Israel-Palestine

After World War One, European nations and Arab locals weren’t the only people with an interest in the Middle East. There's another important group to talk about: Jewish settlers.

The Zionist Movement emerged in the late 19th century in response to a series of anti-Semitic incidents in Europe. These incidents, including pogroms and discriminatory laws, led many Jews to seek a solution to the 'Jewish question' in the form of a national homeland.

Theodor Herzl, an Austro-Hungarian journalist and political activist, is often considered the father of modern political Zionism. Herzl's vision of a Jewish state, as articulated in his book 'The Jewish State', inspired many Jews to join the Zionist movement and work towards the establishment of a Jewish homeland.

In 1917, the UK Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour sent a letter to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community. The letter expressed the British government's support for the establishment of a 'national home for the Jewish people'. Where would this national home be established? In the region of the Middle East known as Palestine.

The Balfour Declaration, as this letter became known, was the first time that a world power had publicly supported the Zionist cause.

After World War One, the San Remo Resolution had granted Britain the Mandate for Palestine. This mandate gave Britain administrative control over this territory – and this had major implications.

The Balfour Declaration had promised the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. And now, under the British Mandate for Palestine, this promise could be fulfilled.

Britain played a crucial role in the establishment of Israel – a new home for the Jewish people. But Israel was controversial, especially amongst the Arab peoples who were living in Palestine already.

The British tried to manage these two opposing interests, alternating policies to appease both sides. But they often exacerbated local tensions in the process. Britain ended up overseeing two decades of unrest in Palestine, up until World War Two. After that, Britain would leave the region, but the ongoing conflict between Palestine and Israel would get worse.

By the end of World War Two, the Middle East was on the brink of a brand new era. After fighting so hard for political freedom from Nazi Germany, European nations had started to see the hypocrisy of colonial rule. With an edge of embarrassment, Britain decided to withdraw from the Middle East.

Meanwhile, the international push for a Jewish state intensified. The atrocities experienced by the Jewish people at the hands of Germany had bolstered international support for their cause, and led to an influx of refugees seeking a land where they could be free from anti-Semitism.

In 1947, the United Nations proposed a partition plan. The British would relinquish control in the region, and two new states would be established: one for the Jewish inhabitants of the region, and another for Arab populations. These new states would officially be known as Israel and Palestine.

On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency, declared the official independence of the State of Israel.

But this declaration was met with fierce resistance by many Arabs. They rejected the establishment of a Jewish state – local Arabs had been living in the region for many generations, and resented the idea of giving up this territory (and leaving their homes) just because the United Nations had told them to.

On May 15, just a day after the announcement of Israeli independence, they launched a military campaign against the new state. This marked the start of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. And, despite being outnumbered, Israel managed to repel the Arabs and secure its own existence.

The United States was the first country to recognize Israel's independence, followed by the Soviet Union. This international recognition was also crucial for Israel's survival.

The Palestinian Exodus, also known as the Nakba or 'catastrophe' in Arabic, occurred during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. This event refers to the mass displacement of Palestinian Arabs from their homes during the conflict.

During the Palestinian Exodus, an estimated 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes. These refugees ended up in neighboring Arab countries, or in refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. These small patches of land have been the home of the Palestinian people ever since this displacement.

More than fifty years later, the status of Palestinian refugees remains a contentious issue.

Since the Arab-Israeli War, in 1948, conflicts between Israel and their Arab neighbors have broken out again and again.

The Six-Day War was another conflict that unfolded in 1967. It saw Israel go up against the nearby countries of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria.

The war began with a pre-emptive Israeli strike against Egypt, following a period of escalating tensions. It lasted for six days, and just like the Arab-Israeli War, it ended in Israeli victory.

As a result of this war, Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Golan Heights. These territorial gains significantly expanded the size of Israel, and brought large populations of Arabs under their control.

The Six-Day War introduced a new set of status quos, many of which are still in place today.

One of the most contentious of these was the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. These areas, which had been an autonomous refuge for the Palestinian people after 1948, were now overseen by the Israeli military. Even today, Palestinians living in these regions are under tight military surveillance.

For example, the two million residents of the Gaza Strip have even been living under a military blockade by Israel since 2007. The Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories since 1967 marks the longest ongoing military occupation in the world.

The Six-Day War was also followed by the rise of Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).

