The war in the Gaza Strip continues and is a tragedy for the Palestinians and for the Israelis.
The Islamic terrorist group Hamas decided to start this war on October 7 when it invaded Israeli towns bordering the Gaza Strip and committed a massacre of the Jewish people that has not been remembered since the time of Nazism, including kidnappings.
In other words, we are in a war that the people of Israel did not want due to the decision of Hamas, which was elected by the majority of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which by the way has the support and sympathy of more than 75% of the Palestine population.
The Palestinians are always considered victims by the Arab world, by the United Nations, by the majority of non-democratic countries and above all by themselves.
There is a distorted view of reality in this conflict that seems to have no end. The distorted view is this: the Palestinians are victims, therefore they are “good,” the Israelis are the victimizers, therefore they are “bad.” In this way everything that the Palestinians say and decide is justified and everything that is on the Israeli side is invalidated.
Well, if the international majority approves what the Palestinians say and decide because they are “eternal victims,” then let us briefly remember the main decisions that the Palestinians made in the last 76 years.
In 1947, the League of Nations, with the vote of the majority of the countries, decided to divide this land in two states, one Jewish and the other Arab. Let us not forget that a partition of this land had already occurred in 1922 that would lead to then to the creation of the present Arab state of Jordan.
In the second partition of 1947, the Jews accepted the creation of a Palestinian Arab state next to Israel with much smaller territory for the Jews. But what did those who would be called Palestinians decide? They decided not to recognize Israel and start not only a boycott but the war, the war was started by the Palestinian Arabs in the territories that were granted to Israel and in strategic points in various areas. In other words, the Jews who would be part of the emerging state of Israel had no problems with a Palestinian state living in peace side by side.
On May 14, 1948, the state of Israel was declared and Israel was immediately attacked by the following Arab nations: Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. These nations demanded that Palestinians in many towns and cities leave their homes until this coalition of Arab nations finished off Israel so that they could then return to their homes. Those future Palestinians decided to accept that proposal from their Arab brothers and a large part of the problem of Palestinian refugees begins there. At the same time, more than 850,000 Jews living in Arab countries were persecuted, harassed, and forced to leave the Arab countries for Israel to save their lives. These Jewish refugees became permanent citizens of the state of Israel.
In other words, the Palestinians decided not to accept a Palestinian state next to Israel, instead they decided to go to war in 1947 and 1948.
Between 1948 and 1967, the Palestinians could have had a state in the territories that they claim today from Israel and then were in the hands of Egypt (Gaza) and Jordan (the West Bank), if they had reached an agreement with their Arab brothers, but among themselves they decided that it was not enough and Israel had to be eliminated in any way possible, which is why the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) was created in 1964. That organization did not accept a single inch of land for Israel. It was led by its top leader Yasser Arafat who was born in Egypt.
Arafat who represented the Palestinians decided that only armed struggle and terrorism would lead his people to eliminate Israel.
I mean, even before the Six-Day War in 1967, the Palestinians had always decided that there would be no option of two states, one Jewish and one Arab, living together in peace, but only a Palestinian Arab state.
After the Six-Day War in 1967, there was a very important meeting of the members of the Arab League in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, and in a resolution they established the three famous No:
Not making peace with Israel, Not recognizing the state of Israel and Not negotiating with Israel.
Most of those decisions are applied to this day by most Arab and Islamic countries to this day with very few exceptions.
The Palestinians then in the 70s decided to hijack international planes to draw attention to their cause, dragging passengers from different countries that were not even all Jewish and committing massacres, kidnappings of innocent people and crimes.
The Palestinians decided to hijack the Munich Olympics in 1972 and carried out another massacre of Israeli athletes in Germany to once again draw world attention.
Still in the 70s, the Palestinians decided to attack Israel with terrorist actions penetrating from Jordan until the Jordanians themselves grew tired of the Palestinians since they perceived these actions as a Jordanian national danger and as an internal danger for the Hashemite regime of King Hussein of Jordan and then the Jordanians themselves persecuted the Palestinians of the PLO, killing a few thousand of them in what is called “Black September” and expelled them to Lebanon.
