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The
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (1948
to the Present
Day) The
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict—(1948-
Present): The
ongoing conflict between Israel and the
Palestinians is both simple to understand, yet
deeply complex. At the heart of this conflict is a
basic idea that both sides believe: The Israelis
believe that they are entitled to the land now
known as Israel, while the Palestinians believe
that they are entitled to the land they call
Palestine. Unfortunately, both sides claim the same
land; they simply call the land by different names.
For religious Jewish Israelis and religious Muslim
Palestinians, the belief is deeper still, for both
sides believe that God (called Jehovah by the Jews
and Allah by the Muslims), gave them the land, and
that to give it away or to give it up to another
people is an insult to God and a sin. The
history of the conflict is much more complex than
that simple explanation, but the religious and
historical differences are very important to this
story. On another level, the reasons for the
continual fighting is easy to understand. They have
been fighting for over 60 years, and each war, each
death, each act of terrorism, only deepens the
hatred and the reluctance to give in to the other
side. In
the Beginning... Historically,
the ancient Jews from Biblical times called their
land Israel, Canaan, Judea, Samaria, Galilee and
other long-ago names. Modern Jews, and quite a few
Christians, believe that in the days of the Bible
and the Torah, God gave this land to the ancient
Jews (also known as Hebrews), led by men such as
Abraham, Moses, David, and others. About 2,000
years ago, the Roman Empire ruled this area, and in
suppressing several Jewish rebellions, the Romans
destroyed the Jewish temple in the city of
Jerusalem, killed large numbers of Jews, and forced
many others to leave their homeland in an exodus
called "The Diaspora." Some Jews remained in the
area, but large numbers of Jews did not return
until the 19th and 20th Century, especially after
World
War Two
and
the Holocaust. This
is where the real trouble began between the Jews,
who began calling themselves "Israelis" after their
old name for their ancient homeland of Israel, and
the Arab population of the area who came to be
known as "Palestinians," after the old Roman and
Greek name for the area. In the two thousand years
after most of the Jewish population was killed off
by the Romans or forced to leave, Arabic-speaking
Muslims became the dominant ethnic group. According
to records of the Ottoman Empire, which ruled
Palestine for several centuries, in the year 1900,
the population of Palestine was 600,000, of which
94% were Arabs. While many Arabs were willing to
sell land to the incoming Jews, many other
Palestinian Arabs were worried about becoming a
minority in a country they considered their own.
In
the 1930s, the Great Arab Revolt took place against
the British, who ruled Palestine after 1918. The
Arab Revolt was directed at both the British and
the growing Jewish population. It should be noted
that while large numbers of Jews moved to Palestine
in the 1940s, a movement called "Zionism" began in
the late 1800s, which influenced many Jews from
around the world to move to Palestine to reclaim
their ancient "homeland" of Israel. Thus, by the
1930s, the numbers of Jews had risen to a point
that alarmed many Palestinian Arab leaders. The
British put down the revolt with the help of Jewish
militias, but the fighting and hostility never
really ended between the Jews and Arabs. From that
point on, both the Jews and the Palestinians formed
militias and other military units to fight each
other and to prepare for the day when the British
would leave. In
1948, the British did leave, and the Jews in
Palestine declared the independence of the new
State
of Israel.
The neighboring Arab nations of Egypt, Saudi
Arabia, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq
invaded Israel to aid the Palestinian Arabs who
were fighting to create their own nation. The Arabs
lost that war (see Arab-Israeli
Wars), and
the Palestinian diaspora began, as hundreds of
thousands of Arabs fled the new nation of Israel
and moved to neighboring Arab nations to live as
refugees, awaiting the day when they could return
to their homeland. This loss and the exile of these
Palestinians is known in the Arabic world as
"al-Nakba," or "The Cataclysm." Two significant
parts of the old Palestine did not become part of
the new Israel; the a small, crowded coastal area
around the city of Gaza, which came to be called
the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank. The West Bank is
a section of the old Palestine on the west side, or
bank, of the Jordan River. The Arab nation of
Jordan sits on the east side, or bank, of that
river. After the war ended in 1949, Egypt took over
the Gaza Strip, while Jordan took control of the
West Bank. In the 1950s and
1960s, Palestinians conducted cross-border raids
into Israel, often with the aid of Egypt, Jordan,
and Syria. These attacks prompted Israeli military
reactions, and the entire border area, especially
around Gaza and the West Bank, was often the scene
of violent warfare. (see Arab-Israeli
Border Wars). The conflict
between Israel and the Palestinians reached a new
level of intensity and complexity on December 31,
1964, with the first al-Fatah raid into Israel from
Lebanon. al-Fatah is a Palestinian political and
military group formed in the late 1950s with the
aim of retaking Palestinian land from Israel. Led
by Yasser Arafat, the group joined the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO) in June of 1964.
For more
information on how the Israeli-PLO conflict
progressed from 1964 through the present day, go to
The
History Guy: Israeli-PLO Battles and
Campaigns. For information on
the recent fighting between Israel and the
Palestinian group called Hamas, go to
Gaza
War (2008-2009),
which is regularly updated to reflect the ongoing
battles in and around Gaza. Copyright
© 1998-2013 Roger A. Lee and History Guy
Media; Last Modified: 05.04.13 "The
History Guy" is a Registered Trademark. |
Video of the 1972
Munich Massacre of Israeli Athletes by Palestinian
Terrorists Historyguy.com Search
Engine
Palestinians’
Rift Prevents Gazans From
Traveling to Mecca--New York
Times, Dec. 4, 2008 Nakba--Recounts
al-Nakba (Arabic for "The
Cataclysm") in which large
portions of the Palestinian
population fled Palestine during
the 1948-1949 Arab-Israeli
War. Fateh
Online--English language
version of the al-Fatah
movement's website. BBC
NEWS | In Depth | Israel and the
Palestinians --Objective
information from the BBC. The
Electronic Intifada
--Official website of the
Palestinian National
Authority. Middle
East 101 --Click on "Sticking
Points" for a succinct rundown of
the issues from both sides,
courtesy of the Christian Science
Monitor. Mideast:
Centuries of Conflict --CNN's
In-Depth Special makes a good
starting point for background
information and news. Go to
"Maps: Occupied lands" for a
helpful clickable map of the
disputed regions. PREDECESSOR:
(Related conflicts and events that
occurred before) CONCURRENT:
(Related conflicts occurring at the same
time) Suez/Sinai
War
(1956) 1967
Arab-Israeli War
(1967) War
of Attrition (1968-1970) 1973
Arab-Israeli War (1973) Jordanian
Civil War (1970-1971) Lebanese
Civil War (1975-1992) Israeli
Invasion & Occupation of South
Lebanon
(1982-2000) Second
Persian Gulf War/Operation Desert Storm
(1990-1991) Third
Persian Gulf War/
Iraq
War (2003-Present) SUCCESSOR:
(Related conflicts that occur
later) |
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