If you look at the map of Israel over the years since 1948 you will see a gradual expansion of territory and a consequential decline in the size of Palestine. It’s an uncomfortable fact but in effect Israel has been seeking, and seizing what in another context was called Lebensraum.
Benjamin Netanyahu has made no secret of his wish to increase further Israeli settlement. Other than the desert of Sinai, which they didn’t want, no Arab land sequestered militarily has been returned. And the task of creating ever greater Israel continues.
Violent protest and terrorism cannot be condoned even in opposition to land grabs – but nor can the extreme violence of war on the people of Palestine and those who support them.
Starmer is right that a two state solution is the only one. But can you see Israel returning any Palestinian land, including now Gaza? A few years ago I was in Bethlehem in the West Bank and talked with a Palestinian shop owner and his daughter. They were sad, but not strident. No doubt the hopelessness they felt then will be all the greater.
That the descendants of people who were victims of mankind’s worst ever crime are now perpetrators of destruction and murder themselves is beyond belief. When will we ever learn?
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