ISRAEL-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT IN A NUTSHELL

Rohan Singhvi (2013A1PS702H)

Middle east- a land of contrast, a land where one side people are living life king size spending millions on
petty things and on the other where a family is unsure whether they will be able to see the next day. In
this land lies at the south eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea a country, Israel famous for its
technological advances as well as its occupation and human rights violation of Palestine.
The Israel Palestine conflict is not a millennium old one as though by many, it is a relatively new conflict
with its foundation laid in late 19th century. The conflict is not a theological one but a nationalist one
In this speech I will discuss about how the foundation was laid of this conflict, who are the players in it,
what is the present status and why it is intractable.
The Ottoman Empire was ruling Palestine in the late 19th century and the population was 87%Muslim
10% Christian and 3% Jews. It was a place in which people of different religions lived with peace and
harmony.
During this time a sense of nationalism started rising in the minds of people living in European Empire.
Demands started rising of dividing Austro Hungarian Empire into 10 states. At the same time antiSemitic views started rising which led to creation of Zionist movement by Theodore Herzl which
demanded re-establishment of a Jewish homeland.
After lot of deliberations the Zionist congress decided the Jewish homeland should be Palestine
considering the emotional attachment attached it.
In November 1917 British government issued Balfour Declaration which promised the Jewish people an
independent Jewish state in Palestine.
The British by this declaration intended to get the support of Jews in Germany, America and Russia. It
would help secure post-war British control of Palestine, which was strategically important as a buffer to
Egypt and the Suez Canal.
In 1917 during WW1 British troops invaded Palestine capturing Jerusalem and as is their habit
decided to stay there instead of giving the land to Palestine.
Britishers facilitated movement of Jews to Palestine increasing the Jewish population by 320000
between1920 and 1939.The community started purchasing land and evicting Palestinian farmers. By
this they intended to establish a more secure community but as expected it resulted in increased
tension between the 2 groups
This resulted in growing sense of nationalism and the Palestinians revolted against British in 1936
which was brutally suppressed. After this the British released a white paper, limiting Jewish
immigration and calling for establishment of a joint Arab and Jewish state in Palestine. This made
both the groups angry.

Then came WW2 during which British realized that Palestine was more trouble than benefit to their
empire .They then decided to hand this matter to the newly created UN which was their first territorial
problem and is their habit they messed it up. So in 1947 UN voted to partition Palestine into 2 equal
parts but the country was like a puzzle as you can see in the below image.

The haphazard way in which the country was divided was surely not an effective way to end the conflict
and in 1948 Israel Arab war broke out which was a testament to it. In 1949 armistice was signed and
Israel occupied a third more land than specified by UN .Israel forced the Palestinians to move out of
their lands and as a result three-quarters of a million Palestinians had been made refugees. Only region
left outside Israel control were Gaza strip now controlled by Egypt and West bank controlled by Jordan.
In 1967 another war broke out(Six day war) which resulted in Israel capturing West Bank, Gaza Strip,
Golan heights and Sinai Peninsula. Israeli government started establishing Jewish territories in west bank
and Gaza strip.
In 1978 Israel and Egypt signed US backed Camp David Accord which resulted in Sinai Peninsula being
transferred back to Egypt and peace between 2 countries. This was hugely controversial move in Arab
World and resulted in assassination of Egypt President Anwar Sadat .But this marked the end of the
wider Israeli Arab conflict and the conflict was now majorly Israeli Palestinian one. Arab States now were
at peace with Israel .But Israel still had Palestinian territories with it .An organization Palestinian
Liberation Organization which had formed in 1960s to seek a Palestinian state fought against Israel,
including acts of terrorism. PLO demanded the complete territory meaning it wanted to end Israel
completely. But later said that it would accept division of state between Israel and Palestine.
By the late 1980 Palestine launched first intifada which began by boycott of Israeli products, refusing to
pay taxes and when Israeli forces cracked down violence ensued .In this period a violent organisation
Hamas was founded in Gaza. It considered PLO to be too secular and narrow minded.

In 1990s Oslo accord was signed which gave Palestinians authority to self-govern in some territories.
Hard liners on both sides opposed the talks. Hamas launched suicide bombings. Not long after second
round was signed, Israeli prime minister was shot down by an Israeli hardliner. This showed how badly
hardliners on both sides didnt want the peace accords to succeed.
In 2000 second intifada was launched and it was lot more violent than the first one and resulted in large
death toll on both sides. After this intifada Israel become more sceptical that Palestinians dont want
peace and nothing can work. So they started building walls and checkpoints to control their movements.
The Palestinians felt that they are stuck and have no future. That year Israel withdrew from Gaza and
Hamas gains control and it announces separation of Gaza from Palestine authority. Israel creates a
blockade around Gaza resulting in unemployment increasing to 40%
This is the state of the conflict as of today .It is unbearable for Palestinians. In west bank though
Palestinians respond with protests and strikes but they just want to lead normal lives, they want to wake
up, get their children ready for school and go to office without a fear of whether they will return in the
evening or not. In Gaza, Hamas and other groups have periodic wars with Israel. The fighting kills lots of
Palestinians mostly civilians. In Israel most have become apathetic to the separation. There is a little
political will and hope for peace. No one knows where the conflict will lead, whether it will be over
someday or not. Whether there will be a third intifada, whether Israel will leave Palestine or not. But
one thing is sure if no action is taken what will happen next will be much worse. We can just hope that a
day comes where a Palestinian can also dream like you and me and achieve something in life.

REFERENCES

http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRYZjOuUnlU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wo2TLlMhiw
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/palestinian-israeli-relations/
http://www.pac-usa.org/chronology.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zionism
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2009/03/what-makes-hamas-different-thanthe-plo/9753/
http://pov-tc.pbs.org/pov/pdf/promiese/promises-timeline.pdf