Over time, Jews, Arabs and Christians lived in a broad area called Palestine, over centuries ruled by eight different empires. But after World War II, the United Nations divided Palestine into sections, Israel to Jews; Gaza and West Bank and East Jerusalem as occupied areas under Israel and the Palestine Authority. In 2005, Israel withdrew from Gaza, but retained West Bank. Interestingly, Gaza and West Bank had twice as much land as Rhode Island, so the thought was always somehow to form two states: Israel and the two smaller areas with enough land for both to be supportive to their populations. But both sides had realistic negative issues with every solution, and that didn't happen. After World War II, Jews had no place to go, because the Nazis eliminated six million of them country by country, so Israel became the fort in an uneasy peace for Jews. Gaza has too many people for a small area; therefore they chose Hamas to govern them instead of a moderate organization. Hamas built a tunnel fortress against attack, while Israel guarded the border between them. Trump got surrounding nations involved. He was working for an area deal that neither side could refuse. American voters elected woke; truth denied.

Howard Flora

Ledyard