American Learning Why Israel has an Impossible Situation

American Learning Why Israel has an Impossible Situation

How do you in fact learn about current events there’s so much misinformation from both sides one video shows a rocket reportedly fired by Hamas another video claims to show Israeli Jets bonning Gaza but neither is real but why should we believe what your government says either

It was just a calendar with the days of the week on it and so the first question I’ve decided to look up is why does Israel have Palestinian prisoners I just find myself curious and so the thing that popped up on wikip IIA which I know I know it’s Wikipedia but sometimes you

Start at Wikipedia and then you progress somewhere else is list of Arab Israeli prisoner exchanges and from the 1940s until the 2020s it lists presumably all the times that Israel has exchanged prisoners with another country or with Palestine I can see that in 1954 a fiveman Israeli Defense Force Patrol

Operating in the Syrian border was abducted and tortured by Syrian Army one of the soldiers committed suicide and and the four surviving prisoners of War and the soldier who committed suicides body were returned in exchange for 40 Syrian soldiers captured during various Israeli military operations got it 56 Suz crisis Israel exchanged 5,500

Egyptian prisoners that was captured during the campaign and 77 others who were captured during military operations before the war in exchange for one Israeli pilot taken prisoner during the war and three soldiers taken captive in previous attacks as I’m looking through these numbers sometimes the numbers are fairly

Equal right 1962 Syria exchanged the body of an Israeli soldier for a Syrian soldier in Israeli captivity One forone exchange in 1963 11 Israeli soldiers and civilians were traded for 18 Syrian prisoners in The Six Day War which we talked a little bit about in the last video Israel took 4,338 Egyptian soldiers

899 civili Ians 553 Jordanian soldiers and 366 I’m assuming Jordanian civilians and 367 Syrian soldiers and 205 Syrian civilians captive while 15 Israeli soldiers and the bodies of two more fell into Arab captivity it doesn’t say which country all of them were released following the war more recent history in

The 70s and 80s the numbers are much more what I would say are reasonable 1973 yam Kapur War Egypt in Syria took 293 Israeli prisoners up until this point I think this might be the largest number of Israeli prisoners being taken Israel captured 8,372 Egyptians 392 syrians 13 Iraqis

And six Moroccans all of these prisoners were exchanged maybe about a month later and they also swapped prisoners from the war of attrition I don’t think I saw the numbers for war of attrition but either way I am seeing a lot of bodies being returned as well which I do appreciate

The reverence for bodies even if the person has pass and it seems like on all parts there is some at least at least in these years there seems to be some some reverence for bodies being returned so so anyway we’re just we’re seeing a lot of numbers but it does imply that at

Least for the the large numbers of prisoners Israel has taken they seem to be returning most of them shortly after I could be reading it wrong so we just have a a large number of prisoners that Israel is apparently capable of of taking I don’t know if I’m

Impressed or a gas my mind is blown at the idea of 5,000 prisoners 7,000 prisoners these numbers just seem astronomical to me all right I found a video let me see if I can find it again Vox who is definitely left leaning has made a video entitled why Israel has so many

Palestinian prisoners now as I click on this video the first thing that happens is it tells me this video may be inappropriate for some users so I might not show you this entire video on November 22nd Israel and Hamas agreed to a temporary ceasefire this was more than 6 weeks

After Hamas militants killed over a th000 Israelis and took roughly 240 hostages and after Israel’s Relentless bombing and ground invasion of Gaza killed over 14,000 Palestinians under the deal Hamas would eventually release 105 hostages mainly women children and foreign Nationals in turn Israel would release 240 Palestinian prisoners mainly women

Children and young adults the vast majority of whom Israel had detained without formally charging I’ve definitely heard this concept that Palestinians don’t go through any kind of trial but I’ve also heard the other side suggesting that’s not real that’s not a thing so I am hoping that Vox will

Give me more meat to chew on aside from like pointing fingers this exchange was a new chapter in a long history over decades Israel has released tens of thousands of prisoners in exchange for hostages the first captive Israeli sold oh hold on these numbers are going so

Fast November 2020 okay so this is the most recent one the current situation right 240 Palestinians for 105 Israelis October 2011 1,27 Palestinians for 1 Israeli let me double check hold on Wikipedia does mention 2011 1,27 Palestinians exchanged for one IDF tank Gunner again with these numbers right and then we’ve got 436

Palestinians versus one Israeli this is in January 204 1150 Palestinians three Israelis 1985 that one I’m not seeing on Wikipedia doesn’t mean it didn’t happen cuz again Wikipedia But nevertheless these are really big numbers that are exchanged yes really big numbers there are more than 7,000 Palestinians in

Israeli prisons around 8% of those prisoners are serving life sentences for serious crimes including killing Israeli civilians and soldiers but what about the rest of them how did all of these Palestinians end up in Israeli prisons to get some answers we called Hadi vbo a professor of law who

Researched the Israeli prison system and basil farage a professor who specializes in cultural studies and research on political prisoners Palestinians are mostly convicted in military courts and Israelis are convicted in non-military courts these are two of the main Judicial Systems in Israel a civilian court system and a military court system

Getting prosecuted by military law H military courts are presided by Israeli military judges there are Israeli military prosecutors and they operate under Israeli military law so I have no idea what other countries do when it comes to uh Prosecuting foreigners which is a weird thing to say

