[TearsInTheRain]

Im not jewish and visited Israel recently for several weeks. Despite thinking I had a pretty good knowledge base of the situation beforehand, actually being there, and talking to people with actual stake in the region it became obvious that the opinions of people who have never been to Israel and dont have any skin in the game (95% of this thread) are completely off base, un-nuanced and literally worthless.

[Bakary]

Visiting the country for only a few weeks isn't going to give you much more insight on the place than random commenters, especially if by your own admission you were already prone to overestimating your understanding.

[cinbun8]

Perhaps you can tell us how it was different?

[TearsInTheRain]

I dont like giving an opinion for the same reasons I was complaining about. I dont have stake in the region and there is so much nuance in the history im still missing. Things that I found striking though were that there are huge populations of arabs that live peacefully in Israel so this apartheid narrative is complete nonsense. The power dynamics are pretty set in stone, Israel will never have to give up an ounce of land that they dont want to. Anyone that talks about who has what right to what pieces of land are completely out of touch with that. It is irrelevant at this point. And Israel is making massive investments in the country. Palestinians could easily partake in that economic expansion but instead devote a significant portion of their economic activity to the conflict with Israel which has 0% chance of changing anything ever. Pretty sad imho

[hckrnrd]

> there are huge populations of arabs that live peacefully in Israel so this apartheid narrative is complete nonsense.

For many, the narrative has superseded reality. And that’s the crux of the issue. If only more people had your level of willingness to explore the facts on the ground with their own eyes. Thank you so much for sharing your perspective.