Gaza City was the capital of the Philistines who some think were a colony of the ancient civilization of Crete. Hamas, its population, is a squatter in the land that historically belongs to the Philistine the same way the Ashkenazi, thought to be a Khazar Jewish convert, now occupies the country called Israel along with the Sephardi Jews that fled the Muslim Arab countries and Persia (Iran) with some returning from Europe.

The only people that can trace their ancestry back to the days of the Exodus from Egypt to the Kingdom of Salomon, perhaps rightful heirs to the land, are the Temani, the small jewish minority that returned from Yemen and possibly, the Falasha, the back Jews from the linage of King David and the Queen of Sheeba. These peoples maybe account for 5% , if that, of the total population of the area referred to as Palistine or Israel.

Everyone else has the claim on the land that the strongman has. He holds the land by the sword -- this is the history of the area since the Iron Age of man about 1200 BCE and onward. The Israelites conquered the land, then came the Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Abbasid Caliphate, Mamluk Caliphate, the Christian Crusader, Ottoman Turk, the Zionist movement, British conqueror and now the Zionist invasion's massive immigration of those who are known as Jews.

In the whole Middle East there is a history of the rule of the strongman. And so it is still today.

Everyone in the Middle East awaits their Messiah's coming or return. Or, the return of the true prophet of Allah -- Mohamed (blessed be his name) -- literally or figuratively. It is a land seeking absolution that never comes and may never see the peace it has never had.

The real reason for war is the control of land wealth and more importantly -- the waters of the Jordan and Litani Rivers that give the lands and its people their sustenance. The rest is just nationalism or religious dogma.