More than a century of conflict between Jews and Arabs over control of the Holy Land has resulted in seven major battles.
The most recent incident occurred on October 7, when southern Israel was attacked from the Gaza Strip by the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas, which the US and EU have designated as a terrorist organization and is committed to the destruction of Israel. This attack resulted in 1,300 deaths in towns, kibbutzim, army bases, and a music festival in the desert. Israeli retaliation has claimed the lives of almost 3,000 individuals. Here is a summary of the battle for your comprehension.
1. What are the conflict’s origins?
The Ottoman Empire reigned over Arabs and Jews in the Holy Land until the end of World War I, when the UK, one of the war’s victorious nations, took possession. Jewish immigration from Europe to what was then known as Mandatory Palestine significantly rose during this time, particularly in the 1930s due to Nazi persecution of Jews. A revolution in the late 1930s was sparked by Arab nationalism on the rise and opposition to Jewish immigration. A British panel advocated dividing Palestine into two states—one Arab and one Jewish—in 1937 to try to cease the violence between Arabs and Jews. In 1947, the United Nations adopted a different division strategy. Both initiatives were rejected by the Arabs, which resulted in the first Arab-Israeli conflict and Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948. During the time, more than 500,000 Arabs fled their homes.
2. What constitutes a Palestinian?
Israel took control of the West Bank from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt after a war in 1967, among other regions. It resulted in the military occupation of the Arab Palestinians who lived in those two districts, who were at this point often referred to as simply “Palestinians,” further fostering nationalism and animosity among them. Palestinians make up the vast bulk of Sunni Muslims. Christians are a minority.
3. Describe the organization Hamas.
The Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, was established in 1987 during the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation. Hamas is the Arabic abbreviation for the organization. It was a breakaway faction of the Islamist social, political, and religious movement known as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. By creating a network of organizations that address poverty as well as medical and educational needs, it first became popular among Palestinians. Later, it became well-known for its campaign of suicide bombings and other assaults against Israelis.
4. What is Hamas seeking?
The eradication of the state of Israel is the primary objective of Hamas, as stated in a new charter published in 2017. The whole Holy Land is referred to as “an Arab Islamic land” in the manifesto, and Hamas rejects any possibilities other than its “complete liberation.” The group’s disagreement, according to the new charter, is with “the Zionist project,” not Jews in general. “The day of judgment will not come until Muslims fight the Jews and kill them,” read the original Hamas charter. In the most recent version, it is stated that “resisting the occupation with all means and methods is a legitimate right guaranteed by divine laws.According to a poll conducted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in early September, 36% of Palestinians would vote for the secular Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the main faction, rather than 34% for Hamas in legislative elections. The PLO was the former guerrilla organization that made peace with Israel in 1993.
5. Describe a Zionist.
The Zionism movement sought the creation of a homeland for the Jewish people in their historic homeland. It was born in late 19th-century Europe as a reaction against antisemitism. It was given the name of an Old Testament hill in Jerusalem. Since the movement’s objectives have been met, a Zionist today is someone who backs the expansion and defense of the state of Israel.
6. What exactly is the Gaza Strip?
2 million Palestinians, the most of them refugees, reside in the Gaza Strip, a tiny enclave bordered by Israel, Egypt, and the Mediterranean Sea. In accordance with the Oslo peace agreements, which Israel and the PLO signed, Gaza was controlled for nearly ten years by the Palestinian Authority. Israel removed its military from Gaza in 2005 and abandoned its citizens’ colonies there.The next year, Hamas beat the PLO’s Fatah group, which controls the Palestinian Authority, in elections for legislative bodies in Palestine. In 2007, Hamas seized control of Gaza after months of conflict between the two parties. In addition to maintaining control over Gaza’s airspace and sea area, Israel and Egypt have long imposed an embargo on the region.
7. What causes the large number of refugees in Gaza?
The 1948 war and its aftermath caused a large number of Arab refugees to flee to Gaza. Because a long-term solution has not been found for their descendants, they are now considered refugees. The “right of return” to Israel, according to the Palestinians, extends not just to the thousands of original exiles who are still living but also to the approximately 5 million of their descendants who now reside in Gaza, the West Bank, and other countries. Officials in Israel are divided. They fear that the 6.7 million Jews living in Israel might be overwhelmed by the almost 2 million Arabs who are currently citizens, destroying the goal of establishing a Jewish state.
8. How is the West Bank’s situation?
3 million Palestinians reside in the West Bank, a landlocked region west of the Jordan River. Around 460,000 Jewish Israelis reside there in so-called settlements. Some Israelis contend that since Judea and Samaria, the West Bank’s biblical name, was once a part of the ancient Jewish homeland, Israel ought to acquire it. According to the Oslo Accords, the West Bank is under Israel’s overall sovereignty with some limited autonomy exercised by the Palestinian Authority. While the two parties pursued a final-status deal, which likely would have created a Palestinian state alongside Israel, the accords were intended to establish temporary arrangements.
9. How did the peace negotiations go?
The determination of borders, how to divide Jerusalem, and the treatment of Palestinian refugees are among the issues that the two parties have consistently been unable to address. The most recent round of negotiations ended in 2014.
10. Describe a kibbutz.
Israeli settlements named kibbutzim, which is the plural form of the word kibbutz, which meaning gathering in Hebrew, were among the places that Hamas fighters attacked. A kibbutz is a communal community that generally engages in farming; it is an Israeli phenomenon. There are now around 250 of them, with the first having been founded in 1910. The early kibbutzim were radical egalitarian experiments where people ate all of their meals together, shared all of their money equally, and occasionally raised their kids in communal homes. Even while many kibbutzim no longer follow such customs, they nonetheless maintain some aspects of communal living.
11. What motivates the US to back Israel?
if a show of solidarity for its partner following the Hamas strikes, the US dispatched more warships and planes to the area and pledged to make sure Israel had the weaponry and ammunition it required if the battle developed. Israel has gotten more US help than any other nation since World War II, totaling around $158 billion in aid and money for missile defense. After its founding in 1948, Israel wasn’t a particularly close partner of the United States for the first 20 years. Because the Soviet Union supported its Arab adversaries in the 1960s and 1970s, the US pulled Israel closer in part as a consequence of Cold War calculations. When the USSR fell apart in 1991, new foundations had been laid for the US-Israel alliance.Israel has widespread public support in the US. American Jews, who became more vocal as antisemitism decreased, anticipate that Congress and the White House will maintain tight ties with Israel. Evangelical Christians also concur that Christ’s second coming is predicted by Israel’s creation. Due to Jews’ ties to the party and Israel’s early socialist bent, support for Israel was once a Democratic cause; but, due to their Republican leanings, it became bipartisan. Americans have a tendency to be indifferent to Israel’s foes because to the Islamic Revolution in Iran and Islamist attacks on US targets, especially those on September 11.
