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Saturday, July 19, 2025

Predictions for Israel and Palestine

Here are the important trends and facts:

-The population of Israel and Palestine will continue to increase
-The Palestinians will eventually outnumber the Israelis
-20% of Israeli residents/citizens are Arabs
-Israel continues to seize land for settlements
-Ultra-Orthodox Jews will become the largest subgroup in Israel
-The Ultra-Orthodox generally do not serve in the IDF
-The only reason why Israel has population growth is because of Ultra-Orthodox fertility
-Hamas has proven itself resilient to the IDF
-Hamas has various local allies (Iran, Houthis, Hezbollah) willing to fight Israel 
-The US will continue to support Israel 
-World opinion will continue to turn against Israel
-Hamas has proven it is a match for the IDF in conventional war despite Israeli air supremacy

Putting this all together, Israel will increasingly become a besieged state. It's shaping up to be another Siege of Ceuta on a grander scale. 


If nothing changes, Israel is doomed. The only stable equilibrium might be "mowing the lawn", as Martin Van Creveld put it.


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In a TV interview in 2002, he expressed doubts as to the ability of the Israeli army to defeat the Palestinians during the Second Intifada:

They [Israeli soldiers] are very brave people... they are idealists... they want to serve their country and they want to prove themselves. The problem is that you cannot prove yourself against someone who is much weaker than yourself. They are in a lose-lose situation. If you are strong and fighting the weak, then if you kill your opponent then you are a scoundrel... if you let him kill you, then you are an idiot. So here is a dilemma which others have suffered before us, and for which as far as I can see there is simply no escape. Now the Israeli army has not by any means been the worst of the lot. It has not done what for instance the Americans did in Vietnam... it did not use napalm, it did not kill millions of people. So everything is relative, but by definition, to return to what I said earlier if you are strong and you are fighting the weak, then anything you do is criminal.[14]
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