For many years, Israel and Palestine have been at conflict. Let’s take a look at their backstory.
History of Jewish People.
For thousands of years, Jews have been subjected to atrocities. The Jewish community has faced hatred from the entire world as a result of the many rumors that have been spread about them. Jesus Christ was born into a Jewish family, and some Christians believe that some Jews plotted to crucify Jesus Christ, and this belief lingered for a long time, resulting in crusades in which Christians slaughtered Jews in large numbers.
After 1800s, whole world started to discriminate Jews. As an effect of all this, by late 1800s Jews living around the world began to feeling that no country accepts them as their own. If they wanted to live peacefully, they would need to create their separate country which is first seed in the formation of Israel from Palestine.
First Migration of Jews:
Because of these factors, the first large-scale Jewish migration to Palestine occurred in 1881. Jerusalem was in Palestine at the time and was a very holy place for Jews, Muslims, and Christians, so Jews chose Palestine, which was under the Ottoman Empire at the time, and began settling there. At the time, all three religions coexisted peacefully in Palestine.
Now in 1915 World War-1 began and by the end of World war -1 the British took over the control of the Palestine region. From 1918 to 1948 the entire Palestine area was under the control of the British Government. At this time in Germany, Hitler gets political power and the Jews are massacred in millions in genocide in Germany.
The Jews flee from Hitler-controlled Europe to different countries to save themselves. Some get refuge in America but many of these Jews go to Palestine. Britain allows them to enter Palestine initially. But later, they start stopping them from coming to Palestine. Because of this, an Israeli Nationalist Movement starts in Palestine. At the same time, around the 1940s, Palestine Nationalist Movement had also begun and the Palestinians were also demanding their own country and hence ISRAEL AND PALESTINE were formed.
First Partition by UN:
In 1948 British left Palestine. United Nations came with a plan in 1947. In the plan, the United Nations keeps 57% of the area for the Jewish country and 43% of the area for the Arab-Palestinian country. Jerusalem is a very historically important and holy area for Jews, Christians and Arab religion so the United Nations decided that Jerusalem would be under international control. This plan is accepted by the Jews, who name their new country Israel. In 1948, the country of Israel was established here.
First Arab-ISRAEL War:
Other Arab countries were not pleased with this plan, and they launched a war against Israel in 1948, known as the First Arab-Israeli War. Surprisingly, Israel won this war because all Jews grouped together because they knew what the world had done to them in the past and needed to fight to live peacefully, so they fought with five countries.
After the war ends in 1949, the areas that were supposed to be Palestine’s according to the UN Partition Plan, Israel occupied several of these areas. The Gaza Strip area went to Egypt and the West Bank area went to Jordan.
So Palestinians did not have a country any longer after that. More than 700,000 Palestinians had to leave their homes and become refugees in Arab countries. This is named the 1948 Palestinian Exodus.
After this, in 1967, the Second Arab-Israeli War takes place. This war lasts for six days and Israel wins this easily too. Not only does Israel occupy the Gaza Strip and the West Bank area but also this large Egyptian Peninsula gets occupied by Israel after this war.
Formation of PLO:
Palestinians want their own country. For this reason, in 1964, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was founded. At First it named as terrorist organization by some countries but in 1974, PLO gets officially recognized by the United Nations General Assembly to be the representative of the Palestinian people.
In 1979, the peace talks between Egypt and Israel is successful and Egypt becomes the first Arab country to recognize Israel as a country that exists there. After the Peace-Talks, the entire Egyptian peninsula area captured by Israel is returned to Egypt by Israel. For that both Nation Prime Ministers awarded with Nobel Prize.
Trouble caused by Extremists:
Unfortunately, after two years, Egypt’s Prime Minister is assassinated by right-wing extremists who did not like compromise with Israel. Israel had occupied the Gaza Strip and the West Bank for more than ten years, from 1967 to the 1980s. During this time, many Israelis begin to establish colonies in the West Bank. They start building settlements and living there permanently.
Oslo Accords 1993 and Formation of Palestine:
In 1992, Israel gets an amazing Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. He stated that the PLO was not a terrorist organisation and that they desired their own country in the same way that we desired ours. As a result, they both recognized each other, and the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993. For the first time in history, they met to discuss how the country could be peacefully divided and Palestine formed. As a result, the Palestine National Authority, the government of Palestine was established for the first time in 1994.
But At this time both people were living in the areas so it was difficult to draw border between them so they divided country into three different parts A, B and C. Area A would be where the Palestinian government would be in control. In Area B both the governments will exercise control and Area C will be the areas where the Israeli Government will retain control.
In 1994, Palestine gets only some bits and pieces in the West Bank area and Gaza Strip to form their country but the good news is that at that point in time, Israel and Palestine were very close to come up with a peaceful solution. For this reason, in 1994, the President of the Palestinian Authority – Yasser Arafat and the Prime Minister of Israel Yitzhak Rabin were awarded Nobel Peace Prize.
Trouble caused by extremist again:
In 1995, a Jewish extremist assassinated Israel’s Prime Minister, demanding that all of Israel be returned to Israel and that no land be given to Palestine. After that, the condition worsened. HAMAS was formed around 5-6 years before this incident by a group of Islamic extremists.
HAMAS boycotted 1996 Palestine elections. They also carried out some suicide bombings. Because of this, on both sides, the dominance of the extreme right-wing groups starts rising. There is increasing polarization. People on both sides, the ISRAEL AND PALESTINE people start hating each other. Some hatred was already there and after 1995 it keeps on increasing. Around 2002, violent protests were seen in both sides which results in killing more than 100 people on both sides.
There are clashes on the ground and the people have become so sceptical of each other that Israel starts building walls around its settlements. Security guards are deployed around the permanent houses built by the Israelis in the West Bank and checkpoints are placed and it continues to become increasingly difficult for Palestinians to live there.
Formation of GAZA:
In 2006, the HAMAS militant group won the Palestinian election, but in 2007, a civil war broke out between these two parties. Internally, supporters of one party begin to fight supporters of the other. This conflict is known as the Battle of Gaza, and it resulted in the division of Palestine into two parts.
The Gaza Strip is under HAMAS control, while the West Bank is under Fatah and the PLO, who are nonviolent and rule the West Bank as a government should. However, now that the Gaza Strip is under the control of HAMAS, they have effectively occupied the territory in the manner of a terrorist organisation. They frequently launch rockets at Israel.
Today’s Situation:
There is no doubt that Israel has continued to colonize the West Bank for several decades, escalating clashes. The recent clash occurred because Israel is occupying areas in the West Bank, and Israeli fanatics demand that the entire West Bank area be theirs, as well as all of Jerusalem, while Palestinian fanatics want to completely eliminate Israel.
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