All situations that lead to open violence are complex and full of unknowns that we learn about sometimes decades later, and history is written by the victors. As a bystander I make my own opinion of what I understand, subject to change when and if the information changes... A bit like trading, no?
I think the Jewish Israeli American Author and Historian Norman Finklestein's explanation of the ongoing Israel/Palestine conflict (that he has been personally involved with and studied for over 30+ years) is an excellent and calm 52 minute watch... it is a very accurate description of the real issues and causes.
From the questions she asked at the end, it seems she wasn't listening very much to what he had to say.
As far as I'm concerned, Hamas or Hezbollah aren't fighting for Palestinian rights or land. They are fighting to eradicate Israel out of what they believe is Muslim land, from the river to the sea. There are many more Muslims in the world than there are Jews and, today, individual voices can be heard or read by the thousands for the millions. In this battle of numbers for attention and action Jews will lose. But in Israel, Jews decide their fate and they sure as hell won't let terrorists get away with slaughtering 1200 civilians and taking hundreds of hostages. I feel great sadness for the Palestinians living in Gaza whose lives aren't dedicated to killing Jews but are dying all the same with those who are, weapons in hand or not. I also feel great anger towards the right-wing nationalist Jews who are dedicating their lives to expanding Israel's territory to fulfill some messianic calling, one kibbutz at a time. I see no peaceful resolution to this tragedy, only more killings of the guilty and the innocent on both sides.
Right, I do as well. Yet you refer to "....... terrorists get away with slaughtering 1200 civilians and ...." and on the other side "......... right-wing nationalist Jews...."?