u/Gary_Garibaldi

Probably because I post on this sub-reddit, i've had 'Ask Israel' promoted to me over the last month. When I read the questions and answers from Israelis, it's clear that almost all of them dare not put themselves in Palestinian shoes. Sometimes they might say they acknowledge the suffering but will quickly say Palestinians brought it on themselves, the suffering is exaggerated online, West Bank settler terrorism and warcrimes by IDF soldiers are rare and not routine etc.

It is noticeable that Israeli discourse only can focus on Israel as being the victim and Palestinians are perpertraitors. It feels like if they acknowledge the humanity of Palestinians they feel it diminishes their own. They seem surprised that the rest of the world does not feel this way, and can only rationalise it by believing that the rest of the world is antisemitic. Here in the UK I have seen people who have been supportive of Israel for most of their lives turn against Israel over recent years after witnessing Gaza and the escalation of Israeli violence in the West Bank. Have these people suddenly turned antisemitic?

And then there is the distortion of history, again to paint the Palestinians as having brought this fate entirely on themselves. I would ask Israeli supporters to answer the following:-

1. If a foreign power (ie the UK) proposed to divide up your homeland (ie Peel commission) in which 225k (25%) of your people would be forced to move and your people were not consulted, would you accept it?
2. If a new plan was drawn up which would give over 50% of the land to a minority group in your country consisting of 30%, would you accept it? (i.e. UN Partition plan)
3. If the most 'generous' peace offer was to only give you 22% of your historic homeland back, fragmented into two zones not connected to each other whilst your hostile neighbour who led to your ethnic cleansing in the first place maintained control over your borders, airspace and key water sources would you accept it? (i.e. Olmert plan, Camp David)
4. If your people lived in cages surrounded by army checkpoints, lack of free movement, reduced ecnomic opportunities and periodic violence from hostile terrorists and soldiers, would you resist?

For balance, If I had been a Jew living with Pogroms and then an industrial attempt to end my people in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s, I absolutely would have gone to fight for a homeland in Palestine. I would have done everything in my power to bring my people to safety.

Despite being a Leeds fan, I have developed weirdly warm feelings towards Millwall as I live in South London and have lots of Millwall supporting friends here.

Still though, Hull Fans singing 'No one hates you, no one cares' has had me chuckling all morning.

Unlucky boys & girls. Good luck for next season

Hello all,

I'd like to recommend a book I've just read called 'Tomorrow is yesterday: life, death, and the pursuit of peace in Israel/ Palestine'.

The book is co-authored by two retiring international mediators (Hussein Agha, Lebanese mediator for the Palestinians and Robert Malley, American mediator for the Israelis). The two are reflecting on the failed peace attempts going back over their career of over 3 decades. They give their honest thoughts on why Oslo was always destined to fail, and why they think the '2 state solution' was never going to be a truly desirable or viable option for either side. They reflect that discussions on peace centre on borders and technicalities but ignore the much deeper issues of history, identity and emotion. They describe it as a gimmick imposed from outside, an artificial partition that neither side truly want and why it was dead on arrival.

Israelis want to be accepted and their place in the middle east to be normalised. Palestinians want justice, redemption and dignity and the two state solution imposed by the US doesn't get to the core of this. They argue that it's impossible to make an acceptable solution in the present without making a judgement on the past and both sides have wildly differing narratives about how we got to this point (as well as absolute conviction that they are right and the other side is wrong).

They also claim that 07/10 and the aftermath was not surprising to them, that it follows a long cycle of frenzied anger and revenge that has only increased in scale and severity over time.

If you want a deep understanding of the last thirty years from two men who were at the very core, spent a lot of time with the key actors and at all of the major peace talks then this is the book for you.