It seems to me that most people don't really understand what the fuss in Israel is all about, particularly as Jews have their own, capable, strong country, and Palestinians are - as media often report - living in dire poverty behind guarded, concrete barriers.
It's very easy to start thinking that those poor people deserve some sort of statehood of their own and that Jews are their oppressors.
It's also easy to be deceived into believing that the entire conflict has been going on for so long and is so complicated that surely, at the very least, both sides are to blame.
The reality is far simpler and I've decided to sum it up in three points in the image attached.
Only one side of this conflict has ever accepted to live side-by-side with the other, in two separate countries. Only one side agreed to share the holy city of Jerusalem, important to Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, under independent, international jurisdiction.
The Jewish side.
And while it seems that Israel is a powerful nation, it's only inhabited by 9 million people, 2 million of whom are Arabs with Israeli passports. That leaves 7 million Jews surrounded by 460+ million Arabs living in neighbouring countries in the Middle East and North Africa + 88 million Iranians.
These proportions have always been skewed heavily against the Jews, so they never wanted to start any wars. They just wanted to finally have a small country of their own, in their historical homeland that they had migrated to since the 19th century, following hundreds of years of deprivation and the Holocaust in which 6 million had been methodically exterminated by the Nazis. That's all.
To frame these people as some sort of bloodthirsty occupiers is an absurdity of monumental proportions.
However, these weaknesses also explain why Arabs were never interested in any talks or compromise – they were just so convinced of their numerical superiority that they did not think it possible that any Jewish state could survive.
Today we're often hearing about Jewish settlers dividing the West Bank into smaller and smaller pockets that Palestinians can live in but the fact of the matter is that Jews never wanted the West Bank, which was under Jordanian control until 1967.
They captured the area during the Six Day War, after pleading with Jordanian king not to take part in the conflict but he refused. In the very same war they captured Sinai, which they later returned to Egypt in exchange for recognition and peace.
For the longest time West Bank was considered just another bargaining chip and the settlement policy started as a security measure, given the persistent Arab threat.
And yes, after decades of indiscriminate terrorism and failed promises by Palestinian leaders, it has become a de facto policy of squeezing Palestinians out. But it was not intended in the first place - Jews were more than content with the original 1947 plan and just wanted space for themselves, away from bombs, bullets and gas chambers. That's all.
So, fast-forward several decades, what you're seeing today is not Israel oppressing poor Palestinians but rather a victim that has overpowered his oppressor, containing him to isolated, controlled areas, limiting the harm that he can inflict.
And if you take pity on Palestinians today you have to remember that the conditions they live in are a consequence of seven decades of trying to get rid of Jews. And even now they voted Hamas into power in 2006 and the organisation's leader, Ismail Haniyeh, would still win their presidential election today (if they ever got round to calling one).
Choices have consequences.
