The claim that peace cannot exist between Israelis and Palestinians until Palestine recognizes the right of Israel to exist is predicated on a lie against Palestinians
Excellent article. It's become a primary question for me to ask if a political candidate wants my support: Do you recognize the genocide in Gaza? And more directly, do you support a halt to supplying further weapons to Israel?
Thank you Qasim. I'm very interested in your insights into the complicated history of the region. I first became aware of the Zionist movement as a teenage camp counselor in the 1960s. Our camp was next to a Jewish Zionist camp and we would get together at the end of the summer for a big party. I knew at the time that they wanted to extend their control over all of the Holy Land, which would not only cover Gaza, but also Palestine, Lebanon, and parts of Jordan and Syria. I would also be interested in your take on the connection between the Zorro Ranch, the so-called Epstein class, and Jared Kusher, Steve Witkoff, and Trump and their influence in the Middle East, particularly in Gaza.
One addition to remind everyone: Jarad Kushner, whom "unofficially officially" represents the US, is Trump's son-in-law, Netanyahu's godchild and son of Trump-pardoned criminal and real estate developer Charles Kushner. Jarad Kushner owns settler properties on the West Bank of Israel. Complete conflict of interest in this nepotistic authoritarian government we now live under in this nation.
This is the question corporate media refuses to ask because the answer would blow up the whole script. Palestinians recognized Israel decades ago and were answered with settlements, occupation, blockade, snipers, criminalized boycotts, blocked courts, mass graves, and politicians still demanding they prove they want peace. Meanwhile Israel’s own leaders openly reject Palestinian statehood and somehow the burden stays on the occupied. “Does Palestine have a right to exist?” is not a rhetorical trick. It is the moral X-ray. And the bones are broken.
All my life one of the key components that always left any agreement supposed peace deal or other off the table was the Palastinians rights to return (meaning to their land/homes)which was always refused yet the other side has it. The deck was always stacked from the beginning it seems so how can one really have a peace or peace deal. When one is dealing with that sort of ill logic from the beginning can there ever be, it’s so one sided or lopsided imo and that more often than not never brings a true so called peace it only festers and broadens whether territory/boarders or ideologies and we’re continually witnessing that happen aka what colonialism did or does too.
Israel is exceptionalist in so many respects, so why not this one as well?
The Palestinian acceptance of the existence of the State of Israel wasn't exactly freely given. It was under duress. It was given with the implicit condition that "If we agree to this, will you stop killing us?" So, Israel's right to exist (you rightly distinguish between human rights and states' rights) is not some inherent natural justice (I was once accused of murder for swatting a fly; for terminating its right to exist), but a product of justice as meted out by mankind for mankind. "Israel has a right to exist", but what is "Israel" in terms of surveyors' parlance? Up to what point does Israel exist and something else exist beyond? What is that something else? A fly, too, has no defined boundary beyond the extent of its body. It is master of its domain until I swat it: at that point its right of hegemony ceases by dint of the might of my swat.
There are recognised disputed borders that do not negate the "right to exist" of the party states to those disputes. But, since the judicial system by which states' "rights" were historically regulated lies, now, in tatters at our feet and, barring self-interested lip-service where it suits us to utter it, it is instead "might" that has succeeded to "right" in international law, all we can now conclude is what follows.
Israel has the aleatory right to exist that have all states on this globe, for as long as she can de facto asseverate the borders she declines to define. And, if she declines to define those asserted borders, the world must conclude that, in recognising its right to exist, it recognises its right, in the words of Land of Hope and Glory, that "wider still, and wider, shall her bounds be set" and that, consequently, there is no legal dictum that would limit Israel's right to exist at any point on the Earth of its choosing, subject only to the force with which it establishes that hegemony. In short, Israel's claim to exist is its claim to worldwide empire. And, that being so, the best we can say of her, and indeed of any state, is that we recognise that it "might" exist. And, if Israel feels it necessary to prove that might, then we shall have to see at what point the buzzing around our ears becomes so intolerable that we produce our fly swat.
Ever since I have become seriously interested in the Palestinian/Israeli genocidal war, I have never known very well the history of it all as you have presented it in today’s post. This gives me a better background of it all and has sent me on other document searches that helps understanding. Thank you for this very sad summary of Israel’s history in Palestine since 1948. When will we ever learn?
As always, an absolutely brilliant piece Qasim. I'm continually amazed at how little outrage these atrocities have generated throughout time. Sometimes I think people just don't WANT to know better or question the WHY. Add to fact that our MSM and most of the country has been cowed to bend to Israel's will and no one seems to be concerned with that. (I, for one, have never understood the blind loyalty shown to Israel's government by our own.)
I do believe that more people are finally waking up and taking note of the facts. Actual outrage has finally been sparked. We can finally see the facts for ourselves without waiting for our media and especially our government to inform us.
But what is it going to take for this country to hold Israel to account? How do we get our government to stop funding genocide? A genocide that is actively growing each and every day.
