In April 2014 Hamas and Fatah shook hands and took power together. Hamas is the most hard-line of the Palestinian movements but it has offered a 10-year truce if Israel promises to move out of the areas occupied by Israel in 1967, i.e. Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. For the truce to come into effect Israel would also need to re-house refugee Palestinians from the 1948 war. This second half of their mandate is unlikely to be agreed by Israel as it would threaten and dilute Israel as a nation.
Hamas’ birth was a violent reaction to the loss of Palestinian homeland. Whether you argue that there were Jewish people living in Palestine before the Palestinians, is irrelevant. The Palestinians were removed by force and penned in by the Zionist movement. With Hamas’ racist hard-lines it is unlikely there will ever be peace, both sides are too unwilling to bend and meet in the middle. Hamas have been called anti-Semitic, which in many respects they are and Israeli powers have been called anti-Arab, which in many respects they are.
There are no clear-cut, black and white rights and wrongs in this war. But civilians should not be slaughtered in their hundreds for a barren stretch of desert, the whole thing is utterly ridiculous. You can talk about peace treaties and old mandates, and you can talk about ancient historical rights and you can talk about terrorism. But the fact remains the same: Palestine was taken over by Zionists, Palestinians were pushed to the edges and repressed, USA gave Israel all of the guns, and Palestinians fought back and were called terrorists. Both sides need to stop the killing. Israel (and the US) can no longer blame this small group of terrorists for the mass deaths of babies.
I’d like to end on a positive note but there are none in this sombre tune. USA wants Palestine liquidated for geopolitical reasons, rich Christians in the West and Zionist Jews want Palestine liquidated because they’re troublesome Muslims living in their “holy land” and America is the most selfishly unstoppable force in the Universe at this present time. The whole thing is awful.