With Palestine I know that Israel and Palestine is considered two states but they’re in the same country so really they should be tried under the same court or an extradition discussion give me a minute for wrapping my head around okay I’m sure in a minute they’re going to

Tell us why the 6,000 were detained right so the 500 plus that were detained and prosecuted for having committed specific like bombings Etc to consider them a prisoner of war maybe makes sense again it’s like a civil war really but okay it kind of makes sense so I was in

The US Navy I served 20 years and we have a military court system right we have What’s called the UCMJ uniform code of military Justice in joining the military you swear in and you essentially give up some of your civilian rights for the privilege of serving anyway my point is the only

People in the in the US that falls under military Court jurisdiction are those of us who voluntarily we haven’t had a draft in quite a while in the US so those of us who voluntarily joined the US military we are the only ones that fall under UCMJ we’re the only ones that

Fall under the military court system I believe again I’m not a lawyer but I believe I think maybe the National Guard and maybe the reserves when they are activated they also fall under UCMJ but but now that I am retired I don’t fall under military I guess unless they found

A crime that I committed during active duty then I guess I would be tried in a military court but otherwise if I commit a crime today I’ll be tried in the civilian courts now I am a US citizen so the next question is what happens to foreign Nationals terrorist

Organizations Who attack the US what how do they get tried in terms of Court they get tried in the civilian court system now I’m sure there are exceptions the the biggest exception that comes to my mind would be guantan moay one of the most controversial places in the world

And one of the most secretive let’s look it up real quick all right so guantan Bay has a reputation for having illegally detain people as well as torturing that international law has said that you can’t do that okay guantan Mo Bay famous for that so this is from

June of this year June 2023 in the history of guantan Mo Bay they have detained 780 detainees as of June 30 remain 16 are set to be released so I don’t know who the other 14 are but most of them have been released now when I see released they weren’t necessarily released to

Full Freedom so much as they I believe went through either individual or mass Court hearings and at that point they were either perhaps allowed to go home or or be free slash sent to a more appropriate prison sent someplace where at least internationally it’s recognized as an appropriate prison for the crimes

Committed so guatana moay famous for capturing and detaining people with and not allowing them to have their human rights while detained again 780 detainees so with that exception average can we even say average terrorist is that even a thing but the average terrorist um who commits a crime in the

US goes to a US court system the same US court system that a that an American citizen would go to El Chapo for example waen El Chapo Guzman who is a famous Mexican drug lord he went to court in New York for cartel activities within the US and he’s currently living his

Life sentence in a prison somewhere in Colorado us so he he went through the same civilian court system that an American would go through now because he’s a foreign National Mexico was involved there’s extradition handshaking Etc But ultimately the court system he went through is the same system that an

American would have also gone through so it strikes me as odd just at this point that Palestinians would have a different court system within isra is it would not Shock me if Palestine had their own courts and their own method of Prosecuting criminals that would cut because it’s two states in one country

That makes sense to have a Palestinian versus an Israeli court system but it doesn’t make sense to me to have a military court system for for Palestinians it should be the same court system the scope of each of these different court system is determined not even by the territory and not by the

Nature of the charge but rather by who is being Prosecuted this court system mostly stems from military orders that go back to the beginning of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories in 1967 Israeli military and civilians have feared violent resistance from Palestinians so these military orders list rules for public order and security and we’re talking about thousands of

Military orders that have been published since Israel’s occupation one of those early military orders was military order number 101 which basically prohibited any political expression it includes bans on Gatherings of 10 or more persons for a matter that may be construed as political without military approval it

Also bans the display of flags or political symbols except with a permit and people who violate the order could be liable for imprisonment for 10 years or a large fine or both what we’re reading now is a lot of civil liberties that’s Tak taken away via the military

Site so the the the UCMJ military court system in the US has similar laws there are a lot of things in uniform that I could not do that would be considered one of my rights as an American but because I enlisted and this applies to commissioned officers as well but

Because we joined the military we basically said hey for the benefit of the masses for the benefit of the country I’m willing to give up some of my my freedoms my rights for the duration of my enlistment or commission I voluntarily do this right so so it

Makes sense that Israel would have a similar document that that takes away rights from military members because good order and discipline and some congruency is required for that I’m still just blown that it would apply to Palestinians because they did not join the military that being said Israel has

I forget what it’s called conr conscription is that what it’s called anyway so Israel is one of the countries where when you turn 18 you have to join the military they do it for men and women men have to join for three years women have to join for two so so I don’t

Know what percentage of the military Falls in this category for for Israel but certainly their youngest members did not necessarily choose to join the military they they had to join the military and then I assume after 3 years they can choose to to get out of the military and and pursue whatever else

Might want to do but either way Palestinians do not join the Israeli military and therefore I don’t understand why they would have to give up their I’m going to put it under the umbrella of freedom of speech for this but that to me doesn’t make sense again

This is a different country they have different Customs they’ve got different rules different Traditions I see that these are the the Israeli military requirements which Palestinians did not join but this makes me curious what the civilian version looks like are are Israeli civilians fully allowed to express themselves in this way I’m

Assuming they are but I don’t know it so it’s hard for me at this point to say if it’s wrong if if these particular restrictions are wrong because I don’t know what the restrictions are on the Israeli citizen so if it turns out that the Israeli citizens also have to follow

This then I’m just grateful to be American but two I’m I’m not as offended for Palestinians if they’re following the same rule including a 10-year sentence for anyone who attempts to influence public opinion in the region in a manner which may harm public peace or potential life imprisonment for any act deemed a