Thank you, again, for your tireless work and bringing "the receipts". It's more important than ever.
Keep this post alive. Present and repeat because this discussion has to become mainstream. Fearless crusader, bring this to the greater population’s attention, repeatedly.
The decades of settlers killing Palestinians working in their orchards or living in their homes, then bulldozing their property for more illegal settlement housing has been ignored by our country. Supporting them with the MINIMUM $3.8B yearly as they slaughter Palestinians is appalling. We have been on the wrong side of this far too long. How can anyone feel proud of our country when this continues year after year. Israel (with our help) is the major cause of Middle East instability.
I was ignorant of the pre-Israel history until I listened to an episode of On Point (A Holocaust scholar asks: 'Israel, what went wrong?' May 13, 2026) in which she interviewed Professor Omer Bartov, a Holocaust historian at Brown University. Palestinians lived for many generations in what is now Israel. They were forced off their land by Zionist Jews in the 1920s and 1930s. Just like how American colonists forced Indigenous Americans off their lands. Just like British colonizers have been doing to pretty much the rest of the world.
Israel doesn't try expanding into Lebanon or Jordan or Egypt because they know those countries can fight back. They purposefully keep the Palestinians poor and hobbled so that they can continue to push them out with illegal settlements.
Israel argues that they have the right to exist while denying that right to others. I'll never understand how a people so persecuted throughout history can be comfortable doing the same to anyone else.
Omar Bartov, of course is an Israeli, who served in the IDF. In (if I remember correctly sometime in 2024) he wrote for the NYT that he knew a genocide when he saw it and Israel was committing one. The history of the Palestinian mandate is more complex than you suggest, however. Arab Palestine under the mandate (and earlier) was a feudal country. Arab landlords sold land to Jewish refugees, who then forced the peasants, who may have farmed their land for generations, to leave. An Arab uprising ensued (as one might expect), put down by the British and their Jewish allies.
The colonized land called "Israel" should be retuned to its native population, and the trespassers mandated to leave or face arrest. If they want to occupy uncontested land, there's plenty still available on Antarctica.
Excellent article. It's become a primary question for me to ask if a political candidate wants my support: Do you recognize the genocide in Gaza? And more directly, do you support a halt to supplying further weapons to Israel?
p.s. Maher's a dick.
Thank you Qasim. I'm very interested in your insights into the complicated history of the region. I first became aware of the Zionist movement as a teenage camp counselor in the 1960s. Our camp was next to a Jewish Zionist camp and we would get together at the end of the summer for a big party. I knew at the time that they wanted to extend their control over all of the Holy Land, which would not only cover Gaza, but also Palestine, Lebanon, and parts of Jordan and Syria. I would also be interested in your take on the connection between the Zorro Ranch, the so-called Epstein class, and Jared Kusher, Steve Witkoff, and Trump and their influence in the Middle East, particularly in Gaza.
I saw a good article about this in Jacobin.
https://jacobin.com/2026/04/israel-right-exist-palestine-self-determination
Thank you.
One addition to remind everyone: Jarad Kushner, whom "unofficially officially" represents the US, is Trump's son-in-law, Netanyahu's godchild and son of Trump-pardoned criminal and real estate developer Charles Kushner. Jarad Kushner owns settler properties on the West Bank of Israel. Complete conflict of interest in this nepotistic authoritarian government we now live under in this nation.
This is the question corporate media refuses to ask because the answer would blow up the whole script. Palestinians recognized Israel decades ago and were answered with settlements, occupation, blockade, snipers, criminalized boycotts, blocked courts, mass graves, and politicians still demanding they prove they want peace. Meanwhile Israel’s own leaders openly reject Palestinian statehood and somehow the burden stays on the occupied. “Does Palestine have a right to exist?” is not a rhetorical trick. It is the moral X-ray. And the bones are broken.
All my life one of the key components that always left any agreement supposed peace deal or other off the table was the Palastinians rights to return (meaning to their land/homes)which was always refused yet the other side has it. The deck was always stacked from the beginning it seems so how can one really have a peace or peace deal. When one is dealing with that sort of ill logic from the beginning can there ever be, it’s so one sided or lopsided imo and that more often than not never brings a true so called peace it only festers and broadens whether territory/boarders or ideologies and we’re continually witnessing that happen aka what colonialism did or does too.
Israel is exceptionalist in so many respects, so why not this one as well?
The Palestinian acceptance of the existence of the State of Israel wasn't exactly freely given. It was under duress. It was given with the implicit condition that "If we agree to this, will you stop killing us?" So, Israel's right to exist (you rightly distinguish between human rights and states' rights) is not some inherent natural justice (I was once accused of murder for swatting a fly; for terminating its right to exist), but a product of justice as meted out by mankind for mankind. "Israel has a right to exist", but what is "Israel" in terms of surveyors' parlance? Up to what point does Israel exist and something else exist beyond? What is that something else? A fly, too, has no defined boundary beyond the extent of its body. It is master of its domain until I swat it: at that point its right of hegemony ceases by dint of the might of my swat.
