other facts you need to know.
in 1945 Palestine was invaded by a hostile force of Jewish people who took over all land, displace more than a quarter of a million Palestinians, claimed the land as their own and set-up the new state of Israel...
since that date Israel have decline to let most Palestinians return to the land that their families have occupied for centuries.
I'm not saying that Israelis are right, I'm not saying that Israelis are wrong.
I'm not saying that Palestinians are right, I'm not saying that Palestinians are wrong.
what I am saying is that as far as Palestinians are concerns, Israel and the citizens of Israel are an invading force. this is demonstrably true.
you can't deny that 65 years ago, there was no Israel, then millions of people settled in a country, displaced the natural population and called that land their own.
on the other hand, you can't deny that Hammas are a terrorist organisation...
or that attacking Civilians is bad.
it's difficult to reconcile the two views. (which is why you often get this polarised view by a lot of people that think that Israel can do no wrong, they are only protecting
their land, and people, or on the other hand people who think that Hammas can do no wrong, they are fighting for
their land, and for the right of their people to exist
as far as Hammas are concerned, all the land of Israel is Palestinian, it was invaded and occupied 60 years ago. and has continued to expand it's borders ever since.
as far as Israel are concerned they have a right to a Jewish homeland, they chose that land, they fought for it and it's theirs. their is significant religious importance to that land.
(though having said that there is also significant religious importance to Muslims in that land, and there is significant religious significance to Christians in that land).
One thing that I do say is that I think that a lot of actions made by either side is wrong.
I think it's wrong that say last year for example, Israel expanded it's borders into the Gazza strip, taking some homes, sending Palestinians into the street, (at gun point) and moving Israeli Jewish people in just hours later.
I think it's wrong that Israel doesn't accept the right of Palestine to exist.
I think it's wrong that Israel seems to fundamentally not want Arabs living in the country, most Arabs in the country are denied access to the most basic services and tend to live in slums and shanti towns. and are frequently denied building permits.
To be fair, if in 1945/1946 a bunch of people decided that they wanted a Zionist state, a Jewish homeland to be occupied only by Jewish people then they probably should have picked a nice European place.
there was enough guilt after WW2 that the power that be (Allies and Soviet) would have probably quite happily carved up Germany.
though to be fair, a part of the cause for WW2 was the land that was lost from Germany at the end of WW1, lots of people suggest that current 'situations' in the middle east will be a cause of WW3... funny how that's also been decided by a bunch of white guys with maps and rulers saying that bit can be yours and that bit can be theirs, completely ignoring who actually lives on the land in the first place!!