Disturbance to the security of the area or the IDF the Israeli Defense Forces which is quite vague and that allows for ad hoc discretion by the Israeli officials to decide what constitutes a disturbance of the public order here’s an example of how the orders are used

In 2016 a lawyer was detained during a peaceful demonstration in the West Bank City of hibron that called for reopening a main downtown street that the Army prohibits Palestinians from accessing one of his charges was for demonstrating without a permit and another for attempting to influence public opinion

In the area in a manner that may harm public order or safety so I’m just I’m I’m really curious how this supplies to Israelis because maybe no one’s allowed to do these things I don’t know I really I don’t know in other recent cases Israel charged Palestinian journalists

With incitement saying News videos they had taken which were often of confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli forces political processions or funerals constituted incitement once arrested they often end up as what Israel calls security prisoners it allows for a lot of discretion but it’s overwhelmingly applied to Palestinians so we we hear it

Allows for a lot of Discretions but it’s overwhelmingly applied to Palestinians what he’s saying is this law applies to Israelis and Palestinians both the one who breaks it most often slash the one who gets caught breaking it most often are Palestinians are they caught because they are targeted maybe so he’s a senior

Lecturer in law so I guess he’s an academic in the world of law so I’m not hearing him say it only applies to Palestinians overwhelmingly applied to Palestinians so from a legal stance they’re both subject to it i’ have so many more correlations with the us on

This but for now let’s just keep watching and see what they say the vast majority of these security prisoners placed in the military system are from the West Bank and they are largely transferred out of their territory to one of 19 prisons within Israel and the fact that Israel transfers Palestinians

Into facilities inside Israel is widely considered a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention which is a Cornerstone of uh International humanitarian law now when you go go to prison you go to prison obviously I don’t expect you to go to prison at home or where is convenient for the criminal per

Se okay a smaller number of security prisoners are also Palestinians from Gaza though they are often sent through a different system what’s the different system that gazin go through another small number of security prisoners are Palestinian citizens of Israel though for non-political crimes Palestinian citizens of Israel are largely sent to

The Civ court system okay hold on that was key for non-political crimes Palestinian citizens of Israel are largely sent to the civilian court system now we’re better understanding what they mean by military court so political crimes go through the military Court non-political crimes go through so

I so I think it’s closer to civil versus criminal in the US vice what we would call military I think that’s so that’s the key that I was missing initially now the fact that they call it a political court system Vice a criminal court syst system now I’ve got different concerns

When I think political I instantly think bias I instantly think which political party is in charge of this court system I don’t know I don’t fully understand this military court system that’s happening in Israel so I don’t know that it’s biased Vox is going to present it as biased so it makes sense

To me that if we have a political court system that’s most likely the people who are politically unhappy right with the current system that would get in trouble okay all right on the other hand no matter the crime almost all Israelis are placed in the civilian court system so Israeli

Settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank even if they are accused of committing the very same crime in the same territory would go to different courts Israelis to civilian court and Palestinians to military Court where from the moment they are arrested through their detention they are governed by a starkly different set of

Laws again this is biased it might not be true but this is also a big deal so for the same crime the same judge should be looking at both or the same system of judges should be looking at both all right so let’s continue I think it’s important to emphasize that the due

Process is not at all present in Israeli military courts first about a quarter of prisoners are in what’s known as administrative detention administrative Det ention is essentially when a person is being taken to custody incarcerated without any charge or trial that is presented by Israel as a preventive measure in April of 2023

Israel was holding over 1,000 administrative detainees without charge that number is up to 2,000 since October 7th they are held on secret materials meaning Israel says they have evidence but Palestinian prisoners have no way of accessing the materials or knowing what they’ve been accused of again this is an American perspective

But one of my rights as an American is definitely to know why I’ve been arrested why I’m being detained there are circumstances where I might be detained for up to a certain period we’re talking hours slash days where I might not know why I’m being detained but it won’t be for a

Significant period of time or it shouldn’t be for a significant period of time in the US that being said I have never been detained and so I I don’t have a personal connection to this I just know it’s one of my rights to know why I’ve been detained if I’m ever

Detained and every 6 months the courts can rule to extend their detention indefinitely Israel says it only uses administrative detention when evidence of Acts that endanger security cannot be presented for reasons of confidentiality and protection of intelligence resources so they can be held for six months like

The initial term and then every six months they get they get Revisited I’m seeing some pretty big problems with this as a system not even a Palestine concept but just political court system so much potential for gray area in terms of interpreting the law but two

Secret I think you always have a right to know why you’re being arrested if the secrets are not worthy of being presented in front of a judge with you and your lawyer there to defend you then you can hold on to your secrets but you

Can’t hold on to the person do you know what I’m saying okay it has been used systematically uh to criminalize Palestinian action to criminalize Palestinian organizations to criminalize Palestinian um human rights work as well and also to to instill the sense of fear that anyone who dares to speak against

The occupation could be punished without having due process tons of questions none of them being answered at this point then there are the three quarters of prisoners accused or charged with a crime some are serving life sentences for serious crimes including murder and protecting Israelis from violence is a

Large part of Israel’s rationale for having this military court system in the first place but the vast majority of prisoners over 90% are charged with other security offenses apart from the charges the way these two court systems operate is also vastly different Vox you are not giving

Me enough information I’m I’m getting no examples of what kinds of other crimes the other people are doing for me personal opinion murder is not the only crime worthy of life in prison there are many other crimes that I think are negotiable for life in prison what are

