Middle East Conflict

It's a little more complicated than just supporting one side or the other. Both sides tend to be defined by their most extremist elements, so "support" is defined as wanting one side to win a complete victory at the other's expense. In reality, the only solution can be a compromise with both sides accepting the permanent presence of the other.

The two-state solution is the one getting all the attention, probably because it has the most support both inside Israel and Palestine, and outside in the world at large. It's also unrealistic as a Palestinian state would consist of two separate enclaves in Gaza and the West Bank, currently governed by groups hostile to each other. It would also be economically unviable for a long time.

Former president Rivlin's proposal of a federation of self-governing cantons, similar to what Switzerland has, may be the best solution, but doesn't have much support right now. It should be clear that any solution will require the cooperation of the surrounding countries, notably Iran.

The situation has been described as a sandwich with three falafel balls - Jewish identity, democracy, and the Occupied Territories. There's only room in the sandwich for two of those - take your pick. I know someone who has worked as an archeologist in a West Bank village for the past 30 years, so she has a view both as an outsider (she's American) and someone very familiar with life there. She says that in a generation or two, because of the birthrate among Haredi Jews, they will be the dominant faction. She expects that the country will become a fundamentalist Jewish theocracy at that point, similar to the Islamic one in Iran or Afghanistan under the Taliban, with a concurrent loss of educated Israelis and Palestinians emigrating to less oppressive countries.

The "occupied" territories are areas of land that Israel occupied after the Six Day War in 1967, so we can't just pretend that Israel decided, without reason, to occupy parts of Palestine. People may be unaware, but this is often what happens when wars are fought - one side takes away territory from another side, and unless an agreement is reached which includes returning it, they keep it. I am aware they have expanded some of it to facilitate more housing. I would argue, however, that Israel has still made more attempts at bringing peace than all Palestinian governments. People aside, anyone who believes that Palestinian leadership has tried to gain peace for their country over the years is very wrong and really needs to learn more about how successive Palestinian governments have behaved and how they have done invariably nothing to achieve peace.

Calling Israel an "ethnostate" and an "occupation" is empty, void, and probably antisemitic because it illustrates a contempt for the existence of a Jewish state. When we consider that in most Muslim countries you have to be Muslim to lead the country, it is no more ethnocentric than any other nation in the Middle East. In fact, non-Jews in Israel are granted more rights and freedoms than they are anywhere else in that part of the world.

I support the right of Palestinians to either have their own state or be recognized as full citizens within a shared Israeli/Palestinian state.

The current situation in Israel is effectively an apartheid and I do not support it.

The reason South Africa's apartheid ended is because the world turned against them. They were effectively on their own. Israel still has major support from the U.S. Things aren't going to change any time soon.

I'm on the side of peace. I find war to be unecessary, barbaric and probably an overreaction, I guess things escalate and noone backs down. They even throw rocks at each other on the streets and I hate that. Imagine if we lived like that and getting a rock to the head for going out to get some bread and milk. I did watch a Louis Theroux episode on this and him and his crew were in the midst of it, it was very interesting.

Neither side. It’s mindless retaliation and it will go on forever.

There's only one real country there, Palestine.

Doesnt look like a "conflict". Looks like a genocide.

I'm not touching this one with a 50 foot pole...

I have more of a nuanced support for the Palestinian side

It's a total shit show and it's never going to be solved by blowing eachother up. I don't support either side. They both need to calm the fuck down.

Israel is an apartheid state devolving into a fascist theocracy.

i know waaay to much about how this came to pass
a big part of it was Britain and France carving up the ottoman empire in 1918

and later, the foundation of the state of Israel was a HUGE fuckup.
a good idea? done HORRIBLY! as bad as the partition of india

i support neither side.

I've yet to see any people peacefully accept an aggressor... There's no solution as long as the one part of a conflict that's is more powerful isn't willing to no longer using force as a tool in their negotiations.

Palestine.

The side who'll eventually win, that's who. Even if it takes another 2,000 years or so... 🤔

every peace proposal offered to the Palestinians they wiped their collective butts with it and threw it in Israel's face

It's not as simple as picking a side, so I said both because I don't want either side to die, but for me, it's about who was there first. 2,000 years ago, there was a country called Israel, and no such thing as Palestine. Then the Israelites were kicked out by the Romans, and then the Roman empire collapsed, so it appeared the land was abandoned. Palestine was formed, and the former Israelites were like, "Wtf, yo? That was ours!" and the Palestinians were all "Get fucked!"

Then World War II happened, and the Jews of the 20th century were given back the former state of Israel, and the Palestinians were like, "Huh!?"