Agree Or Disagree Israel Brought This Whole Gaza War Upon Themselves They Had Full Control Of Gaza

Did the people of Gaza bring what happened upon themselves by electing Hamas?

No, for a few reasons:Hamas won the Parliamentary elections, not the general elections. Hamas wasn’t given control of Gaza by voters, it took control in a military coup.Hamas won the plurality of seats in the 2006 elections, not the majority.Hamas was elected in 2006. In theory, there should have been new elections by 2014. So by 2014, they were no longer the democratically elected party.Most people living in Gaza in 2014 were under age 18 (or not born yet) in 2006, and so did not vote in those elections.Trying to decide whether people “brought it on themselves” is pointless at best; a path to justification of criminal behavior at worst. War isn’t about what people deserve. Attacking an enemy position should be done if and only if it’s necessary for national defense; the decisions civilians made years earlier - or even their opinions today - shouldn’t be a factor.All that said, on an individual level many people brought what happened to them on themselves in a more immediate sense, by attacking Israel. For example, Hamas fighters who died infiltrating Israel had a hand in their own deaths.And if we’re talking about what people on both sides could do to prevent war in the future, then yes, not electing Hamas (or any other group that is dedicated to wiping out Israel) would be a good first step.

Should Israel reoccupy Gaza and give Fatah control of it?

Has ve halila! God forbid. In fact, we shouldn't invade it in the first place.  Historians still wonder how it could happen that an indecisive Eshkol was the initiator of this step. When Begin negotiated with Sadat  the retreat from Sinai, he tried to foist him Gaza but the crafty  Sadat outsmarted Begin аnd refused to take control on Gaza strip. If I was Begin  I would rather  refuse to make peace with Egypt than to leave this disaster in our hands. I remember going to Carter, Begin promised that he will not give up an inch of Sinai, but the pressure was too great and he returned without  Sinai, but with Gaza on our neck.

Why can't Israel leave Gaza in peace?

I see a number of people have answered you with questions along the lines of “Israel doesn’t attack West Bank Palestinians with the same amount of violence.” Let me assure you as someone who as worked in the West Bank City of Hebron for twenty years that the Israeli military occupation there is incredibly cruel, and none of the people writing would allow themselves or anyone of they love to be subjected to it for one minute. I have witnessed with my own eyes, Israeli soldiers smiling and boasting about how much they enjoyed beating up young Palestinian men. I have seen them smiling as they blanketed, day after day, entire Palestinian neighborhoods with tear gas during school hours all because a few children threw a few stones toward a checkpoint, none of which came anywhere close to reaching their mark. Think of it. They were doing this to kindergarteners, first and second grade children, many dozens of them. I have seen them breaking into Palestinian homes and stealing things.And don’t even get me started on Israeli settlers who pretty much assault people with complete impunity (including me) while Israeli soldiers and police stand by and watch.This ongoing, daily violence is well documented, and of course the amount documented is only a small part of the amount that actually happens. Most Israelis (I am married to one and I have had these conversations with his friends) don’t want to believe it is really happening, or that it is as bad as the people who live in the West Bank (or Gaza) say it is (just as white people who live in the suburbs of the U.S. who have never been treated badly by the police tend not to believe black people who complain about the way the police treat them.)But then, there is one death too many, one innocent life taken at a checkpoint too many, one more restriction too many and all those days, weeks, months, decades of anger, grief, anguish, just explode.No one will live under military occupation forever. It just can’t be done. And just because you don’t see it happening every day, and because you can’t empathize with the people it’s happening to, doesn’t mean it’s not happening. And unless the military occupation of Palestine and the blockade of Gaza ends, there is a terrible human catastrophe ahead.Just for everyone’s info, I pretty much only trust documentation by on-the-ground human rights organizations. I do not trust government hasbara. That includes my own, Israel’s, the PA’s or Hamas (so you might as well save your energy).

What will happen if Israel tries to take over Gaza and the West Bank?

There is no chance that Israel will try to take over direct administration of Gaza. Although it is to all intents and purposes the sovereign power in Gaza, it prefers to pretend that it isn’t and to keep Gaza running as a quasi-autonomous prison.As for the West Bank, it’s not a question of “if”. Israel’s policy of creeping annexation has been going on for a long time and shows no sign of stopping. Because the process is slow and because there haven’t been any really big annexation events in that process apart from the annexation of Jerusalem, people tend not to notice that it is happening and so Israel gets away with it. It’s going to take a lot of effort to make people in the countries with the most influence wake up to what’s going on, but when that happens, when people understand that this really is the creation of an apartheid state, the wheels will start to come off the Israeli propaganda machine and the country will find itself isolated. Since Israel identifies with “white” nations, just as the South African apartheid regime did, being spurned by those “white” nations will prove unbearably painful and the Israeli soul-searching will begin. That is when a different political order in Palestine will start to become possible.