As I previously wrote last week, the events of October 7, 2023, marked a profound and harrowing turning point in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. With the brutal Hamas-led attack on Israel, targeting civilians in an unprecedented display of violence, the conflict entered a new and irrevocable phase. The subsequent chain reaction of events—Israel’s decisive military response, the widespread international condemnation of Hamas, and the growing disillusionment with Palestinian leadership—has forever altered the landscape of this decades-long struggle.
For decades, the Palestinian people have been at the mercy of their own misguided leadership, and their own choices. The world’s patience with the narrative of perpetual victimhood and blame has run out. The decisions made by their leaders, the path of destruction they chose over coexistence, and the opportunities they squandered have culminated in an outcome they could neither foresee nor control.
Their dream of eradicating Israel has collapsed, and now they must face the consequences of those decisions. With the world moving on and the dynamics of the region shifting, the path forward will no longer be dictated by Palestinian aspirations but by the realities imposed by their own history of actions and the global community’s fatigue with unending conflict.
Wars and Missed Opportunities
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been punctuated by wars, uprisings, and violent clashes, each further entrenching hostility and deepening divisions.
1947-1949 Arab-Israeli War (The War of Independence)
The rejection of the UN Partition Plan in 1947 set the tone for Palestinian and Arab strategies for decades. While the Jewish leadership accepted the plan, Palestinian Arabs, backed by neighboring Arab states, rejected it outright and launched a war to prevent the establishment of Israel. The war ended in a decisive Israeli victory, with the establishment of the State of Israel and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs. Known as the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” this defeat was the first of many stemming from Palestinian rejectionism.
1956 Suez Crisis
The war was an attempt by Egypt to challenge Israel’s existence and assert Arab dominance in the region. The conflict involved Israel, Egypt, Britain, and France, with Israel launching a swift military campaign to counter cross-border attacks and secure vital shipping routes after Eqypt nationalized the Suez Canal. Egypt suffered a decisive defeat, with Israeli forces capturing the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip. However, international pressure, led by the United States and the Soviet Union, forced all parties to withdraw to their original borders.
1967 Six-Day War
Long before this war, Eqypt had annexed Gaza and Jordan the West Bank. They deliberately chose not to create a Palestinian state in those territories, telling the Palestinians they would destroy Israel instead. In June 1967 Palestinians aligned with Arab armies in yet another attempt to destroy Israel. This war ended in a stunning Israeli victory, with Israel capturing the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights. These defeats further diminished Palestinian aspirations and left them entirely dependent on other Arab nations.
1970 Black September (Jordan)
Palestinian factions, operating as a state within a state in Jordan, challenged King Hussein’s regime, leading to a brutal civil war. The Palestinian expulsion from Jordan resulted in thousands of deaths and permanently alienated the Jordanian monarchy. Black September became a symbol of Palestinian overreach and their inability to secure lasting alliances.
1982 Lebanon War
After being expelled from Jordan, the PLO established a base in Lebanon, using it as a launchpad for attacks on Israel. This culminated in Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982, which targeted PLO strongholds. The war deepened Lebanon’s internal conflicts and paved the way for Hezbollah’s rise, leaving Palestinians further marginalized.
2000-2005 Second Intifada
The Second Intifada began after Arafat walked away from the Oslo Peace talks. This uprising created an escalation of violence, including suicide bombings and attacks on Israeli civilians. The result was over 1,000 Israeli deaths and more than 3,000 Palestinian deaths. Beyond the human toll, it destroyed the infrastructure of trust created during the Oslo negotiations and shattered any remaining hopes for peace.
Gaza Wars (2008-2021)
Over the past two decades, Gaza has seen multiple wars (2008, 2012, 2014, and 2021, ) between Israel and Hamas. Each conflict involved relentless rocket attacks on Israeli civilians and devastating retaliatory strikes on Gaza, further entrenching cycles of violence and leaving Gaza in ruins.
Palestinian Terrorism and International Reach
Palestinian terrorism has not been confined to the Middle East. The world has witnessed shocking acts of violence, including:
1972 Munich Olympics Massacre: The murder of 11 Israeli athletes by Black September brought Palestinian terrorism to global attention.
1976 Entebbe Hijacking: Palestinian terrorists, alongside German militants, hijacked an Air France plane, holding Israeli passengers hostage. Israel’s daring rescue ended the crisis but underscored the global reach of Palestinian terror.
1985 Achille Lauro Hijacking: The murder of an elderly American Jew, Leon Klinghoffer, exemplified the anti-Semitic core of Palestinian violence.
2004 Sinai Bombings: Palestinian-affiliated groups targeted Israeli tourists in Egypt, leaving dozens dead and destabilizing the region further.
Rejection of Peace: The Oslo Accords
The Oslo Accords in the 1990s represented the most significant opportunity for Palestinian statehood. They offered autonomy in Gaza and parts of the West Bank, the establishment of a Palestinian Authority, and a framework for resolving issues like refugees and Jerusalem. Yet, Yasser Arafat rejected the deal without offering a counterproposal. Instead, he returned to Ramallah and launched the Second Intifada, signaling a rejection of peace and a return to conflict.
