You really are just so blinkered here aren’t you? I’m not saying that those aren’t factors. They could well support other factions, so why Hamas even though the lack of any tangible results are quite visible?
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Nope I have worked and lived with people in Israel and West Bank, and am in touch with friends there now. You on the otherhand are disagreeable and opinionated on everything. I was asking what experience this is based on?
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Not lived experience but reports of people who actually study these things instead of just take anecdotes?
More to the point, what are you arguing for then, the complete eradication of Israel? I’m not sure what other conclusion there is if you refuse to accept that propaganda plays a huge role here.
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Absolutely. The fact that it is a state carrying them out doesn’t make it something else. State terrorism would probably be the appropriate words?
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I believe that pressure needs to be kept on Hamas as well.
They have a culpability.
We’ve had this discussion before and I reiterate. Hamas is the de facto government of Gaza.
Israel bears a lot of guilt but I don’t want to see a solution where Hamas retains some power. That’s just pushing the conflict to another time.
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The indiscriminate nature of these latest attacks are already being spoken about as being a breach of the Geneva Convention. Presumably this will be the next thing on the charge sheet to find its way to the ICC.
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I am a person who has ‘studied these things’
Why would they support Hamas if it wasn’t for propaganda?
Maybe if your entire family had been blown to pieces, or you had lived your entire life in an open air prison, you might be asking different questions.
Why not another ‘faction’?
Because the PA/Fatah have achieved (or been allowed to achieve) nothing but ongoing and deepening misery
Is eradication of Israel the only alternative to accepting a propaganda argument (FFS 
)?
As I’ve said many times on this thread, the only solution is one state with equal rights for all it’s inhabitants- Jew, Arab, Christian and other
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Unfortunately, Israel has commenced miltary operations against multiple Hezbollah targets as of this moment. Israeli aircrafts seen ejecting flares over Beirut. Several Hezbollah sites have been targeted with missiles and bombs (and probably arty) so far in south Lebanon.
The IDF states that the goal of the new military operation is to force Hezbollah to cease hostilities so the evacuees in northern Israel can return to their homes. A lofty goal, I will note, which means that what we see now might be mere minor shaping operations and that it will probably dramatically escalate in coming hours and days.
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Magnus, make sure to keep us all posted with new information, photos, videos of the attacks. Thanks for all your work!
Thank you, but probably not tonight. I have a friend who is struggling that I need/want to visit now tonight (unless he is busy, was about to call him now) since I won’t see him for 2 months.
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One state solution isn’t possible. Too much blood has been shed for that to be a reasonable solution anymore. The hatred has been entrenched for generations on both the sides. Plus the issue of the demographics. The whole case for the foundation and existence of Israel as a Jewish state goes for a toss.
Needs to be a viable two state solution.
For that Israel needs to take the initiative , having the Palestinians stuck to them is like an anchor weighing them down.
There needs to be a concerted effort to remove Hamas too. Israel having jailed most of the credible Palestinian leadership has a major chunk of the blame too. But you can’t have a terrorist regime in charge of the governance of Palestinians anymore.
There needs to be a suitable way forward to have credible Palestinian leadership ( one in which Israel must help) in order to move forward.
The majority of the onus is on Israel but there needs to be a drive within Palestinians to force Hamas out as their representatives.
I doubt it. The delivery system almost by definition was far more discriminate than most. To have been hurt, one would have to have been within a meter or two of someone close enough to Hezbollah to have been issued a pager. Compared to firing 155mm rounds into Gaza residential areas to deal with a sniper, it is practically Marquis of Queensbury. It is difficult given the clear expectation of civilian casualties. It is weirdly discriminate and indiscriminate at the same time. They had no way of knowing who they would hit, but a highly targeted blast.
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So can I quote you as an expert on the topic of the Israeli-Palestine conflict?
Genuine question here, because it feels to me as though you’re content to blame the Israeli people as a whole, but at the same time excuse the Palestinian people as a whole.
Maybe there can be more than one explanation simultaneously, all contributing to the same outcome?
I’m sorry, I just took that conclusion from you saying that:
A cursory look at the changing map of the West Bank will show that the chance of a 2 state solution was lost decades ago
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I don’t see the one state solution being a possibility. Look at the birth rates and the relative ages among the population of Israel and Palestinians.
That’s demographic talk.
The grim reality is that there are solid reasons why neither a two-state nor a one-state solution is viable. I genuinely don’t see any peaceful resolution, just intermittent periods of more restive tension spaced between episodes of violence of varying scales. We are seeing a bad episode now that appears to be escalating. I just don’t truly see hope.
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It really is hard to find hope. I think the time of intermittent periods of conflict has passed. Israel have now commenced full scale ethnic cleansing. I’ve no idea where this will end but if won’t be good for anyone
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I’m thinking this is a consequences of the multipolar world we see today. I’m not sure how many viable options there are for anyone to pressure them otherwise, without longer-term strategic implications, e.g. seeing Israel align their interests/alliances with China instead.
Maybe, but even in the full ethnic cleansing scenarios (Gaza, West Bank, both), I think you still have a displaced Palestinian population, almost certainly not absorbed into neighbouring countries (or elsewhere), and the conflict just continues onward along different border lines. That is more or less what has already made Lebanon a failed state. We will see periods of relative calm (exhaustion?) but nothing close to a resolution. The basic outline has not changed in my lifetime, the only difference is that some possibilities would appear to have been closed off.
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