INTRODUCTION
The world as we know it, is a spectacle of beauty in every corner. Grand scenes of never ending blue, or gargantuan mountains whose tip can't be seen, or even the cityscape during the night. But despite all of this, the world is still chocked full of happenings that are saddening to say the least. One such happening is the conflict between Palestine and Israel that has been going on for more than a hundred years.
The people of Palestine have been facing oppression without a break for a very long time and it currently has reached unprecedented levels. Lack of water supply, basic education and housing has left the Palestinian people with minimal hope. After all, in the face of helplessness, despair is the only thing that lingers. But how did the current conflict rise to the degree that it is in, what or who caused it all. In order to understand this, we must first have a look at the history behind this age-old conflict.
(An image showing the shrinking of Palestinian land and expansion of Zionist settlements (Israel) over a century of never - ending conflict.)
Disclaimer: This article has a shortened version of the history of the whole conflict, only the most important events from the history have been explained here. There is more to the story that has been skipped over here in this article, if interested then you can use the below given reference links to get complete knowledge regarding the history of this issue.
HISTORY
The conflict between these two nations can be traced quite far back all the way to the time of the Ottoman Turkish Empire rule in the late 19th century. The empire ruled over a significant portion of the Arab land between the early 16th century and early 20th century. This region was found to be the home of multiple religious communities, namely - the Jews, Muslims and Christians. All three religions had emerged in the Middle East and under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, they never experienced a major conflict. But this period of peace would soon be disrupted with the rise of British colonialism.
The Ottoman Empire later collapsed after the defeat of the Allied Powers at the hands of the Central powers in World War I in the year 1918. A couple of years later with the formation of the then League of Nations, Palestine was to be administered by Great Britain. Now Palestine had come under British rule.
BRITISH INFLUENCE
Britain had also assured to Zionist organisations that they would create a British state in Palestine. Thus marking the start of the current scenario. Zionism is an ideology that represents the aim to establish a Jewish state in Palestine. The idea behind it was that Palestine was initially the land of Zion and that their dream was to return to it.
(Clashes between Israel and Gaza's Hamas organization from 2021 has made thousands of Palestinian residents either leave their homes or have left them homeless and hopeless as of now.)
With the sharp rise in religious anti-semitism, multiple pogroms had been established in the countries of Eastern Europe in the late 19th century that sparked a widespread immigration of Jews to Palestine. As Jews were facing severe discrimination, harassment and persecution, they were left with no other choice. Other waves of immigration were seen by Jews to Yemen, Turkey, Morocco, and Iraq.
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
Now a major issue that lied in the Zionist ideology was that the land of Palestine was currently inhabited by an Arab majority that had been there for more than a thousand years. Jewish statehood in Palestine being the goal of Zionist organisations was strongly opposed by the local Arab leaders and organisations. Post Ottoman rule, the Arab leaders had been eyeing for an opportunity to establish their state or join a larger Arab entity.
Now the Zionists had realised that in order for their claim on Palestine to be irrefutable, they needed to increase the number of Jews. This would soon be realised with the introduction of the Balfour Declaration in the year 1917 by Great Britain. It provided for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. This was opposed by the Arabs. However, their disapproval of the mandate was not merely because of the creation of a Jewish state, it was because the fact that the declaration did not provide Palestinian Arabs with political or national rights.
Now Great Britain was in favor of establishing a Jewish state in Palestine. They had enabled the Jews to migrate to Palestine, settle down and purchase land. This was met with opposition from the Arab majority. Soon after, hostile tensions between both communities began to rise as a large number of Palestinians had lost their jobs and their homes as a direct result of the emigration by the Jews.
Efforts were made by the British to bring together the Zionists and the Arabs. Despite their efforts, it ended in failure and led to the Arab Revolt in 1936. The British government then responded by appointing a commission to derive a solution for both communities. This was the Peel Commission in 1937. The solution they came up with was that Palestine was to be split into three zones, one for Arabs, another for Jews and the third being neutral for the Holy sites. This plan was later rejected in the year 1939 due to the issue of the White Paper by the British Government.
