Horrific images from the war in Gaza and Hamas’ refusal to release Israeli hostages have sparked outrage and protests among Americans who have taken up Israeli or Palestinian flags. 

A recent high-profile example of this in Colorado was the pro-Palestinian protests that briefly shut down the state legislature last week. 

For Kris Bauman, professor of national security studies at the Air Force Academy, picking sides in the conflict is counter to establishing peace and security for both groups. Bauman shared his insights last week at the Colorado Springs World Affairs Council, as the war approached its 100th day on Sunday. 

Bauman served in the White House on the National Security Council as director for Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian and Egyptian affairs and shared both historical and on-the-ground context going back to the beginning of Jewish immigration back to the region. 

The Romans massacred much of the Jewish population and exiled them from their traditional homeland in about 70 A.D.

Around the turn of the 20th century, Jews in Europe started popularizing the idea of building a new Jewish state and buying land in what was then called Palestine because of intense antisemitism, Bauman explained. World War II and the Holocaust prompted far more Jews to leave Europe for Palestinian land and other countries. 

By 1947, Jews owned about 6% of the land area. Then when Britain left the territory, the United Nations’ Special Committee on Palestine recommended that Israel receive 52% of the land. Following that decision, Israeli forces began ethnically cleansing Palestinians, leading to the Arab-Israeli War. 

Israel won the war with better equipment and training in 1949, Bauman said, but did not allow Palestinians to return home.

“It made it possible for there to be a Jewish democratic state of Israel. And it created the Palestinian refugee crisis at the same time. And we’re still living with that today,” Bauman said. 

After the 1967 Six Day War, the Israelis also began to occupy much of the remaining land controlled by Palestinians, laying the foundation for the major power imbalance that led to Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7.

“When, throughout history, whenever you’ve had a massive asymmetry between two parties in conflict, the party with much less power is going to resort to something like terrorism,” Bauman said, noting throughout his talk that an explanation is not justification for the violence. 

The Israeli government was warned about the attacks that would kill 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, but did not heed the warning, he said. The attacks retraumatized the whole state and made Israelis feel unsafe in their own homes, and that’s why retribution has been so intense.

“They have to be able to claim some kind of defeat of Hamas,” he said of the Israeli government. 

The Associated Press reported Sunday that nearly 24,000 Palestinians have died in the war and a quarter of the population has been pushed into starvation. At the same time, Hamas is holding more than 100 Israeli hostages. 

The United States has been pushing for Israel to ease its bombing and transition to a low-intensity operation, the AP reported. 

Before the conflict ends, Bauman said planning needs to start on a way to give the Palestinian people economically viable land and independent government. 

Most Israeli governments have done everything they can to undermine Palestinian governance, to the point where many Palestinians have given up on a second state and would prefer just to participate in Israeli elections, he said. But that would do away with the Jewish democracy that the Israelis want. 

So there needs to be commitment to a two-state solution.  

“Some folks will say, ‘how can you talk about a two-state outcome? How can you talk about a peace process when Oct. 7 just happened? How can you possibly talk about that?'” Bauman said “My argument is that Oct. 7 happened exactly because we have refused to take seriously talking about this.” 

It will likely take decades to resolve the conflict, he said, but it must start with broader understanding. 

“When people understand both sides of the conflict, and they are able to articulate both sides of the conflict and they’re able to tell their elected leaders that there are two sides of this conflict, that can begin to change the equation,” he said. 

Mourners carry the bodies of Muhammad Sebaa, 22, and Ahed Mohammed, 23, on Tuesday, a day after they were killed in clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank village of Dura.

the associated press

An Israeli border police officer stands guard at the site of a Palestinian car-ramming and stabbing attack at a bus stop in Ra’anana, Israel, on Monday.

the associated press