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 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.