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The Importance of Palestinian Protests Against Hamas
Amplifying pragmatic Palestinian voices advances peace
There’s no way around it. Israelis and Palestinians sadly seem further away from peace than at any time in the last almost 50 years.
It’s not only because Israel essentially leveled most of Gaza and killed tens of thousands of Palestinians after Hamas committed horrific murders, kidnappings, rapes and the starvations of Israelis, Americans and others on Oct. 7, 2023.
The reasons peace remains elusive are manyfold.
On the Israeli side, the nation’s right-wing policies have established facts on the ground that make a possible peace deal incredibly difficult.
In the last 50 years, Israel has moved nearly 600,000+ Israelis into the West Bank. Up from 5,000 in 1979.
The West Bank, along with Gaza, of course is where any Palestinian State would have to exist.
As part of that mass migration into the would-be Palestinian State, Israel has gobbled up more and more land. Built checkpoints galore. Created separate roads for Israelis in the West Bank, all while making travel for Palestinians there incredibly burdensome.
Palestinians have limited access to farmland, while Israeli settlers have plenty…
