Israel and Palestine are not symmetrical, conflicting, equal parties. Palestinians are native to the land and original inhabitants of the land. The emergence of Zionism in the last 130 years has fueled a settler-colonial project that has forcibly displaced nearly 6 million Palestinians.

“Israel is a case of foreign settlers seizing land to construct an exclusivist ethnocracy at the expense of the natives. Settler colonialism, by its very definition is unequal.” Decolonizing Palestine

See also: Zionist Colonialism in Palestine, Fayez Sayegh; Zionism from the Standpoint of its Victims, Edward Said

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So calling it a conflict, or suggesting that there is validity in “both sides” obfuscates the power asymmetry that exists and the accurate reality of the violence that continues to be perpetuated by the US-funded Israeli government, military, and settlers. Whereas Israel is a nuclear power with billion dollars in military funding, Palestinians exist with no state, no army, no air force, no navy under an almost nonexistent civilian infrastructure.

And if you find yourself asking, “What about Hamas?”, it is important to think critically of the settler colonial circumstances that cultivated such militant groups. Israel has killed more people in one week than Hamas has in 20 years.

It’s Just Really Not That Complicated:

“The question of Palestine is not exceptional in its complexity, we can trace its origins, chronicle its events and trajectories and analyze its politics all quite well. There are decades of scholarship on the matter for reference. The appeals to complexity often arise when attempting to justify actions or policies that would be deemed unjustifiable in another context, like for example arguing against the right of refugees to return home.” - Decolonize Palestine (read more here)