I have no interest in Arab/Palestine-Israel issues, so with that: The crux of the problem is the Israeli historical interpretation of their land as God's gift to Judaism, as being the first inhabitants perhaps up to 5000+ years ago (Arabs also claim first occupation). The major source for this Israeli position are religious texts (e.g. Bible). Academically that is a very questionable position & seems to me to be a weak present day justification. As Rabin said in this doc, "Why not create a new reality?" But, as Tzipi Hotovely, Israeli Assistant Deputy of Foreign Affairs says, "This land is ours. All of it is ours." "Settlements are a part of our heritage." "It is my right. This is my historic land."
In my view Israel's relations with the Palestinians has similarities to S. African apartheid, however here in the U.S. it shares a resemblance to the herding of Native peoples onto reservations. In all cases we have fenced barriers w/containment of culture, opportunity, movement, resources, and rights. And, as the resources on these "reservations" became valuable those lands are taken away, often by force. Example from this doc: A Bedouin village (herders of sheep, goats in this desolate area) built a school in the West Bank. Israel which controls construction & access to materials has repeatedly denied their village building this school. So w/help from the E.U. they built it themselves out of used tires and mud. Again, Israeli settlement expansion in this area resulted in tearing down the school. Israel needs more territory. They do not see this decades long slow strangulation of Arab-Palestinians as a moral problem. Recently in the news Israel has assigned its Arab inhabitants to second class citizenship status. Also recently since Israel controls all Arab mail entering the West Bank from loved ones including packages w/necessities of life it was held/stored for up to 8 years before being delivered - some of those recipients probably died before receiving mail from family. A recent BBC doc on Hebron showed film of Israeli soldiers holding assault rifles to the heads of young Arabs while shouting to turn off their cameras or they will shoot them in the head. Also shown was thug style behavior and killings by settlers & soldiers seemingly w/impunity. It reminded me of Mexican cartels, and worse still the police & military in several Asian countries.