According to the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, the document stated the land of Palestine to be an independent state within ten years. It limited Jewish migration to Palestine. This was however ignored as the Jews faced increasingly brutal oppression by the Nazi dominated Europe in World War II, which caused them to migrate to Palestine.
(On 10th May 2021, Palestinians clashed with Israeli security forces at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's old city. This was one among many clashes that happened between the security forces and the Palestinian people right from the beginning of the age-old conflict.)
In the year 1947, the United Nations had decided to form a Special Committee on Palestine. The Committee conducted investigations and formulated a plan to partition the land of Palestine to include two states. This plan was faced with opposition by Arabs in Palestine because despite only one third of the population being Jewish and the Jews owned only 10% of the land in Palestine, they were given 55% of the territory. The Palestinians ended up with 45%, despite them being the majority at the time. But the Jewish community was already prepared for statehood since they migrated to Palestine by forming organisations required for self-governance.
After all efforts made by the British Government, they had decided to withdraw their mandate in the year 1948, departing from the land of Palestine. David Ben Gurion, the first Israeli Prime Minister, after the announcement of the withdrawal of Britain from the region, had declared Israel as a new state in Palestine. Immediately after, a war broke out between Israel and the Arab neighbouring counties in an effort to stop the consolidation of Israel.
Under separate agreements between Israel and Egypt, Lebanon, Transjordan, and Syria, these nations agreed to a formal armistice line. Israel gained some territory formerly granted to Palestinian Arabs under the United Nations resolution in the year 1947. Egypt and Jordan retained control over the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, respectively.
(Map showing the area of Israel, Gaza (a Palestinian enclave) and Jerusalem.)
Palestinians were then either forced to leave the region or flee the region as it had now become Israel. Approximately one million Palestine nationals were affected. In the following years, three more wars occurred between Israel and different Arab countries with Israel reigning victorious in all three wars. With the conclusion of the war in 1967, Israel occupied the remaining territories in Palestine. The occupation was intended to be temporary and it was regarded as illegal by the United Nations. This occupation has continued to the current situation with the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem all being occupied by Israel.
WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW?
This issue might end up in conspiracy theories just like so many enigmatic issues happening in the world. But for a better perspective of what’s happening currently, we are here with the news. Over the years, neither Hamas (an organization that governs the Gaza strip) nor the Israeli political leadership have shown any clear strategic vision for where this ends.
(Israel and Hamas exchange fire during the war, in which an Israeli warplane destroys a 12 - storey residential building leading to death and causing fatal injuries to Palestinian people who were residing in that building.)
When fighting erupted between Israel and the hard-line Palestinian militant group, Islamic Jihad, around a month ago, the battle lasted just three days but it took a heavy toll: Gaza's Health Ministry said 49 Palestinians were killed, including 17 children.
The Israeli military said it was targeting Islamic Jihad members for allegedly planning or executing attacks on Israelis. Israel says it killed 20 militants and acknowledges killing several civilians. Islamic Jihad responded to the attacks by firing more than 1,100 rockets, according to Israel, which said some of the rockets killed Gazan civilians when the projectiles fell short and landed in Gaza.
(Israel pounds Gaza with air strikes, Gaza rockets shot at Israel in return during the air strikes.)
The inhabitants of Gaza believe that the violence, and duration, could have escalated had the larger ruling militant group, Hamas, gotten involved. However, the Militant group Hamas, chose not to get involved. Since the fighting — the deadliest in Gaza since 2020's 11-day pogrom — residents are having difficult discussions about the roles of the militant groups. Just like the saying ‘When one door closes, another one opens’ but alas in Israel, the saying is denoted in the negative aspect.
CONCLUSION
As the internet is so wide and advanced now, there can be a lot of misinformation passed on social media but the only true thing we can hold onto is hope. So let’s pray and hope for the betterment of these people and educate ourselves in the right way for a better understanding leading us to help them in any way possible.
CREDITS
Written by: Anna Catherine, Abdul Baasith
Edited by: Pavan, Namratha
Reference: