❓ Why the Israelis fighting in Gaza? Why the war? 👉 Because on October 7, 2023, the occupation forces of Gaza , started this war, by cowardly attacking 1,500 young people - who were having an outdoor party in Israel.
❓ What do you mean by “occupation forces of Gaza”?
👉 I mean the fascist regime of Hamas, which took power in Gaza through municipal elections in 2005 and shortly after - in 2006 - overthrew the Fatah government with massacres. Since then, Hamas refuses to hold elections again (not that it wouldn’t get elected - Hamas’s acceptance in Gaza is huge - let’s not kid ourselves).
❓ Tell me more about Gaza
👉 Gaza is a small piece of land in southern Israel which belonged to Egypt until 1967. Even before that, it was a British mandate and even before that , a part of the Ottoman Empire.
❓ And how did it end up in Israel’s hands?
👉 In 1967, three nations (Egypt – Syria – Jordan) started an unprovoked war against Israel and lost. The small strip of land that belonged to Egypt, Gaza, came into Israel’s hands (as well as territories in the West Bank that belonged to Jordan — we will talk about those later). More specifically : when Egypt was defeated in that unprovoked expansionist war it waged against Israel, it lost the Sinai Peninsula and this small strip of land, Gaza. Later, in 1982, Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt.
❓ So you admit Gaza really belongs to the Palestinian people?
👉 Correct. Gaza was never, historically, inhabited by that many Israelis. Probably it is for this reason that Israel (voluntarily! let’s remember this! ) handed Gaza over to the Palestinians in 2005 dismantling 21 settlements there, with 10,000 Israeli residents (and another 4 in the West Bank). One year later, in 2006 , the Fatah government was overthrown by the Nazi “mayor Hamas” and attacks on Israel started.
❓ Why do you call them Nazis and fascists?
👉 Because Hamas’s leadership self-identifies that way. Admirers of Hitler. There are abundant credible testimonies on the internet about the relationship of the Arab Palestinian leaders with the Nazis.
❓ You said “Hamas’s acceptance in Gaza is huge” and now you say they are Nazis and fascists. Does that make all civilian Gaza residents guilty of war crimes or something ?
👉 In my opinion, NO. Just as we do not hold collective responsibility for the majority civilian Germans during 1939-1945 who warmly supported Hitler, so now, we must NOT collectively punish the Arabs of Gaza when their Nazi leaders fall. I hope someday they will reflect on their crimes by themselves. For their local supporters here in the West, unfortunately, I have no such hope.
❓ But Israel is committing genocide right now. Thousands have died!
👉 No, it is not genocide — it is a tragic war, a horrible war that Hamas started from Gaza. A war that started with mass rapes by Hamas men live-streamed on social media and with horrific photos of dismembered Israeli children. Then came the “asymmetric” Israeli response (a catchphrase word you surely have heard from the Arab propaganda machine). The response was “asymmetric,” they say. The asymmetric Israel, which for 20 years was daily hit with attacks on civilians while the West and local “selectively sensitive” people turned a blind eye. Makes sense...
❓ Okay, lets admit that Hamas raped women and dismembered children in 2023, but now Palestinian children are dying in Gaza - for 2 years! Asymmetrically!
👉 As a result of the war. The slogan “not a single Jew will remain on our land” is a slogan of the Palestinians. Israeli people do not have a corresponding slogan. Genocide is promised by the Gaza regime for the Jews - and those who support it.
❓ Okay, maybe Israel does not want genocide - but in practice, is it not doing it?
👉 If Israel wanted that, then why is 20% of Israel’s population Palestinian Israelis with the same rights, equal access to positions of power (the 3rd party in Israel’s parliament is the party of the Palestinians)?
❓ What? Say again? 😲😲
👉 20% of Israel’s population are PALESTINIAN ISRAELI CITIZENS. With equal rights. Politicians, doctors, lawyers. Sorry to ruin your story.
❓ Gibberish . Have you seen the atrocities happening in Gaza?
👉 Listen, guys. No person with a bit of soul inside enjoys the suffering of this war. But there is a solution to this war. Hamas must free the hostages, dissolve itself, and hand over power to the elected Palestinian leadership. The next day the war will end.
❓ Again, you didn’t tell us anything about the atrocities.
👉 I said plenty . On the other hand , you said nothing about the genocide of Christians in Sudan; the ethnic cleansing ISIS did to the unfortunate Yazidis. For the "Sensitive West", there is only Gaza.
❓ Yes, but Israel “occupied Gaza”
👉 No. As we said before, Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 along with 10,000 Israelis who lived there. As a result, from 2005 and until the Hamas attack in October 2007, Israel had ZERO Israelis in Gaza. ZERO.
❓Yes, but Israel has blockaded Gaza.
