For a more accurate understanding of the conflict that arose between Israel and Palestine, one should carefully consider its background, the geopolitical location of countries and the course of conflict between the states of Israel and Palestine. The history of the conflict is briefly discussed in this article. The process of confrontation between countries has developed for a very long time and in a very interesting way.
Palestine is a small territory of the Middle East. The state of Israel, which was formed in 1948, is located in the same region. Why did Israel and Palestine become enemies? The history of the conflict is very long and controversial. The roots of the confrontation between them lie in the struggle between Palestinian Arabs and Jews for territorial and ethnic domination of the region.
The background of many years of confrontation
Throughout centuries of history, Jews and Arabs peacefully coexisted in Palestine, which during the Ottoman Empire was part of the Syrian state. The Arabs were the indigenous people in the region, but at the beginning of the 20th century, the Jewish part of the population began to grow slowly but steadily. The situation changed radically after the end of World War I (1918), when Great Britain received a mandate to manage the territory of Palestine and was able to pursue its policy on these lands.
Zionism and the Balfour Declaration
The widespread colonization by Jews of Palestinian lands began. This was accompanied by propaganda of the national Jewish ideology - Zionism, which provided for the return of the Jewish people to their homeland - Israel. Evidence of this process is the so-called Balfour Declaration. It is a letter to the leader of the Zionist movement from the British Minister A. Balfour, which was written back in 1917. The letter justifies the territorial claims of the Jews in Palestine. The declaration had a significant public outcry ; in fact, it started a conflict.
Deepening conflict in the 20-40s of the XX century
In the 20s of the last century, the Zionists began to strengthen their positions, the military association βHaganβ arose, and in 1935 a new, even more extremist organization appeared called βIrgun Zwei Leumiβ. But the Jews have not yet decided on radical actions; the oppression of the Palestinian Arabs was still carried out peacefully.
After the Nazis came to power and the outbreak of World War II, the number of Jews in Palestine began to increase sharply due to their emigration from Europe. In 1938, about 420 thousand Jews lived in Palestinian lands, which is two times more than in 1932. The Jews saw the ultimate goal of their relocation in the complete conquest of Palestine and the creation of a Jewish state. This is evidenced by the fact that after the end of the war, in 1947, the number of Jews in Palestine increased by another 200 thousand, and already became 620 thousand people.
Israel and Palestine. History of conflict, international solutions
In the 50s, the Zionists only strengthened (there were incidents of terror), their ideas about creating a Jewish state got the opportunity to be embodied. In addition, they were actively supported by the world community. The year 1945 is characterized by a serious tensions between Palestine and Israel. The British authorities did not know a way out of this situation, therefore they turned to the UN General Assembly, which in 1947 took up the decision on the future of Palestine.
The UN saw two ways out of the tense situation. At the department of the newly created international organization, a committee was set up to deal with Palestinian affairs and consisted of 11 people. It was proposed to create two independent states in Palestine - Arab and Jewish. And also to form between them a draw (international) territory - Jerusalem. After a long discussion, this UN committee plan was adopted in November 1947. The plan received serious international recognition, it was approved by both the United States and the USSR, as well as directly Israel and Palestine. The history of the conflict, as everyone expected, was supposed to come to its end.
Terms of the UN Resolution on Conflict Resolution
According to a UN resolution of November 29, 1947, the territory of Palestine was divided into two independent states - Arab (an area of ββ11 thousand square kilometers) and Jewish (an area of ββ14 thousand square kilometers). Separately, as planned, an international zone was created on the territory of the city of Jerusalem. By early August 1948, the British colonists, according to the plan, were to leave Palestine.
But, as soon as the Jewish state was proclaimed, and Ben-Gurion became prime minister, the radical Zionists, who did not recognize the independence of the Arab part of the Palestinian lands, began military operations in May 1948.
The acute phase of the conflict of 1948-1949
What was the history of the conflict in countries such as Israel and Palestine? How did the conflict begin? Let's try to give a detailed answer to this question. The declaration of independence of Israel was a very resonant and controversial international event. A lot of Arab-Muslim countries did not recognize the state of Israel, declared him "jihad" (a holy war with the infidels). The Arab League, which fought against Israel, included Jordan, Lebanon, Yemen, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Thus, active hostilities began, at the center of which were Israel and Palestine. The history of the conflict of peoples forced about 300 thousand Palestinian Arabs to leave their native lands even before the start of the tragic military events.
The Arab League army was well organized and numbered about 40 thousand soldiers, while Israel had only 30 thousand. The King of Jordan was appointed commander in chief of the Arab League forces . It should be noted that the UN called on the parties to peace and even developed a peace plan, but both sides rejected it.
In the early days of hostilities in Palestine, the advantage belonged to the Arab League of countries, but in the summer of 1948 the situation changed dramatically. Jewish troops went on the offensive and within ten days repelled the onslaught of the Arabs. And already in 1949, Israel decisively pushed the enemy to the borders of Palestine, thus capturing its entire territory.
Mass emigration of peoples
During the conquest of Jews from Palestinian lands, about a million Arabs were expelled. They emigrated to neighboring Muslim countries. The reverse process was the emigration of Jews from the Arab League to Israel. Thus ended the first combat clash. Such was the history of the conflict in countries such as Israel and Palestine. It is rather difficult to judge who is to blame for the many victims, since both sides were interested in a military solution to the conflict.
Modern relations of states
How do Israel and Palestine live now? How did the conflict story end? The question is unanswered, as the conflict has not been settled in our days. Clashes between states continued throughout the course of a century. This is evidenced by such conflicts as the Sinai (1956) and the Six Day (1967) war. Thus, suddenly a conflict arose between Israel and Palestine.
It should be noted that progress towards peace was nevertheless. An example of this is the negotiations that took place in Oslo in 1993. An agreement was signed between the PLO and the State of Israel to introduce a local government system in the Gaza Strip. Based on these agreements, in the following year, 1994, the Palestinian National Authority was founded, which in 2013 was officially renamed the State of Palestine. The creation of this state did not bring the long-awaited peace, the conflict between Arabs and Jews is still far from being resolved, since its roots are very deep and contradictory.