I support the right of Israel to exist and I don't condone any side attacking civilians and sure, if the Palestinians had power, they would surely be the oppressors but...
This is not a situation about equals squaring off. It's about one side (a heavily funded and armed state) persistently breaking international law to further marginalise and humiliate a minority of its population. The west needs to stop selling arms to Israel and force them to comply with the Oslo accords. In addition, Palestinian citizens of Israel should be given actual equality in law.
@Burnley123 If I may point out this small detail... the green areas on this map are owned by Muslims, whereas the red bit is owned by Jews. Something to consider.
@Burnley123 That's what I'm saying. If American interests own most of that, what's the fighting about? (I'm not saying America is innocent in all this mess. I'm fully aware my government has been stirring the pot for decades.)
@Burnley123 I did not really want to post this video, because the context is convoluted, but thank you for posting it.
As always, nothing is straightforward, when it comes to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
Here's the background:
Following the 1948 Israeli war of Independence, and the subsequent UN division of Palestine, some Arab families ended up feeling West Jerusalem, to East Jerusalem. The Eastern part of the city ended up losing its few Jewish residents, going into the Western, Jewish part.
In 1956, Jordan allocated some houses to the Arab who fled their homes in Western Jerusalem.
In 1967, Israel invaded East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The Arab families remained in these homes (we're talking a couple of dozen homes or so).
Enter lawyers, who sued demanding the return of those few homes to the Jewish families that MAY (and I emphasize may, as records are not clear), have owned them. The case has been stuck in the Israeli legal system for decades.
Then suddenly, and out of the blue, armed settlers showed up, and entered the homes, first trying to evict residents, but when that failed, they stayed in place. End result: each house now has multiple families living in it: Jews and Arabs. They've managed not to kill or even attack each other, but no one is backing down.
Of course, you've noticed that the guy in the video is a red-haired American, so he has no legal claim to the house. In fact, none of the trespassers are in the legal chain of custody, but they claim that this does not matter, as the Arabs are not really the true owners.
So, those who claim to have the titles to these homes (and this is disputed by Jordan) are demanding back rent. Decades worth. The Palestinians are demanding that rent be placed in a proxy account, to be dispersed by the courts, when the case is finally settled.
My prediction, is that the courts are going to rule that rent is due, but not as much as the Jewish settlers are demanding, and the "renters" can remain in place, until the original renter (the head of the family that was placed in the home in 1956) passes away. At that point, the family may be given a sum of money, and told to leave.
Of course it's not about the rent money, it's about forcing East Jerusalem, through a combination of attrition and strong arm tactics, to become Jewish only. Even if the new people are Americans and are not genetically linked to the original Jews who shared the neighborhood with Arabs.
