this post was submitted on 25 May 2025
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Sorry, try again. The negotiations have been sabotaged by Netanyahu at every step. The American government; first at Biden's direction and now Trump's; has lied to the public to cover for him, blaming Hamas and twisting the word 'ceasefire' to not mean ceasefire at all.
Not to mention that Israel has assassinated the "hot heads" you're referring to, who would be counterparts to Netanyahu. The leader of the Hamas organization, Yahya Al-Sinwar, was martyred in Gaza in October. Hamas's lead negotiator, lsmail Haniyeh, was assassinated in Tehran in July. Needless to say, they have stepped aside. Permanently.
I suggest reading a more comprehensive history of the negotiations themselves
When looking for the party who is being unreasonable in a negotiation, look to the one that has the least to lose by walking away. And while you're at it, stop acting like you know better or have more urgency than the people who have experienced 77 years of dispossession, occupation, and genocide, on their own land. You call them "terrorists" as if that dismisses their humanity en masse and the inherent rationality granted by such, but you betray charitability to the Israeli government by speaking as if all of its evil is contained within one powerful man. Why do you do that?
Actually no, wait, you must be the cooler head that will prevail. Don't you dare introspect before sharing your responses to the dilemmas pressed in that article I shared, lest you taint your answers with terrorist propaganda! Win a "ceasefire", except Israel is explicitly allowed to break it once you've given up the only bargaining chip (A chip that additionally has a chance of getting it through to the Israeli populace, who are paying attention, that their government does not care about them beyond their ability to legitimize Israel's occupation by existing on stolen land.) OR, continue pressing for an actual realistic end to your people's suffering.
Yes, I'm sure if you were in Gaza you would want a "cooler" disinterested party who doesn't care at all about you, your culture, or the land that has given both life, to be making that decision for you.
I have no dogs in this fight, so we can agree to disagree about the current leadership capabilities of both countries, Palestine and Israel.
No, I will not agree that its okay for anyone to blame the victims in this situation for their own genocide, but you can run away if you're so afraid of challenging your own western chauvinist notions.
You don't get it, do you? I think ALL govenments are tyrannical and act like terrorists in the end. Violence is violence, and none of it is justified.
You think a government is going to just give up power, that it won't take mass organization to challenge hegemonic powers and a new form of governance to deprogram the racist settler colonial ideology that is embedded into the Israeli populace? That's incredibly unrealistic. What's your plan to get there, then, and how does it help Palestinians?
Dogmatically denouncing all violence, when violence is the main tactic employed to enforce hegemony, is reactionary and counter productive. It only serves the status quo, to keep us where we are. It's chauvinism.
I don't have any plan, nor do I want to make one. I was merely making a point.
Then your point is a bad one. See my edit.
I wasn't denouncing violence, I was denouncing bad men. There's a difference. George Washington was just as much of a terrorist as Benjamin Netanyahu.
Yes you were????
Who is the "bad man" on the Hamas side that hasn't already been martyred? If there is none, why do you denounce Gaza's entire government but only one "bad man" when it comes to Israel? Is there any organization that would take up arms; put their lives on the line and use violence strategically to defend their people and resist violent occupation; that you would not denounce?
All of them are bad, because of their chauvinism.
So for Israel it's just Netanyahu, but for the organized resistance against Israel, it's the entire group? I don't think you know what chauvinism really is, or why it's bad. You also avoided my question:
Forgive me if I don't believe you're really motivated by being against governments or tyranny. If you're not in favor of resistance, then what your argument essentially boils down to is "everyone does it, therefore it can't be helped when the government I don't want to criticize is doing it 100-fold with the help of powerful allies for the purpose of genocide, because that's just what governments do". The only thing it serves is soothing your conscience and lack of curiosity.
You care to comment, but you don't care to learn anything that goes too hard against the state narrative. So you end up with shallow analysis and platitudes that reinforce the status quo, and you arrogantly assume that you or someone like you would know better than the people in the region who have spent their entire lives learning and resisting. This is in stark conflict with your supposed aversion to tyranny.
It is your responsibility to investigate before you speak. If I may, I would suggest you start here
Hamas proposed a full prisoner swap as early as Oct 8th, and agreed to the US proposed UN Permanent Ceasefire Resolution. Additionally, Hamas has already agreed to no longer govern the Gaza Strip, as long as Palestinians receive liberation and a unified government can take place.
On the other hand, Israel has been preventing any peace solution for decades by it's settlements in the West Bank, assassinated/jailed more moderate Palestinian leaders, and is completely open about it's plan of ethnic cleansing the entire Gaza Strip and lack of interest in any peace plan.
Both Hamas and Fatah have agreed to a Two-State solution based on the 1967 borders for decades. Oslo and Camp David were used by Israel to continue settlements in the West Bank and maintain an Apartheid, while preventing any actual Two-State solution
Others on the One-state reality:
‘One state is a game changer’: A conversation with Ilan Pappe
One State Solution, Foreign Affairs
The two are not in equal positions when it comes to keeping "cool heads". Pretty hard to keep cool when you've grown up being shot at and starved and driven from your home. It's easy to sit in a safe place and condemn someone else's reaction to having their home conquered and their people slaughtered, but it's another thing entirely to actually go through it.
Of course, targeting civilians and committing war crimes is bad. No contest. But people are going to fight like cornered animals when you try to genocide them. Let's not pretend like Hamas came out of nowhere.
People are a product of their environment, and people who grow up while being exterminated become radical and violent. The way to stop that from happening is not to keep dropping bombs and blocking humanitarian aid and sniping children.
You made my exact point for me in an eloquent manner. Cooler heads have to prevail, and there are some there if people look. There always are.