Your comment reads like you’re addressing mostly the history since 2005 or so. I definitely see that Israel after the 2nd intifada has had a very different strategy than before, including these things that you outline.
Just don’t ignore that there was a history before. There was an offer for a 2-state solution on the table where the world agreed it won’t get any better. Arafat just walked away and started the 2nd intifada instead. Hamas is still much older than that. Irans support of the Hamas is newer, though.
It’s so lame to blame it all on Israel. My take on this still is that for the security of Israel, it doesn’t matter much what Israel does. Their tries for peace negotiations were largely ignored, and their hard crackdowns do shit for their security. The signal to deescalate the conflict must come from Iran, which will impact how Hamas and Hisbollah work.
Arafat did not just “start[…] the 2nd intifada instead”. Israel wasn’t really negotiating in good faith, and was=–at that time–actively undermining the PLO and Fatah. There was a lot of shit that led up to the 2nd Intifada, and putting the blame on Palestinians, when Israel shoulders a lot of blame due to the actions of their hardliners, is simply historical revisionism. The very fact that Israel continued restricting movements of Palestinians, and weren’t–and aren’t–willing to dismantle settlements in the occupied West Bank are some of the direct causes. You’ve also got the provocation of PM Sharon (of Likud, the same party as Netanyahu) showing up to temple mount with an armed contingent that directly kicks off the Infitada.
Your comment reads like you’re addressing mostly the history since 2005 or so. I definitely see that Israel after the 2nd intifada has had a very different strategy than before, including these things that you outline.
Just don’t ignore that there was a history before. There was an offer for a 2-state solution on the table where the world agreed it won’t get any better. Arafat just walked away and started the 2nd intifada instead. Hamas is still much older than that. Irans support of the Hamas is newer, though.
It’s so lame to blame it all on Israel. My take on this still is that for the security of Israel, it doesn’t matter much what Israel does. Their tries for peace negotiations were largely ignored, and their hard crackdowns do shit for their security. The signal to deescalate the conflict must come from Iran, which will impact how Hamas and Hisbollah work.
Arafat did not just “start[…] the 2nd intifada instead”. Israel wasn’t really negotiating in good faith, and was=–at that time–actively undermining the PLO and Fatah. There was a lot of shit that led up to the 2nd Intifada, and putting the blame on Palestinians, when Israel shoulders a lot of blame due to the actions of their hardliners, is simply historical revisionism. The very fact that Israel continued restricting movements of Palestinians, and weren’t–and aren’t–willing to dismantle settlements in the occupied West Bank are some of the direct causes. You’ve also got the provocation of PM Sharon (of Likud, the same party as Netanyahu) showing up to temple mount with an armed contingent that directly kicks off the Infitada.