👉 No. Israel has blocked the uncontrolled entry/exit from the northern part of Gaza. To the south, Gaza borders Egypt. Egypt’s blockade on the “Arab Palestinian sympathizers” was for 20 years (2005–2023) much stricter than Israel’s.
❓ What? Say again? 😲😲 👉 Didn’t you notice? For decades, the borders between “brother Egyptians” and “brother Palestinians” has been more hermetically closed than a pickle jar. Why?
❓I don’t know what you’re talking about - I just know that Israel is committing genocide.
👉 Then they must be very bad at this - because the Arab population in Palestine has increased eightfold since 1947.
❓Why do you insist on calling Palestinians Arabs? You annoy me.
👉 Because they self-identify that way. The famous slogan (in English) “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free” is a convenient romanticization of the real slogan in Arabic, which literally says “from the water (Jordan) to the water (Mediterranean) Palestine will be Arab.” Sorry to burst your bubble.
❓All this is happening because of what the Palestinians want : an independent state.
👉 No! If that were true, then why wasn’t that state declared from 1947 until 1968, during the period that Gaza was NOT part of Israel but under Egypt and Syria? 20 years wasn't enought for a simple declaration?
❓Ok maybe they didn’t do it then for reasons I don’t know, but surely they wanted it from 1968 and so on.
👉 No, the Palestinians refused many times to create an independent state.
❓What do you mean? That’s nonsense ! You’re a liar!
👉 At least five times the Arabs refused the creation of a Palestinian state.
1️⃣ From 1918 to 1936 - the whole area was under British occupation. After the Arab revolt of 1936, the British proposed the creation of two independent states: one for Arabs and one for Jews. The agreement clearly disadvantaged the Jews since it would give them 20% of the land and to the Arabs 80%, and on the top of that , Jerusalem would remain under exclusive international trusteeship (like Berlin before German reunification). Although it was a bad proposal, the Israelis said yes — but the Arabs said no. That was the first refusal.
2️⃣ In 1947, considering the Holocaust tragedy, the United Nations again proposed the creation of two states. Again, the Jews said yes and the Arabs no. That was the second refusal. Furthermore, immediately after the no, the Arabs allied with Iraq, Jordan, and Egypt and launched a war against the -then weak- Jews. The Jews won that war, in which they were defending themselves, and thus Israel was created — acquiring some of the disputed lands. Jordan also annexed a large part of the territory, which became known as the West Bank since it was on the western side by the Jordan River.
3️⃣ In 1967 Egypt, allied with Syria and Jordan, attacked Israel again. This was the famous Six-Day War, in which the attacking Arabs lost again. Israel, defending itself once again, overtook the West Bank from Jordan and also the now famous small strip of land from Egypt, the Gaza Strip. Israel then faced the question of what to do with this newly acquired land. Israel proposed that instead of returning it to Egypt and Jordan, it maybe be given to the native Arabs living there (who had started calling themselves Palestinians around 1964) to create a state. The Arabs rejected the proposal at the famous Sudan conference. That was the third refusal.
4️⃣ In 2000, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, in talks with Yasser Arafat mediated by Bill Clinton, again proposed giving all of Gaza and 94% of the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as the capital of the new Palestinian state. Arafat said no. That was the fourth refusal. Nevertheless, Israel voluntarily withdrew from Gaza and handed it over to the Arabs, who still have exclusive control today. This was the era of the Second Intifada. Again, Palestinians chose war instead of peace.
5️⃣ In 2008, Israeli Prime Minister Olmert made another attempt, offering Palestinians all the territory previously proposed by his predecessor and additional land, with East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. Mahmoud Abbas said no. That was the fifth refusal.
❓Ok, yes, the Palestinians maybe refused these times, but only because they didn’t want to live with Jews right next on their land. Right?
👉 Ok lets assume that this was the reason . So why aren’t they similarly angry with Jordan? 60–70% of Jordan’s population identify as Palestinians. Don’t they mind them?
❓I don’t know what you’re saying. Jews are settlers, colonials, they don’t belong here.
👉 No. The phrase “They have no right to be here — they are settlers, colonials” is the mantra they’ve been taught to say (to their fellow Arabs and to western sympathizers) whenever they hear the argument “Why can’t the two peoples live together in brotherhood?” Well, let's bring an end to this mantra : Israelis are NOT settlers — they are indigenous. Although they indeed ceased to be the majority peoples since the Roman exile, they have had continuous presence in the area for 2000 years since the exodus.
❓But the Palestinians were more numerous.
👉 True, but what does that mean? Also, the term Palestinian deserves discussion.
❓What do you mean?
