An excellent and interesting post.

I think a lot of why the US is where it is regarding Israel comes down to the donor class feeding both Republicans and Democrats and other factors but I also agree fully with your point regarding the religious Christian right's cheerleading opinion of Israel and its paradoxical nature.......but it should also be noted that religion is rapidly declining in the US.

The US is all about the money.....or to be more accurate, the wealth class within it.

As for China, they are secular but very ethnocentric.....which I like of course....but as western policy has actually driven Russia and China into each others arms.....rather than salvation I'll accept just avoiding anymore wars.

I don't want a drone in my or my children's face.

I don't want one either. However, on the highlighted point, I am not sure that is right. Africa is a battle ground between the West and Russian Wagner assisted client states (note those who still turned up for Putin last week) but the real winner there is China. It has spread its tentacles so thickly within that continent and exerts a considerable influence.

Again, for obvious reasons, I suspect it would dearly love to have the same investments and influence on the middle east; it may already have? The question is, if the West Bank and Gaza were offered Chinese factories and infrastructure, would Israel (i.e. the US) block it, or match it?

Don't believe the blarney. Northern Ireland was bought out of the Troubles through investment and jobs. You create an environment where people have no hope of employment prospect unless they leave, you create dissent. Palestine is no different. If they have good prospects and where they live is clean, prosperous and safe, they might forget over time what has been taken from them and done to them. Their Chinese backers would do all they could to ensure a stable territory to ensure they have cheap, ready labour and unfettered production.

Israel has still not grasped this. They have had one dumb ass right wing government after another (actually the same one) believing the only solution is force, knocking down a convicted terrorist's mother's house and stealing more of their land through that wretched wall and Settlements occupied by American Jewish settlers. All they are doing is feeding a self-defeating solution to a paranoid frightened people and ever stoking the fire.

It certainly feels like that, which given who is involved is very odd indeed. It will be interesting to observe it first-hand and directly hear opinions. From the reports, it appears this is very widely opposed and not what the people as a whole want. When I was there before, which is a long time ago, I went with some preconceptions which were revised to a degree because the relationships I saw between the Israelis and local Arabs was a lot better than I expected. Human nature overcoming political prejudice in clear view.

I am not going there for the politics. I am going for the history, and for my wife.

A few reflections after my visit.

Political action was only noticeable by its absence. I saw one guy carrying a sign but no protests. People were just getting on with their lives.

We stayed in East Jerusalem and it was obvious that the local population there are doing ok. They looked fairly prosperous and had an active social life, although culturally it was unfamiliar. They were friendly and helpful though. We felt less welcome in other areas. Indeed the Israeli people we found generally unfriendly and quite rude, to the point of hostility at times. There were many exceptions though.

The only tensions that were in any way apparent were between the Jewish secular and religious communities and not between the Jewish and Muslim. Mind you we did not venture into the West Bank.

A few reflections after my visit.

Political action was only noticeable by its absence. I saw one guy carrying a sign but no protests. People were just getting on with their lives.

We stayed in East Jerusalem and it was obvious that the local population there are doing ok. They looked fairly prosperous and had an active social life, although culturally it was unfamiliar. They were friendly and helpful though. We felt less welcome in other areas. Indeed the Israeli people we found generally unfriendly and quite rude, to the point of hostility at times. There were many exceptions though.

The only tensions that were in any way apparent were between the Jewish secular and religious communities and not between the Jewish and Muslim. Mind you we did not venture into the West Bank.