iranian regime for more weapons and resources.
Broadly yes. Israel have never had a fair hearing from the UN
Except to the Egyptians! How would they get rid of them again? One look at the history of Palestinians in other countries makes it pretty clear why they don’t want them. Hamas are also in the Muslim Brotherhood network and that makes them enemies of the Egyptian regime.
The root cause is the oppression of the Jews. Both by the Arabs repeatedly trying to destroy them and by Europe and elsewhere persecuting them so that large numbers wanted to ‘return’ to the Jewish homeland.
In war terms (rather than humanitarian) the casualties are low. Israel are trying to minimise them a lot more than most attacking militaries have in recent history
So maybe if Israel drastically weaken Hamas more moderate Gazans will have a chance. It’s roughly what happened in Northern Ireland.
It’s really about land. religion is what makes it so nasty and so hard to negotiate. and of course Iran’s meddling.
You do appreciate that this is exactly the same argument anti-semites use, right?
Weakening Hamas may give moderates a chance, but shelling civilians will make them join Hamas; either because their beliefs change, or because they want a roof and a meal.
One matter of concern has been the spread of Israeli settlements, some of which have been totally illegal, fostered by the Israeli state, on land that had been the home of Palestinians since time immemorial. Of course, there has been a precedent set much nearer to home which occurred in the 17th century, known as the Plantation of Ulster.
Please define and quantify "time immemorial" in this context
The book that I read in the library of Manchester University speaks of Arabic settlements of different tribal people in the coastal Mediterranean region for well over three thousand years. Of course, before the Romans invaded those lands, both the Egyptian and the Assyrian empires ruled that area.
The problem with this is that the Near East is quite literally the "cradle of civilization" and there are towns/cities such as Jericho which have been inhabited by (proto to a degree) humans for longer than the existence of modern man! With respect, I don't think that appealing to so many thousand of years of occupation by X/Y/Z people really washes. I do not mean any personal offence by this comment.
Maybe, but Palestinian refugees have caused chaos in Jordan and Lebanon, and Egypt doesn’t need more security issues in Sinai - they already have more than they can really control.
Maybe. At some point they have to realise that they might hate Israel but attacking Israel only brings more misery. I just don’t see what they realistically hope to gain. They got rid of the settlements, and violence is only going to increase the retaliation and blockade. Suck it up and build Gaza into something successful for their children. Gaza is a different situation to the West Bank and the outrageous settlements issues there.
Go back and they are basically the same ethnicity AIUI. The Muslim conquest divided them.
The Muslim conquest cannot have occurred prior to the birth of Mohammed, in the 6th century AD, so that is recent in time compared to those living in that area three or four thousand years ago. How far back in time do the Jewish race go and as one incident of time can be sited, how long ago were the Jews as captives in the land of Egypt at the time of Moses?
Indeed, in fact it all boils down to one bit of land in particular, Jerusalem. What once once just a small town of no significance whatsoever on the edge of the Arabian desert, has become the reason that three religions have battled and killed to "own" it for centuries. Utterly, utterly pathetic.
