Israel/Palestine thread
Think this merits its own thread...
Discuss my fellow 2+2ers..
AM YISRAEL CHAI.
[QUOTE=Crossnerd]
--As I said earlier, who does the EU imagines works in the West Bank? I doubt It is the religious sheep herder settlers that are probably on Israel govt assistance anyways.
It is probably 90%+ Palestinians. So if companies are being boycotted for being in the West Bank, they will just leave and take the jobs with them. The world is a big place. Lots of places to build a factory. Probably the only reason Israeli companies are in the West Bank at all is so they can employ Palestinians, and they are probably getting some sort of financial reward for it from Western NGOs/GCCs to encourage them employing Palestinians.
One of the problems with boycotting/embargoing Israel to "help" Palestinians is that Palestinians (including Israeli Arabs) are fairly integrated economically in Israel, and on average they tend to be more economically vulnerable, so they would bear the brunt of the measures.
The fundamental problem is the same as it has been for 80 years now. The Palestinians never stopped fighting their war to kick out the Jews. And even if there was somehow a paradigm shift here, there is no will or capacity to stopped non state actors (who are often working alongside foreign states) from continuing the struggle if given the breathing room to.
So Israel makes sure they dont have breathing room, and everyone is collectively punished. But the world has provided no better alternative than this.
A Radical Vision for Israelis and Palestinians
--Ezra Klein gave an interview to a couple of Israeli left wing activists (they call Tel Aviv Jaffa just to give an idea how ideologically committed these women are) who are in a "1 state solution" movement that proposes having freedom of movement, but you can only vote where you are registered. So it would basically mean Palestinians could "return" to Israel, but not participate politically.
--During the interview Klein repeatedly brought up the point no one in Israel, including Arabs, would want this for various political and economic reasons. And armed Palestinians 'liberation' groups would also not accept it because it legitimizes Israel.
So how does a democratic state organize their society in a way that literally no one wants? Israel has their version of a Constitution and Supreme Court like the US, but there is certainly no legal justification for engaging in this type of action against the will of pretty much everyone.
The women kind of sidestepped the question.
--This guy is a very influential Shia businessman, whose political role is to essentially be a bridge for Hezbollah/IRGC, to sanitize and legitimize their voice.
--The fact that he is flat out saying the Lebanon should not have talks at all with Israel, defying the rest of the Lebanese govt and the Trump administration, is actually a pretty big "mask off" moment; where he doesn't even pretend he isn't speaking for Hezbollah/IRGC. If anything this shows how weak their position has become politically, that Berri is directly stanning for them and directly contradicting the interests of the US and the rest of Lebanon.
The General Synod voted only to 'hear' the Palestinian Christian document that made that fairly understandable claim, and not to 'receive' or endorse it. A further vote is expected in November. The document's apparent excusal of the crimes of Oct 7 may prove a stumbling block in the end. Zionists are having kittens anyway, but then they always do.
