I strongly believe that Palestinians ethnically cleansed from their homes, which are now in modern day Israel, during the 1948 Nakba, have a Right of Return, in accordance with UN Resolution 194. Their homes were confiscated without any compensation; something fundamentally at odds  with Internationally recognised Laws and norms regarding ownership. Even Jewish people who had their homes confiscated by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust have been able to obtain that property back, as recently as 2025, so Palestinians should be able to obtain their property back too from which they were illegally expelled more recently. Furthermore, Israel allows Jews from the world over to immediately "return" to Israel and obtain almost immediate Citizenship, despite their families not having lived in Israel for almost 2,000 years, or longer, if at all (some Jews converted to Judaism after the Jewish people were expelled from the land which is now modern day Israel). 

I believe the injustice which stems from this helps to fuel hatred and violence towards Israel to the modern day, with many Palestinians still carrying the keys to those homes as a sign of resistance against what was done to them. Thus, it needs to be resolved to help bring lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians, whatever demographic balance changes between Jews and Muslims/Christians in Israel that happen as a result; i.e. a potential 50/50 split between Israeli's and Palestinians and a Northern Ireland style Power Sharing agreement between them.

What must follow is a complete End to the Illegal Israeli Occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. This was recognised in July 2024 by the International Court of Justice as an illegal occupation, and it includes Gaza because Israel has still retained overall control of Gaza through controlling its air within the territory, as well as its sea and land borders, despite its unilateral withdrawal from Settlements in Gaza in 2005. 

In line with the UN General Assembly who voted 124 in favour, 14 against, with 43 abstentions, in September 2024, Countries Worldwide should sanction Israel if such a process has not been conducted within 1 year of the UN Resolution; i.e. by September 2025. Such sanctions should continue until Israel abides by the resolution in full. These sanctions should encompass all fields, including economic and arms aid/sales.

Finally, with all of the Palestinian refugees given their Right of Return, and the illegal Israeli Occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem ended, I believe a Referendum should then take place, with all Israeli's and Palestinians given a Vote on whether to adopt a 1 State or a 2 State Solution, and what the borders of the 2 States would be, if that Solution was adopted, giving all people living in the currently Internationally recognised borders of Israel and the Palestinian Territories the Right to Self-Determination.

I strongly believe that the argument over whether a 1 State or 2 State Solution is the best way forward is a red herring, in that it cannot justly be resolved until the preceding 2 issues, the Right of Return & the End to the Occupation, are resolved. Namely, what if many Palestinians preferred to live in the (what would now be fully liberated) West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, and take a financial settlement, rather than exercise their Right to Return to their ancestral home? In such a case, a 2 State Solution, with a fully Sovereign fully independent Palestinian State would arguably be more preferable to them, while if they did decide to exercise their Right to Return, a 1 State Solution would be more preferable. Such a question must surely wait, and it must surely be answered by Israeli and Palestinian Voters, rather than be built up as an issue which must be resolved before anything else, by external powers, who rather, should use all necessary means (i.e. Sanctions, pausing arms aid/sales) to ensure Israel accepts the above.

In regards to the Israel-Gaza conflict specifically, while I recognise that Hamas had to expect "some kind of response from Israel", Israel, since it still controlled Gaza's land borders, airspace and sea borders, it was (and is) still regarded as occupying Gaza (as well as the West Bank and East Jerusalem), therefore it had no right to "Self-Defense" under International Law, which is only justified if another Sovereign State attacked them; their only "right" was to follow International Law and end its illegal occupation of Gaza (as well as the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in addition to allowing Palestinians the Right of Return to their homes they were ethnically cleansed from in 1948). Furthmore, I believe the Israel-Gaza 2023-25 "War" went far beyond any possible kind of reasonable response, leading to the breaking of International Law and the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza (The United Nations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, all independently concluded that Israel has committed against the Palestinians in Gaza). As such, I believe that Western Governments need to use all of their leverage (arms sales, economic aid/sanctions) to ensure that all of the above happens, to ensure another genocide does not take place.

Photo Credit: Makaristos (https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2247941)