👉 The term Palestine etymologically relates to one of the ancient tribes in the region, the Philistines (the Biblical Philistines we learned about in school!). History goes roughly as follows:
👉 Archaeological findings show that the Canaanites appeared first in the area, then the Israelites (later called "the tribes of Israel") around 1300–1400 BCE. The Israelis claim an even earlier presence, but archeological findings do not confirm it . But, from 1300 BCE and onwards, they were certainly there. At that time (1300 BCE) there are also references to the Philistine Tribe . The Canaanites were almost certainly absorbed by the Israelite tribes, but all references to Philistines mysteriously disappear around the 8th or 7th century BCE. Yes, opur fellow Philistines vanish for many hundreds of years. Fast forward now for 800 years , to about 70 CE, when Roman emperor Titus expelled most Jews from the region and gave the area (for unknown reasons) the name Palestine—borrowed from their extinct old enemies, the Philistines. This was the first time the name was written like that. Further six hundred years later, Arabs conquer the region. But they never identified as Palestinians until 1967.
❓ What? Say again? 😲😲
👉 I said that although the area was called Palestine (by the British rulers), the Arab inhabitants did not identify as Palestinians until 1964 when Yasser Arafat revived the term 1000 years later!
❓...😲😲
👉 Nice, huh?
❓Ok ok, but now these people DO self-identify as Palestinians.
👉 OK . Good for them. But all this proves that Arab Palestinians and Jewish Israelis are both ancient peoples with continuous presence. Israelis are there for 3500 years or even more, Palestinians similarly are there for either 3500 - or for 1500 years, depending on whether you see them as Arabs or Philistines (remember: We established that they consider themselves as Arabs). So , to sum it up . This is definitely not an “indigenous people versus settler people” conflict.
❓Gibberish! I just know that Jews have no business in the Middle East.
👉 If Jews have no business there, why does the Quran mention Israel 47 times and NEVER mentions Palestine?
❓ Whaaaaaat? Say again? 😲😲
👉 The Quran never mentions Palestinians. Nowhere!
❓But the Jews are Zionists. ZIONISTS!!!
👉 Yes, so what?
❓Didn’t you hear me? They are ZIONISTS!
👉 Zionism is not a bad word. Zionist means : Israeli patriot. (The word Zion refers to the biblical homeland of the tribes of Israel.) It’s like saying Che Guevara was a “Zionist” for Argentina, or George Washington was a "Zionist" for USA. Ok . They were: So what?
❓So Palestinians shouldn’t have their own state?
👉 They have one! It’s called Jordan. As we said above, 60–70% of Jordanians identify as Palestinians.
❓But Gaza...
👉 We talked about Gaza. See above.
❓But the West Bank...
👉 Ok. Let’s talk about the West Bank. First, you should know the West Bank area came under Israeli control after the 1967 war - a war Israel did not start. They defended themselves and they won. Realistically speaking country borders are formed this way. Jordan attacked Israel in 1947, they lost, and Israel reclaimed ancient land.
The West Bank is divided into three areas: A, B, C
1️⃣ Area A: about 4-5% of the West Bank. Under full Palestinian political and military control. Israel has no involvement.
2️⃣ Area B: about 25%. Under Palestinian political control and joint Palestinian Israeli military/police control.
3️⃣ Area C: the area you’ve heard so much about - under Israeli control since 1967. The so-called “settlements” are here.
OK , maybe this seems unfair and ugly. But let's not forget. As we established , 5 times the Arabs refused a solution that would give them 95% of the above.
❓ Yes, but still the Jews would have some land! This is Unfair!
👉 OK. Lets do this. Open a world atlas and look at Europe Africa, Middle East, and Israel . A huge area on the left side of this area - starting from the west coast of Africa, Morocco and Mauritania, going into the middle of the area, to Sudan and Somalia, then to the far right : deep in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Sudan, and finally up to Iraq.
This the Arab world.
And right in the middle, a tiny state the size of a lentil, the only non-Arab state.
And you tell me this tiny lentil bothers the Arabs and must be wiped out. So half a thousandth of the area bothers the 999.5 thousandth. Okay. Makes sense.
❓ You’re a fascist. You’re a fascist. You’re a very fascistic fascist.
👉 I’ll answer you with a poem from my beloved poet Bertold Brecht:
▪️ I stood on a hill and saw the Old approaching, but it came as New.
▪️ It crawled on new crutches no one had seen before, smelling of new rot no one had smelled before.
▪️ Around stood those inspired by fear, shouting:
▪️ Enough of the Old, we want the Brand New, hail the New, become new like us! [...]
▪️ Thus the Old appeared disguised as New,
▪️ And brought chained the New - to present it as Old.
▪️ The new walked chained and dressed in rags. Its divine limbs were revealed.
▪️ And the procession continued into the night,
▪️ But what they took for dawn was the light of fires in the sky.
▪️ And the cry: Enough of the Old, hail the Brand New, hail the New, become new like us!
▪️ It would be heard easier if all had not drowned in volleys of guns.