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Gaza is not prime real estate: 1. Gaza is not part of historical Israel. Therefore, many of the settler groups are not interested. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Judah 2. Gaza is far more overcrowded. The West Bank has lots of empty land that settlements can be built into. 3. The goal of the hardliners is to wait until there is a Jewish majority in the West Bank, and then annex it. That's not possible in Gaza.

Israel withdrew from Gaza before Hamas was elected.

They actually didn't. In the midst of the 2nd intifada, where there were daily suicide attacks, Israel offered 95% of the West Bank plus land swap. That offer was rejected. The suicide attacks only stopped after Israel put up a wall to keep the attackers out. Regardless of your stance on Hamas, I can tell you that their strategy is 100% not working. Israelis feel like they need a buffer, so they encourage the settlements. Hamas is a proxy army of Iran, and Israelis cannot have that close to their major cities. After Israel withdrew from Gaza, the Palestinians voted in Hamas. Now Israelis, not so surprisingly, don't want to make any further withdrawals.

I don't disagree. This is a conflict. The problem I see in this discussion is there are clearly people trying to turn this into a purely moral debate where only side is at fault. Also, if the Palestinians dismantled Hamas, including its military wing, into a standard political party (the way Israel did with Irgun), it would solve a lot of problems.

So basically your argument boils down to the Palestinians being labeled as victims, and they, therefore, can do no wrong and are not responsible for any of their own actions. There's no doubt that the Palestinians are victims, but when they do things, like elect Hamas as their leaders, it will lead to more conflict.

Can you provide more detail about these endless attacks without provocation? What is your definition of provocation?

A peace agreement would have ended all of that. That was the whole point. Also, not all settlers are Jewish. Arab Israelis have just as much right to live anywhere in Israel as the Jewish residents, and many have moved into Israeli settlements, especially around Jerusalem: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-settlements-idUSKBN0JL0D620141207

Your ability to distort facts is pretty incredible. You are clearly trying to make the point that Hamas is just some minor off shoot, and the Palestinians have no responsibility for them being in power. This was very much a decision of the Palestinian people, particularly those of Gaza. They elected war.

The Point was Israel didn't reject the plan. In fact, the Israeli's offer of 95+% of the West Bank plus land swaps was almost identical to the plan.

This isn't correct. The Geneva Initiative was not a peace offer but a general plan. It was drafted by many parties, including Israelis and Palestinians but was not an offer from either side. It led to the Taba Summit and the "Napkin offer", both were offers by Israel of around 95% of the West Bank, and maybe more land swaps after. It's also quite offensive to continually bring up the holocaust as some kind of analogy to this. Did the Israelis kill 6 million Palestinians in gas chambers? No. Maybe they aren't the same thing.

Hamas launching rockets into Israel is the main factor driving Israeli settlement into the West Bank. The threat of violence keeps right wing governments in power in Israel, which are always allied with harsh pro-settlement parties. Many Israelis also look at what's happening in Gaza and see something that they can't have repeated closer to their major cities, like Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and decide they need a buffer zone...which is the settlements.

In the modern world, anything you put in print or that is recorded can easily follow you. Everyone should be aware of that.

You don't think it would be damaging to someone's career if it came forth that they stated Mein Kampf was their favorite book. The worry is other people making it known to the public or your employers.

The last Palestinian offer was total pre-1967 borders and full right of return for all Palestinians. That would have not allowed a Jewish state of any kind. It totally ignores the reality of what's happened for the last 200 years as well. For example: 1. Jews were forcibly expelled from the West Bank and most Muslim/Arab countries. No acknowlegement of or compensation for that. Most Israeli Jews are descended from these refugees. 2. Israel won the wars... where the Arabs were trying to destroy them. You don't just get everything back when you lose a war. 3. Hamas and various Palestinian groups continue to want to destroy Israel. So if Israel accepts that proposal, they are putting themselves into a position where they will cease to exist. That's not a peace offering, that's a threat. I would like to see the details of all these offers that Israel turned down for a two state solution.

That kid should be very grateful that the school made the decision to pull the year book then. If it was a joke, then it's the kind of joke that would have followed this kid for the rest of his life. Good luck getting holding a job when your employers find out you made these kinds of statements.

This isn't remotely true. The Palestinians, as a condition, wanted a right of return for all Palestinians, who had been there for two years or more and their descendants, into Israel proper. That would have given an Arab majority in Israel, so no Jewish state. The closest we've ever gotten to an agreement was at the Taba Summit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taba_Summit The Palestinians would have been guaranteed all of the Gaza Strip, a capital in East Jerusalem, 94% of the West Bank, and land to compensate them for that 6% of the West Bank. There are disagreements about who was at fault for not reaching a final agreement, but Arafat refused to give up the right of return. The Palestinians and Arabs have never once offered Israel a proposal that allows them to exist under a non-Arab majority. If you really want to go back to basics, the two state solution was supposed to exist in 1948, but the Arab force invaded Israel, ending it.

In order for that to happen, both sides would need to respect the other's right to exist. And it would have to go beyond just the Palestinians/Israelis themselves, countries like Iran would need to stop funding militant organizations to take out Israel. Realistically, this would take a monumental shift on both sides. Hamas has stated outright that they will never accept an Israeli state, and they aren't some fringe terrorist organization. Hamas won 73 out of 132 seats in the last elections, with the next closest party getting 43 seats. On the Israeli side you Orthodox Jews trying to recreate a biblical Israeli state that includes most of the West Bank. More moderate Israelis see the rockets coming out of Gaza and rightfully fear what would happen if those rockets were closer to major cities. They then support the settlements as a buffer between them and the militants. The key to a two state solution is a genuine push from external powers. The US needs to take a hard stance and state that the West Bank must be independent from Israel. The Arab nations need to take a hard stance and make it clear to the Palestinians that Israel will continue to exist as a Jewish state. Countries like Iran and Turkey need to stop using Palestinians as their pawns.

All Jews were expelled from the west Bank in 1949 when Jordan invaded it. Prior to that many Jews lived there.

I've never said it's entirely anyone's fault. Hamas, however, has made it quite clear they intend to destroy the state of Israel.

They believe that all the Jews is the world need to gather in Israel. Then there will be Armageddon. Then the second coming of Jesus will occur, and he will rule the world from Jerusalem in a new era of peace. I wouldn't call it nihilism, but there's some very high level politicians making decisions based on these beliefs. But yes, they are by far the greatest supporters of Israel in America. There may be as many as 100 million in the USA.

Hamas also funds hospitals, schools, and charity. That's for they get most of their support. It's not strictly by promising an endless war with Israel. The Muslim brotherhood also had political and military wings like Hamas. They are considered a terrorist organization by many nations. Most nations just consider Hamas' military wings a terrorist group. The UN general assembly rejected calls to have Hamas labeled a terrorist organization, generally. During the first intifada, many of the Palestinian groups reacted militarily, including the Palestinians branch of the MB. This is when Hamas became what it is, but it is 100% rooted in the MB.

Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim brotherhood. They were founded in 1928, before Israel came into being. Hamas is also funded by external forces, notably Iran.

Can't you order marijuana online for $6/gram from the government website? There's bulk for cheaper.

It's nuts right now. I can't tell if this is inflation or supply issues. The cost of basic food items, like dairy and meat, also seems to be rising. As does the cost of gas.

The perpetrator is 28 year old Yannick Bandaogo. He had been charged with 2nd degree murder.