Because of the holidays, the Discussion group meeting was held on the 22nd of March at the same place and time but a week earlier than usual. Despite the change of date, the meeting was attended very actively.
The preliminary information was very short “We are not going to ‘solve’ the Palestinian war, or anything else, but talking about it is important, a division political act if you will. How do we feel about what is happening? Is it something called war crimes or genocide?”
We had plenty to talk about, not only about the bombing and shooting happening in Gaza but also the apparent deliberate starvation of Palestinians, which is part of genocide as well as a systematic long-time ethnic cleansing.
One of the members mentioned that historically Judaism and Christianity have deep connections, as reflected in the Old Testament, that both Jews as well as Muslims suffer. Today Israel is ruled by the Orthodox and far-right politicians who don’t represent all Jews.
Others had an opinion that it is not so much about religion but simple hatred, which is the core reason for the Palestinians’ current fate.
We also talked about the present conflict, excluding all the historical context, about possible solutions, perhaps regime changes on both sides would stabilise the situation. Unfortunately, we couldn’t give much hope of that happening.
One very important factor is that Israel has a long history of strong relationships and support from the USA, a situation which is not benefiting the Palestinian cause. On the diplomatic front, the USA declares a 2 state scenario (Israel and Palestine) is the only long-term solution whilst at the same time sending billions of dollars of weapons to Israel which they are using against the Palestinian people.
It was noted that the Western media seldom reports on demonstrations supporting Palestinians, including any demonstrations in Israel against the conflict in Gaza.
One of the serious questions was what type of state Israel would ultimately transform into. At present it looks like Israel will continue with their current actions to get the future State they want, irrespective of UN resolutions or general condemnation from the majority of countries.
The general opinion was that we are witnessing genocide in the Israel-Hamas conflict, but also that we do not see how to solve it for a better and peaceful future.
