Can someone recommend a relatively short and disinterested survey of the issues and conflicts in that area?
I'm not looking to be an expert, but just to understand why various potential solutions are unacceptable. For instance, what's wrong with the two-state solution?
A two-state solution is contrary to the policy of the government elected by the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Election. No further elections have occurred. Recent events indicate that this government still prefers a one-state solution.
Also, from the article above, it sounds like the people who elected Hamas don't support Hamas' policies regarding Israel, and they hoped Hamas would change their stance. Instead they elected Hamas because they promised to root out corruption. Wishful thinking? Parallels to Trump?
strictly speaking hamas started as muslim charity organization doing social and educational work.
hamas now has a couple of wings, political and military. people probably hoped that they will end up with political agenda (which still kinda genocidal towards israel and jews), but they ended up with military wing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gaza_(2007)
Trump did not start wars and made a good start at ending some, that is quite a big difference. He did not do well on draining the swamp though which is croaking and gibbering even more now like a scene from some old-timey nature flick. You do have to agree to it being a good plan though, draining that place would be the beginning to the solution of a lot of problems.
To the down-voters the question why they - you - think the swamp is not in need of drainage. Do you not agree with the term 'swamp' (because...) or do you just like the critters who inhabit it? Just pressing that down-arrow to get a different opinion greyed-out is not conducive to the discourse. Speak up, don't vote down.
I didn't downvote you, and I agree that it's annoying when people downvote without commenting.
I think the point I was making is that Trump (like Hamas) makes promises that he doesn't keep, and people really should have seen it coming, based on his previous behaviour.
He said he was going to drain the swamp and help little business owners who have been hurt by the "elites". But we have seen that Trump himself is the biggest swamp dweller, and he is one of the worst "elites" himself. After he was elected, he helped out his fellow elites by reducing their taxes.
I agree on Trump not keeping his promise to "drain the swamp", the results of which are clear to see. I do not think a comparison between Trump and Hamas holds in any other way, not even by saying "both lie" - that is like saying Muhammed Ali is like Hitler because "both breathe". The current US president has also shown to be a prodigious liar as has Trump's predecessor and his alike so it seems to be something endemic to the people who make it to that position.
Bullied into building a democratic state. This is one of the reasons for the antipathy against Israel which "seeks to impose its western norms" - that whole thing about democracy and human rights we westerners [1] are so adamant upon - upon a people used to more autocratic forms of government. You'd think they realised the advantages of what Israel does compared to neighbouring states - just one look at the statistics would be enough - but old habits seem to die hard, especially when they are "fortified" by religious dogma.
Germany was no longer a democracy when those crimes were committed. Had it been one - hard to imagine but still - it would have been possible to vote out the perpetrators and put them to trial. This is a nice theory but in practice democracies which turn to evil also tend to turn autocratic/authoritarian and with that no longer fit the definition of democracy. The current Turkish president (Erdogan) said Democracy is like a tram. You ride it until you arrive at your destination, then you step off while serving as mayor of Istanbul in the 1990's which describes the devolution from democracy to autocracy quite well.
I'm not looking to be an expert, but just to understand why various potential solutions are unacceptable. For instance, what's wrong with the two-state solution?