From Lebanon, once installed, the PLO also attacked Israel from the north in terrorist attacks that did not stop. The Christian Phalangists of Lebanon also got tired of the Palestinians, persecuted them and killed several hundred Palestinians who had transformed Lebanon into a battle front when they began to take over sectors of Lebanon.
The PLO and Arafat were expelled from Lebanon and 15,000 Palestinians went to Tunisia in 1985.
Then the Palestinians decided in 1987 to start the first “intifada” (violent popular uprising of Palestinian citizens throwing stones, Molotov cocktails, and shooting with all types of projectiles at Israeli soldiers and citizens in Gaza and the West Bank).
In 1990, during the Gulf War, the United States led a coalition of Western and Arab allied countries against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq for its invasion of Kuwait. The Palestinians decided to identify and support Saddam Hussein when scud missiles fell on Tel Aviv.
In 1993 the Oslo accords would begin to try to reach a final agreement of peace and mutual recognition between Israel and the Palestinians.
Negotiations continued as Israel continued to receive terrorist attacks. In 1995, with a left-wing Israeli government led by Ehud Barak together with a Democrat government of the United States led by Bill Clinton, met at Camp David with Yasser Arafat representing the PLO (later it would be called the Palestinian National Authority) and later of extensive negotiations, Arafat surprisingly renounces a peace agreement with Israel while at the same time the attacks of Palestinians immolating themselves with bombs attached to their bodies in different cities in cafes and restaurants cause the death of hundreds of innocent Israelis and citizens of various nationalities due to the decisions of the Palestinian leaders supported by their people.
We reach the year 2000 and a new excuse for the Palestinians to decide to start the second intifada occurs when the former Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, visits the esplanades of the Temple in Jerusalem.
As part of the second intifada, Palestinian attacks occur in various parts of Israel.
The Palestinians in the Gaza Strip decide to attack around 10,000 Israelis living in the Gaza Strip with various terrorist attacks.
In 2005, Ariel Sharon, in a very controversial and complex decision, decided to remove those Israelis who had been living there for a long time in their homes with the idea of trying to approach “pacification” with the Palestinians but after a general election in Gaza, Hamas would displace the Palestinian National Authority in a violent struggle in 2007 and dominate the Gaza Strip. Hamas, which represents the Palestinians in that area and was elected in general elections by its population, decides in its constitution that Israel must be destroyed.
Between that period and 2023, Hamas decided, with the support of Iran, to arm itself militarily with thousands of rockets and all types of weapons to attack Israel. In all those years Hamas decided to launch thousands of rockets against the Israeli civilian population. Israel responded in military operations to deter the Hamas terrorist organization.
The Palestinians in the area of Samaria and Judea (the West Bank according to the international community) led by the Palestinian National Authority whose leader is Mahmoud Abbas known as Abu Mazen decided to pay or financially reward those families who have “martyrs” (Palestinian terrorists who have killed innocent Israeli civilians either with knives, weapons or by immolating themselves in any suicidal action).
The Palestinians also in 2020 decided not to accept the “deal of the century” as it was called by the Trump government and in which Israel agreed to reach a treaty in principle so that the Palestinians have their country and Israel can live in peace. Palestinians decided not only to refuse but also threatened all parties with violence if the project continued.
The Palestinians decided to align themselves with any country or organization that hates Israel such as: Iran, Hezbollah (recognized terrorist organization that operates in Lebanon) and others.
We reach October 7, 2023 and Palestinians generally decided to celebrate with joy the massacre perpetuated by Hamas.
The Palestinians have always decided to be intransigent and place themselves in the role of “eternal victims” to manipulate the majority of countries with their political intentions and being victims means receiving financial help from all over the world, that aid, instead of being invested in creating a better society for them, was used in weapons that bring war, more violence and self-destruction.
The Palestinians are victims of all the decisions they made from 1947 until now without a doubt.
There is a saying that goes: “Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity to reach peace with Israel.”
Author
Adiel Wajsman
Licensed Tour Guide
December 31, 2023