An Israeli and a Palestinian debate


Debate between the two at the Festival of Humanism over the weekend

June 2026

So popular was this debate that many couldn’t get in so it was repeated the following day in a bigger hall. The two speakers were Yaniv Aknin who is a British-Israeli software engineer currently working in London. He was born and raised in Israel but left in 2013. Jasr Kawkby is a British-Palestinian paediatrician currently working in East London. He was raised as a Muslim in Palestine.

It would be usual in a write-up of this kind to discuss what A said then to discuss B, making clear thereby who said what. We will not do this in this instance and just discuss what was said by both. These are some of the points made:

  • It was pure chance where you were born and whether you were Moslem, Christian or Jew.
  • Language was important. To call what happened a ‘war of independence’ was quite wrong. It was a colonial war. To live in a land where the ‘natives’ were expelled and prevented from returning was morally wrong.
  • Armed resistance has made life more difficult for those it seeks to support. It has alienated foreign support.
  • Suffering has been inflicted on those with no responsibility for the plight of Jews [in history].
  • Israel must stop its barbaric actions [for example] denying food aid in Gaza and must respect the rights of Palestinian prisoners in Jewish gaols.
  • [In answer to a question] the conflict was about land: religion was very much a secondary factor. It was however a complicating factor.
  • Zionism was a wrong ideology.
  • Most destruction of human life was by Israeli forces [meaning the IDF from other comments he made].
  • Pressure should be applied to Israel until it complies with human rights. We must recognise the oppression of Palestinians.
  • The lack of unconditional support from the West seen as a betrayal or anti-Semitism.
  • Religion was a catalyst for violence: how can we spread non-religious ideas? [This was a Humanist conference].
  • We should not be selling arms to Israel.

You might believe some of the answers are obviously from one ‘side’ or the other. You may well be wrong. There were in fact some surprises. This is to illustrate that there are those from the region – whether Jew or Moslem – who see both sides and recognise some of the wrongs that are committed. Because so much air time is given to extremists, we can be led to believe that they are representative of the population as a whole. It demonstrates that perhaps there is some chance in the future for some kind of reconciliation. The interference by outside forces – discussed in our last post in relation to the Gulf – is a factor in the perpetuation of violence.

Images: Yaniv (top); Jasr (lower)


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  1. A short history of British Crown illegal occupation of Ireland, Malvinas, and attempts to force Jews of Israel into ghetto gulags as did the Poop for three Centuries! The British rape of India.

    The Tudor conquest imperialism, especially the Nine Years’ War (1594–1603): probably tens of thousands of Irish soldiers and civilians died. Much larger numbers died from famine and disease caused by the war. The figures are too uncertain to identify a Catholic total. Confederate and Cromwellian wars (1641–1653): perhaps 200,000 or more people in Ireland died overall, including combatants, civilians, famine victims, and those killed in massacres. Most Irish Catholic military resistance occurred in this period, but the Catholic deaths cannot be separated confidently from the total. The 1798 rebellion: estimates commonly place total deaths—rebels, government forces, and civilians—at roughly 10,000–30,000, with most rebel and civilian victims Catholic or Catholic-background, though again the classification is not precise. The War of Independence (1919–1921): roughly 500–700 IRA volunteers were killed, alongside hundreds of civilians and members of the Crown forces. Most IRA volunteers came from the Catholic nationalist population, but this was a struggle for Irish independence rather than a direct attempt to prevent Northern Ireland’s creation.

    No single moment when the Irish people unanimously accepted the Protestant illegal occupation of Northern Ireland. The Anglo-Irish Treaty established the Irish Free State and allowed Northern Ireland to opt out. The Dáil narrowly ratified the Treaty, effectively accepting that partition would continue temporarily. This helped trigger the Irish Civil War, because anti-Treaty republicans rejected the settlement. 1937: Ireland’s new constitution still claimed sovereignty over the whole island, so partition remained officially disputed. 1937: Ireland’s new constitution still claimed sovereignty over the whole island, so partition remained officially disputed.

    Ireland – a large inhabited country subjected to conquest, colonization, and eventually partition. The Falklands/Malvinas a territorial sovereignty dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom. Yet London condemns post Oct7th 2023 Israeli settlements as criminal simply because London, post the 1939 White Paper, declares East Jerusalem and Samaria as illegal settlements! England and its Allied alliance condemns Israel of illegally occupying Samaria which it styles as “West Bank” – only Britain and Pakistan (a Two State solution creation) approved of Jordan’s illegal annexation of Jordan’s annexed “West Bank” in 1950.

    Argentina calls the “Malvinas” a colonial possession. It argues that Britain displaced an Argentine presence in 1833 and replaced it with a settler population, making the dispute closer to a colonial or settlement question which Britain denies. A genuine political and moral inconsistency argument: Argentina’s counterargument British hypocrisy disguises the fact that Britain itself established and preserved a settler population after removing Argentine officials in 1833. Britain “approved” the forced mass population transfer of Jews in Iraq in 1941, its White Paper sought to impose Jewish ghetto settlement of post ’67 Israeli lands. Its ’39 White Paper UN 2334 attempt to establish where Jewish minority populations can live within an Arab majority dominated country.

