Does it matter who started it?
Not for the civilians on both sides.
Reads closer. Nobody promised an Israel.
Israeli military spokesman Peter Lerner said on CNN that the military had put its own forces at risk when it told people to evacuate ahead of time, losing the element of surprise. Nevertheless, he said, it would continue to make such pre-operation announcements to protect civilians.
“We didn’t start the operation until we had seen the evacuation had commenced,” he said.
‘Bombing is everywhere.’ Israeli strikes and armed clashes in the city have sparked another Palestinian mass migration.
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So, going forward, whom will represent Palestine in the UN? The PA (?) or the PA for the West Bank and (the non-functional?) Hamas for Gaza? Do they recognize each others authority and share their right to non-vote on UN motions?
Among the
G20, ten countries (
Argentina,
Brazil,
China,
India,
Indonesia,
Mexico,
Russia,
Saudi Arabia,
South Africa, and
Turkey) have recognized Palestine as a state, while nine countries (
Australia,
Canada,
France,
Germany,
Italy,
Japan,
South Korea, the
United Kingdom, and the
United States) have not. Although these countries generally support some form of a
two-state solution to the conflict, they take the position that their recognition of a Palestinian state is conditioned to direct negotiations between Israel and the PA (with no mention of Hamas, functional or not).
So Israel has occupied the West Bank & Gaza (From Jordan & Egypt) since 1967 which was two decades before 1988 and the declaration of the establishment of the state of Palestine by the PLO. That’s a Trudeau level of moving the goal posts.
On 15th November 1988,
PNC, the legislative body of the
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) led by
Yasser Arafat, declared the establishment of Palestine. Signing of the
Oslo Accords in the 1990s, negotiated between Israel and the PLO, aimed to establish a government. In 2007,
internal divisions between Palestinian political factions led to a
takeover of the Gaza Strip by
Hamas. Since then, the West Bank has been governed by the
Palestinian National Authority, led by
Fatah, and the Gaza Strip under the
control of Hamas.
The
Palestinian Authority governs parts of the West Bank while
Hamas controls the Gaza Strip. Who governs the sovereign nation state of Palestine?