the intentional description of israel and gaza as ‘neighbors’ is misleading. israel is not palestine’s neighbor; this is a myth generated by the two state solution that has never materialized. israel is an occupier. it exists on top of palestine. people can be neighbors, and they once were until 1948, but settler colonial states cannot.
geographically speaking, israel and gaza are not neighbors, because israel occupies gaza and controls its airspace, sea and borders and has a dedicated civil registry and access to every single person living there. it is more accurate to consider israel superimposed upon gaza than a separate entity separated by a border.
socially speaking, israel and any part of palestine are also not neighbors, because israel occupies both gaza and the west bank. now of course israelis will differ on this, because they consider the very existence of palestinian neighborhoods and the palestinian authority to be a great generosity on their part—but neighbors who control your livelihood, who are hellbent on stealing your home, who invade your neighborhood with machine guns and soldiers are not neighbors in any sense of the word. they are aggressors and invaders.
the entirety of israel exists on the presumption that palestinians can either be out of sight or out of mind. but when they are not—when they are visible and when they are considered—they are demographic threats to be controlled and disposed of. palestinians are only neighbors when they fight back, and suddenly it is israel that has “neighbors that want to destroy it.”
this is nothing but another commentary on the issues with implying symmetry to israel and palestine, of the intellectual dishonesty of claiming it to be a conflict, etc. but i think it is helpful for visualization, because israelis are greatly deceived by their own claim that they are a small vulnerable country surrounded by hostile neighbors. they are a militarized settler colony implanted on top of palestinian corpses. they shouldn’t look to the horizon for their 'neighbours,’ they should look down.