To understand the current increase in violence between Israelis and Palestinians, it's important to comprehend its origin. It can be hard to understand due to the immense amount of information, and the complexity of the situation; therefore, I will be explaining the origin of the Palestinian-Israeli war, simplified.
Despite common belief, little of the current conflict between Israel and Palestine is about and between Islam and Judaism, but about the division of land. It started in the late 19th century when Europe began its golden age of nationalism, leading to nations legally dividing and citizens uniting. As the media became more important, Theodor Herzl became one of the most important journalists in Europe and, because he was Jewish, also became a strong advocate of the need for a Jewish state. This new importance given to nationalism marked the beginning of Zionism: a movement for (originally) the re-establishment and (now) the development and protection of a Jewish nation.
In 1917, the British government issued the Balfour declaration in hope of gaining the support of the Jewish people after WW1. This declaration established that Palestine (a section of the recently collapsed Ottoman empire) was going to become home for Jewish people; a bold promise considering Palestine was an existing territory containing citizens of all faiths.
More than a decade later, over 320,000 Jews had moved into Israel-Palestine and, in hopes of dividing and ruling the territory, the British government started to establish separate institutions for both religions. A desire for control and security also led to Jewish people purchasing land from absentee non-Palestine Arab landowners and evicting Palestinian farmers. This period from 1920-30 led to heightened tension between Jewish and Arab Palestinians.
Zionism continued to extend until it erupted in 1936 when the Palestinians revolted against the British, leading the British government to suppress the Palestinians’ revolt and for the territory to legally become a joint Arab and Jewish state. In hope of easing the tension, the United Nations offered a plan in which the two ethnic groups received roughly the same amount of land. Unfortunately, this proposal was not accepted by Palestinian leaders. The unresolved conflict led to a war in 1948, which was won by Israel; an armistice signed in 1949 granted Israel a greater share of land and led to another war almost two decades later, once again won by Israelis. The resolution of this war gave Israel control over majority-Palestinian areas including the West Bank, the Gaza strip, the Sinai peninsula and Golan Heights, perpetuating the tension between both sides.
We can conclude that the British government (most specifically the ineffective ruling King George V), the Balfour declaration, the lack of communication between both nations, and a lack of compromise to fix problems were the main contributing factors to the beginning and seemingly never-ending war of the Israelis and Palestinian-Arabs. Ultimately, this has left the Palestinian people without a state and living under military occupation and Jewish-Israelis without a homeland to truly call their own.
Abril. B
Comments