The other this matters guys this matters it matters what the other reasons are apart from the charges the way these two court systems operate is also vastly different in the military court system public defenders are not regularly provided and confessions in military Court are often written in Hebrew by an

Officer requiring many Palestinian detainees to sign statements or confessions they don’t understand which can then be used against them once a Palestinian prisoner actually goes to trial conviction rates are a staggering 99.76% so essentially what that means is that once a Palestinian is brought before an Israeli military Court there

As good as destined for imprisonment I’m seeing a lot of unfairness with the military courts I’m going to be honest I can only think of a few reasons why you would not tell me what the crimes outside of murder are one is you don’t know what the other crimes are because

They’re all secret could be or the other crimes committed are just as heinous as murder we’re skipping a lot here I’m being asked to take a lot of things on faith feel like if you know only a small percentage is for murder that means you know what the other percentage is are

And this video is purposely not sharing that with me maybe it’ll share with me in a minute but it feels like we skipped over that it feels like we skipped over that in Israeli civilian courts there’s a different standard even when it comes to what it takes to be arrested let

Alone convicted when you look at crimes against Palestinians according to data collected by one Israeli human rights organization of more than 1500 cases of ideologically motivated settler crimes investigations were closed without indictments in 93% of cases in another of their studies of cases that did indict Israeli suspects for

Violence against Palestinians only a third of cases resulted in full or partial convictions they are protected by the law we have witnessed images of settlers burning Palestinian Villages them the ground and killing people they were not persecuted or or or sent to any form of real punishment and there’s major

Discrepancies in sentencing too for example if convicted of manslaughter a Palestinian faces life imprisonment while an Israeli convicted of the same offense would serve a maximum 20 years imprisonment I don’t understand why the same crime would go to two different courts that’s suspicious that’s weird while it’s highly suspect that we’re not

Going over the other crimes Palestinians have committed highly suspect it’s also equally suspect that the same crime is treated differently right two different courts and of course if it’s two different courts you’re going to get different outcomes I think that makes sense I just don’t understand why the two different

Courts in Israeli military courts Palestinians can also be tried as adults at just 16 years old in civilian courts it’s 18 years old since 2000 at least 13,000 Palestinian children have been arrested these are minors between the ages of 12 and 18 by the time the War

Began there were over 150 of them in the military court system either placed in detention or an Israeli prison one quite common charge against them is Stone throwing there’s a long history of Palestinian resistance through Stone throwing for children for example Palestinian children that is the most

Common charge and that’s an offense that is punishable by 20 years in prison wow throwing a stone conditions within prisons are another issue pal prisoners are subjected to overcrowding abuse torture repeated denial of family visits denial of medical care and solitary confinement and even if a prisoner dies in custody

Israel often practices a policy of keeping the remains of scores of Palestinians and freezers and numbered Graves that seems to hold true probably not just with Israel because it does seem like you Egypt Syria and such when they do trading of prisoners it often includes the body of somebody that

Passed while it seems bizarre to me it does seem like it might be common practice for the region with the end of the ceasefire Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza has resumed the population of Palestinians and Israeli prisons has only increased officials estimate the number of Palestinians in Israeli

Prisons has doubled since October 7th you’re talking about a place that’s occupied through military force through Decades of Oppression of violence in this broader context of occupation I think the prisoners issue actually became very Central for Palestinians so all the different issues faced by imprisoned Palestinians have been heavily criticized by human rights

Organizations who call on Israel to address those the limitation of this framing of the problem is that the focus here is on reforming the system rather than asking whether the system is fundamentally flawed feels fundamentally flawed Okay so as I’m editing this video I’ve been trying to figure out what the real

Difference is between military versus civil courts right sometimes Vox calls it a political system and other times military very confusing definitely not something that the US can necessarily relate to but it seems like the entire purpose of the military court system is to deal with cases that go against the

Military anyone who is attacking the military anyone who is attacking Israel as a government those are the crimes that seem to be under the jurisdiction of military whereas crimes against civilians seem to go towards the civil court again not an expert at all this is

Just kind of the best way I can explain what I’ve been seeing via watching lots of different YouTube channels as well as attempting to read some of the IDF documents so when Vox says for the same crime the vibe I’m getting is Palestinians attacking certainly governmental IDF Like official Israeli

Parties that would go under military jurisdiction but even if they’re attacking an Israeli civilian let’s say a suicide bomb scenario those are all considered political attacks attacks on the military attacks on the government they seem to go to the military side but if the crime is such that Israel is

Pretty sure it wasn’t like a statement right it wasn’t a political statement against Israel then it seems like they’re going to the Civil side so conceptually the only Israelis who would probably end up in the military court system VI civil would be the ones let’s say demonstrating against their own

Government which by the Numbers probably doesn’t happen as frequently as Palestinians demonstrating against the government slight change of scenery my son volunteered to ring the bell for the Salvation Army now we’re going to watch a video by Caspian report I am not certain what type of lean

Caspian report has I can’t tell by looking at their homepage but their video is called why Israel has an impossible geography Israel punches well above its weight in all matters of statecraft it sits at the intersection of Europe Asia and Africa thereby channeling high impact International

Economic Ventures it has one of the most technologically advanced and capable military forces in the globe it is allied with the world’s Premier superpower and it is a Pioneer in sectors like agriculture Health Care startups and Technology but for every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction Israel is small vulnerable and

