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Comment by beagle3 | Hacker News Reader

The mental gymnastics here are required for the other side too, e.g. elections were last held in Gaza in 2006 or so; it's not remotely a democracy or republic, control is maintained by violence, see e.g. [0].

Every side of this conflict is a villain, and depending how far back you want to go, that may include the British, who created war and instability where they pulled out, in Palestine and in India/Pakistan (smart, but not very nice..)

I think the bottom line is, one may argue about how much of the responsibility lies with any participant, but it is undeniable that all have blame; and the article tries to discuss "coding in a conflict zone" rather than the conflict, and does it rather well IMHO.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_Strip#Post-2006_elections...

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Gaza doesn't have true autonomy, though. The people of Gaza can't actually vote in the elections that matter to them, i.e. those of Israel. Israel controls the airspace, the ports, and much of the land while claiming they've "disengaged."

There's no basis for a free government when the people can't exercise any kind of sovereignty.

I fail to understand your reasoning: the people of Gaza voted Hamas in, much increasing the intensity of the conflict; Hamas then essentially canceled elections - guaranteeing that no one will try to reduce the conflict.

And somehow, that is of no consequence because they cannot vote in the Israeli elections?

And yet, somehow, before Hamas, and still in the places where Fatah rules (and elections were not canceled) the situation is infinitely better.

I fail to understand your reasoning. There is no free movement or freedom at all in Gaza thanks to Israeli siege and daily bombardments. There can be no sovereignty under these conditions. The antecedent of a previous election doesn't just suddenly cancel out the precedent or current situation.

That ignores the conflict is between the one of the world's greatest military powers versus a civilian population, slowly being forced to self-dispossess with zero freedom of movement, makes the situation worse than bantustans. One side is a signatory to the Geneva Conventions, and those conventions clearly make occupation and colonization of occupied land illegal. And this was the plan from the very beginning in the words of their own founders: Jabotinsky's The Iron Wall (1923). Why wouldn't you take them at their word? And how hasn't that colonial ideology, in retrospect, predicted exactly where Israel-Palestine is at today?

Jabotinaky is from one faction, not the ruling one for the first 30 years or so of Israel’s history. Many disagreed with him even back then.

After the Oslo accords, for a while, the Palestinian population had prosperity and there was a mutually agreed path forward. There were dissenting voices on both sides. Those in Israel assisinated PM Rabin. Those in the Gazan side elected Hamas democratically (and then lost the ability to vote ... happens when you vote for a non Democratic Party and they win). It is easy to lay all blame at Israel for being a military power. But the Palestinian side deserves a lot of the blame.

Also, don’t poke a military power if you don’t want to be bombed. “Civillian population” doesn’t build attack tunnels, rocket factories, train commandos, etc. I don’t blame them for trying, but that comes with consequences like getting bombed. Hamas is not wearing uniforms but they are guerilla / army. Not civillian.

There was over a 10 year gap between Rabin’s assasination and the election of Hamas and the withrawal from Gaza.

Ironically the largest concessions and the ratification of the Oslo accords were done by Benjamin Netanyahu during his first term in the mid 90׳s and the withdrawal from Gaza was initiated by Ariel Sharon both were ״right wing״ governments.

To me this signifies that under the right conditions even the most hawkish government in Israel can seek peace but at this point I’m not sure which conditions can be met for any one in the Palestinian Authority yet alone Hamas to be willing and able to negotiate in true faith.

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