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Salam Fayyad asserts that settler violence in the West Bank is not a fringe issue but is condoned by the Israeli government. Because extremist settlers act with the full protection of the Israeli army, which could easily stop them, their actions to drive Palestinians away must be understood as intentional policy.

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Despite the Palestinian conflict being central to Israel's future, politicians are intentionally avoiding it as a campaign topic. They believe voters, traumatized by October 7th, are not ready for a serious discussion, creating a dangerous disconnect between electoral debate and existential reality.

When police remove a Jewish man from a pro-Palestinian march for his own safety, they are misplacing the responsibility for potential violence. This logic is akin to victim-blaming. The duty of law enforcement in a free society is to protect individuals from attack, not to remove them because their presence might agitate a violent mob.

Israeli leadership recognizes that American public opinion, particularly among younger generations, is turning against them. They are likely using the current pro-Israel US administration as a final window of opportunity to expand territory and create irreversible facts on the ground before that support evaporates.

Salam Fayyad contends the Palestinian Authority is not simply in need of technocratic reforms; its political structure is fundamentally flawed. Even if managed as efficiently as Finland, it would still lack the national consensus required to govern effectively because it doesn't represent all Palestinian factions.

Fayyad is skeptical of recent international recognitions of a Palestinian state, arguing they often serve the domestic political needs of foreign leaders. He sees these symbolic gestures as worse than a placebo, creating a false sense of progress while the reality of occupation gets progressively worse.

Viewing the conflict as two rational sides in a misunderstanding is flawed. Both sides see the other as an existential threat and are willing to use extreme violence to achieve their goals. This reframes the narrative from a political dispute to a primal, violent tribal conflict where both sides see themselves as righteous.

The Israel-Palestine conflict is often framed as a religious clash, but its root is the political reality of military occupation. The Palestinian response is a predictable human reaction to subjugation, similar to the Irish resisting the British, not a unique feature of their religion.

Contrary to public perception, Israeli and Palestinian Authority security leadership work together effectively. This cooperation targets common threats like Hamas and extremist Israeli settlers, but it remains unpublicized to avoid backlash from their respective populations.

Like government bailouts encouraging risky banking, unconditional US support for Israel acts as an artificial insurance policy. This "moral hazard" emboldens Israel to pursue aggressive conflicts it would otherwise avoid, knowing it won't bear the full consequences, much like having Mike Tyson as a bodyguard.

A key element of settler colonialism is extracting resources for a home empire. Judge Roy Altman argues this framework is inapplicable to Israel, as there is no metropole benefiting from its existence. The Jewish people, as Golda Meir quipped, have nowhere else to go.