what-left-gets-wrong-about-israelpalestine-conflict

In the 1990s, Israeli-Palestinian peace seemed to be in sight. A deal for a Palestinian state was offered by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to Yasser Arafat in 2000, but Arafat rejected it, just like the Palestinian leaders rejected the 1948 United Nations partition plan that Israelis had accepted. Why have peace when conflict is keeping you in power and enriching your pockets from foreign aid? In 2005, Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip. Israeli Defense Forces soldiers literally dragged Jews out of their houses in Gaza. Formerly a pariah, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was received as an international hero at the United Nations General Assembly that year. What Israel got in return was an armed seizure of Gaza by Hamas militants following their victory in the 2006 elections. The subsequent blockade of Gaza by Israel and Egypt — it is almost always omitted that Egypt is a participant in the blockade because it complicates the "colonialist" narrative for an Arab nation to participate in the strategy — was a consequence of the Iran-sponsored militant regime dedicated to the destruction of Israel taking power.
The left's inability to see the situation clearly stems from the progressive focus on identity and an inadequate understanding of self-determination. Many supporters of Israel cite the silence of anti-Israel voices on the left about oppressive regimes around the world as a sign of anti-Semitism. Not to dismiss anti-Semitism as an issue, but many of those voices object to Israeli policy because it is, they argue, one people oppressing another. If the oppressor were to share an ethnicity with the oppressed, that would not be ideal, but it would be much more likely to be seen within the bounds of self-determination. In the U.S. and around the world, from college campuses to the intersectionality and social justice movements, to a United Nations commission, one can find cries for help for the Palestinian Arabs. Meanwhile, similar efforts on behalf of people in North Korea, China, Iran, and other tyrannical states are difficult to find.
The reality is this: Palestinians and their leaders have more to do with their fates than anybody else or history do. As long as progressives are unwilling to accept this, they are an obstacle to solving problems in the region.