While Israel is engaged in a deadly, drawn-out conflict with Palestinian terrorists, one must wonder: Do all Israelis hate Palestinians and do all Palestinians hate Israelis? I posit in the negative.

I am a Jewish Israeli and while I take a very firm stance against terrorism, incitement and anti-Israel activity, by no means do I harbor hatred towards the Palestinian people. My problems lie with the Palestinian terrorists and their leaders who, I do not believe represent the Palestinian people.

For so many years, Palestinian leaders have done nothing but lead their people away from opportunity and even farther from peace. These same politicians claim to be the “sole representatives” of the Palestinian people. Only corruption has kept them in power.

Hamas won the popular vote in 2006 for a number of reasons. Like Americans, the Palestinian public wanted change. After Arafat’s demise, most Palestinian people realized they had been misled for years and though they still claim to “love Arafat,”, secretly they know that he was a terrible leader. They realized that they had to minimize corruption and by voting Fatah out, they effectively achieved this although some corruption still exists.

Another reason Hamas won is because of their popularity amongst Palestinians. They provide services, charity, funds, food and in addition, empowerment, hope and a desperate answer to desperate worries. Unfortunately, Hamas now takes advantage of their position in power to siphon off aid to the public and uses it as a political tool against Israel. The charitable work they do however, is simply a facade for the terrorist activities they are deeply entrenched in and this has only hurt the Palestinian people.

For example, Hamas weapons exploded during a parade in 2005, killing 15 innocent Palestinians and injuring dozens (see: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/23/international/23cnd-mideast.html). Where was the international outcry? The 2006 beach incident was caused by Palestinian ordnance - not Israeli shells, as the international community was so eager to believe even before an inquiry was set up (see: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/jun/10/israel). Again, no international outcry and no condemnation. The house that exploded on June 12, 2008 in Gaza belonged to a Hamas member who was building and storing bombs and other ordnance (see: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/12/mideast/mideast.php). All this and many more similar incidents, has brought the Palestinians only misfortune and suffering, while Hamas has turned Gaza into what is reminiscent of the parallel 1980’s universe created by Biff from the film Back to the Future.

Yet, with the conflict between Hamas and Israel, can we Israelis really hate Palestinians?  There are so many reasons for us to hate each other. Both sides have endured so much suffering and pain. Everybody we know has lost a friend or relative to this bloody, ceaseless conflict.  It would be so easy for me to hate Palestinians.

Yet I realize that hate gets us nowhere. Israelis are suffering from terror and the Palestinians are suffering because of Hamas. They are also suffering because for years, Arab leaders refused to help repatriate them into Arab countries. They are suffering because when Israel left Gaza in 2005, Arab leaders could have built up the evacuated Jewish communities, creating beautiful houses with front-yards and driveways on tree-lined streets for Palestinian families. Instead, Arab leaders, the international community and the UN (see:http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=14875&Cr=palestin&Cr1=) decided, for political reasons, to leave them in squalid refugee camps so as to convince the world that the Palestinian people were suffering because of Israel. Palestinians could have been living in normal housing since 2005. What happened?

My sentiments lie with the Palestinian people who have been completely disregarded by their own leaders. The international community is equally responsible since they should have realized that they weren’t helping the Palestinian people - they were helping corrupt Palestinian leaders.

The international community is so eager to believe everything that Arafat, Nusseibeh, Abbas and Erekat have told them, that they were blinded by what was really happening. And even now that Arafat is dead, the lies and deceptions and the naivety continue.

The Palestinian people are perhaps victims of Israel’s inability to help them, but more so, they are victims of their own leaders and of the failures of the international community to recognize the real reason behind their suffering.

Yes, I feel for the Palestinians and no, I do not hate them.

NeoConstant is growing fast, and many guest authors frequent its pages. Guest authors writing at NeoConstant write from all political vantage points, and from countries around the world. Not all of them chose to continue on as regular contributors, but we appreciate their intellectual contribution regardless!