A PLACE TO CALL HOME: Origin of the Palestine Israeli conflict
To fully comprehend the situation between Palestinians and Israelites, it is important to not base your arguments solely on the Hamas and the Israeli government uproar. That doesn't paint the full picture.
You would do better to start with the wave of Antisemitism that swept through 16th century Europe, which culminated in the establishment of Zionist movement in 1897 by Theodor Herzl.
Next you should understand the role of the British Empire and the 1917 Balfour declaration to the 1937 peel partition plan, the 1947 UN partition plan which emboldened the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.
Recognize how these events instigated the cycle of violence that became Arab Israeli conflict, the 1987 intifada, its resultant effect and how the Cold War influenced the crisis.
ANTISEMITISM AND SENTIMENTS
The 16th century was a time when anti Jewish Semitism were spreading across Europe, resulting in a new wave of violence against Jews. In much of Europe during the Middle Ages, Jews were denied citizenship and its rights, barred from holding posts in government and the military. Although some European rulers and societies, particularly during the early Middle Ages, afforded Jews a degree of tolerance and acceptance, the end of the middle ages renewed and reinforced anti Jewish legislation, Jews remained subject to occasional massacres, this periodic massacre of Jews in western Europe continued until the late 18th century.
These social and political developments convinced the Jews they needed their own country and their ancestral homeland seemed like the best place to achieve it, thus began the establishment of Zionism in 1897 notably by Theodor Herzl.
THE BALFOUR DECLARATION AND ALTERATION
The British took control of Palestine after the end of the first world war and made what would be called the 1917 Balfour declaration that included provisions for establishing a Jewish national homeland in Palestine.
The British government hoped this settlement of pro British — Jewish might help to protect the approaches to the Suez Canal in neighboring Egypt and thus ensure a vital communication route to British colonial possessions in India.
Further drafts were discussed by the British Cabinet during September and October 1917, with input from Zionist and anti-Zionist Jews but with no representation from the local population in Palestine. It was clarified by Churchill White paper in 1922 that the terms of the declaration do not contemplate that Palestine as a whole should be converted into a Jewish National Home, but that such a Home should be founded in Palestine. The British government in May 1939 altered its policy on the Jewish immigration recommending a limit of 75,000 further immigrants and an end to the immigration by 1944 unless the resident Palestinian Arabs of the region consented to further immigration. Zionists condemned the new policy, accusing Britain of favoring the Arabs, and encouraging antisemitism worldwide by stamping the Jews as strangers in their native lands. This negotiations was put to a temporary halt by the outbreak of World War II (1939–45)
PARTITION PLAN AND TRANSITION
The United Nation in 1947 proposed a plan to partition Palestine, it would be recognized as an international territory with special status, an independent Arab state and an Independent Jewish state. The Arabs vehemently opposed this decision and argued that they represented the majority of the population in the region and should be granted more rights and territory, there was the antagonism to the establishment of the Jewish National Home in Palestine, quickened by their fear of Jewish domination and also the desire of the Arabs for national independence, who would claim that the declaration was a breach of promises made to the Sharif in 1915, in exchange for Arab help fighting the Ottoman Empire during World War I, the Government of the United Kingdom agreed to recognize Arab independence.
Less than a year after the Partition Plan, Israel declared itself an independent state in May 1948, implying a willingness to implement the Partition plan. This triggered the 1948 Arab — Israeli war and by massacre, threatening broadcasts, pointed bayonets, and the murderous siege of cities, the Jews drove hundreds of thousands of Arabs out of their homeland. At the end of the war in 1949, Israel controlled more than two thirds of the former British mandate, while Jordan took control of the West Bank, Egypt and Gaza strip.
COLD WAR AND CONTROL
The favorability of the superpowers demonstrated the ability of the cold war rivalry to shape events. Palestine had failed to acquire any great power support, while Israel witnessed great success in their endeavors due to its essential relationship with both of the newly anointed superpowers, USSR and US, who were in a competition to prevent the other from gaining leverage in what was becoming a strategically essential region. This support came in the form of indispensable military and diplomatic support, it was the backing of the USSR and US that gave the Zionist cause international cover and legitimacy.
In 1960, the USSR shed its alliance with Israel to support the Arab state, it was perceived as a more traditional cold war stance between the super powers and it ultimately reinitiated the hostilities between the Arab and Israelis after the first phase of the conflict, with the USSR providing inaccurate information that caused the Arab army to advance forces into the Sinai Peninsula, where they expelled a United Nations peacekeeping force that had been guarding the border with Israel for over a decade. Israel, acting in self defense launched a preemptive aerial attack against Egypt on June 5, 1967 which would later be known as the Six day war and resulted in major land gains for Israel, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, the Sinai Peninsula (a desert region situated between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea) and the Golan Heights (a rocky plateau located between Syria and modern-day Israel).
With the support of the Israeli government, Israeli settlers moved into the occupied territories, seizing Arab land, evicting Palestinians from their homes and by December 1987, 20 years after the conquering of the lands Palestinians called home, 2,200 armed Jewish settlers had occupied 40 percent of the Gaza Strip, while 650,000 impoverished Palestinians were crowded into the other 60 percent, making the Palestinian portion of the tiny Gaza Strip one of the most densely populated areas on earth.
This birthed small scale riots, demonstrations and violence against the Israelis that would escalate for months led by a group called the Intifada. In 1987, the first Intifada broke out, a boiling over of Palestinian anger over ongoing Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. Palestinian militia groups revolted, and hundreds of people were killed. In 1994 peace negotiations between the Palestine Leadership Organization (PLO) represented by PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Israel represented by Prime minister Yitzhak Rabin had progressed, the Intifada had long been called off and the Israelis completed their withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and Jericho. The peace process was stalled in 1995 when Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish extremist. In September 2000, the Second Palestinian Intifada began, this became the worst violence between Israelis and Palestinians since the end of the Intifada, this was caused by what many Palestinian considered offensive when Ariel Sharon, a right-wing, Jewish Israeli who would later become Israel’s prime minister, visited the Muslim holy site at the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Hamas, a Sunni Islamist militant group, won the Palestinian legislative elections in 2006. This group and Israel have fought each other in several bloody wars, they’ve carried out suicide bombings repeatedly and call for the destruction of Israel. The Hamas and the Palestine Arabs would not accept this monstrous decision that a group had lobbied to occupy the only place they know as home. They are obliged to protect themselves against it, with force leading to high tensions between these two groups to this day and with Israel also obliged to protect itself from Palestinian violence is retaliating disproportionately in a way that further radicalizes the Hamas.
