I have been told that because the Jewish people, the Israelis, are the oppressors and the choice between who to support is a black and white binary. But it really isn’t so simple. The history is indeed complex and, as I might point out to anyone who would say otherwise, the Jewish presence in the land pre-dated modern nation-state of Israel which came on the scene when Harry Truman recognized it as such in 1948.
Moreover, despite increased tension amongst extremist organization and the resurgence of terror groups like Hamas, it is mistaken to assume that the Palestinian people are a monolith, or that they all think in the same way. Seeking the good of all people is possible even in a region that is the tinderbox of extremely thorny geopolitical dynamics. A human rights approach patterned after the 1948 Universal Declaration of Rights is perhaps a great starting point in that it serves as the foundation basis for a shared understanding of the common good.
