Who do you support in the Israel-HAMAS war?

While the Ukraine-Russia conflict is quite straightforward, with one agressor and one victim, the situation in Gaza is rather complex and I dare say that everybody involved is a victim.

It all started when Israel was proclaimed as an independant nation in 1947 and nobody reacted to the fact that the UN mandate called for either a common Jewish-Palestinian state or a confederation of two states. Since the rest of the world felt sorry for the Jews after everything that they had been exposed to during WW2, they let this one-sided move just slide.

Fast forward to 1967, when Israel's neighbours attacked them on Yom Kippur Day, with the result that Israel struck back and invaded the Palestinian areas, including the Gaza Strip. Many Palestinian fled to other countries, where they since have lived in refugee camps, like Sabra and Shatila in Beirut.

Some, however, chose to stay behind and try their luck as a people occupied by Israel, who eventually pulled out of Gaza and left it to the Palestinians to govern themselves. But instead of developing a constructive administration that fullfil international criteria for an independent nation, they ended up being controlled by extremists, who, instead of conducting serious peace talks with Israel, declared that they aim to blow Israel off the map.

The UN and the world society sent some aid to prevent a hunger disaster, but ever since, the Palestinians in Gaza have been squeezed between Israeli overlordship and being held hostage by Hamas, who became their politically elected body, but didn't give the population much choice.

The people growing up in Gaza now is the third generation of individuals living in the world's biggest prison, with no citizenship, no fredom to travel; and surviving on donations and an estimated budget of one dollar per day per capita. After decades of this surreal sufferieng, it's not srange that the powder keg finally ignited. But while I can accept the frustration, the way Hamas slaughtered and kidnapped people in Israel cannot be excused. By doing this, they have dug their own grave and anticipating the Israeli reaction, it was probably a well calculated suicide not only involving themselves, but also thousands of their compatriots.

If the average Palestinian were free to decide their own destiny, they would prefer to live in peace and harmony with the Israelis, either side by side as neighbours or in the same state.

But it seems as if nobody is really interested to poke into the hornet's nest that Gaza has become and instead trying to ignore the problem away.

So taking sides in this unfortunate situation would be very unfair and favouring Israelis over Palestinians would only indicate that we accept the concept of primary and secondary citizens, where the latter is being denied basic human rights indefinitelty.

Therefore, I don't support Israel nor Palestine, but the constructive forces in both camps that strive to establish a lasting peace in the Middle East.