The Israel and Palestinian conflict though biblical in nature is actually fairly recent when seen through the eyes of history, since the conflict has recently escalated and many of us are wondering what the tension is all about, let’s probe into the history of the Israel and Palestinian conflict
To take a clear look, we must go back to the year 1948, when the Second World War had just ended, the British had lifted their control over the area and as expected without taking proper consultation with the Palestinian and Jewish leaders, the British gave the entire piece to land to both Israel and Palestine, this meant that the Palestinian Arabic majority would regularly treat the Jewish population poorly and the Jewish suffering continued.
This poor treatment caused the Zionist movement to gain traction, as it couldn’t resolve the issue between the Jews and the Arabs, the horrific treatment of the Jews at this point had continued throughout the centuries and specifically during the Holocaust under the Nazi German regime. This ultimately ended when the Jews declared the creation of the state of Israel.
This started an armed conflict between the two sides, as Palestinians strongly objected to the creation of Israel as a separate state (so as always, the Brits left another legacy for trouble between countries, by drawing random lines on maps). The division took place with 52% of the land being given to create the country Israel and 48% remained with Palestine. The City of Jerusalem was left under the control of the United Nations as it is the holy city for three religious’ faiths, the Muslims, the Christians and the Jews.
But, on May 15,1948 the first Arab-Israel War began. Now it’s interesting to note, that it was called the ‘Arab-Israel War’ because the Arabic nations (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria) had declared war on the nation of Israel, but to the disbelief of the world, Israel single-handed defeated all of them and in 1949 Israel signed the ‘Armistice Agreements’ with Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria ending the first Arab-Israel conflict.
At the end of the conflict, Israel had occupied much of the land that belonged to Palestine. After the conflict ended the Israel’s managed to gain land up to the Suez canal which started the second Arab-Israel War, after the end of that conflict the Palestinian population under Israel, as a result, on June 2, 1964 , the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was formed , the organization was ultimately un-successful in fighting the Israel army during many occasions, in 1967 ‘Six day war’ Where the combined forces of (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria) again took on Israil and repeating the outcome, Israil in less than a week, defeated the Arab alliance and in during so managed to capture the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. Though after Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty, Israil withdrew its forces from the Sinai Peninsula.
Then after a few years of unrest the First Palestinian Intifada (a rebellion or uprising) started with a new, more radical face of Palestinian resistance with the creation of Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant group called Hamas (Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamah al-Islāmiyyah,) The entire purpose of the group was to ‘Destroy the state of Israel’. The intifada broke out in the heart of Arab Jerusalem itself and saw some of the bloodiest fighting since the last crusade.
After this battle Israel in hopes for peace agreed to the ‘Oslo Peace Accord I and II’ & the ‘Cairo Agreement’ between Itself and the PLO on September 13, 1993 & May 4, 1994 respectively. As per the Accord a phased transfer of governmental authority to the Palestinians took place. Much of the Strip (except for the settlement blocs and military areas) came under Palestinian control. The Israeli forces left Gaza City and other urban areas, leaving the new Palestinian Authority to administer and police those areas. The Palestinian Authority, led by Yasser Arafat, chose Gaza City as its first provincial headquarters.
Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin exchanged letters in which Arafat, as head of the PLO, formally recognized “the right of the State of Israel to exist in peace and security” while Rabin recognized the PLO as the “representative of the Palestinian people” and made clear Israel’s intention to begin negotiations with the organization The Israeli-PLO accord envisioned the gradual implementation of Palestinian self-government in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for a transitional period not exceeding five years and leading to a permanent settlement based on UN Security Council Resolutions. The following year Arafat returned to the Gaza Strip and began implementing Palestinian self-rule. The world let out a sigh of relief, thinking this was where the conflict was to end.
But after these Agreements, Hamas became its own separate entity and on November 5, 1995 not even 2 years after the signing of the Cairo Agreement, The Prime Minister of Israel ‘Yitzhak Rabin’ was assassinated by Hamas’s operatives and during the Olympics (1972) event in Munich, Germany, members of the militant Palestinian group ‘Black September’ (A branch of the Hamas group) took 11 Israel athletes’ hostage and after their negotiants broke down all the hostages were killed. This caused the Israel to launch the infamous Operation ‘Wrath of God’ which was a covert operation directed by Mossad (Israel highly revered and decorated Intelligence Agency) to assassinate each and every individual involved in the 1972 Munich massacre. This operation made Mossad known as the most effective and powerful agency in the world. After this both sides kept on fighting each other without any major geographical advances.