Limited in resources the country faces hostile neighbors to all sides with the only friendly flank being the Mediterranean Sea for over 75 years Israel has existed in a state of Perpetual conflict each time facing battles that could have been its last this stalemate as disagreeable as it may

Be is unlikely to improve anytime soon the Middle East is an unforgiving place a School of Hard Knocks so by means of military posturing Israel reminds the periphery that it is capable dangerous and willing to get its hands dirty coupled with its religious and historical significance to multiple

Faiths Israel is key to Regional geopolitics and so for all its features it must expect the unexpected because in this part of the world to stand out is to stand within the crosshairs the lay of the land shapes the hand that rules this Rings especially true for Israel three

Distinctive regions make up its geography the first and most important is the coastal plane its length runs along the Mediterranean Coast from the city of haa by the slopes of Mount Carmel to the outskirts of the Gaza Strip meanwhile the depth of the coastal plane extends up to the Judean mountains

By the city of Jerusalem which overlaps roughly with the boundaries of the West Bank Tel aviv’s metropolitan area known as gushan is the epicenter of Israel’s political Financial industrial and cultural life more than 4 million Israelis or 40% of the country’s total population live in the greater metropolitan area by and large however

The core of Israel rests in the coastal plain it doesn’t just host the country’s largest cities but also its international airports sea ports critical infrastructure and political institutions the coastal plane therefore makes up the heartland of Israel the problem however is the lack of strategic depth at its narrowest margin the

Coastal plane is only 14 km wide measured from the West Bank to the Mediterranean coast and herein lies the origin of Israel’s complicated and ruthless geopolitical reality if the West Bank were outside of Israel’s control a concentrated Push by a determined military force could split the Israeli Heartland in two the speed

Surprise and ferocity of the recent Hamas attack is precisely the threat that can undo the existence of Israel in the coastal plane the loss of a single Hill Corridor or Plateau can have the harshest consequences especially with modern Weaponry missiles fired from the West Bank could reach Tel Aviv in a

Matter of seconds there is no defense against such a threat no amount of layers in air defense can secure a gap as small as 14 km this lack of strategic depth in its Heartland is the single most defining Geographic feature of Israel it is the reason why Israel

Occupied the West Bank and is unlikely ever to let go regardless of what international law says regardless of what international law says oo compelling quite frankly the geography of a country absolutely determines its geopolitical powers H interesting slightly to the north rests Israel’s second most distinctive region an area

Known as the Galilee known for its hilly and mountainous terrain the Galilee features the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee the water basins in this region Run Deep and by use of advanced technology and sophisticated irrigation techniques Israel has employed the local Water Resources to turn the Galilee into

An agricultural and Manufacturing Hub this remarkable transformation provides Israel with the necessary food security security it so desperately needs not surprisingly the Galilee holds enormous strategic value for Israel’s economy without it the country wouldn’t be the same a little to the north are Lebanon and Syria they make for Israel’s

Northern flank with Jordans straddling along the Eastern Edge in this densely crowded and hostile neighborhood controlling The High Ground is a matter of life or death legal or not Israel controls the nearby Heights which gives it a tactical advantage over the periphery by towering over its Rivals

The Israeli Army can stand its ground against numerically Superior forces for instance from a top the Goen Heights long range artillery can inflict tremendous damage on any threat coming from Syria and Lebanon the same argument is true for the other occupied Heights by controlling The High Ground along the

Jordan River Israel can ensure the security of its eastern flank so although there is no legal validity to Israel’s occupation of these strategic Heights without them the state of Israel would be just one breath away from total Destruction Ergo for the Israelis a few angry resolutions at the United Nations

Are worth the Strategic depth that the occupied territories provide remotely to the South is the third distinctive region the nef desert it is vast arid and sparsely populated the nef hosts only two notable locations aot and Gaza both located on the outskirts of the region at the southern tip sits the port

City of aot it is Israel’s sole access point to the Red Sea and from there to Global markets although Alat sits outside the Israeli Heartland its strategic value is indispensable to the country overall its Port allows the Israeli economy to bypass potential Naval blockades in the Mediterranean

Should such a situation ever come to pass meanwhile at the Western tip of the neev and adjacent to the Sinai Peninsula is the Gaza Strip the terrain here is not dry but Gaza falls under the same Geographic definition nevertheless the strip is home to the Palestinians with Gaza City marking its capital the

Northern half of the Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated places on Earth however the area holds little strategic value and so it serves as a place of poverty and neglect the humanitarian situation is made worse due to the Restriction imposed by the Israeli government so I always thought

That it was all of Gaza that was the most densely populated is it only Gaza City is it only the northern half okay so so far well let me let me let him finish which wants to restrain the flow of arms into the region either way as a result of this abandonment extremist

Ideologies and militias have taken root in Gaza to the dismay of many including the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank Hamas runs the show in the Gaza Strip elsewhere in the neev the region borders Egypt and Jordan with Saudi Arabia located not too far away the Egyptian front is especially worth

Mentioning as the neev desert is directly connected to the Sinai Peninsula the latter act simultaneously as a deterrent and a security risk while the Arid terrain of the Sinai has historically hindered the movement of armies due to supply restrictions modern technology can overcome it should a sizable Force crossed through the Sinai

Desert it would have a high degree of maneuverability in reaching the Israel Heartland this threat moreover does not exclusively come from the Egyptians the Sinai is an area difficult to control even more so than the neev and so it serves as a shelter for heavily armed non-state actors so besides