    The Plantations (particularly in Ulster), explicit attempts to alter the demographics and religion of the country to ensure political control. The 17th-century Plantation of Ulster served as a foundational blueprint for British imperial strategies, combining state-directed land confiscation, demographic engineering, and social segregation – Apartheid. It displaced and impoverished the despise lower class populations of the land, its feudalism forced them into tenant labor under strict religious and legal restrictions. English and Scottish Protestants granted land conditionally on building fortified “bawns” and excluding native Irish. Likewise French Algeria (1830–1962) Code de l’Indigénat – wholesale confiscation of communal (habous) lands. Subjugated under a separate legal system without full civil rights unless they renounced Islamic personal status. European settlers granted confiscated fertile lands along the Mediterranean coast to secure French annexations.

    South Africa (17-20th C.) introduced the Dutch East India Company land grants, followed by the Natives Land Act (1913). Restricted the natives to designated reserves (later Bantustans), creating a regulated labor supply for settler farms and mines. The Afrikaner (Boer) and British settlers occupied interior agricultural lands, enforcing strict racial hierarchy and labor control. The Crown or colonial government declared indigenous land “vacant” or “forfeited” through legal pretexts—such as rebellion, non-cultivation, or refusal of loyalty oaths—and reallocated it to loyal subjects. Replacing or diluting native populations with loyal settler communities served to establish borderlands, prevent uprisings, and secure territorial claims without relying solely on standing armies.

    Settler-colonial regimes consistently created dual legal structures: one set of rights for the settler population to encourage immigration, and restrictive codes for the indigenous population to limit political power and land ownership. British & French strategic ‘Great Power’ interests displaced and impoverished the despise lower class populations of the land, its feudalism forced them into tenant labor under strict religious and legal restrictions. English and Scottish Protestants granted land conditionally on building fortified “bawns” and excluding native Irish. Likewise French Algeria (1830–1962) Code de l’Indigénat and wholesale confiscation of communal (habous) lands. Subjugated under a separate legal system without full civil rights unless they renounced Islamic personal status. European settlers granted confiscated fertile lands along the Mediterranean coast to secure French annexations.

    The UN decolonization framework usually prioritizes territorial integrity over the self-determination of settler populations (as seen in Western Sahara) – the UK prioritizes prioritizes the self-determination of the settlers in its “West Bank” Malvinas! And the UN has totally ignored this blatant contradiction. Hence the slander “illegal occupation” so popular in MSM propaganda organs strictly applied to enemies of the British/French narratives of restoring their ‘great power’ destroyed reputations – rather than obey any consistent legal standard.

    Viewed form the Confederate perspective Agricultural based rural population economies vs. Industrial city based population economies defines the States’ Rights Israel (Commerce Clause/10th Amendment) better than the emotion packed slavery issue. Based upon the fact that after Russia’s defeat in the Crimean War the Czar freed the serfs and committed Russia to play catch-up and industrialize its economy. This sums up the Stalin policies as well as post Mao Chinese modern communism. 
    Confederate leaders such as John C. Calhoun often emphasized that slavery permitted in the Bible. Prior to the Industrial revolution all societies operated on an Agricultural acquisition of wealth, and therefore required slavery. The American revolution of 1776 preceded the Industrial revolution! Britain the first industrial city based economy consequently the first country to outlaw slavery, despite the established serf\lord relationship in its colonies.

    The UN prioritizes the self-determination of the 3,000+ British-descended settlers over Argentina’s claim of territorial integrity. The UN prioritizes the territorial integrity of the “Palestinian” claim over the self-determination of the Israeli settler population of over 700,000 Israelis, even though these “Manifest Destiny” settlers – a demographic reality similar to the Falkland Islanders! UN 2334 – supported by Obama – simply a continuation of the 1939 White Paper Appeasement policy which resulted in the slaughter of some 80 million people across the Planet! The restricted application of Geneva Convention IV – politically motivated – the UK and its 2nd class allies consistently attempt to defame Israel while ignoring similar actions of Russia in Crimea, China in Tebet/Zinjiang, and the UK abominations repeated over and again similar to the devastation of the American Indian genocide.

    UN Resolution 1514 and subsequent resolutions, prioritizes the self-determination of colonized peoples over the rights of settler populations. British/Jordan\ “Falklands case” a major exception, where the settler population’s right to self-determination — explicitly protected. The UN has consistently rejected the self-determination of the Moroccan settlers in Western Sahara, prioritizing the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination. This – the standard that should, in theory, apply to Samaria and East Jerusalem. The UN treats the “Jordan” West Bank as “occupied territory” with all Israeli settlements unilaterally declared illegal. Despite the demographic reality of Israeli ‘Manifest Destiny’. The UN likewise supports and defends the British\Jordan “Falklands” precedent – where British settlers’ self-determination – protected. The UK’s history of settler colonialism in Ireland and the Falklands, combined with its current support for the “illegal occupation” narrative in the West Bank, creates a significant power politics propaganda LIE, that undermines the credibility of the international legal framework.

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