Israel is responsible for Hamas coming to power to fight the PLO. But it turns out they were way worse then the PLO ever was.
FWIW: my take is there's decades of blood on both side's hands, with no obvious way out of the cycle of violence. Which is just very sad all around.
If i lived in gaza, i would probably be sympathetic to them. If i lived in Israel i'd probably be sympathetic to Israel. Thankfully i live no where near either of them, so i can live my privileged life in peace without having to worry about the entrentched problems of that region.
Its easier to call this an "ethnic cleansing" or "attacking civilian" then to actually admit that Gaza strip is a separate entity from Israel (unlike the west Bank). Israel doesn't want that land (or else they would leave it years ago or do a better job claiming it) They don't want to "clear the land of Palestinians" (or else they would just bomb them continuously instead of only when an escalation like this starts)
The fact is that in times of relative peace, Gaza receives some aid from Israel (power, water, medicine). The fact that this aid is conditional is only logical.
Yes, settlements are bad. But this is not the main reason why this is happening. The more co-existing west Bank have much better relations with Israel then the separated Gaza strip(although in the past, Gaza had much better relations as well-trade and workers could move almost freely)
Another option is a one state solution. Israel could grant every Palestinian a citizenship and with it a right to vote in national elections. There is zero chance that Hamas will have significant power in a unified parliament, and if they continue acts of terrorism in a unified non-apartheid state they can be tackled with a standard police force.
Basically what Israel shouldn’t do, is continue this current affair of keeping Palestine an occupied territory with accompanying apartheid system.
The two state solution seems like the most likely way forward, but if it was easy it would have happened already. After all, it failed in the 40s, and since then a lot of hate has built up on both sides.
This is different from annexation which would basically mean a surrender for the Palestinians. Israel would continue as is with the current constitution. Palestinians would become Israeli citizens but on the terms of the Israelis.
The thing is “one-state solution” means three different incompatible things: displacement of Israeli Jews, displacement or political suppression of Palestinian Arabs, and a multiethnic, multireligious democracy. You can’t really add up support for all three and call it support for one thing.
two state solution won't be taken off the table, it's just a scare tactic. but even if it were, chance that support for it will skyrocket in Israel is non-existent.
I don’t think it is fair to generalize over such a vast region by making grand statements like “they truly believe...”. In fact most Kurdish autonomous regions were pretty quick to adopt democracy as their system of choise after they liberated them self from the Islamic State terrorist group during the Syrian civil war. And popular pro-democracy uprisings in Yemen would suggest counter to your statement.
Hamas. The terror organization linked to Iran. Hamas. Not civilians, terrorists are responsible here. No actor in this is innocent.
Hamas had this strategy for years, they can't defeat Israel, but dead children in Gaza are perfect to ruin Israel's reputation in the world. And that is the strategy Iran followed for years now, and it is a well documented strategy for ISIL/Daesh and Al quaida.