Former President Barack Obama said a way forward for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is only possible if people acknowledge the “complexity” of the situation.
“If there’s any chance of us being able to act constructively to do something, it will require an admission of complexity and maintaining what on the surface may seem contradictory ideas that what Hamas did was horrific, and there’s no justification for it. And … that the occupation and what’s happening to Palestinians is unbearable,” Obama said in an interview on the podcast “Pod Save America.”
The former president’s comments come as the Israeli military focuses its offensive against Hamas in Gaza City and northern parts of the enclave.
This war is lead by religious nutjobs.
Hamas heads enjoy vast wealth, but the foot soldiers are all religious as fuck.
On the Israeli side, the settlers in the West Bank are lead by religion. They want to conquere the whole area promised by God. They also want to demolish Israel (the state) and live under religious law of the Halacha. They can live much more comfortable life within the green baorder, so it’s not about real estate. They are sponsored by Evangelical Christian from the USA that hope they will bring Gog and Magog.
Israel, Gaza and the West Bank are all agriculturally productive, but also not productive enough to sustain their population, they all depend on imports. Moreover, the region depends on water desilation.
This is all true. I still think it’s a distraction from the major underlying causes, particularly when discussing it with casual observers. Religion is often wielded to manipulate people and justify things, but I still contend that the underlying forces motivating the conflict are fundamentally similar to most land disputes and not a result of this being some wildly unique situation.