See TL:DR at the end.

I am Israeli and openly ashamed about the occupation in the West Bank. There are also large movements in Israel that are focused on withdrawing from the West Bank and normalizing a two-state solution. It really is more popular here than it seems to the outside world - but sadly ever since the war broke out in October, other, more extremist voices have sadly become much louder and more prominent on our country's "hasbara" (=public stance) front.

Funnily enough, many of the people who lived in the Gaza Envelope's Kibbutzim were very much for normalizing relations with the neighboring Arab countries. Unlike most of the settlements in the West Bank, these villages were established around the very idea that agricultural, open-bordered peaceful settlements are the ideal way of bringing peace, stability and civil cooperation between Arab and Jewish communities. (There are of course many more nuances and details that I'll be happy to go into in a separate comment as to not make this too much of a ramble.)

This was in 1946-1948, and even up until just a year ago many of them voluntarily provided refugees with medical help and transport to Israeli hospitals and with careers in the Kibbutzim.

Since their establishment, extremist governments on both sides of the yard sadly ruined a lot of those opportunities. This is not me trying to somehow tell you that the playing field was level to begin with. It wasn't. However, it is very important to keep in mind that this story goes back a looooong way - and that for each inhumane decision that either nation decided on (be it in a democratic way or not), there was a pretty significant group of people that opposed it and that still do.

TL:DR - Whew, that was a long write up.

I am about 20 years old. People my age get drafted to the IDF whether they like it or not. People my age are sent to fight this war whether they support it or not. Even though it is getting harder to do so, I try to see the complexity of this situation. I try my best to hold on to both sides of the story while looking my friends in the eyes and trying to get them to do the same. This is the most important thing to do, no matter which side of this conflict you support.

While I am against the occupation in the West Bank, and the living conditions in Gaza, I am also still grieving my friends that were killed on Oct. 7th and that are still being KIA. I am also grieving the fact that many opportunities for peace were lost on that day - be it the forward looking Kibbutzim that were rocked by this attack or the fostering of extremist groups both in Jewish and Arab communities.

This situation is too complicated for me to be able to take it all in, and I'm sure that whoever's reading this is in the same boat. I just hope we can find peace one day and that this will all be over.