It does not matter whether you are a Palestinian supporter or an Israeli supporter, you are likely wrong in your beliefs, precisely because you do not understand how complicated all of this really is. There’s more than enough blame to go around for both sides, and yet more blame besides that.
The figure below shows a map of the Palestine region
as it was proposed to be divided between Jews and Palestinians by the UN’s 1947
partition proposal. That was a 56-44
split of area between Jews and Palestinian Arabs, with Jerusalem intended to be an open city
belonging to neither side. While not an even split, the Jewish area included a lot of the
more-or-less uninhabitable Negev desert in the south.
The neighboring Arab nations did not agree to this, but it was pretty well done anyway by the UN
and western nations in 1948, with the
creation of Israel, pretty much along
the proposed lines pictured.
Almost immediately,
the neighboring Arab nations invaded,
entering through the Palestinian territories, starting the 1948 war, which they ultimately lost, losing some of the Palestinian territory to
the Israelis, as indicated in the
figure, but keeping the bulk of it as
shown. Although they could
have, these neighboring Arab states never
gave the Palestinian territories they occupied back to the Palestinians!
Multiple Wars Since
There were wars in 1951-1955 (the Palestinian Fedayeen
insurgency) and in 1956 (with Egypt over the Suez Canal) that did not
materially affect the map shown in the figure.
It was essentially unchanged until the 1967 “6-Day War”, when Israel captured the Golan heights in the
north from Syria, the Gaza Strip and
Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, and much of
the West Bank from Jordan in the east.
The Sinai Peninsula was eventually returned to Egypt as part of the
peace accords after the 1973 “Yom Kippur” war.
1967-1970 saw the so-called “War of Attrition”, and 1971-1983 saw the Palestinian insurgency
in south Lebanon. The map didn’t really
change, with the Gaza Strip and much of
the West Bank occupied. 1973 saw the
“Yom Kippur” war, resulting in peace
accords and recognition of Israel by Egypt.
Since then, there was
the 1978 First South Lebanon conflict,
resulting in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) being expelled
from southern Lebanon. (That’s
the same PLO that is today the government of the West Bank.)
There was the 1982 First Lebanon War, resulting in the PLO being expelled from all
of Lebanon. There was also the 1985-2000
South Lebanon conflict, which resulted
in Hezbollah being based permanently in Lebanon (and Syria).
Then there was the 1987-1993 First Palestinian
Intifada, which the Israelis
suppressed. During it were the 1991
Iraqi rocket attacks on Israel, which
was a strategic failure for Iraq, since
it did not provoke a response. 2000-2004
was the Al Aqsa (or second) Intifada,
also suppressed.
Then in 2006 was the Second Lebanon War, where the Israelis took on both Hezbollah and
the Lebanese military fighting together.
That was inconclusive, but with
large combat losses.
All of that is part of the background to the current
2023 Israeli-Hamas war that ongoing,
with war also starting in the north with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Related Stuff
Another part is the history of Israeli settlements in the
West Bank. While the territory was
occupied, it was never officially
annexed, because if it were, the Palestinian Arabs there would add to
those living within Israel as Israeli citizens,
and outnumber the Jewish citizens.
Not annexed, those settlements
may well be technically illegal,
depending upon your interpretations of international law and UN resolutions.
Yet another part of this is the far-right nature of the
coalition that is Netanyahu’s government in Israel. It was that way when he was Prime Minister before, and it is that way now that he is again. When he was Prime Minister before, that’s when the pace of planting settlements
in the West Bank vastly accelerated.
Those settlers would by-and-large be of a similar far-right mindset, just to choose to settle there, the whole point being to effectively make
that Israeli land, no matter what.
He is Prime Minister again,
and so effectively in command of the Israeli military. The “court reform” is him trying to pave the
way to staying in ever-more-power,
permanently. The settlers in the
West Bank that he essentially put there,
are now going around killing their Palestinian sheep-herding neighbors
in this latest war. And the Israeli
military in Gaza is using strategy and tactics that reflect an utter disregard
for Palestinian civilian lives. Armies
often tend to reflect their commanders-in-chief.
Why would anyone be surprised at that behavior, given who and what Netanyahu is?
And, no one
should be surprised that the Arab neighbor nations are refusing to take in
Palestinian refugees from the Gaza Strip, given the fact they never gave back the lands
in 1948. That border crossing with Egypt
is closed. It has been difficult to get
them to allow UN aid trucks in.
What is surprising is that no one is reporting on all
this ugly history and background!
And don’t forget what Hamas did with its October 7th
attack of unprecedented scope and evil. They
took hostages, killed with great
barbarity including women and children,
and raped a lot of women. Those
are internationally-recognized war crimes,
as is hiding behind human shields.
You should also be unsurprised at the civilian casualties that
inevitably happen when you strike back at an enemy like that. You have to go through that human shield to
strike them. It is inherent. And, they tried to prevent their own civilians
from evacuating, preferring
instead that they die serving as human shields.
And THAT evil is the government of Gaza? They do not care whether the people they
govern live or die!
My Predictions
Hamas will fight until it is destroyed, but at high losses to the Israeli
military, and utterly enormous losses of
civilian Gazan lives. Hezbollah is lots
bigger and better equipped than Hamas,
and will continue the war with Israel in the north, after Israel’s forces have been damaged by
Hamas.
Update 1-12-2024: these two predictions have already come true. Which makes the following prediction even more crucial:
Both Hamas and Hezbollah are well-known to be terrorist
proxy armies funded, supplied, and commanded by the government of Iran, which has so far suffered precisely zero
consequences for what its proxies have been doing. This violence is not going to stop
until they do suffer for what they have done.
List of Iranian Terrorist Proxy Armies
Iran is a terrorist dictatorship run by fake mullahs misusing
religion to “justify” what they do. They
run a sham democracy in which they can over-rule anything an elected body
decides, they suppress dissent
violently, and they are essentially
propped-up in power by their private army the Revolutionary Guard. Sounds an awful lot like Hitler and his SA stormtrooper
private army in 1930’s Germany to me!
Iran also operates multiple terrorist proxy armies.
Per “Country Reports on Terrorism:
Iran 2021” by Bureau of Counterterrorism at US Dept. of State,
retrieved from their site 19 November 2023 (highlighting is
mine, for this article):
I would also point out the recent attacks on commercial
shipping in that same region. Many
of these are being conducted from Yemen by the Houthis, and recently,
there was a direct attack from Iran itself by the Revolutionary
Guard, at a ship off the coast of India!
Wake Up and Do This Right
This violence will never end, as long as Israel or anybody else just swats
at these terrorist proxy armies. It can
only end when the terrorist government of Iran is overthrown. I have nothing at all against the people of
Iran, they are good people. But their terrorist government must go! Or there can NEVER be peace in the Missile
East!
You Will Not Like Hearing This, Either:
Ukraine is the West’s proxy against the Russians. That has dragged-on nearly 2 years. It is time to do more than just send aid and
money, Russia has to lose, and soon!
Which will likely cause regime change in Russia. And that would be a good thing, even if it did not affect things with China!
But this DOES affect China!
If Russia does not lose, and
soon, Xi in China will be further
emboldened by the West’s apparent weakness,
and will start World War 3 in the Pacific by invading Taiwan.
And the longer this Ukraine thing drags on, the more likely he will invade Taiwan
anyway, whether Russia wins or loses.
So just wake up and get on with it!
Proxy army war can get complicated, can it not?
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