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I think this is the first time I've ever seen you even semi-acknowledge that Palestinians on the West Bank face hardship and oppression. Which is why I'd day your comments about checkpoints are the real nitpicking.

My impression is mostly, yes. And so what?

My "post gave the impression"? That's all you've got? I specifically pointed out that the center has moved far to the right. How is that saying things are the same? I even used the phrase "from bad to worse." I specifically noted that If my post implies anything, and I think it actually comes out and says it, it isn't that there will be more of the same, but rather that things will ultimately get worse. Given the trajectory of Israeli public opinion, that's a pretty easy call to make.

Not all? Vague much? That could mean anything from 1 Palestinian to all Palestinians. You care to attach an actual percentage to that?

What is there in my comments that would support your understanding that "the current Israeli government is exactly the same as the opposition..." The current government, or at least the one that was current until a few days ago, is even worse than previous governments. Does the expression "from bad to worse" mean anything to you? And given that I noticed the the younger generations of Israelis hold, for the most part, even harsher opinions of Palestinians, I expect the situation ultimately to get even worse. Who knows? Netanyahu may someday legitimately be judged as relatively moderate if the present trajectory continues. And where you use the phrase "more moderate" I would substitute "less extreme". This policy of settlers displacing Palestinians, destruction of Palestinian homes, confiscation of their lands, etc didn't begin with Likud and Benyamin Netanyahu, did it? The center in Israeli politics has moved so far to the right, that "more moderate" can now encompass a compendium of brutality and theft.

James O'Keefe has been repeatedly exposed for wildly dishonest editing of his interviews. He's had to cough up cash on more than one occasion for defamation.

I don't know what you mean by the "were not ruled to be not legal" but they were certainly judged to be invalid.

What was that about my "buddy" being very quiet?

In other words, you've got nothing.

Mind reading and predictions about the future are all you have to offer. You've got nothing.

And this addresses the points I've raised how exactly? And here to reinforce the points I've raised is that notable Jewish American journalists, and, according apparently to your way of thinking, leading anti-Semite, Thomas Friedman of the New York Times: Israel Is About to Make a Terrible Mistake "If Israel goes into Gaza and takes months to kill or capture every Hamas leader and soldier but does so while expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank — thereby making any two-state solution there with the more moderate Palestinian Authority impossible — there will be no legitimate Palestinian or Arab League or European or U.N. or NATO coalition that will ever be prepared to go into Gaza and take it off Israel’s hands. There will be no one to extract Israel and no one to help Israel pay the cost of caring for more than two million Gazans — not if Israel is run by a government that thinks, and acts, as if it can justifiably exact its revenge on Hamas while unjustifiably building an apartheidlike society run by Jewish supremacists in the West Bank. That is a completely incoherent policy. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/19/opinion/biden-speech-israel-gaza.html Friedman goes on to note that settlers have attacked Palestinian villages and killed at least 7 Palestinians. Palestinians under attack as Israeli settler violence surges in the West Bank https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67173344

This knowledge I have i acquired is through reading. I have shared some of that reading material with you. It may be that the material I've provided access to is too difficult for you to read.That's unfortunate, I suppose, but it is not incumbent upon me to remedy your deficiencies of comprehension. However, if you need my tutoring services, perhaps we can come to some financial arrangement.

Hamas could have changed its stance? You have a very naive view of the situation. The reason it's Hamas in charge and not the PA is precisely because the PA was seen as collaborators with Israel as well as being corrupt. There are some excellent books out there, some written by Israeli Jews, that show how and why Palestinians feel this way. Maybe you should acquaint yourself with them And you still ignore the fact of the blockade.

Please provide a link to evidence showing that "They've been building a two-year project for almost ten years, and (per your link) it's in the "final stages"" Clearly, you didn't even read the excerpts I cited to you. There is information in one of them about the range of items that Israel prevents from entering Gaza via its blockade. I have given you the information needed to answer these questions. I cannot help it if you refuse to engage with it.