There are recognised disputed borders that do not negate the "right to exist" of the party states to those disputes. But, since the judicial system by which states' "rights" were historically regulated lies, now, in tatters at our feet and, barring self-interested lip-service where it suits us to utter it, it is instead "might" that has succeeded to "right" in international law, all we can now conclude is what follows.
Israel has the aleatory right to exist that have all states on this globe, for as long as she can de facto asseverate the borders she declines to define. And, if she declines to define those asserted borders, the world must conclude that, in recognising its right to exist, it recognises its right, in the words of Land of Hope and Glory, that "wider still, and wider, shall her bounds be set" and that, consequently, there is no legal dictum that would limit Israel's right to exist at any point on the Earth of its choosing, subject only to the force with which it establishes that hegemony. In short, Israel's claim to exist is its claim to worldwide empire. And, that being so, the best we can say of her, and indeed of any state, is that we recognise that it "might" exist. And, if Israel feels it necessary to prove that might, then we shall have to see at what point the buzzing around our ears becomes so intolerable that we produce our fly swat.
I’m leaving this here because this is disgusting:
Jerry Fucking Seinfeld saying “it doesn’t exist” when someone asked him for a “Free Palestine”:
https://youtu.be/3ItDlIvSJzk
I hope that one day people like Netanyahu would get their just desserts for what they're doing to Palestine.
(And no that's not antisemitic, that's me calling out a murderer, just to clarify).
Much of the population of the colonial state of israel needs to be tried in an international court akin to how the Nazi regime was tried.
"Just following orders" is no excuse, and that has precedent.
Indeed, it's not an excuse to murder innocent people
Ever since I have become seriously interested in the Palestinian/Israeli genocidal war, I have never known very well the history of it all as you have presented it in today’s post. This gives me a better background of it all and has sent me on other document searches that helps understanding. Thank you for this very sad summary of Israel’s history in Palestine since 1948. When will we ever learn?
Thank you for reading. I'm grateful it was of support.
You speak truth, my brother. 🇵🇸
As always, an absolutely brilliant piece Qasim. I'm continually amazed at how little outrage these atrocities have generated throughout time. Sometimes I think people just don't WANT to know better or question the WHY. Add to fact that our MSM and most of the country has been cowed to bend to Israel's will and no one seems to be concerned with that. (I, for one, have never understood the blind loyalty shown to Israel's government by our own.)
I do believe that more people are finally waking up and taking note of the facts. Actual outrage has finally been sparked. We can finally see the facts for ourselves without waiting for our media and especially our government to inform us.
But what is it going to take for this country to hold Israel to account? How do we get our government to stop funding genocide? A genocide that is actively growing each and every day.
Thank you, again, for your tireless work and bringing "the receipts". It's more important than ever.
Keep this post alive. Present and repeat because this discussion has to become mainstream. Fearless crusader, bring this to the greater population’s attention, repeatedly.
The decades of settlers killing Palestinians working in their orchards or living in their homes, then bulldozing their property for more illegal settlement housing has been ignored by our country. Supporting them with the MINIMUM $3.8B yearly as they slaughter Palestinians is appalling. We have been on the wrong side of this far too long. How can anyone feel proud of our country when this continues year after year. Israel (with our help) is the major cause of Middle East instability.
I was ignorant of the pre-Israel history until I listened to an episode of On Point (A Holocaust scholar asks: 'Israel, what went wrong?' May 13, 2026) in which she interviewed Professor Omer Bartov, a Holocaust historian at Brown University. Palestinians lived for many generations in what is now Israel. They were forced off their land by Zionist Jews in the 1920s and 1930s. Just like how American colonists forced Indigenous Americans off their lands. Just like British colonizers have been doing to pretty much the rest of the world.
Israel doesn't try expanding into Lebanon or Jordan or Egypt because they know those countries can fight back. They purposefully keep the Palestinians poor and hobbled so that they can continue to push them out with illegal settlements.
Israel argues that they have the right to exist while denying that right to others. I'll never understand how a people so persecuted throughout history can be comfortable doing the same to anyone else.
Omar Bartov, of course is an Israeli, who served in the IDF. In (if I remember correctly sometime in 2024) he wrote for the NYT that he knew a genocide when he saw it and Israel was committing one. The history of the Palestinian mandate is more complex than you suggest, however. Arab Palestine under the mandate (and earlier) was a feudal country. Arab landlords sold land to Jewish refugees, who then forced the peasants, who may have farmed their land for generations, to leave. An Arab uprising ensued (as one might expect), put down by the British and their Jewish allies.
The colonized land called "Israel" should be retuned to its native population, and the trespassers mandated to leave or face arrest. If they want to occupy uncontested land, there's plenty still available on Antarctica.