A Growing Divide: Progressives and the Narrative of Oppression
While global patience with the Palestinian narrative has run out, progressives in the West continue to champion their cause. Viewing the world through the lens of oppressors versus oppressed, progressives label Israel an apartheid state, committing genocide. Yet, they ignore the core of Palestinian ideology, which calls for Israel’s destruction.
The slogan “From the River to the Sea” encapsulates the goal of eradicating Israel. For Palestinians, this means pushing Jews into the sea and death—a vision of ethnic cleansing. Ironically, progressives frame this as justice, not genocide, exposing the hypocrisy and bias that dominate anti-Israel, and Jewish hatred rhetoric.
The Turning Point: October 7, 2023 and Its Fallout
The Hamas attack on October 7 was intended to deliver a decisive blow to Israel, to demonstrate strength, and to rally Palestinian support. Instead, it exposed the depth of moral and strategic failure within Palestinian leadership. The attack, which left Israeli civilians massacred and abducted, shocked the world. It also laid bare the futility of a vision centered on destruction rather than creation.
Israel’s swift and overwhelming response was not just a defense of its people but a signal that it would no longer tolerate existential threats. For decades, Israel endured rockets, terror tunnels, and incitement, choosing restraint to minimize civilian harm. But the events of October 7 erased that calculus. What followed was not just a military campaign but a fundamental shift in Israel’s approach to the Palestinian question.
Israel declared the end of its tolerance for terror as a political strategy. Gaza, once a hub of conflict and resistance, was dismantled as a base for Hamas and its ideology. The world, watching the brutality of Hamas exposed on global screens, could no longer rationalize or justify its actions. Sympathy for the Palestinian cause shifted, and the narrative of victimhood unraveled.
Decisions and Consequences
For nearly a century, the Palestinian leadership made decisions that undermined their people’s future. From rejecting the 1947 UN Partition Plan to decades of corruption, internal division, a refusal to engage in meaningful peace talks, and the rejection of the Oslo Peace Proposal in 2000, every opportunity for statehood was squandered. The focus remained not on building a nation but on destroying Israel.
Even as their leaders amassed wealth, built power structures, and aligned with forces intent on perpetuating conflict, the Palestinian people were left in refugee camps, denied the chance to build better lives.
Terror and killing may scare people for the short term, but it never prevails. It certainly never leads to building a nation. The destruction of others always ends in self-destruction. The Palestinian leadership’s obsession with eliminating Israel ultimately destroyed their ability to create a viable state. Their decisions to prioritize resistance over reconciliation, conflict over compromise, and hatred over hope have left them with no one to blame but themselves.
The consequences of these decisions have reverberated far beyond the borders of Palestine. The Munich Olympics Massaccre in 1972. In Jordan, in the 1970’s, Palestinian actions led to a bloody civil war and Black September, permanently alienating the Jordanian monarchy.
In Lebanon, Palestinian factions in the 1980’s created a civil war that continues to destabilize the country today. Their actions contributed to the rise of extremism in Egypt and, most recently, to the destruction of Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Assad regime in Syria.
Even their primary supporter, Iran, has been reduced to an isolated state, its influence now limited to its own borders. It is highly probable that the next part of the October 7th chain reaction will be the destruction of Iran’s nuclear weapons capability. The Palestinians, through their leadership’s choices, have not only failed to achieve their goals but have left nothing but destruction and instability in their wake.
The world has had enough. There is no one left the Palestinians can continue to blame. They accomplished all this on their own.
The Abraham Accords As the New Focus
With Donald Trump retuning to the presedency, the regional priority will be on expanding the Abraham Accords with a focus on fostering unprecedented cooperation between Israel and most Arab nations. These agreements highlight the potential for economic, cultural, and security partnerships that transcend the historic enmity of the past.
Simultaneously, the Iranian regime’s destabilizing influence in the region, through its support for terrorism and pursuit of nuclear capabilities, remains a pressing threat. The shared goal of countering Iranian aggression will bring Israel and its new allies closer together, presenting a united front for regional stability and progress. This new era of diplomacy represents an opportunity to redefine the Middle East’s future, rooted in collaboration and mutual security.
A Future Beyond the Conflict
And when all is said and done, this path, though forced upon the Palestinians, is ultimately in the best interests of the Palestinian people. A nation can only be built through leadership and the hard work of nation-building. Institutions and governing processes do not emerge from terrorism, rockets, and tunnels, nor from keeping their own people suffering in the name of destroying others.
The Palestinians have proven time and again that they will never choose nation-building as a path forward. If the status quo were allowed to remain, it would inevitably lead to a stalemate cease fire, rearming, rebuilding tunnels and planning the next destructive event against Israel, perpetuating the instability of the Middle East. At the same time daily life of the Palestinian people would be dismal. The world has now made a collective decision: peace will be forced upon the Palestinian people, not as a punishment but as a necessity.
Refugee camps will disappear in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Israel. Palestinians will be integrated into neighboring countries, given opportunities to live in peace and prosperity. For the first time in decades, their focus will shift to the future instead of being mired in the grievances of the past. This new reality will not align with the dream of statehood as envisioned by Palestinian leaders, but it offers a better future than the endless cycle of conflict and suffering.