The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
By Thompson Kum
From BBC article (Israel Gaza war: History of the conflict explained) courtesy of BBC/Getty Images
Two cultures, stricken with conflict and grief. The human death toll stands at 8,306, with both parties targeting places of healing, refugee camps and hospitals and blowing them to smithereens. This hellfire has been indiscriminately and uncontrollably spreading across Israel and Palestine.
Origins
Before 1948, Britain took control of the area known as Palestine after the end of World War I. This area was primarily inhabited by an Arab majority, a Jewish minority, and other smaller ethnic groups that made up its population.
Tension brewed between the Jews and Arabs when the international community pressured the United Kingdom to provide a “National Home” in Palestine for the Jewish people. This tension stemmed from the Balfour Declaration of 1917, a pledge put in motion by former Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Britain’s Jewish community.
To the Jewish community, Palestine was their ancestral home. But Arabs also claimed the land and opposed the pledge enshrined in the British mandate in 1922 by the newly created League of Nations.
Between the 1920s and 40s, the number of European Jews who fled to Palestine grew due to anti-semitism and Nazi prosecution in the wake of World War II. Infighting between the two major ethnic groups (Arabs and Jews) had also increased, and the public increasingly opposed British rule.
In 1947, the members of the UN proposed and voted for Palestine to be split into Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem becoming an international city. The Jewish faction’s leaders accepted this arrangement, while the Arabs declined — this plan was never implemented.
As the situation became increasingly complicated and Zionists became more fervent in their advocacy for Israel’s creation, Britain withdrew from Palestine in 1948. It was intended to be a haven for Jews fleeing from unjust prosecution while being a national homeland for the Jews.
Before the British withdrawal, tensions between Jewish and Arab military forces had built up for months, and after Israel declared itself a state, five Arab countries attacked Israel. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced out of their homes in an event known as Al Nakba, or “The Catastrophe”.
As a result of the war, Jordan occupied the West Bank and Egypt occupied the Gaza Strip. Jerusalem was divided between Israeli forces in the West and Jordanian forces in the East. Wars raged throughout the decades that followed as peace agreements were continuously refused.
Cultural impacts and tensions
After the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank, as well as most of the Syrian Golan Heights, Gaza and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula. During the war’s six days, many Palestinians and their descendants were forced out of their old homes and moved to Gaza and the West Bank, as well as to neighbouring Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
The Palestinian refugees and their descendants were denied access back to their old homes, as Israel wanted to maintain its ethnic identity as a Jewish state. Nowadays, there are 14.3 million Palestinians and 3 million live in the West Bank, 2 million in the Gaza Strip, 2 million in Jordan, 2 million in Israel and half a million in Syria.
If not for a short southern border with Egypt, the Gaza Strip would be almost sandwiched between Israel and the Mediterranean Sea. Being just 41 km long and 10 km wide while housing 2 million inhabitants, it is one of the most densely populated places in the world.
Israel stayed in Gaza until 2005, building Jewish settlements. After their withdrawal, Israel still retained control over Gaza’s airspace, shared border and shoreline. Due to this, the UN still considers the territory to be controlled by Israel.
Nowadays, the main problems between Israelis and Palestinians include:
The future for Palestinian refugees
Whether Jewish settlements in the West Bank should be maintained or removed
Whether the two sides should share Jerusalem
What state should be created adjacent to Israel (i.e. an Arab-orientated state)
Currently, Gaza is ruled by Hamas, an Islamist group intent on the destruction of Israel that has been labelled as a terrorist group by the United Kingdom and many other countries. Hamas won Gaza’s last election in 2006 and seized control of Gaza. Since then, Gazan militants have fought multiple wars with Israel —there is even one going on right now.
Furthermore, Israel has committed human rights violations against Palestinians. Most notably, Israel has turned Gaza into what is now dubbed an “open-air prison”, by blockading the Gaza Strip from the Mediterranean Sea and preventing Palestinians from leaving the area.
These problems pose a serious threat to the safety of those living in Israel and Palestine, so multiple organisations have proposed solutions to support those in danger.
How you can help
The Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP) is the largest and fastest-growing network of Palestinian and Israeli peacebuilders. As an NGO, they act as a collective voice that channels the ambitions of their member organisations towards increased cooperation and political impact.
The NGO also does global advocacy, uniting peacemaking NGOs and producing a theory of change that can catalyse other anti-war programmes.
The NGO achieves global advocacy through funding programmes — with $300 million+ raised as of current — and continues to advocate for more funding for the Israeli-Palestinian people.
To unite and support peacemaking NGOs, ALLMEP initiated the ScaleHub programme.
Their primary strategy is to support peacebuilding NGOs in Israel and Palestine and secure resources through programmes that spread awareness and train practical skills.
Finally, AlumHub focuses on research and spreading awareness by catalysing anti-war programmes, such as youth surveys, shared personal stories, forums and podcasts. They offer many solutions to alleviate this conflict and address its major parts by spreading awareness and providing adequate resources.
Further reading
Israel Gaza war: History of the conflict explained - BBC News
Human rights in Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories Amnesty International