This morning I started writing a post about how Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been outraging me lately. The tipping point came with his call for the pardon of an Israeli soldier who killed an incapacitated Palestinian terrorist. The military’s moral example in convicting the soldier of manslaughter was ruined by the reaction of their prime minister.

However, the post got very complicated very fast as I tried to explain some things and so I decided I needed to clarify some stuff. I don’t know about you, but pictures and video always help me with that.

One of the things I was writing about was UN Security Council Resolution 2334 – the one that condemned Israeli settlement activity – and I found a some pretty good videos to help. Vox published the first two in late September 2016, and they include the point of view of several settlers. They published the third a couple of weeks later.

(Go here for a crash course on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is also from Vox.)

Israeli Settlements, Explained

 

Why Israeli Settlements Don’t Feel Like Conflict Zones

 

Settlers Are Taking Over East Jerusalem One House at a Time

In this video Johnny Harris focuses on Jerusalem. Because Jerusalem contains sites holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims, it will cause the biggest problems in any peace settlement.

 

 

The Trump Effect

I don’t think I’ve ever come across two people with the same opinion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Every time I watch or read something about the situation, my opinion changes slightly, and it was no different here. Unfortunately, I became even more concerned about the possibility of peace in the near future.

Donald Trump believes he is going to solve the problems there. His nomination of an ambassador opposed to the two-state solution however makes that unlikely. I suspect his belief that he can fix things is a result of his lack of understanding of the situation. I don’t think he understands just how complicated things are. Further, I doubt he realizes just how invested the fundamentalist religious are, most of whom supported him. They believe we are in the End Times and that Jesus will return in the near future. They actively support the far right in Israel and oppose peace as well.

The UN Security Council passed Resolution 2334 in an attempt to nudge the needle back towards peace. I hope it works.


 

If you enjoyed reading this, please consider donating a dollar or two to help keep the site going. Thank you.