In a rare event in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, hundreds of Gazan citizens marched in the northern town of Beit Lahiya carrying white flags, calling to end the Hamas rule, and even calling to hand over the Israeli hostages.
The protests took place in front of the Indonesian Hospital in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. One protester who filmed the events questioned where Qatari Al Jazeera and its Gaza correspondent Anas al-Sharif are, implicitly referring to the channel’s no criticism of Hamas policy.
people are demanding the press to cover these events!” he said. “People are demanding freedom, they’re demanding a halt to the hostilities against Gaza, they’re demanding peace and an end to this war.” One of them said, “The press entered the hospital so as to not document this event.”
Slogans shouted in the protest included “Out out out! Hamas out!” and “Where is the press?” and “We want to live!” Signs held by protesters included slogans such as “We refuse to be the ones who die” and “Stop the war.”
Another video showed hundreds of marchers walking in the streets of Beit Lahiya, with the cameraman saying: “Large crowds are protesting now against the rule of Hamas. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The people here are calling to free the prisoners so we can remain alive,” possibly referring to the remaining Israeli hostages.
Do you have data that backs that up? Because I think most Israelis do want peace, if that means they no longer get attacked.
Look up “Tel Aviv University peace index”. It’s a survey done every three months by Tel Aviv University measuring attitudes in Israel towards peace, and since October 7th they’ve had questions about the war. Prepare to lose some faith in humanity, however.
No surprises there. It mostly shows that Israelis do not trust the Palestinian Authority, and who can blame them?
There’s a lot of bad blood between them, but that does not mean they do not ultimately want a peaceful solution.
Did you click on the press release link? The findings PDF has more surveys with more details. For example, you’ll find that (pages 3-5) only 19% of Israeli Jewish respondents support a two-state solution, while only 7% support a one-state solution. Meanwhile 37% support “Annexation of the occupied territories and the creation of one state under Israeli rule with limited rights for Palestinians” and 25% support continuing the status quo. These are four separate questions, in case you’re wondering why these don’t add up to a hundred. For more despair juice, 47.4% of Jewish respondents support the creation of settlements in Gaza after the war. That’s a majority if you don’t count the 12.6% I don’t know responses (page 7). I could go on. See what I mean? It’s a full 11 pages of questions asking “do you want peace” and Israeli Jews answering “no”. I don’t think it’s possible to read this and still think Israel will ever choose peace willingly.
Now compare the numbers for Palestinians with surveys from PCPSR or similar.
I mean, sure, it’s an ethnic conflict with a bunch of bad blood on both sides. That’s a bit of a whataboutism, though, since this was about whether most Israelis want peace.
If you directly asked Palestinians and Israelis if they want peace, the vast majority would answer either yes. The conditions of what’s considered a viable peace is different.
The two state solution was favored among Israelis during the peace process up to the second intifada. Afterwards an increasing number of Israelis rejected two states as unrealistic because they didn’t see a willing partner on the Palestinian side. Put it another way, many Israelis don’t believe a Palestinian state would actually bring peace. The withdrawal from Gaza and the continued attacks on Israel from Gaza over the last decades is seen as an example of that.
Sure, nobody likes living in a warzone. The version of peace that’s been popularised in Israel implicitly involves ethnic cleansing, though, so I’m not sure that’s worthy of any of the brownie points you’re after.
First, that’s irrelevant because it’s Israel holding all the power in their Apartheid and genocide project. Second, no I won’t. You compare and make your own point.
Yes, I did click through to the findings PDF and carefully looked at how the questions were worded.
Everyone wants ‘peace’, but you should ask people what peace means. For Israelis, peace means that every Palestinian is either murdered or forcably removed from their land. For Palestinians, peace means that they are allowed to move freely within Palestine and have the same rights as Israelis.
For Israelis peace means not getting attacked any more by any of their neighbours.
If that were true they would’ve had peace long ago. https://decolonizepalestine.com/myth/israel-has-always-sought-peace/