It seems as though Palestine and Israel have been in conflict ever since the beginning of time; however, most people assume that this never-ending battle is over religion. This conflict dates all the way back to nineteen-forty-eight and is still continuing in present day as both Palestine and Israeli struggle and fight over consistent control, politics, and which state has what territory. This conflict involves complex history of both Palestine and Israeli that involves Jewish immigration, border control, freedom of movement, cultural and religious interest worldwide. From the beginning until present time the conflict has always been over territory and how both states continuously fight over the control of land and we ask ourselves: Does the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict have relevance to what is happening today?
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is directly related to two of the themes in this course, diverse ways of thinking and roots of contemporary conflicts. The topic relates to diverse ways of thinking because both Palestine and Israel think that the land should be their own and they should own the most land over the other. The issue of the control over certain land has caused major issues and has continued over the years. This issue started in the early nineteen-forty-eight’s and has now in present day become worse. For example, in present times, U.S. President, Donald Trump recently moved the U.S. Embassy into Jerusalem, the holy city, which made Palestine very angry and upset. This recently declaration by Trump has now caused an escalation in the conflict resulting in bloodshed and death between the two states. As a result of Trump doing this, there has been an increase of protests, bombings, and other acts of terrorism.1 This topic of conflict also directly relates to the course topic of the roots of contemporary conflicts. This is because ever since the beginning of the establishment of the state of Israel, Palestine has been fighting Israel over land. Thus, proving that both of these states have contemporary conflict, these two themes will help me frame and contextualize this topic.
Many people think that this conflict began thousands of years ago, when really it only began about a century ago. Also, most people believe that the conflict is over the two-different religions, when really it is more focused about the land itself. 2 The land originally started off under Ottoman Empire rule, this empire had a diverse group of people living here which included Muslims, Christians, and Jews. During this time, more people started to develop a sense of identification thus creating Palestinian Identity and Zionism. This Zionism movement declared that Judaism is not only a religion but also a nationality, and it deserved its own nation. 3 This is because many Jewish people saw having their own state as their only result for safety. Because of this, in the nineteen hundreds more than thirty-five thousand Jewish people began to move into Palestine.
After World War I, the Ottoman Empire no longer existed and had collapsed thus, beginning the British mandate for Palestine.4 During the British mandate, the British allowed Jewish people to come and settle in Palestine. However, as the number of Jewish people arriving in Palestine and settling into the farming communities increased immensely this started to cause conflict and tension with the Palestinians.5 As a result of these conflicts and acts of violence between the Palestinians and the Jewish people, the British started to limit the number of Jewish people that could come and settle in Palestine. The Jewish people did not like this at all, so they decided to create groups to fight the local Arabs and the British Rule. Soon after this, the Holocaust happened which caused even more Jewish people to flee to British Palestine – for safety. In nineteen-forty-seven, there were so many acts of crime and violence between the Jewish and Palestinian people that the United Nations decided they had to do something about it. The U.N. then planned to divide Palestine into two separate states; one state for Jews, one state for Arabs, and have Jerusalem as an “international” zone.6 The British wanted no more to do with this issue so they decided to let the Jewish and Palestinian people figure it out. The Jewish people jumped at this opportunity and created the state of Israel.
Yet, the Palestinian people did not like this and saw this as the Jewish people taking over their land. Because of this, the Arab state then declared war against Israel starting the Arab–Israeli War. The state of Israel won the war and was very strong, because Israel had so much power compared to Palestine. Israel started to push past the U.N. boarders and take over almost all of Palestine’s land that was previously theirs. Israel now owned most of the land beside Gaza and the West Bank.7 This started the decade long Arab-Israeli conflict. During this time, many Palestinian people fled or were forced out of their homes. However, this all changed in nineteen-sixty-seven when the Six Day War started. This war did not work out well for the Arab people again because they ended up also losing the Golan Heights, the West Bank, Sinai, and Gaza; leaving the Arab people with nothing and Israel now owning all of the Palestinian land. In nineteen-seventy-eight, Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty, Camp David Accords, agreeing that Israel would give back Sinai to Egypt.8 Even though this treaty caused a lot of controversy it also was a huge step in the other Arab states becoming more peaceful with Israel. At this point in time Israel still had ownership over the Palestinian territory which caused much violence between Israel and the Palestinians.
The Palestinian people had enough, they wanted their land back so they continued at war and started a group entitled the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The PLO wanted to end the state of Israel entirely and create their own Palestinian state.9 They fought by committing numerous acts of terrorism against Israel and eventually claimed what was all of British Palestine for themselves. The fighting between the PLO and Israel continued on for many years. As all of this was happening, Israeli settlers started to move in and make homes in the West Bank and Gaza. These Israeli settlers moved for different reasons. These reasons include wanting to claim the land for Israel, religious reasons, and even because housing is inexpensive there.10 Today, there are over seventy thousand Israeli settlers in occupied territory.
In the late nineteen hundreds, the Palestinian people no longer stood for this and started the First Intifada; the Arabic word for uprising. At first, it began with boycotts and protests but soon turned increasingly more violent causing many Palestinian people to die at the hand of the Israeli forces.11 While this was happening, a group of Palestinians in Gaza did not believe the PLO was making any difference so, they formed an extremist group called Hamas. Hamas was a very violent group that was solely focused on destroying Israel. By the nineteen-nineties, it soon became clear to both leaders that the violence was getting too intense so they signed the Oslo Accords peace treaty. This treaty was the first step in Israel one day leaving the Palestinian territories giving Palestinian their own state. The Oslo Accords gave the Palestinian government a little bit more control. However, at this time Hamas tried to sabotage this treaty with suicide bombers.12 The Palestinian people thought that peace was not coming and they started the Second Intifada which was much more violent than the first one.13 Seeing how violent the Palestinians are, the Israelis believe that there is no more hope for the Palestinians to become peaceful with them as Israel withdrew from Gaza in two-thousand-and-five.
This violence of land and territory has not stopped as it continues into our present day lives today. Donald Trump’s recent moving of the U.S. Embassy into Jerusalem is viewed as both a win and a loss for Israel because this move is seen as the U.S. providing strong support of the Jewish people and shows that the U.S. stands by Israel and is an ally.14 But, it is also a loss because this has caused even more violence between Israel and Palestine as it has caused so much bloodshed and death between the two states. Throughout history, it has been proven that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has relevance to what is happening today. The history of these two states has dictated what is currently happening in the region and will continue to be relevant today as both sides fight for land and power. History has proven that efforts for peace in the region have always fallen short. Perhaps one day there will be leaders who will be able to learn from the past in order to solve the current day crisis and find a way to create a resolution that satisfies both sides. Learning from past and present experiences is the most promising path to keep the peace between Israeli and Palestinian