The Israel-Palestine Conflict: A Deeply Rooted Struggle

Israel is the world’s only Jewish state, is located east of the Mediterranean Sea, while Palestine refers to the territory of the Arab population that historically comes from lands controlled by Israel, including the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine, marked by violent clashes, has been deteriorating over the years. To understand the roots of this conflict, we must look back thousands of years.

The history of this dispute can be traced to around the 17th century BC, when the Jewish patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob settled in Canaan, the land that today encompasses Israel, the West Bank, parts of Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. This region, later named the Land of Israel or the Holy Land, is sacred to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Around 1000 BC, King Saul established the Israelite monarchy, which was later ruled by King David and his son Solomon, who built the first temple in Jerusalem.

Following King Solomon’s death, the united kingdom split into Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Throughout history, the region saw numerous conquests, which significantly reduced the Jewish population. In particular, the Romans conquered the area and renamed it Palestine in an attempt to sever the Jewish connection to the land. Christianity began as a Jewish sect during this time and later became dominant within the Roman Empire. In the 7th century, Arab conquerors spread Islam, and the Dome of the Rock was built in Jerusalem, solidifying the city’s importance for all three monotheistic religions.

Christian persecution in Jerusalem sparked the Crusades, initiated by European Christians to reclaim the city. During this time, many Jews were killed, while others sought refuge in Western Europe. From the 16th century until World War I, the Ottoman Empire controlled much of the region. During this period, Zionism, a movement calling for the creation of a Jewish homeland, gained momentum among European Jews, leading to mass Jewish migration to Palestine.

After World War I and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Britain took control of the region, known as the British Mandate for Palestine. The Balfour Declaration, issued in 1917, promised to establish a Jewish national homeland, which fueled tensions between Jews and Arabs, both of whom claimed the land. As the Jewish population grew in the 1930s due to the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany, violence erupted between the two groups. The Holocaust further pushed Jews to seek a homeland in Palestine, escalating tensions.

In 1947, the United Nations proposed a plan to partition Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state, with Jerusalem as an international zone. The Jews accepted the plan, but the Arab states rejected it. When Israel declared its independence in 1948, a war broke out between Israel and the Arab states. Israel emerged victorious, controlling more than two-thirds of the land, while Jordan took control of East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and Egypt occupied the Gaza Strip. This conflict, known as Al-Nakba, resulted in the displacement of over 750,000 Palestinians.

The following decades saw further wars, such as the Six-Day War in 1967, during which Israel gained control of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza, and the Golan Heights. The rise of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and the First Intifada in 1987, a violent Palestinian uprising, led to peace talks and the Oslo Accords, which divided the West Bank into areas controlled by Israel and Palestine. However, the continued expansion of Israeli settlements and disputes over Jerusalem and refugees prevented lasting peace.

In 2000, the Second Intifada erupted after Israeli politician Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, sparking violence. Though Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, tensions remained high. In 2007, Hamas, an Islamist militant group, took control of Gaza, leading to numerous conflicts with Israel, including Operation Cast Lead and Operation Protective Edge. In 2018, the relocation of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem was seen as an endorsement of Israel’s claim to the city as its capital, further inflaming Palestinian anger.

The conflict reignited in 2021 with violence in East Jerusalem, followed by a ceasefire brokered by Egypt and the United Nations. Despite temporary ceasefires, the Israel-Palestine conflict remains a volatile and unresolved territorial dispute, with the potential for further escalation at any moment.