Gaza, I despair.

Your first suggestion is always worth a try, but the second one is more tricky, to do with how would you be sure about who actually gets your donation.
Someone will know.

Do you think writing to AB Downing Street about stopping arms and spy flights, providing diplomatic will do any good.

Plus where do you send money to help the people and children of Palestine.

Well it could be said that what is happening was deliberate, as it gives those who lead the current regime in Israel an excuse to take over Gaza, and that is Exactly what is being proposed

(see Haaretz article above as to stated intentions for those non Arab Israelis who had previously lived in Gaza but agreed to leave it after the 6 day war, in order to foster peace, now are getting official backing too return from some of the current regime.

In the end not unlike Trumps plan, remember, all - "Gaza by the sea" - its inhabitants either leaving or becoming those who work at the hotels and facilities and clean homes and so on.

and I certainly do not think all Israelis wish this to happen at all

because more and more are refusing to be drafted or be punished for refusing to have genuine concerns about what has happened in Gaza and what is happening in the West Bank.

And here are the movements against:

(googled, AI but comes up with the references and you can also google them ourselves)

Human Rights Organizations:

Groups like B'Tselem and Yesh Din actively document and speak out against military conduct, forced displacement in the West Bank, and the expansion of Israeli settlements.

Activist Coalitions:

Movements like Standing Together organize protests advocating for peace, social justice, and equality, bringing together Jewish and Arab citizens.

Conscientious Objectors (Refuseniks): Networks of young Israelis and reservists, including groups like Mesarvot, refuse to enlist or serve in the military, citing their opposition to the occupation and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Hostage Families' Forum: While primarily focused on securing a deal to return the hostages held in Gaza, many members and allied protesters have broadened their demonstrations to demand an end to the fighting and an alternative to the current regime's wartime strategies

What does Hamas have to do with the illegal land grab in the West Bank?

We all know that Hamas is cruel, Fried. It is a proscribed organisation.
It is not another side of the story.
Does the evil of Hamas, to the people of Palestine, mean that is acceptable for the national army of Israel to also commit war crimes?

BTW, FGT, your Gaza news does not surprise me.

shut a starving, living in. tents, rife with disease population up in what amounts to a large ghetto, funnel in supplies if food without adequate distribution help

is absolutely bound to lead to groups of thugs, local gang leaders and Hamas in this case grabbling control of it

There are very substantial splits in Israel, and many are very very frightened and press freedom compromised.

Meanwhile Haaretz reports:

"Settlers torch Palestinian communities after fire damages West Bank settlement

Over the last two days, Israeli settlers have set fire to agricultural lands, a mosque, homes and vehicles in several West Bank communities, according to Palestinian media, the Israel Police and footage from one the villages. Police said they have opened an investigation into one case, but no suspects have been arrested.

Settlers also attempted to block a tanker delivering water to a community near Nablus, stole its water hose and pepper-sprayed one of the left-wing activists who was present, Palestinian reports said.

In the village of a-Tuwani, a Star of David was spray-painted on a building alongside the Hebrew words "Havat Gilad" – the name of a settler outpost that was damaged on Saturday by a large brush fire that also left two firefighters wounded."

And of great concern, occupation of Gaza

"Netanyahu coalition ministers, lawmakers join march calling to resettle Gaza

Near the Gaza border, the Israel Police and IDF tried to block hundreds of Israelis who gathered for a march calling for the Jewish resettlement of the Strip, the march's organizers said. Despite initially approving the march and declaring its route a closed military zone, the IDF later rescinded it, organizers said, adding that numerous buses were stranded close to the march's original assembly point.

Participants, mostly women and minors, then began bypassing police roadblocks. While police struggled to control the crowd, they later said that the marchers remained about 1 kilometer from the Gaza border. Some 100 demonstrators eventually managed to reach the border.

Several government ministers and coalition lawmakers were expected to join the march, held under the banner of Returning home after 21 years
a reference to the 2005 Israeli pullout from the Strip, in which 21 settlements and thousands of settlers were evacuated.

The march is organised by the Nachala movement, whose leader Daniella Weiss was sanctioned by Canada and the U.K. for her role in supporting and facilitating violence against Palestinians

Maremia

I think there will be elections in Israel this Autumn.
That should inform us about who the ordinary folk support.

October 27th 2026

Will elect all 120 members of the 26th Knesset.

In this proportional representation system, parties must meet a 3.25% electoral threshold to enter the legislature.

Parliament is dissolved now after laws attacking the judiciary and an atmosphere of press control. Obviously lots of behind the scenes at play to try and get a coalition either to oust or maintain Netanyahu. Including around the ultraorthodx group the Haredi who wont join the IDF but some support Settlers s in upholding the vision of Israel as including Gaza and the West Bank - others joining the growing movement against forced service in the IDF

This is a good article to read which sets out some of the conflicts at play

www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/17/israel-headed-for-october-election-as-parliament-dissolved

2 sides to every story …

“ For the civilians of Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, queuing for food is becoming an ever more dangerous necessity.

Increasingly, however, the threat is not only from Israeli air strikes, but also from armed raids by the very group that claims to protect them: Hamas.

