What is going on between Israel and Palestine is like two children in the schoolyard fighting over a toy which both claim as theirs. One says ‘I want it”, the one possessing it says “You cannot have it”. So, they fight over it. In this case, the toy is land.
The Palestinian position:
From the Hamas Charter:
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/doctrine-hamas
Article 6: It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine,
Article 11: The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf [endowment] consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day.
Article 13: Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement.
Article 15: The day that enemies usurp part of Muslim land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Muslim. In face of the Jews’ usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised.
Article 31: It is the duty of the followers of other religions to stop disputing the sovereignty of Islam in this region, because the day these followers should take over there will be nothing but carnage, displacement and terror.
From “A Document of General Principles and Policies” adopted by Hamas in 2017.
10. Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine. Its religious, historic and civilizational status is fundamental to the Arabs, Muslims and the world at large. Its Islamic and Christian holy places belong exclusively to the Palestinian people and to the Arab and Islamic Ummah. Not one stone of Jerusalem can be surrendered or relinquished. The measures undertaken by the occupiers in Jerusalem, such as Judaization, settlement building, and establishing facts on the ground are fundamentally null and void.
18. The establishment of “Israel” is entirely illegal and contravenes the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and goes against their will and the will of the Ummah; it is also in violation of human rights that are guaranteed by international conventions, foremost among them is the right to self-determination.
19. There shall be no recognition of the legitimacy of the Zionist entity.
20. Hamas believes that no part of the land of Palestine shall be compromised or conceded, irrespective of the causes, the circumstances and the pressures and no matter how long the occupation lasts. Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea. However, without compromising its rejection of the Zionist entity and without relinquishing any Palestinian rights, Hamas considers the establishment of a fully sovereign and independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital along the lines of the 4th of June 1967, with the return of the refugees and the displaced to their homes from which they were expelled, to be a formula of national consensus.
Click to access hamas-2017.pdf
Perhaps this January 18, 2024 MEMRI-TV interview headline sums up the Palestinian position the best:
Hamas Leader Abroad Khaled Mashal: ‘We Reject The Two-State Solution; October 7 Proved That Liberating Palestine From The River To The Sea Is Realistic And Has Already Begun’.
This same Hamas leader was quoted in the January 22, 2024 New York Post as saying “Hamas was never an organization that would just govern Gaza after it came to power in 2007 but one that would destroy the Jewish state.”
The river referred to above is the Jordan River, the eastern boundary of Israel. The sea is the Mediterranean, the western boundary of Israel.
The Israeli position:
The Jews first entered the land in the Middle Bronze Age and by the Iron Age was in complete control of it. In their history, they have been dispossessed from the land twice and have been back in control since 1948.
In Genesis 12:7, God promises Abram, who had just arrived in Canaan, “To your offspring I will give this land.” Later, in Genesis 1 5:18, God expands on that unconditional promise: “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates” (NASB). Then, in Genesis 17:8, God reiterates the promise to Abraham, adding that the land gift is irrevocable: “The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you.” God later repeats the promise to Abraham’s son Isaac (Genesis 26:3-4) and Isaac’s son Jacob (Genesis 28:13), whose name God later changed to Israel.
The promise of land belonging to the children of Israel is permanent. Even when Israel was expelled from their land, God promised they would return: “Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you and bring you back. He will bring you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will take possession of it” (Deuteronomy 30:4-5). This promise is part of what is today sometimes called the Palestinian Covenant or the Land Covenant (Deuteronomy 29:1- 30:10).
According to Genesis 15:18 and Joshua 1:4, the land God gave to Israel included everything from the Nile River in Egypt to Lebanon (south to north) and everything from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River (west to east). The situation today does not show Israel occupying all of the promised land. God has given this promise to the nation of Israel:
This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar– the LORD Almighty is his name: “Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,” declares the LORD, “will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me.” (Jeremiah 31 :35-36).
In the schoolyard example above, where both children claim ownership of the toy, the only way to stop the fighting is for the teacher to come and take the toy away from both of them. Like the Palestinians, the Israeli claim on the land is based on religion. Religious conflicts can only be ultimately resolved by supernatural means.
A two-state solution as proposed today will never satisfy either religion as each claims exclusive possession of the land. Is there a third solution? The Bible says there is. God, himself, is going to send his Son, Jesus Christ, back to earth to take control of Jerusalem and all of the land of Palestine. This Jewish Messiah, who the Jews rejected and killed and the Muslims will try to kill again, will defeat the Muslims while the Jews watch in amazement. Then He will establish His throne in Jerusalem. His throne will be in a new temple and He will rule all peoples with righteousness and justice.
You can read about these things in Zechariah 14, Ezekiel 43:6–7, Revelation 19:11–21, and
“Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty” (Zechariah 14:16 NIV).
Only then will there be peace in the Middle East.