Israel and Palestine: the history of the conflict (briefly)

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:45

For a more accurate understanding of the conflict that arose between Israel and Palestine, one should carefully consider its background, the geopolitical location of the countries and the course of conflict actions between the states of Israel and Palestine. The history of the conflict is briefly discussed in this article. The process of confrontation between countries developed for a very long time and in a very interesting way.

Palestine is a small area of the Middle East. In the same region is the state of Israel, which was formed in 1948. Why did Israel and Palestine become enemies? The history of the conflict is very long and controversial. The roots of the confrontation that arose between them lie in the struggle between Palestinian Arabs and Jews for territorial and ethnic domination over the region.

Prehistory of years of confrontation

Throughout centuries of history, Jews and Arabs have been peacefullycoexisted on the territory of Palestine, which during the Ottoman Empire was part of the Syrian state. The indigenous people in the region were Arabs, but at the beginning of the 20th century, the Jewish part of the population began to slowly but steadily increase. The situation changed radically after the end of the First World War (1918), when Great Britain received a mandate to administer the territory of Palestine and was able to pursue its policy on these lands.

Zionism and the Balfour Declaration

Began the widespread colonization of Palestinian lands by Jews. This was accompanied by the 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 to Palestine. The declaration had a significant public outcry, in fact, it started a conflict.

Deepening of the conflict in the 20-40s of the XX century

In the 20s of the last century, the Zionists began to strengthen their positions, the Haganah military association arose, and in 1935 a new, even more extremist organization called Irgun zvai Leumi appeared. But the Jews did not dare to take radical actions yet, the oppression of the Palestinian Arabs was carried out peacefully.

After the Nazis came to power and the beginning of World War IIDuring the war, 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 twice as many as in 1932. The Jews saw the ultimate goal of their resettlement in the complete conquest of Palestine and the creation of a state of the Jews. 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 the conflict, attempts to resolve at the international level

In the 50s, the Zionists only strengthened (there were incidents of terror), their ideas about creating a Jewish state were given the opportunity to be realized. In addition, they were actively supported by the international community. The year 1945 is characterized by a serious tension in relations between Palestine and Israel. The British authorities did not know a way out of this situation, so 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. Under the department of the newly created international organization, a committee was established that de alt with the affairs of Palestine, it consisted of 11 people. It was proposed to create two independent states in Palestine - Arab and Jewish. And also to form between them a no man's (international) territory - Jerusalem. This plan of the UN Committee, after a long discussion, was adopted in November 1947. Plan receivedserious international recognition, it was approved by both the USA and the USSR, as well as directly by Israel and Palestine. The story of the conflict, as everyone expected, was to come to its end.

The terms of the UN resolution to resolve the conflict

According to the UN resolution of November 29, 1947, the territory of Palestine was divided into two independent states - Arab (area 11 thousand sq. Km) and Jewish (area 14 thousand sq. Km). Separately, as planned, an international zone was created on the territory of the city of Jerusalem. By the beginning of August 1948, the British colonists, according to the plan, had to leave the territory of 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 hostilities in May 1948.

Acute phase of the 1948-1949 conflict

What was the history of conflict between countries like Israel and Palestine? Where did the conflict start? Let's try to give a detailed answer to this question. Israel's declaration of independence was a very resonant and controversial international event. A lot of Arab-Muslim countries did not recognize the state of Israel, they declared "jihad" (holy war against the infidels) to it. The Arab League that fought against Israel included Jordan, Lebanon, Yemen, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. Thus, active hostilities began, in the center of which were Israel and Palestine. StoryThe conflict of peoples forced about 300 thousand Palestinian Arabs to leave their native lands even before the start of the tragic military events.

The army of the Arab League was well organized and numbered about 40 thousand soldiers, while Israel had only 30 thousand. The king of Jordan was appointed commander of the Arab League troops. 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. The Jewish troops went on the offensive and within ten days repulsed the onslaught of the Arabs. And already in 1949, Israel with a decisive blow pushed the enemy to the borders of Palestine, thus capturing all of its territory.

Mass emigration of peoples

During the Jewish conquest, about a million Arabs were expelled from Palestinian lands. They emigrated to neighboring Muslim countries. The reverse process was the emigration of Jews from the countries of the Arab League to Israel. Thus ended the first battle. Such was the history of the conflict in such countries as Israel and Palestine. It is rather difficult to judge who is to blame for the numerous casu alties, since both sides were interested in a military solution to the conflict.

Modern relations of states

How are Israel and Palestine doing now? How did the history of the conflict end? The question is unanswered, since the conflict has not been settled even today. The clashes between states continued throughout the century. This is evidenced by such conflicts as the Sinai (1956) and the Six Day (1967) wars. Thus, the conflict between Israel and Palestine suddenly arose and developed for a long time.

It should be noted that there has been progress towards peace. 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 on the introduction of a system of local self-government in the Gaza Strip. Based on these agreements, 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.