The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
For more than 100 years, a conflict between two very different peoples, for the same territory, has been much talked about across the entire planet, being very controversial and complex. Let's trace the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, from the outbreak to the current situation.
British Interests and Promises
We are in 1917, during the First World War . The central empires (German Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire) are opposed to the Triple Entente (France, Russia and the United Kingdom) and their allies. On both sides, they suffer many losses and new support is expected. It was then that the British Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour, wrote an open letter promising a Jewish national home in Palestine against support from Zionist movements. At the same time, the British tried to weaken the Ottoman Empire by pushing the Arabs to rebellion and promising them independence in the liberated territories. At the end of the war, the Ottoman Empire was defeated and its lands were shared by European powers. The British then give more independence to the Arabs in Iraq and Transjordan. It is in what is left of Palestine that the United Kingdom wants to create a Jewish national home, while the Jewish community there is largely a minority (10%). But immigration quickly grew, following the tense situation in Europe, and more particularly in Germany where the anti-Semitic Nazi party of Adolf Hitler came to power.
Between World War II and consequences
While in 1939 Germany invaded Poland, France and England reacted by declaring war on Hitler's Germany, the Second World War began. In 5 years, the conflict caused more than 60 million deaths, including nearly 6 million Jews as part of the Shoah, the Jewish genocide. Immediately after the war, Jewish immigration to Palestine grew and increased tensions with the Arab people. While Palestine was under British mandate, the latter began their withdrawal from the area from 1947. The UN then took over and proposed dividing the region into two states, while leaving the city of Jerusalem in the international zone. The project is accepted by the Zionists, but rejected by the Palestinian Arabs. A civil war then begins between the two communities, the Arab League therefore sets up a liberation army composed of a few thousand volunteers who fight the Zionists. Opposite, the Jews organize their defense by training the population militarily, by sending agents to Europe to recover military stocks from the 2nd World War, and by signing arms contracts.
On May 14, 1948, the United Kingdom completed its withdrawal from Palestine. The Jews then proclaim the independence of the State of Israel. In response, the Arab League declared war on it. During the conflict, two aspects will allow the Israeli army to strengthen and gradually gain the upper hand. But finally, armistice agreements are signed. Israel therefore seizes new territories including western Jerusalem, Egypt receives the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank is annexed to Transjordan to form Jordan. This conflict will have caused many displacements of populations. Indeed, on the one hand, more than 700,000 Arabs wereor chased away searched the Israeli territories towards refugee camps. On the other hand, the Jewish communities of the Arab countries, sometimes more than 2000 years old, are driven out and go to take refuge in Israel or in Europe. Finally, many European Jews were reassured by Israel's victory and chose to settle there.
The manifestations of the conflict
following , tensions between Israel and its neighbours, the country declared war on Egypt, Jordan and Syria. In 6 days, Israel imposes itself and triples its territory by seizing the Egyptian Sinai, the Syrian Golan Heights, and the West Bank. Israeli settlers then began to settle in the Palestinian territories. The UN reacts and adopts resolution 242 condemning the Israeli occupation. 6 years later, Egypt and Syria launch a surprise attack to try to recover their lands. At first, the Israeli army is routed and cannot repel the attack. In a climate of Cold War, the USSR and the Arab countries support the offensive, while the USA urgently sends 22,000 tons of armament by plane to Israel. The Israeli army regains the upper hand and pushes the borders a little further. After a ceasefire, the Arab oil-exporting countries decide to punish the USA and Israel's allies by increasing the price of a barrel by 70% and reducing production by 5%. This is the first oil shock. Israel is put under international pressure and returns the Sinai to Egypt and part of the Golan to Syria. However, he retains his control over the Palestinian territories where colonization is accelerating, especially in East Jerusalem. More precisely in 1980, Israel proclaims Jerusalem as its indivisible capital, but this decision is condemned by the Security Council of the United Nations. In the West Bank, tension is also mounting over the water supply. Israel has control over the sources, and the distribution is very unequal between the settlements and the Palestinians. In 1987, the Palestinian population revolted and took to the streets, mainly armed with stones. It is the beginning of the first intifada, an Arabic term which means uprising. In this context was born Hamas, a Palestinian Islamist movement which fights Israel, while the Palestine Liberation Organization, an organization set up in 1964 by the Arab League, is exiled to Algiers, proclaim on November 15, 1988 the independence of the State of Palestine. Jerusalem is also the capital. Palestine will gradually be recognized by 136 states.
Attempts at peace... that end in disaster
After 6 years of conflict, a fragile peace is signed with the Oslo Accords which provide for mutual recognition and the basis for the self-determination of the Gaza Strip and Jericho. In 1995, a partition plan for the West Bank was signed. It provides for areas under Palestinian control, mixed areas and the rest under Israeli control. But the two parties are unable to agree on certain thorny issues, such as the status of Jerusalem or the return of the many Palestinian refugees. The negotiations become a failure and the violence starts again. In Jerusalem, the visit of the leader of the Israeli opposition to the esplanade of the mosques, the holy place for Muslims, is the spark that triggers the second intifada, marked by numerous attacks. Israel is again in difficulty to protect itself, so the country begins the construction of a wall in the West Bank, and takes the opportunity to encroach on the Palestinian territories. However, this wall is declared illegal by the International Court of Justice. So in an attempt to calm things down, the government decided in 2005 to remove the Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip, but retained its control over the borders. Unfortunately, in the years that followed, tensions were mainly concentrated around the Gaza Strip, and mainly against Hamas, which took control of it. Israel then imposes a blockade against the region. Opposite, Hamas regularly fires rockets towards Israeli territories. Consequently, several clashes took place until the most violent in 2014. The Israeli air force pounded the region and destroyed 50,000 houses, a hundred schools, a dozen hospitals and the only power station. The population that is trapped in the enclave finds itself in a situation of humanitarian disaster.
Today, the situation remains complicated, and lasting peace seems difficult to find. On the one hand, the West Bank is now fragmented between Palestinian towns and villages and more than 150 settlements. Finding an agreement seems more complicated than ever. In addition, the status of Jerusalem is also complex, considered as the capital of both sides. The United States thought it had a decisive role in this conflict, while the UN has not validated any of their actions in the majority, and the Palestinians have announced that the nation no longer has their role as mediator in the process. of peace which now seems to have stalled.