The Past and Present State of Palestine and Israel
Near the end of the 19th century, the conflict between Israel and Palestine began. In 1947 the United Nations took on Resolution 181. This initiative separated Palestine into two states, one being Arab and one being Jewish with Jerusalem placed under international sovereignty. This resolution is also known as the Partition Plan. The first Arab-Israeli war began on May 14, 1948 and ended in 1949 with an Israeli victory. This war displaced 750,000 Palestinians and the land was thus divided into three areas. These were the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the State of Israel.
Between 1956 and 1967 Israel invaded the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. These invasions left them with control over the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. Later, this overtake was called the Yom Kippur War (a.k.a. the October War). In 1959 after several cease-fires and multiple peace treaties, the Egypt and Israel conflict of thirty years ended. The treaty was called the Camp David Accords. However, Palestine's state of governance was still an unsolved issue, even though the relationships with Israel’s neighbors had been resolved. In 1987 hundreds of thousands of citizens of the West Bank and Gaza rose up and retaliated against the Israeli government and is known as Israel's first intifada. In 1993 the Oslo l Accords allowed Palestinians to govern themselves in Gaza and the West Bank. Later the Oslo ll Accords removed Israeli forces from 6 cities and 450 towns in the West Bank.
Fast forward seven years and Palestinian concerns begin to rise over Israel’s control over the West Bank. This was due to the unfulfilled promises Israel made to restore peace in the areas they infiltrated. After the second intifada in 2000 following Prime Minister Ariel Shanon’s visit to the al-Aqsa mosque, Israel’s government mandated the construction of a barrier wall around the West Bank. This initiative was severely opposed by the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.
In October of 2020 an Israeli court forced several Palestinian families to leave their homes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah and give their land to Jewish families. This led to appeals through court, protests around said appeals, and many many legal battles relating to land ownership. In 2021 tensions rose as protests became a more common appearance, mainly on the issue of unfair, impending, evictions. Pretty soon, violence broke out between the Palestinians and the Jewish settlers and forces. At the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Israel used stun grenades, rubber bullets, and water cannons on protesters. Hundreds of Palestinians were wounded.
Later that same month, skirmishes erupted in Jerusalem’s Old City around the celebration of Jerusalem Day. After days of violence between the Hamas terrorist group and Israeli police, Hamas fired hundreds of rockets into Israel’s territory. Israel’s response consisted of artillery strafing, airstrikes, and the demolition of Palestinian infrastructure including tunnels and rocket launchers. Later, Israel began targeting civilian areas including media centers, homes and neighborhoods, healthcare facilities, and even refugee camps. Near the end of May the two groups agreed to a ceasefire, however the fighting left over 200 Palestinians killed and almost 2,000 wounded with 13 Israelis left dead. Millions of dollars of damage left 72,000 Palestinians to be displaced.
In late October, Biden signed a $2 billion dollar package to aid Israel in their fight against Hamas. This money would go toward “replenishing Israel’s stockpile of interceptors for its Iron Dome missile-defense system, artillery shells, and other munitions.” (TIME, Cortellessa, Bennet) Only later did his administration administer $100 million dollars in humanitarian aid to Palestine. The White House claims the money for Palestine is in order to protect the people as they “are not to blame and should not suffer for Hamas’s horrific terrorism.”(The White House, Statements and Releases) These acts caused both outrage and confusion. Palestine supporters believe that the US’s duty lies with freeing the Palestinian people. They do not consider the dispute to be a war, but a genocide, a mass oppression and “ethnic cleansing” of the Palestinian people from land that rightfully belongs to them. Meanwhile, some side with Israel due to the terror and violence caused by the Hamas terrorist group.
Citations:
https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/israeli-palestinian-conflict
https://time.com/6322820/israel-aid-biden-congress-hamas/