I have just given you access to detailed information about how Israel harms the economies of the West Bank and Gaza. I have neither the power nor the desire to force you to engage with it.

https://www.btselem.org/topic/punitive_demolitions

Really, hotels are built with same materials as tunnels and rockets? Nothing else? There's not a huge variety of materiel and a huge volume as well to build a modern economy? "For years, Israel has restricted the entry of construction materials, chemicals, machinery, and spare parts into Gaza that are needed for industry and agriculture, the health sector, and civilian infrastructure. Israel considers thousands of items to be “dual-use,” that is, civilian goods that could also be used for a military purpose. The list of items Israel defines as “dual-use” for purposes of entry into the Gaza Strip and the West Bank far exceeds the internationally accepted standard and contains vague, broad categories such as “communications equipment” or “vehicles.” The section of the list pertaining to Gaza is particularly long." https://gisha.org/en/thermometers-incubators-and-selfie-sticks-100-products-that-israel-will-no-longer-treat-as-dual-use-items/ First, do you acknowledge that your statement about the Unicef desalination plant was false? And, by the way, the word "Unicef" might lead you to an answer to your query.

As far as I can tell, not one settler family has ever experienced the collective punishment inflicted on the Palestinians.

Given the way that Israel has crippled the Palestinian economy in the West Bank, allow me to doubt that it would allow strong economic development in Gaza. Especially given the hostility that the locals feel towards Israel.

What don't you understand about the fact that Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza?

You've tried this dodge on before. It's not incumbent upon me to go to the time and trouble to paraphrase information that is readily available via a link. This calls to mind an old saying in a modified form: "You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it think."

Where does this nonsense of yours come from? EU and UNICEF mark the completion of the final phase of the expansion of the Southern Gaza Seawater Desalination plant Today, representatives of the United Nations, the European Union, and the Palestinian Authority officially marked the finalization of the Gaza Strip desalination plant expansion. With this milestone, water production capacity of the Southern Gaza Seawater Desalination Plant is substantially increased, reaching 175,000 more people. The event was attended by the Minister of the Palestinian Water Authority, the Representative of the European Union, Representatives from European countries, the Special Representative of UNICEF in the State of Palestine, representatives from the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU), Youth and local stakeholders. https://www.unicef.org/sop/press-releases/eu-and-unicef-mark-completion-final-phase-expansion-southern-gaza-seawater

Really, instead of building tunnels what could they have done with those funds? I know you are aware that Israel has imposed a blockade on the territory since 2007 after Hamas gained power. (actually in 2005-2006 too). What do you think a blockade entails?

Smuggling contraband is one thing. Not much in the way of volume. But the volumes and variety of material required to building a modern economy imported via tunnels? That's laughable. As for the West Bank "Areas A and B are subdivided into 166 islands with no contiguity and surrounded by Area C, which is the only contiguous part of the West Bank. Area C is largely inaccessible to Palestinian producers, although it is the largest area and has the most valuable natural resources, such as fertile land, minerals, stone, tourist attractions and ingredients for cosmetic products. The wall, together with the settlements, deepens the economic, physical, administrative and legal fragmentation of the occupied Palestinian territory (figure I). 10. In 1967, Israel began establishing settlements in the occupied West Bank, with the growth of settlements in recent years bringing 70 per cent of Area C within the boundaries of their regional councils and rendering that chunk off limits for Palestinian use and development (figure II). Palestinian access to the remainder of Area C is heavily restricted. The present report estimates the economic cost of the additional restrictions on Palestinian economic activity in the remaining 30 per cent of Area C. Those restrictions facilitate the establishment of settlements and their expansion, they foster the setting aside of land and natural resources for settlers and create a difficult environment which forces the Palestinian population to leave Area C." https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/a77d295_en.pdf There's a lot more in that report.

Israel has blockaded Gaza since Hamas came to power 16 years ago. That has made economic development virtually impossible. As for the West Bank, it's laughable that you can describe the situation for Palestinians there as self-rule given all the restrictions that Israel has imposed.