Solomonic

Again, like the Yom Kippur War, it was during a Jewish holiday. Last Saturday, the Hamas group infiltrated Israel, kidnapped citizens and soldiers, and launched thousands of projectiles into the nation's capital and key cities. Because? It all began 13 centuries before our era, when the Hebrews who left Egypt, guided by Moses, they settled in Canaan, today Palestine. The conflicts that this generated with the Philistines led to the creation of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Today, the Jewish people recognize the Hebrews of those two kingdoms as their ancestors, and today's Palestinian Muslims consider themselves descendants of the Philistines. That is the origin of both peoples, Israelis and Palestinians, claiming the territory as their own. The subsequent geopolitical history of the area made everything worse: it was incorporated into the Roman Empire, then it fell under Arab-Islamic rule, then it belonged to the Crusaders and ended up in the hands of the Ottoman Empire, until the First World War. Due to certain strategic interests, during the Great War, Great Britain promised both Jews and Arabs to recognize them as an independent State, on the same territory. After the Allies won, Palestine was named a British colonial mandate, but failing to fulfill both promises simultaneously, the British became the target of Jewish terrorist groups (Irgun) and Arabs. A famous UK commission, the Peel Commission for Conflict Resolution, concluded that a cooperative national entity of Palestinians and Jews was impossible, and therefore recommended dividing the territory. However, this did not happen until after the Second World War, in 1947, when, after the British renounced the mandate over Palestine and left the area, the incipient UN proposed the partition of Palestine into two proportional territories, one Arab. Palestinian and another Jew. The following year, Israel proclaimed itself an independent state, which cost it to fight (and win) at least seven wars against its Arab neighbors, with the consequent expansion of its originally assigned territory. Given the asymmetry of power, the Palestinians chose to form a resistance group: Hamas, which is considered terrorist by the US, the EU, the UK and Mexico, among others. In fact, 164 of the 193 UN member states recognize Israel, while only 139 states recognize the State of Palestine, among which Mexico is not included. However, the position of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs is that "Mexico favors a comprehensive and definitive solution to the conflict, under the premise of two States, which addresses Israel's legitimate security concerns and allows the consolidation of a political and political Palestinian State." economically viable, that coexists with Israel within secure and internationally recognized borders, in accordance with United Nations resolutions. Perhaps the mistake was believing the Peel Commission. 75 years have passed in which only the same thing has been done, over and over again, expecting different results. Perhaps the solution lies in Israelis and Palestinians discovering how to establish a mutualistic symbiosis, where some provide resources for development and the others provide security for all. In that case, the biggest obstacle for both sides would be Hamas, curiously.

• CHURCHILL

In March 1943, in the middle of the Second World War, also for strategic interests, Churchill asked the Australian government for a live platypus. Making an exception to their own laws, the Australians sent Winston, as the animal was named, by boat, but he died in a submarine attack four days before reaching Liverpool.