The Israeli-Palestinian conflict resembles the Spanish Civil War in that both sides view the other as the embodiment of absolute evil. There is no middle ground, no room for compromise—only an entrenched struggle where each faction sees the other’s very existence as unacceptable.

Geopolitically, this is a stalemate - unlike the Spanish Civil War. Israel is far too strong militarily and economically to be dislodged, while regional Arab powers must publicly posture as though they care about the Palestinians—when in reality, they don’t. Meanwhile, with borders tightening across the world, the idea that any country will altruistically absorb two million-plus Palestinian refugees is unrealistic. Trump, for all his bluster, certainly isn’t setting an example on this front. In fact, he is doing the exact opposite.

What we are left with is not a problem to be solved, but a predicament to be endured—an indefinite extension of the status quo, punctuated by periodic violence and increasingly absurd proposals, like the idea of turning Gaza into a luxury golf resort.