The conflict escalated again on March 27, 2002 when a Hamas suicide attack killed 30 Israel civilians during Passover Seder. Israel responded in kind, as just two days later they launched operation ‘Defensive Shield’ and invaded and re-occupied much of the West Bank. This ‘act of aggression and breaking of the Oslo agreement’ caused even more civil unrest between the two nations and in the Palestinian parliamentary elections held on 25 January 2006, Hamas won and took over the Gaza Strip region from the PLO and officially began their administration though they, in the name of a free Palestine continued to plan suicide bombings and terrorist attacks on Israel civilians,
When Israel tried to re-commence Peace talks their requests were rejected by the Palestinian authorities and Hamas who, wanted a free nation of their own instead of getting ‘dedicated zones’ for their people. In 2014, Israel launched operation ‘Protective Edge’ against Hamas’s militants in Gaza to protect the Israel civilians from any future attacks by the organization.
On March 16, 2015, Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu gave a definite ‘NO’ to a ‘two-state solution’ on the eve of the election citing that peace with Palestine was no longar realistic, after years of peace talks had failed to do so.
On February 5, 2021, The International Criminal Court rules which in its jurisdiction, investigate alleged war crimes in Israel-occupied territories after the reports of poor treatment of Palestinian population was reported from the occupied areas. This further proved that this conflict had no clear good or bad side and that the loss in the end was of human life.
This brings us to the present day where, On the afternoon of 10 May, Hamas gave Israel an ultimatum to withdraw security forces from the Temple Mount complex and Sheikh Jarrah by 6 p.m. or otherwise there would be consequences. When the ultimatum expired without a response, both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad launched rockets. Some rockets hit residences and a school. After the attack Israel began a campaign of airstrikes against Gaza
Israel has been targeting the buildings where they believe, Hamas’s operatives are hiding. These operations have unfortunately killed number of Palestinian civilians in the process, with Palestinian authorities calling it a ‘violation of human rights. Meanwhile in retaliation, Hamas’s operatives have been launching dozens of rockets towards the Israel mainland, though the ‘Iron Dome’ which is a missile defense system developed by Israel, it has managed to intercept these rockets mid air and has saved many civilian lives but even then, the loss of lives from both sides is staggering.
On 18 May, France, along with Egypt and Jordan, announced the filing of a United Nations Security Council resolution for a ceasefire. A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect on 21 May 2021, ending 11 days of fighting with both sides claiming victory
In the end, the conflict between Israel and Palestine can be defined as a ‘Battle for Survival and for Existence’. The Jews have been fighting this war since the dawn of Christianity and now the Palestinians have been forced to the same and since both the sides not settling for peace instead and are stuck in this endless loop of fighting that was started by some lines drawn on a map in a bygone era.
Citations:
The United Nations 2021, Israel-Palestine: Political solution only way to end ‘senseless’ cycles of violence, accessed 12 June 2021, <https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/05/1092902>
The New York Times 2021, After Years of Quiet, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Exploded. Why Now, accessed 12 June 2021, <https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/15/world/middleeast/israel-palestinian-gaza-war.html>
Independent 2021, A brief history of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, accessed 12 June 2021, <https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-palestine-war-history-gaza-b1850628.html>
Cfr 2021, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, accessed, 12 June 2021, < https://microsites-live-backend.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/israeli-palestinian-conflict>
Aljazeera 2021, Timeline of Palestine’s History, accessed 12 June 2021, <https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/palestineremix/timeline_main.html>
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NPR 50 2021, The History Behind Tensions Between Israelis and Palestinians, accessed 12 June 2021, <https://www.npr.org/2021/05/16/997259390/the-history-behind-tensions-between-israel-palestine>
National Archives 2021, U.S. Recognition of the State of Israel, accessed 11 June 2021, <https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/us-israel>
United States Institute of Peace 2021, What Sparked the Latest Israeli-Palestinian Confrontations, accessed 11 June 2021, < https://www.usip.org/publications/2021/05/what-sparked-latest-israeli-palestinian-confrontations>
Britannica 2021, History of Israel, accessed 13 June 2021, <https://www.britannica.com/place/Israel/History#ref219417>
Britannica 2021, The Oslo Accords, accessed 14 June 2021, <https://www.britannica.com/place/Israel/The-Oslo-Accords>
Britannica 2021, The war of 1948, accessed 14 June 2021, <https://www.britannica.com/place/Israel/Establishment-of-Israel#ref219421>
Britannica 2021, The question of Palestinian autonomy, accessed 14 June 2021, <https://www.britannica.com/place/Israel/The-question-of-Palestinian-autonomy#ref219444>
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