Explainer: Why is Israel involved in a never-ending war with Palestine?
Richard Inegbedion
Historian | Ph.D. Candidate | Human Rights Activist | Public Relations Practitioner | Persons-with-disability Advocate
For decades, Israel, the only Jewish state in the world, and Palestine, the territory of the Arab population originating from the land under Israeli control, have been engaged in a prolonged conflict. Tensions between Israel and Palestine have been getting worse for a long time and have culminated in many violent clashes between the two sides.
To understand the underlying causes of the Israel-Palestine conflict, we must travel back in time to a few millennia ago. This will enable us to gain a thorough comprehension of how the dispute between the two neighbouring nations has reached its current point. Even though it's not clear if the people in Israel today are related to the Israelites in the Bible, I made a connection between the history of ancient Israel and the current state of Israel to explain this article.
An early history of the conflict between Israel and Palestine
In the 17th century BC, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the three earliest known biblical Jewish patriarchs, settled in Canaan, regions that have been compared to places like modern Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and portions of Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. Today, these areas are referred to as the located state of Israel, which is also a former territory once owned by the present-day Palestinian region.
In the year 1000 BC, King Saul established the Israelite monarchy, which was later governed by King David, Jonathan's presumed rival for the throne. David believed that Jerusalem was God's preferred choice when he named it the capital of Israel. Since then, it has remained Israel's capital, and though other nations have conquered and settled in the Land of Israel, none have ever declared Jerusalem as their capital.
With this same knowledge, his son, King Solomon, also built the first temple there. After the death of King Solomon, the ancient Israeli monarchy, which had been united by King David, was divided into two distinct kingdoms: the kingdom of Israel in the north, with Samaria as its capital, and the kingdom of Judah in the south, with Jerusalem as its capital.
Many Jews subsequently occupied these territories. However, over time, they were subjected to many conquests by different nations, which led to a significant decrease in the Jewish population. Throughout history, one of the most popular conquests of Jerusalem and its surroundings was accomplished by the Roman Empire under General Pompey in 63 BCE.
In the year 135 CE, following the suppression of the second insurrection in Judea's province, the Romans renamed the province Syria Palaestina, which translates to “Palestinian Syria,” to sever the connection between the Jews and Israel. As time passed, more and more people started to believe in Christianity. It began with a group of Jews and became the most popular religion after the Roman Empire ended.
In the 7th century, a conquest by the Arabs commenced, thereby launching the spread of Islam. From the middle of the seventh century, Muslim Arab armies from Saudi Arabia started to travel north into Central Asia and west across Africa. They invaded the countries they passed, which started the spread of Islam.
The dome of the rock shrine, which is the oldest Islamic monument in the world, was built in the late 7th century CE on the remains of the second temple. This constituted Jerusalem as the sacred city for the three monotheistic religions of Judah, namely Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. After Christians in Jerusalem were attacked by the Seljuk Turks, a powerful group from Central Asia who wanted to expand their territory, Christians in Europe went on many crusades to take back control of the holy city. The crusades did not go as planned, as many ancient Jews were murdered during this period, resulting in a widespread exodus, with some embarking on worldwide pilgrimages to various locations.
From the 16th century until the outbreak of World War 1, the Holy Land and a significant portion of the Middle East were governed by two primary political entities, namely the Mamluk Sultanate and the Ottoman Empire. These territories were called Palestine.
In a similar vein, in Europe, a steady stream of Jewish converts were embracing the Zionist movement with the objective of establishing a Jewish state within the territory they claimed to be their ancestral homeland. This initiative played a pivotal role in the influx of tens of thousands of Jews from Europe to the region of Palestine during the first decade of the 20th century.
Israel and Palestine under the British rule
During World War I, the Ottoman Empire fell and the British and French empires took control of the land in the Middle East. Following this, the British gave greater independence to Iraq and Jordan, and the area that was still under their control was called the British “mandate for Palestine,” which incorporated the principles of the Balfour Declaration.
According to this declaration, Britain would establish a Jewish national homeland under the Balfour Declaration. This declaration was eventually fully implemented in 1948. Many Arab nationalists in the region didn't like the idea of a British mandate for a Jewish state in Palestine. Due to this decision by the British Empire, tensions between the Jews and the Arabs grew, even leading to acts of violence.
During the Second World War (1939-1945), the British imposed restrictions on the immigration of Jews from Europe who were fleeing Nazi persecution to Palestine to appease the Egyptians and the oil-rich Saudis. This led to Jewish resistance, and eventually two types of groups came together: those who wanted Britain to help them set up their national homeland (the Haganah) and those who wanted to use terrorism to drive the British out. The Jewish militias reacted by becoming more organized to fight the Arabs and resist British rule. Subsequently, the Holocaust transpired, which resulted in the loss of approximately 6 million Jewish lives throughout Nazi Germany.
