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Originally Posted by Pointman
Not really. First of, Gaza-Israel conflict is complicated as it is. Second, there's West Bank - Gaza conflict on its own right. Third, lumping Gaza and West Bank together results in statements that are confusing. Like Israel having illegal settlements in "Palestinian lands". They don't have any settlements in Gaza. Israel doesn't even want to govern Gaza. Gaza is under blockade and at war with Israel. West Bank is not under blockade. It's not at war with Israel, although tensions are high. There are Israeli settlements there. West Bank is a different thing altogether and you only bring it in so you could criticize Israel.
The only legit reason to include West Bank into the debate is that if Hamas actions are some kind of revenge for perceived atrocities committed by Israel on West Bank. But this is not the case. In fact, Gaza and West Bank hate each other and had a civil war (Hamas - Fatah war). So bringing in how Israel is oppressing Palestinian population on West Bank only mislead people into believing that Gazans are suffering from the same and that's the reason why they are attacking Israel.
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That argument is also an attempt to apologize for and support Hamas' actions. We've already seen the argument that there are no settlements in Gaza, because of Hamas.
In reality, the Israelis withdrew all of their Gaza settlements unilaterally and prior to Hamas taking power in Gaza. They had no intention of ever putting more settlements in Gaza. Once Hamas started launching attacks from and taking over Gaza, Israel then began to isolate Gaza (not before).
So Hamas not only did not dissuade Israelis from settling in Gaza, they turned Gaza into the prison it is. They have accomplished nothing positive for their people.