On the morning after the Hamas incursions and attack within the State of Israel itself, in which hundreds of Israeli citizens were killed, and more than 100 taken as hostages back across the three-mile distance to the besieged Gaza strip, HAARETZ – the oldest Israeli newspaper, in circulation since 1918 – was unambiguous about where responsibility lay.

It holds an integrity that in the present crisis required bravery, for which it may pay dearly.

I quote directly the opening paragraph of the editorial:

“The disaster that befell Israel on the holiday of Simchat Torah is the clear responsibility of one person: Benjamin Netanyahu.

“The prime minister, who has prided himself on his vast political experience and irreplaceable wisdom in security matters, completely failed to identify the dangers he was consciously leading Israel into when establishing a government of annexation and dispossession, when appointing Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir to key positions, while embracing a foreign policy that openly ignored the existence and rights of Palestinians.”

The paper clinically sets out the actions of Netanayahu’s Rightwing Coalition Government over the past nine months which ultimately led to the attack. Again, I quote directly:

“After his victory in the last election, he [Netenahu] replaced ... with the policy of a ‘fully-right government’, with overt steps taken to annex the West Bank, to carry out ethnic cleansing in parts of the Oslo-defined Area C, including the Hebron Hills and the Jordan Valley.

“This also included a massive expansion of settlements and bolstering of the Jewish presence on Temple Mount near the Al-Aqsa Mosque, as well as boasts of an impending peace deal with the Saudis in which the Palestinians would get nothing, with open talk of a ‘second Nakba’ in his governing coalition.

“As expected, signs of an outbreak of hostilities began in the West Bank, where Palestinians started feeling the heavier hand of the Israeli occupier.

“Hamas exploited the opportunity in order to launch its surprise attack on Saturday ... The price was paid by the victims of the invasion in the Western Negev.”

The key message of the editorial is that Hamas is not the starting point for understanding why any group of people would plan and execute such an horrific attack on the participants of an all-night rave event.

So, where is the starting point?

Perhaps 1897, and the first national Zionist conference held in Switzerland with the aim of creating a physical Jewish territory in Palestine.

The aim of the creation of a Jewish Nation-State was not the universal desire or aim of Jewish people across the world, persecuted for their religion and culture.

The alternative – and before the Twentieth Century – dominant view within Jewish secular political opinion was for equality of citizenship, and rights in the nations in which the communities lived.

Perhaps 1917? Lord Balfour declared Britain’s support for “a national home for the Jewish people” for the express purpose of gathering support and finance to secure victory in the 1914-18 war from the influential and wealthy Zionist Lobby, particularly in the USA.

However, in 1915, the same British Government, in return for initiating an Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire – the German Empire’s allies in the Great War – promised Hussein Bin Ali, Shariff of Mecca, an independent Arab state.

It is worth noting that Britain did not ‘own’ Palestine at the time.

It was forward trading on the strength of victory.

Thus was the Promised Land promised, not only twice, but thrice, as in 1916, British and France secretly agreed Palestine would be placed under international control of the victorious allies.

The Palestinians in Palestine – a small minority of whom were Jewish – were not party to any of the agreements.

The only promise kept was the one which carved up the Ottoman territory between the British and the French, and Palestine remained under British control until 1948.

On May 14, 1948, British Rule in Palestine ended. The State of Israel was unilaterally declared, and recognised by the USA.

The Arab-Israeli War commenced the following day, and as the Palestinian writer Hisham Sharabi put it, Palestine "disappeared from the map".

In 1945, at the end of World War 2, the population of Palestine was 1,764,520 people – that is slightly less than the current population of Northern Ireland.

According to the census taken at the time, there were 1,061,270 Muslims, and 553,600 Jews.

By the end of 1948, more than 700,000 Palestinian Arabs – about half of pre-war Palestine's Arab population – fled from their homes or were expelled by Zionist militias.

This is the Palestinian NAKBA.

And Hamas?

Hamas was formed in 1987 with the first Palestinian intifada (uprising).

Ironically, the development of Hamas was originally supported by Israel, who preferred it to the secular Palestine Liberation Organisation.

It perhaps sat easier within their ‘separatist’ Zionist perspective.

Its historic origins are in the Muslim Brotherhood, which goes back to 1928.

Like many organisations in colonised countries, it was originally engaged in charitable work dealing with social, educational and poverty issues.

By such experiences do liberal and decent people discover the cause of such inequalities of fortune – the people have been robbed, and the parable of The Good Samaritan doesn’t provide an adequate answer.

The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt, became part of the movement for that country’s independence.

The trajectory of Hamas was much the same, and their aim is to recover a Palestinian State.

As the Zionist State of Israel continued to breach International Law and escape sanction by the UN Security Council – mostly due to the USA consistently vetoing any such sanction as it turned the screw on the Palestinian enclaves of Gaza and the West Bank – Hamas gained increasing support from the besieged populations, and represents their frustration, anger and despair.

It also represents the determination and resilience of Palestinians in refusing to be reduced to non-existence.

That is not to say that they approve or rejoice in the horror of the attack, but too long a sacrifice makes a stone of the heart, and it is nothing different to what they endure on a daily basis, so they do not react with disbelief that such things happen.

They are no longer shocked at people who care nothing for the lives of Palestinians, caring so much for the lives of Israelis.

They know they will bear the brunt of Israel’s revenge.

Two million people held hostage; treated as sub-human with no right to the homeland they have inhabited for over 2,000 years.

Hamas is the consequence, not the cause, and Netanyahu proved to be Goliath’s Achilles Heel.

The solution is a secular state in the region, in which Jews, Arabs and others live with the same fundamental rights and freedoms, protected by a UN that is not hindered by USA interests.