Each of us has either lost our homeland, knows of family who has, or doesn’t know their ancestors did so in recent centuries. But all of us have origins from thousands of years ago back in pre- Christian times, when early civilisations rose and fell, and land was grabbed and those who once occupied it were forced out, enslaved or assimilated.

Somewhere within us we have race memory that knows that pain of loss of homeland. We recognise it and should be able to relate to it. Yet some of us lack the humanity to recognise it. We may only have the motivation to take from a perceived vulnerable group, take what we have decided is rightfully ours, though it is not.

And in Ronen Bergman’s book, ‘Rise and Kill First’, he relates the 1980s painful situation Palestinians find themselves in, being classed as terrorists because it is their belief the land the Jews assert is theirs, is not.

APPROXIMATELY 2.5 MILLION PALESTINIANS (no general census was conducted during that period) lived in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, having been under Israeli rule since 1967. Their frustration and bitterness had been growing steadily year after year. Israel had opened its gates to Palestinian workers, and some 40 percent of the workforce crossed the border every day to work in Israel, but only menial jobs were available, at exploitation wages and in difficult conditions. Palestinian construction laborers and dishwashers watched resentfully as Israelis thrived and reached an almost Western European level of economic prosperity. Inside the occupied territories themselves, unemployment grew, and there were few jobs available for those with higher education. The cities were intolerably overcrowded, and Israeli authorities did nothing to improve municipal services, nor did they provide land for building and agriculture to meet the needs of a burgeoning Palestinian population. Israel did, however, confiscate Palestinian lands and settle increasing numbers of its own citizens there, a blatant violation of international law. Many of these settlers were ideologically driven, believing in the idea that “Greater Israel” belonged to the Jews. Others were simply seeking a better standard of living and taking advantage of the heavily subsidized housing. After enduring these aggravations, wretched conditions, and visible injustices for years, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip were on the verge of exploding. But this was something that Israeli intelligence either could not see or did not want to see. A longtime focus on pinpoint warfare against the PLO and its leaders had concealed the swelling rage of the Palestinian people from Israel’s intelligence community and its politicians. The Israelis’ tactical achievements and ability to locate and eliminate PLO leaders and militants nearly anywhere in the world had given them the sense that Israel could forever impose its rule over the millions of Palestinians in the occupied territories without consequence.

And now, in 2025, President Trump desires to make Gaza an American Riviera.