Apprehensions over Egypt the Israelis must also handle jihadists Smugglers and dissidents who are using the Sinai as a safe haven ordinarily Nations can resolve their security shortcomings by forming alliances or multilateral agreements compromises can be made so long as the intentions are sincere for Jerusalem however friends are few and

Far and whatever treaties exist would be annuled at the first sign of opportunity should any of the Arab Nations sense weakness on the Israeli part they would likely act on it should any of the neighbors sense weakness of Israeli hm I will say something that I thought was unique so in

1948 with the Arab Israeli War all the nearby countries basically immediately went to war with Israel Israel ultimately won since then it does feel like Israel has come to some kind of an agreement with the nearby countries because even right now you would think I would think right now with the heavy

Attack of Gaza going on you would think that the nearby countries who are naturally sympathetic towards Palestine would intervene and they seem to not be I do hear countries condemning Israel for their actions even the US continues to call for a ceasefire but none of the countries to include the US has

Threatened Israel in any real sense so for example at least from the US we give a lot of support routinely to Israel while we can’t control Israel we could certainly say we’re not going to give you anything else until you stop attacking Gaza the way you’ve been attacking Gaza like that’s a discussion

They could have earlier presidents have made those types of threats and it seems to have worked in the past but I don’t believe Biden or or anyone on the US side has has made any threats like that as well the nearby countries when it comes to Wars overseas I really feel

Like we should you know we can have a side we can have a side that we think is better than the other but at the end of the day it’s a war that’s somewhere else and there’s an element of let them figure it out so by us giving Israel

Rather continuing because this this isn’t the first time we’ve done this right by us continuing to give Israel Financial but especially Military Support we’re basically participating in the war similar to Ukraine we’re kind of participating in the war even even if it’s unofficial that is precisely what happened in 1948 when Israel declared

Its independence from the British mandate Egypt Jordan Iraq Syria Saudi Arabia and Yemen officially entered the conflict in each of Israel’s distinctive regions worst case scenarios unraveled Egypt crossed the neev desert in the first few days of fighting in the Galilee Syria used the Golden Heights to bombard Israeli settlements before

Launching its own Invasion meanwhile the Israeli Heartland namely the area surrounding Jerusalem was under attack by the Jordanian Arab Legion still not all Arab Nations taking part in the conflict were equally committed and the Israelis used that to their advantage through a combination of tactical Excellence on the Israeli part and

Incompetence on the Arab part Israel managed to secure an unlikely victory at the time time the Palestinian refugee crisis had reached its boiling point and triggered a wave of pan-arab nationalism Across The Wider region all the Arab Nations began boosting their armies and a new round of hostilities seemed

Inevitable in 1967 that conflict came true and it spilled over across all of Israel’s distinctive geographic regions Egyptian forces crossed from the West into the neev desert while Jordanian units launched attacks in Jerusalem from the East Syria meanwhile launched artillery strikes against Israeli settlements in the Galilee region and

Lebanon conducted Air Raids on Israeli positions in the north as unlikely as it seemed that war resulted in yet another decisive Israeli Victory with Israel capturing all the Strategic territories and Heights including the West Bank Gaza and the Golan Heights by doing so is Israel created strategic depth for its

Heartland in gushan but Israel’s Victory on the battlefield had also demoralized the Arab governments to such an extent that it ushered in an era of instability in the Arab world in turn this gave the Israelis even more breathing room and diplomatic flexibility more importantly the victory in 1967 opened the door for

A strategic partnership between Israel and the United States prior to this Jerusalem and Washington had casual relations but the Soviet support for the Arab states in the Six-Day War pushed Israel closer to the American camp this newfound relationship would go on to be instrumental in bolstering Israel’s National Security however Israel’s Newfound

Triumph came with strings attached some of the territories acquired by Israel in the 1967 war were not under Israeli sovereignty moreover the newly captured Gaza Strip and West Bank were populated by Palestinians who were anything but loyal to the Israeli State this created a new crisis for Israel a crisis that

Has lasted to the present day some 3 million Palestinians live in the West Bank and 2 million more live in the Gaza Strip in theory a negotiated deal could see Israel live peacefully with its neighbors including an independent Palestinian state but theory is not good enough the Bad Blood between

Israelis and Palestinians runs deep so much so that it is unlikely to fade away with the stroke of a pen the Israelis believe that even if a peace agreement is signed fundamentalist rhetoric like from The River To The Sea will persist implying a complete Arab takeover of Israel after numerous existential

Conflicts with its neighbors Israel is unlik likely to let go of the Strategic Heights surrounding the West Bank mistrust isn’t the only grievance preventing a peace deal even if both the Israeli and Palestinian leadership took a leap of faith and agreed to a negotiated peace deal Regional powers

Like Iran could still employ non-state actors to ruin the peace it would be as easy as smuggling in weapons and provoking a false flag crisis from the Israeli perspective the Arabs and the Iranians can’t be trusted therefore conceding the occupied territories such as the West Bank and the goolan heights

Would achieve nothing but leave Israel exposed and vulnerable to military threats Ergo to ensure its survival Israel places trust in weapons and geography rather than treaties and Promises stemming from this Israel is willing to violate international law and pursue a pre emptive policy so long as it achieves whatever strategic objective