This group was first established in 1964, but it wasn't until after the Six-Day War that the PLO really got going. They sought to liberate Palestine through armed struggle, and generally relied on guerilla tactics and terrorist-style attacks. More and more people got behind these tactics, as they realized that Israel would be hard to beat using traditional methods of warfare.

Yasser Arafat, who led the PLO between 1969 and 2004, was extremely controversial. Some people saw him as a noble figure fighting for the Palestinian cause, while others just saw him as a terrorist.

The Six-Day War of 1967 was seen as a huge loss by Arab nations, who became united in their desire to seek some retribution. In 1973, they launched a surprise attack on Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism.

The Yom Kippur War, as this event became known, caught Israel by surprise, and saw them suffer heavy losses in the first few days of the war. However, they did manage to recover somewhat, before an official ceasefire was agreed under the guidance of the United Nations.

Ultimately, this war was viewed as a partial success for the Arab nations. As part of the peace agreement, Israel agreed to give up the Sinai peninsula, a disputed territory which they'd claimed during the Six-Day War. In return, Egypt recognized Israel as a sovereign state in 1979, becoming the first Arab nation to do so.

The next few decades were punctuated by more military clashes, such as Iraqi missile strikes launched at Israel in 1991. However, in the decades following the Yom Kippur war, most of the threats posed to Israel came less from the Arab nations around it, and more from insurgent and paramilitary organizations.

Among the outbreaks of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, the most significant were probably the two 'Intifadas' of 1987-1993 and 2000-2005.

These conflicts followed a similar pattern. Palestinian protests at the Israeli occupation boiled over into violence against Israelis. Israeli military forces responded with immense force. Thousands were killed in both Intifadas, with the bulk of casualties being taken on the Palestinian side.

Since 1993, the PLO has recognized Israel's right to exist, and now lobby for Palestine through peaceful means.

But at the same time, Hamas has risen: an extreme terrorist organization. They have led a number of violent acts against Israel, which have often been targeted at civilians.

As of 2024, tensions between Israel and Palestine are higher than ever. The present generation of leaders have lived their whole lives under the status quo established in 1967. The weight of countless injustices and brutalities is felt heavily by both sides, and both Israel and Palestine have elected leaders that are more uncompromising and extreme than their predecessors.

With each new act of violence, it becomes harder to imagine a peaceful reconciliation. In the eyes of many Palestinian Arabs, the state of Israel has robbed them of their homeland. But in the eyes of many Israeli Jews, the Palestinians' continued acts of violence make them nothing more than fundamentalist terrorists.

The establishment of Israel, in 1948, has also sparked tensions with the neighboring state of Lebanon. At the center of the Israel-Lebanon conflict is the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). When the group was established in 1964, it used Lebanon as a base for launching attacks on Israel.

In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon, in an effort to find and expel the PLO. The 1982 Lebanon War, as this came to be known, had a massive impact on Lebanon. As well as loss of life, the war also damaged the country's infrastructure, including roads, bridges, and buildings.

The 1982 Lebanon War ended with the expulsion of the PLO from Lebanon. But this didn't bring an end to the conflict. Instead, it led to the rise of Hezbollah, which has played a significant role ever since.

Hezbollah is a political party and militant group. Just like the Palestinian Liberation Organization, their primary aim is the resistance of Israeli occupation.

However, where the PLO was Palestinian, Hezbollah was founded by Lebanese people who'd been affected by the Israeli invasion in 1982. The group has managed to secure itself a strong political presence in Lebanon, mainly due to its resistance to Israel, but also its ties to Shia Islam. This particular branch of Islam is followed by almost a third of the population in Lebanon.

Hezbollah has also received support from Iran, which is 90% Shia Islam. Iranian funding, training, and weaponry is another reason why Hezbollah has managed to gain a significant foothold in Lebanon's political sphere.

The 2006 Lebanon War was a 34-day military conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. The war was triggered by a cross-border raid by Hezbollah, in which two Israeli soldiers were captured. This act of aggression led to a full-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Again, this war had a devastating impact on Lebanon's infrastructure. It also displaced almost 1 million Lebanese citizens. Reconstruction efforts were ongoing for many years, with the country struggling to recover from the extensive damage caused by the conflict.

Despite a UN-brokered ceasefire, tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have remained high since the 2006 war. The ceasefire has not led to a permanent resolution of the conflict, and the potential for further violence still remains.