The countries of the West have watched the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians for decades, baffled because every diplomatic effort to establish the much-vaunted ‘two-state solution’ has failed. The atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7, one year ago, left those of us in the West horrified by the barbaric savagery we witnessed, much of it documented and broadcast by Hamas itself. It’s been almost 80 years since the Nazis’ genocidal crusade against the Jews, but the heinous acts committed by Hamas have brought back the Nazi abominations of World War II with all their horror in stark relief. The Middle East now teeters on the brink of a  real war between Israel and Iran, made all the more harrowing as Iran has been developing nuclear capability thanks to the Biden-Harris administration, which abandoned any effort to discourage nuclear production in this foremost terrorist regime.

The perspective of many of the pundits in the West is that if the poor Palestinians weren’t under the oppressive rule of Hamas, we could easily achieve a ‘two-state solution’ for peace between Israel and Palestine. They firmly believe the Palestinians are the victims of a cruel, hateful regime, and without Hamas, they would readily adopt a ‘live and let live’ philosophy with Israel.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Palestine -- Land of Delusion and Hate

What the diplomats, politicos, and pundits in the media refuse to recognize is that the majority of Palestinians are far from being the helpless victims of a repressive Hamas regime that thwarts any two-state solution. Rather, the mindset of the Palestinians themselves absolutely forbids any two-state solution with Israel. Israel would accept it; Israelis have been amenable every time it’s been proposed. To our western, civilized thinking, it seems only logical that Palestine would prefer peace over the endless fighting and death they have experienced under Hamas rule. But that’s exactly where we ‘civilized’ westerners go wrong. It’s not just Hamas that hates Israel and all its people; the Palestinians themselves hate Israel and the Israeli people with an intense, even self-destructive hatred we cannot comprehend.

Recently, an independent journalist named Zach Sage Fox, an American Jew, ventured at great risk into Palestine just to talk to the Palestinian people. He took a cameraman with him to record his ‘man on the street’ interviews and document the actual opinions and perspectives of ordinary Palestinians. What he learned -- and what you can view for yourself -- was that far from wanting a two-state solution where they could live in peace with Israel, every Palestinian Zach interviewed -- without exception, both men and women -- did not want peace with Israel. They voiced a uniform wish to see Israel ‘deleted’. They want a one-state solution, with that one state being Palestine.

It's Either Us, or Us

The video begins with Zach interviewing a personable young woman who speaks very pleasantly; there’s no rage, no rancor, nor any strident tones. But behind the amiable attitude and affable manner are words of terrible consequence. When asked if she supports Hamas, she replies:

‘Every single Palestinian, from the oldest to the youngest one, we always support any kind of resistance.’

When Zach asked another woman if she was okay with the atrocities Hamas committed on October 7, 2023, her response was, ‘Everything’. He repeated, ‘You’re okay with everything they did?’ She said without hesitation, ‘With everything they did.’ To put it in context, ‘everything’ included the savage and brutal murders, rapes, and butchery of men, women, and children, even burning babies alive. It revolts the senses and staggers the civilized mind. Yet this woman was okay ‘with everything they did.’

She wasn’t alone. Everyone Zach interviewed live on camera voiced unwavering support for Hamas. Every person, man or woman, either fully approved of the barbarity of October 7, or they denied it happened, claiming it was an Israeli hoax, some kind of ‘false flag’ operation.

It was chilling to watch these individuals voice their animosity, hatred, and denial, one after the other, many with smiling faces and friendly candor. The Palestinians come across as personable, intelligent, reasonable, and amicable. But when it comes to Israel, it’s clear they adhere to a rigid, unyielding mindset. There is no room in their thinking for an Israeli state in the Middle East. As one woman declared in her interview:

“There is no two-state solution. It’s either us, or us.”

Westerners are Woefully (or Willfully) Ignorant

Western political leaders and pro-Palestinian protesters today insist that Israel cease the fighting against Hamas. Former French prime minister Emmanuel Macron recently called for an arms embargo against Israel, displaying a woeful (or perhaps willful) ignorance of the true nature of the conflict in the Middle East. Lacking the objectivity and insight of cultural anthropology, many in the West refuse to acknowledge the driving mentality of Hamas and the Palestinian people, a mentality that is dedicated to eradicating Israel completely. They insist on overlaying the West’s values and desire for peace at all costs on the Middle Eastern mind. That effort fails completely. Ever wonder why the rest of the countries in the region have remained quiet about the Israeli-Hamas-Palestinian conflict? It’s because they understand that there can be no peace between Palestine and Israel, Hamas or no Hamas. They recognize that Israel is not fighting to subdue Palestine and impose some kind of imperialistic rule over it. They know Israel is fighting for its very existence as an independent state.

Israel's Declaration of Independence vs. the Hamas Covenant

While Israel doesn’t have a constitution, per se, it does have a Declaration of Independence, a magnanimous charter that guarantees freedom, respect, equal rights, and dignity for all people within Israel’s borders, regardless of nationality, race, or religion, and peaceful coexistence for all its neighboring countries. These principles are typified by the more than 2 million Palestinians who live and work in Israel, crossing the border into that country freely every day.

In an informative video from a group called Traveling Israel, the narrator offers an historical perspective with quotes from the Hamas Covenant, which is the equivalent of their constitution. It says:

“Israel exists and will continue to exist until Islam obliterates it as it has obliterated its predecessors.”

There is no room for compromise in this statement. The goal of Hamas is the complete destruction of Israel, and the majority of Palestinians -- as evidenced by Zach’s interviews -- are in complete accord with that genocidal goal. While Palestinians freely enter, work, and live in Israel, Palestine forbids Israelis to enter their country, and in fact, they would become immediate targets for violence and death by doing so.

Until the West stops trying to impose our western values on Palestine, a country that neither wants nor respects them, there will be no peace in the Middle East. The only path to peace is the destruction of the militant terrorist regime of Hamas by Israel. That demonstration of strength is the only means to induce Palestine to turn from its genocidal hatred and negotiate a real peace, if one is possible. It’s clear from the evidence Zach presents that Palestinians aren’t the oppressed victims of Hamas that the media presents. Staggering as it is to our western minds, the Palestinians willingly and actively support the genocidal goals of the richest and most vicious terrorist regime in the world.

Eric Dawe is an award-winning writer, chess enthusiast, and the author of two historical fiction novels based on Virgil’s epic poem, ’The Aeneid’: ‘Aeneas, Last King of Troy.’ and ‘Aeneas, Landfall of Legend.’

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