Israel has invaded Gaza...

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

This is a serious inquiry Finn. When you look at the history...what does the history tell you? Particularly the history of the "occupation" or "annexation" of the West Bank and Gaza....

It comes as little surprise that religious differences play a role in this conflict (as they do in many others). Keep in mind that Palestinians supported the objectives of Egypt and Jordan back then against a common enemy. That enough is to explain the entire dynamic you refer to (the enemy of my enemy is my friend).

That said, none of this is particularly relevant to Palestinians younger than 30-40 years old. All they know is that they live in an open-air prison/ghetto and their houses are being bombed while Israel actively continues to recruit settlers to occupy further lands in the West Bank.

I'm neither pro-Israel nor pro-Palestinian in this conflict and, if anything, I lean pretty strongly towards Israel. My son, who has lived in Tel Aviv for 2 years, has now experienced two such conflicts and has remained safe due to their technical superiority (to which he has contributed, BTW).

That said, there are 2 sides to every story and the American public only knows one side. I too only knew the one side until I visited there (for a total of 5 weeks over several trips in the past 30 years). It's far more complex than "Palestinians are evil and Israelis are righteous."