It deems necessary the occupation of the West Bank and the resulting subjugation of Palestinians is the outcome of that unfortunate geopolitical Duality but Israel cannot let go of the West Bank for strategic reasons so this is probably the first video where I don’t have much argument to say because you

Ultimately have a region where both States feel like they’ve got claim to the land I agree with both I think they both belong here and so the real question is can they can they put down their arms and live peacefully together I’ve heard this many times where Israel doesn’t trust Palestinians and therefore

They can’t put down their weapons but likewise right how can Palestinians trust Israel with the history that they’ve had and with the this constant control and I also concur that there will be influence from outside of the region right the other countries will probably have an influence this video

Has definitely explained how and why the the West Bank and Gaza sizes have shrunk so much compared to the the 1947 un map that was originally created as well as the northern area which was also part of the the Palestinian portion is now looks like completely Israel

Controlled we can see why from a survival perspective we really we this is a situation where we’ve got two states essentially two countries almost that are just trying to survive and it doesn’t feel like Israel is coming from a place of of strength so much as of fear actual fear that they

Will be destroyed if they don’t do the things that they do so so they’re building these walls so they’re controlling as much as they they are able able to in order to protect it I don’t think Israel will ever let Palestine govern the region because they probably fear Annihilation likewise I’m

Going to just make this random statement no matter what the regions nearby say if if Israel were to give up and let’s say they they just leave they’re just going to walk away I’m kind of betting kind of betting that the nearby countries will take over Palestine I could be wrong

I could be wrong I’m not seeing a particular love for Palestine I’m seeing a love for controlling the region I I think if there was a love for Palestine we would see more effort on the nearby country’s parts to stop Israel we’re not seeing it at this point we might see it

There is always the threat of another world war and this might be the start of it but I’m definitely not seeing a love for Palestinians really by anyone the more I I learn about the settlers the settlers are there to establish their homes so that similar to we can’t just

Kick the Palestinians out we will not be able to kick the Israelis out because they’ve been there for so long settlers have been in the West Bank for multiple Generations now there are adult settlers now who who were born in the settlements they didn’t move there in their lifetime

They’ve been there the entire time so from their perspective it’s also their home right but what I don’t understand is why there’s no intentional like ingratiating themselves with the Palestinians what do I mean when I was in the military one of my tours one of my duty stations was in

Africa in jibuti and in Kenya I did three months each my particular job was communication so I just made sure we had comms however the purpose of the base or one of the major purposes of the base we had a civil Affairs team we had a civil Affairs civil engineer team and their

Job was to go through different parts of Kenya and figure out where can we build Wells schools we would volunteer at orphanages their job was to figure out what the communities in Kenya needed and wanted and then get the resources to come and build like that was the the

Whole purpose of these bases was to help Kenya now why why did we want to help Kenya well to minimize extremism the goal was if Kenya viewed the US and jibuti is a international so there’s not just Americans there but if Kenyans got the impression that Americans are here

To help Americans are here to help build schools help build like what do you need and we’ll build it together we’ll provide these resources it would minimize terrorism that was the entire point of africom and jibu like the headquarters if you will it was a it was

A humanitarian effort and so the hope would be that we would have good relations with African countries and therefore terrorists would not start in this region that was the hope and so I don’t understand why Israel wouldn’t attempt the same thing throughout Palestine You’re Building these settlers

Right you’re saying it’s to defend your country listen I don’t have trouble believing you I I have trouble understanding why would you not go in and say hey let’s build schools hey let’s build houses let’s build you know figure out how to help the farming systems or the irrigation or the what

Like supposedly Israel has figured out a lot of things right technologically advanced people why would you not share all of these things as a country as a military I don’t know why they’re not working with the Palestinians I don’t comprehend the two-state solution I just don’t I don’t

Understand how you can have two countries in the like you can either separate and become two countries countries or you can merge and become one country I can see that Israel is terrified of the idea of having another country within you know this close to their their land because at this point

So the other option if you’re not going to separate if you’re not going to allow a two-state solution the next step is to become really great friends with Palestinians will this be hard of course will this happen tomorrow no but we can affect Generations through kindness they’ve had decades decades to

Work on relations with Palestine I find it mindboggling I really do that with such danger within your own country you wouldn’t figure out a way to work together I think that’s what boggles my mind the most they’ve got all these settlers there doing what doing like what a waste to

Send settlers to a region to build homes so that Israelis can’t be kicked out and not take that same opportunity to shake hands with Palestinians to become better friends to figure out a way to work together I don’t understand why as a country you would not pursue that

Endeavor I’m fairly confident from the individual level that there are stories of that happening I’m confident we’re talking millions of people we have a certain percentage of people who don’t hate each other who probably just want to live a normal life they just want to be able to travel within their own

Country to have opportunity of job of family and love and friendships business and travel and like normal things who’s not overly worried about let’s go kill the other team you know like so so the fact that as a as a nation Israel would not take advantage of all their resources

And start to build Bridges boggles my mind you know initially Israeli policy makers dealt with the issue by encouraging the establishment of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories by changing the demographics and placing Israeli civilians in certain areas Tel Aviv sought to cement its control over the territories regardless of their

Legal nature so they’re suggesting that area C the sole purpose really is for settlements and maybe it’s true I haven’t seen much explanation for the purpose of area C so so maybe that was the intended purpose the entire time but again why would you not make friends I I

Mean I don’t want to make it sound like all they need is a potluck I understand that this is going to take decades and decades and decades but there should be severe punishment for settlers that are caught in any way attacking Palestinians and vice versa listen we don’t need to

