[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

Why does anyone with an ounce of humanity in them need to condemn such a heinous act, it goes without saying and I doubt there is a person on this forum who supports what's happened but here you are going all woke demanding condemnation.

Oh yes it points exactly to my beliefs in that I don't like extremists of any brand and the term has transformed from a perfectly reasonable and laudable ambition of 100+ years ago into what we see today

What we see today is the consequence of incompatible cultures fighting over their own perceived justices.

1/
Israel was awarded its territory by UN resolution in 1948. Immediately, that territory was invaded by Israel's Arab neighbours - an act of war. Israel successfully defended that aggression and some Arab families lost their homes (still a bone of contention fuelling the fire).

AT that time, Jordan administered the West Bank and annexed it in 1950. Jordan controlled East Jerusalem and there was peace until 1956 when Israel's neighbours invaded again. Israel came out on top that time too.

Btw, Gaza was administered at the time by Egypt, the terrorist group.

2/
The Fatah terrorist group then got busy against Israel and in 1967,the Arab neighbours had another go at Israel. Fata later transformed into a political party. In Gaza, Hamas was formed as a militant, armed group.

This time, Israel took the West Bank and Gaza into occupation which is the current status save that the West Bank is officially the Palestinian Territory. (Historian will recall that the 1948 UN declaration reserved Palestine to become an Arab state). As part of of the goings on, East Jerusalem was taken by Israel and eventually Annexed.

3/
It is well known that with the exception of Lebanon (Hezbolllah influenced) and Syria, Israel's neighbours took up diplomatic relations with Israel. In those days, Israel was not governed by the right wing hard liners we see in power today. Under those accords, Palestine formed the Palestinian Authority and it appeared for a while that a transition to statehood was on the cards.

Then Likud came to power and the orthodox settlers made incursions into Palestine which set the cat among the pigeons.

In Gaza, Hamas came under Iran's influence - the arch enemy of Israel. The suicide bombing shows that extreme Islamist culture stretches to such insane acts. That's what we're seeing today because the Hamas fighters know they'll die. What's worse, they know their families will suffer. The culture difference is evident.

4/
Hamas (as in Iran) have never let up on Israel. The fact that the Israeli Ultras share power with the right-wing Likud doesn't help either. The Ultra's ideology and doctrine is unhealthily anti-Islam. Iran stokes this up and only Gazan and Israeli blood is shed.

5/
You might ask why Israel didn't give the West Bank back to \\\\\\jordan when diplomatic relations were taken up. The answer is that Jordan didn't want it any more than Egypt didn't want Gaza given back to them.

The history lesson is worth knowing. If Israel gets back to some political sense and elects a centrist government (I fear this wont happen for birth rate reasons), then a Palestinian state could emerge, although Gaza and its separation from the West Bank poses a challenge.

Hamas stands fully condemned.