Palestinians told The Telegraph how in recent days, groups of terrorists had stormed food distribution points and refugee shelters to tighten their grip on Gaza and terrorise civilians.

Last Monday, gunmen stormed into a shelter for the elderly, firing into the air and then demanding compensation for the bullets they had fired.

Palestinians, speaking anonymously for fear of retribution, said Hamas had perfected the art of hijacking aid shipments to smuggle goods into the enclave and boost its funds.”

Maremia

Why can't the USA request that Israel desists with the internationally condemned Settler violence?

Because Trump simply doesn’t want to!

I think there will be elections in Israel this Autumn.
That should inform us about who the ordinary folk support.

Those people in Israel who feel what is happening is OK are also to blame - it can't all be placed at Netanyahu's door - evil man though he is. I know there are many Jewish people in Israel and around the world who feel ashamed of what has happened in Gaza and the West Bank. Unfortunately they are in the minority. If people in Israel truly wanted something different, Netanyahu would be gone by now.

Those who conduct this genocide and those who participate in it are, in my opinion, war criminals. Those who condone it aren't much better.

I think the criticisms of Starmer are valid.

Just to clarify, the US has lost 16 soldiers and 430 have been wounded.

They wont, as it suits them, and the current USA regime doesn't care a bit. Collateral damage for them is all.

The have just lost two soldiers. first loss of the war.

They could, they should, but they won’t.

Why can't the USA request that Israel desists with the internationally condemned Settler violence?

wyllow3 thanks for the information, I have been reading as much as I can on the news, media other outlets etc, and continue to be utterly appalled at what is happening, but feel so overwhelmed and saddened by man’s inhumanity, and now find it difficult to comment on this hell on earth, much (but not entirely) as a result of Israel’s and Americas thirst for power and wealth- that is the whole area of the Middle East, Sudan, Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen and Iran, not forgetting Iraq who has never fully recovered from our invasion, and contributing to much of the instability in the area.

I thought we, as a species, were better than this!

Apparently not.

My only hope is that those perpetrators will eventually be brought to book. But frankly I’m not holding my breath.

The complication is that the US could insist that Israel stopped its settlement programme but it can't do that while terrorist groups are fighting to destroy Israel with Iran backing them.

If Iran wins the current conflict and is emboldened enough to attack Israel directly the Israelis might reply with a nuclear weapon. If the state is at risk, as a last resort I believe that they will do that.

What is happening in the West Bank has nothing to do with Iran.

Thanks Samwan, for your response.

Sarnia

Whitewavemark2

The Board of Peace? There’s a misnomer if ever I’ve heard one!

Quite. Tony Blair is a member, I think. Enough said!!!

If any one British politician should be in jail....

David, the war Trump has started adding fuel to fire in Israel under the current regime has nothing to do with forced illegal settling in the West Bank .

It was happening before, and is getting far far worse under the cover of the bigger picture.

Disagree, its far more complex imo.

Today clip from Haaretz

Israeli settlers leading sheep out of the village of Amanzil in the southern West Bank, Thursday

An Israeli strike on a funeral in the Gaza Strip killed at least seven people and wounded 22 others, according to Al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp, as reported by The Guardian.

*Settlers filmed stealing Palestinian livestock under IDF protection

In the West Bank, settlers were filmed on Thursday taking dozens of sheep and goats from livestock pens belonging to Palestinians under the protection of Israeli soldiers.

Residents of the village told Haaretz that settlers from a nearby outpost had spent the day grazing their flocks on land adjacent to the village before deliberately mixing them with a flock belonging to Palestinian residents.

According to one resident, it was impossible to separate the animals, forcing villagers to return most of the Palestinian livestock to the village pen out of fear that settlers would seize the entire flock. The resident estimated that between 10 and 15 sheep belonging to settlers entered the Palestinian pen, while the settlers themselves took several Palestinian-owned sheep.

Later that night, settlers entered the village alongside security force vehicles. Soldiers allowed the settlers to break the lock on the livestock pen and take the entire flock, despite repeated attempts by villagers to show Palestinian Authority identification tags attached to the animals' ears.

Footage later showed soldiers accompanying the settlers as they led the flock away from the village.

In Ramallah, a 17-year-old Palestinian died on Saturday of wounds he sustained when he was shot by Israeli troops a week earlier. The incident followed several days of repeated attempts by settlers to graze sheep on land near an isolated Palestinian family home in the village.

After settlers harassed the family, Israeli troops ordered them to open their gate using riot dispersal measures, according to residents and video footage, leaving several wounded as a result of rubber bullets and tear gas. The IDF said that soldiers had fired at a suspect who was throwing stones.

Maremia

Is it known if Starmer ever reversed that opinion?
I know there was a statement in the House of Commens about the right to a Palestinian State.

Starmer took at least 9 days to reply and then did not apologise he just tried to explain himself.

Keir Starmer has lied his way to the top of our political process causing untold damage in the process. Here’s just one small example as he announces another 66 peers will go to the House of Lords

Across his full premiership (2024–2026), Keir Starmer appointed 135 Labour-affiliated peers despite having pledged to “clean up sleaze’ in government and “replacing the House of Lords with a new, SMALLER, democratically elected second chamber”.

Good riddance to him.