Following the war, an increasing number of Jews migrated to Palestine searching for a new home, thereby intensifying the conflict with the Arabs. Britain was overwhelmed by the conflict between Jews and Arabs and decided to tackle other issues and completely abandon the region.
How the State of Israel was Created
Following the Second World War, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 (also referred to as the Partition Resolution) in May 1948, which aimed to divide Great Britain's former Palestinian mandate into Jewish and Arab states.
Under the resolution, Jerusalem's religious significance would stay under international control and be managed by the United Nations. The resolution would also ensure that the Jews would possess 56.5% of the land, despite accounting for one-third of the population.
The Palestinian Arabs declined to acknowledge this arrangement, which they perceived as advantageous to the Jews and unjust to the Arab population that would remain in Jewish territory under the partition. This resulted in the establishment of various Arab Liberation Army composed of volunteers from Palestine and neighbouring Arab countries.
The UN resolution sparked conflict between Jewish and Arab groups within Palestine. The conflict began with the launching of sporadic attacks by unruly groups of Palestinian Arabs encircling nearby units of the Arab Liberation Army, a volunteer organization comprised of individuals from Palestine and other Arab nations. These groups attacked Jewish cities, settlements, and the armed forces.
The Jewish forces were made up of the Haganah, the underground militia of the Jewish community in Palestine, and two small groups, the Irgun and the LEHI. The Arabs initially wanted to block the Partition Resolution and prevent the establishment of the Jewish state. The Jews, on the other hand, hoped to seize control of the land allotted to them by the partition plan. A year later, as Britain was leaving Palestine, Israel declared itself a sovereign nation, which started a new war between Jews and Palestinian Arabs.
The 1948 Arab-Israeli War
After Israel's declaration of independence on May 14, 1948, fighting intensified, with other Arab forces joining the Palestinian Arabs in attacking territory in the former Palestinian mandate. This conflict is commonly referred to as the Arab-Israeli War of 1948. The conflict, fought by the Arabs, involved five recently independent Arab nations, namely Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. The Arab League, as they were commonly referred to, invaded the region intending to establish a unified Arab Palestine.
The day before May 14, 1948, the Arabs launched an air strike on Jerusalem, but the Israelis resisted. Saudi Arabia dispatched a contingent that engaged in combat under the guidance of Egyptian authorities. In the end, British forces from Transjordan attempted to intervene in the conflict, however, only in areas that had been designated as a part of the Arab state under the United Nations Partition Plan and the corpus separatum of Jerusalem.
In the end, the Israeli military was able to gain the offensive, after a period of intense initial combat. Even though the United Nations agreed to two cease-fires during the war, fighting continued until 1949.
A year later, a ceasefire agreement was reached between Israel and the Arab states and formal armistice lines were established. The agreement gave Israel more than two-thirds of historic Palestine, including the west of Jerusalem, and Jordan, east Jerusalem and the area called the west bank. Egypt kept control of the Gaza Strip. These cease-fire agreements lasted until 1967.
These agreements resulted in the expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians from the land they had inhabited for centuries. That fateful day will be remembered as Al-Nakba, which translates to “catastrophe” and, to the faithful of the Arab world, the mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict. The conflict between Jews and Arabs escalated over the subsequent decades, and it persists to this day.
The Six-Day War
After the armistice agreement between Israel and Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria was dissolved in 1967, a “six-day war” started. This short conflict ended with Israel winning, giving them full control of the Golan Heights from Syria, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, Gaza, and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt. During the peace agreement between the two countries, the Sinai Peninsula was later handed over to Egypt.
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The conflict resulted in a significant number of Palestinians fleeing with their families, being unable to return to their homes. They were forced to settle in places like Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.
The First Intifada and the Oslo Accords
The escalating number of Israelis establishing residence in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza resulted in the establishment of the PLO, commonly referred to as the Palestinian Liberation Organization. The organization was founded in Cairo, Egypt, in 1964 with the goal of establishing a liberated Palestine within Israel.
After launching an attack against Israel from its base in Jordan, the Palestinian Liberation Organization was compelled to relocate to Lebanon, where it commenced carrying out terrorist activities against the state of Israel. The situation deteriorated, and the conflict persisted for an extended period, culminating in the Israeli invasion into Lebanon in 1978 with the objective of evicting the PLO from Beirut.