Be attacking the settlers either but there should be severe consequences so that settlers know their purpose and and part of their purpose should be to become friends with their neighbors to build a life not separate from what’s Happening like what what a waste and and let let

Me know guys maybe they’ve tried it and they failed in the videos and the Articles I’ve been reading this far I’ve definitely not seen much handshaking at all I feel like Israel works with other countries more than they work with the Palestinians and they’re they’re in the same country they’re they are

This under this approach Israel designated certain regions of the West Bank for Jewish settlement which is how area C came into being all Israeli settlements in the West Bank all 127 of them are located in this tightly confined space area SE is now home to some 450,000 Israelis but when also

Accounting for the illegal settlements the Israeli population in the West Bank could be as high as 700,000 either way roughly 60% of the West Bank falls under area sea and is directly controlled by the state of Israel however since Israel has not formally annexed the West Bank Jewish

Settlements in the territory are not considered by Israel to be under its sovereign I do not understand that portion at all the every five years let’s hear that again so to exercise its authority over the West Bank every 5 years Israel renews emergency regulations to legally extend Israeli criminal and some civil

Laws to Israeli citizens in the West Bank this way of slow incremental encroachment into Palestinian territory is aimed at breaking the contiguity of Palestinian population centers in the West Bank Jewish settlements in area C is not considered by Israel to be under its sovereignty I’m extremely confused by that statement whose sovereignty would

They be under then Palestinian Palestinians I don’t believe are the ones inviting them in therefore it almost sounds like they’re suggesting the activities of settlers are not punishable by Israel because because they’re not supposed to be there is that what Caspian is is suggesting very confused also if the Israeli government

Has the right to detain Palestinians in the West Bank for various crimes they can surely detain Israelis for the same like I don’t I I’m very confused about this entire conversation and by systematically disrupting Palestinian contiguity a viable Palestinian state becomes less and less viable on the other hand Israel’s settler program

Fuels violence and impedes Palestinian access to their land and resources moreover it harms the negotiation process for securing a two-state solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict so much so that in recent years Israeli lawmakers have prioritized the one-state solution instead and again I don’t think a two-state solution is

Viable personally but settler violence whatever violence is happening from the settlers is definitely going to hurt the situation listen takes a lot of energy to hold somebody down indefinitely a slip up will occur so it’s much better to maintain friendships relationships man however Palestinian birth rates are

Much higher than the Israeli stats this is how the population pyramid looks like as of 2020 23 and this is how it looks like for countries of similar income Israelis cannot compete with these numbers so even when employing the one-state solution Israel will face a rapidly growing Palestinian population

Within that calculus the future of the West Bank is uncertain the Israelis believe they’ll cross that bridge when they come to it so this is something that worries people and I I guess maybe because I’m a traveler and also because I’m mixed my parents come from two different countries I don’t understand

Why people don’t understand the inevitability of mixing you know what I’m saying I’m not saying that a Jewish person has to marry a Palestinian I’m not saying that but listen you are neighbors you are friends one thing we do know no fix will meet the terms set by both sides overall

Israel is like a fortress Under Siege it enjoys a strategic relationship with the United States which empowers its diplomatic economic and Military elbow at the same time grave dangers lurk in Syria Lebanon and the non-state actors that reside there the only way to hold the fort is by towering over the

Competition Israel needs to control the nearby strategic Heights if it is to exist de occupation is possible but only in areas of lower elevation going back to the exact 196 7 borders is practically impossible doing so would subject the Israeli Heartland to devastating rocket and artillery barrage

And risk splitting the country in two in light of this for the Israelis the Tactical and strategic Edge offered by the occupied territories more than makes up for a few disapproving resolutions at the United Nations small in size and vulnerable Israel’s future is shrouded in uncertainty every so often Sparks turn

Into flame conflicts go hot and the country is thrown into Uncharted Territory but the Israelis are cut from an old cloth their secret weapon is that they have no place to go and so they might as well put up a fight I saw a video that said Israel is basically a

Democratic country and I maybe maybe for Israelis but I don’t know it’ll take a lot of trust for both because they’ve been attacking each other forever forever ever since they have been not under somebody else’s rule they’ve been attacking each other so it’s going to take Faith on both parts I

Think Israel is ultimately doomed if they don’t learn to become friends with Palestinians and Palestinians I don’t see other countries coming to support you at all I don’t see them coming to support you at all and so it’s probably in palestine’s best interest to also make friends with

Israel to attempt to become Israeli citizens I get it but I think looking into the future this is the inevitability the other option cuz I think at some point if Israel maintains what they’re doing right now I think the inevitable future is going to be that they will start calling themselves Egyptian Jordanian

Iranian Syrian like I Israel and Palestine will both get destroyed if they don’t Fe figure out a way to work together if a war happens and other Arab countries get involved they’re going to take over Israel Palestine we’re not going to have Israel or Palestine

Watch Original Videos:
Vox, “Why Israel has so many Palestinian prisoners” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9boE53Z_lAg

Caspian Report, “Why Israel has an impossible geography” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKcARccAR_g

With yet another war happening in the world, and this time from a part of the world that seems to always be in conflict, I’ve decided to take some time and learn more about the Israel and Palestine conflict. In this video, I starting with some history in the first video and in this video, I’m attempting to wade through the current infrastructures of Israel’s government and geopolitical situation.
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