You ask all the right questions and you state the ambivalence I think of often when faced with what is transpiring in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank. I know that war begets more war. I know that real courage is not to fight, yet, I know that until there are enough courageous people on all sides, I know that more killing is inevitable. You might appreciate my essay I posted a couple of weeks ago: https://medium.com/illumination-curated/an-ambivalent-essay-no-a-multivalent-essay-on-the-israel-hamas-conflict-11d067aaff12

Lately, I've been binge-watching the vampire and other supernaturals series, True Blood. Season 4 involved war over many centuries between witches and vampires. Many of the thoughts and issues you speak to were reflected in a couple of the episodes.