This invasion by Israel forced the Palestinian Liberation Organization to move north of the Litani River, but the PLO continued to fight against Israel. In 1982, Israel entered Lebanon again and joined the major Christian militias of the Lebanese Forces and Kataeb Party. This was the catalyst for the eventual dissolution of the PLO. Eventually, the PLO reached a mutually beneficial agreement to divide the land between Palestine and Israel. However, a growing number of Jewish settlers continued to enter the territory of Israel-occupied Palestine.
In 1987, the region experienced a recurrence of violence when a violent Palestinian uprising commenced at the Jabilaya refugee camp following the collision of two Palestinian civilian vans with an Israeli defence forces truck. The ensuing incident led to the demise of four individuals, triggering a fresh escalation in armed conflict. The fighting continued, and many people died in the process. This resulted in the establishment of a peace agreement known as the Oslo accords, which were jointly signed by Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
The Oslo I accord was signed in Washington, DC in 1993. The Oslo II accord was later signed two years later in Taba, Egypt in 1995. The Oslo II Accord divided the West Bank, which is controlled by Israel, into three parts:
Furthermore, Israel has consented to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization as the representative of the Palestinian people. In response, the Palestinian Liberation Organization renounced its support for terrorism and acquiesced to coexist peacefully with Israel. The two sides agreed to create a group called the Palestinian Authority that will run the West Bank and Gaza Strip for five years.
The Second Intifada
Despite the ongoing peace negotiations in the year 2000, there was no agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians regarding crucial matters such as the status of Jerusalem and the number of Jewish settlements in Palestinian territory.
Further aggravating matters, Ariel Sharon, a Jewish Israeli who would eventually serve as Israel's prime minister, was said to have exacerbated the already existing tensions between the two nations by visiting the temple mount, which was home to the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount was seen by the Palestinians as a provocative and illegal act, and his guards, armed, joined him on the spot, only compounded their feelings. Some sceptics believe Sharon was aware of the risk of violence during his visit, and that his motives were purely political. This action by the then Israeli prime minister was considered offensive by many Palestinians, and this led to the outbreak of the second intifada. The escalating violence that followed resulted in Israel's departure from gaza, but tensions remained in the West Bank.
Israel's ongoing conflict with Hamas
Hamas is a group of Sunni Islamist militants with the ultimate goal of eradicating Israel and establishing an Islamic state. The armed conflict between Hamas and Fatah, the two parties accountable for the Palestine Liberation Organization, resulted in the group's disengagement from the Palestinian Authority and the emergence of political authority in the region.
A series of bloody conflicts between the two groups in the Gaza Strip were triggered by Israel's suffocating blockade, which led to the following wars:
In 2014, Hamas and Fatah reached an agreement to establish a government of national unity. In the year 2018, the US embassy relocated to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, which caused controversy among the Palestinians, who perceived it as a sign of the US support for Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Three years later, in the year 2021, the conflict between Israel and Palestine rekindled with a string of hostile incidents in East Jerusalem, resulting in numerous acts of violence. On May 21, 2021, a ceasefire agreement was adopted, with both sides declaring victory, thanks to the assistance of Egypt, Qatar, and the United Nations.
Today, the dispute is still far from settling down peacefully. The ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine has taken a tragic turn recently, on the 7th of October 2023, when the Hamas Group launched nearly 3000 rockets within a span of 20 minutes against the major cities of Israel.
At least 36,224 Palestinians have been killed and 81,777 wounded in Israel's war on Gaza since October 7, according to the most recent information. The death toll in Israel from the attack on that date is at least 1,139, with dozens of people still held captive in Gaza. The crisis has led to the displacement of nearly two million Palestinians, while 100,000 Israelis are reported to have fled their homes in the north and south.
Israel's incursion into Rafah, which was initiated in early May 2024, has compelled a staggering 1 million people to flee the city. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has accused Israel of genocide and ordered Tel Aviv to stop its operations in Rafah immediately.
On the international stage, Ireland, Norway, and Spain have recognized Palestine as a sovereign nation, and it is anticipated that Slovenia will follow suit by June 13. This move will see improved diplomatic relations between the Palestinian Authority and the three countries. The recognition of Palestine by Ireland, Norway, and Spain brings the total number of states recognizing Palestine to 146. Out of the 193 members of the United Nations General Assembly, 143 had previously recognized Palestine.
Many are optimistic that this symbolic move will enhance Palestine's international standing and exert additional pressure on Israel to initiate negotiations aimed at resolving the decades-long conflict.
Photo & Stat Credit
Al-Jazeera: Israel-Hamas War Update