Former President Barack Obama said a way forward for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is only possible if people acknowledge the “complexity” of the situation.

“If there’s any chance of us being able to act constructively to do something, it will require an admission of complexity and maintaining what on the surface may seem contradictory ideas that what Hamas did was horrific, and there’s no justification for it. And … that the occupation and what’s happening to Palestinians is unbearable,” Obama said in an interview on the podcast “Pod Save America.”

The former president’s comments come as the Israeli military focuses its offensive against Hamas in Gaza City and northern parts of the enclave.

  • Pons_Aelius
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    848 months ago

    Sadly, there is no way forward. The leaders of both sides want the complete elimination of the other.

    • Quokka
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      1208 months ago

      So remove the leaders of both sides.

      • donuts
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        458 months ago

        Unfortunately Hamas hasn’t held a single election since they were elected in 2006, and Netanyahu is looking similarly autocratic. The recent escalation is only going to make both sides more antagonistic.

        In other words, this shit ain’t going away any time soon.

        • @[email protected]
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          68 months ago

          Why should hamas keep down their arms when they see what is happening in disarmed Westbank?

          • Roboticide
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            108 months ago
            1. Unarmed protest is always an option. It’s a harder option, but it is an option.

            2. Hamas could keep their weapons, and target actual military targets in Gaza.

            3. Israel already withdrew from Gaza in '06, but Hamas is happy to launch rockets at civilian targets in Israel.

            4. Hamas could launch rockets at civilian targets in Israel from non-civilian locations in Gaza, instead of using schools and hospitals.

            Hamas has consistently picked the most hostile options because Hamas doesn’t just want a free Palestine, Hamas wants the destruction of Israel and rejects any territory existing as an Israeli state. Gaza isn’t even fully isolated by Israel, but Egypt wants nothing to do with Hamas either.

            I’m not even saying armed resistance is wrong, but what Hamas does is. And yes, Israel’s government is also just as wrong, if not more so.

            • @[email protected]
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              18 months ago

              You must be new to the world then.

              1. Unarmed protests are not an option as evidenced by the great march of return in Gaza. Israhell knee capped Palestinians with bullets.
              2. How exactly? Are you providing them with precision weapons. Also Hezbolla is exclusively targeting military and Israhell killed Lebanese civilians. Hezbolla responded by promising to kill 1 Israeli civilian for every Lebanese civilian killed by Israel. Also you might not be familiar with Dahiya doctrine of Israel.
              3. Gaza does not exist in a vacuum. Gaza and hamas can see the occupation and annexation of the Westbank. They can see the desecration of Aqsa.
              4. You are pretending everything Israel says is true even though you know they lie all the time.

              Why shouldn’t Hamas continue armed resistance? Westbank is the living example of what happens when resistance dwindles. Israhell takes all. Simple.

            • @[email protected]
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              18 months ago

              Yes. If Arabs had helped they’d have their own state by now. But the monarchies helped suppress and kill Palestinian state hood because they are afraid of what the Levant Arab mindset represents. They are afraid of both islamist and secular Levant arab politics because they represent unity beyond borders.

      • @samokosik
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        18 months ago

        And make sure they are both secular.

    • @[email protected]
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      428 months ago

      Lol not true. Palestine disarmed in the Westbank and got nothing except brutal apartheid and evictions as a result.

    • @[email protected]
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      98 months ago

      It’s not the government who is settling the West Bank. Yes, it is their policy, but it’s regular Israeli citizens who are killing Palestinians, burning their homes down or taking their homes from them and driving them away.

      • Roboticide
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        8 months ago

        I mean, the government is incentivizing it and enabling it.

        Settlers wouldn’t settle the West Bank if the Israeli military wasn’t protecting them. The government is absolutely the problem.

        Go try and take someone’s home by force. It won’t go well. But it will go a lot better when it’s sanctioned by an overwhelming military force.

        And in turn, Western governments are enabling the Israeli government. If the West sanctioned Israel as hard as they sanctioned Iran or Russia, they’d probably think twice about annexing the West Bank. But instead of sanctions they get weapons.

    • @[email protected]
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      8 months ago

      enact a european style democratic state with no official religious affiliation. problem solved. jews and muslims don’t actually hate each other. they live side by side all the time.