The Israel-Palestine conflict, explained
On October 7th 2023, Hamas shocked the world by launching an attack on Israel, killing hundreds of civilians and wounding many more. For many around the world, their knowledge of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict begins here: Learning about the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7th, to reading about Israel’s declaration of war on Hamas and its subsequent developments.
Yet, while October 7th may have catapulted the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into the spotlight, the origins of the conflict can be traced far back. What caused the conflict between Israel and Palestine? Who is Hamas, and how did they become so powerful? Even though the events of October 7th may point to Hamas as the sole perpetrator, what was Israel’s role in pushing the Israel-Palestine conflict past its breaking point?
The history of Jews, the rise of Zionism, and the Holocaust
Spanning centuries, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one that is larger than Hamas and Netanyahu themselves. As such, an understanding of the history of Palestine is quintessential to have a better insight on Israel’s policies of today. To the Jews, the Land of Israel, (today’s Palestine) holds much religious significance— this piece of land is the “Promised Land” that had been promised to Abraham by God, and was the birthplace of Jewish identity. In 1000 BCE, the Kingdom of Judaism was established, but was brought to an end in 70 BCE with the Roman-Jew wars that resulted in the exile of then Jews from Palestine.
However, their struggles were not to end— for the next few centuries, Jews faced a crusade of widespread persecution and antisemitism from all across Europe, wherever they settled. This eventually culminated in a rise in modern Zionism in the late 1800s, which, pioneered by Theodore Herzel, believed in the establishment of an independent Jewish state in their ancestral land of Israel. This resulted in an international movement with a mass migration of Jews from 1882-1903, with 15, 000 to 25, 000 Jews migrating to Palestine from 1882-1903.
And then came the Holocaust. The deeply horrific nature of the atrocities committed during the Holocaust spurred international support for the idea of a Jewish nation, and in 1947, the United Kingdom, which had occupied Palestine from 1919, worked together with the United Nations to propose a partition plan that would divide Palestine into two states: The state of israel, and the state of Palestine. Viewing this as European colonialism on their land, the surrounding Arab states declared war on Israel, leading to the 1948-1949 Arab-Israeli War. As a result of the war, Israel established its own state, yet went past the partition lines, resulting to the forced migration of Palestinians to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, controlled by Egypt and Jordan respectively.
Phase I: 1967-1993: The beginnings of Israel’s policy towards Palestinians, and its ramifications
In 1967, Israel launched the 6 day war against its neighbours. In just 6 days, Israel found itself in control of the Sinai Peninsula, Golan Heights, and the West Bank. While it was an immense victory for Israel, one particular question posed a big challenge for Israel— the question of the Palestinians within the newly acquired territories. They not only posed a threat to the stability of the state — in then Education Minister Zalman Aranne’s words, “[The Palestinians] are a fifth column that will destroy the Jewish state”— but they also threatened the very ethos of the establishment of Israel, for a state with 1.4 million Arabs to 2.4 Jews could hardly be considered a Jewish state. Yet, despite all the problems the newly acquired territories brought, the Israeli government was adamant on holding on to them. As such, their policy towards this issue was to prevent the partition of Israel into two states by ensuring that the establishment of a Palestinian state would never happen.
This was mainly achieved through two ways— the first being the oppression of Palestinians.
In Israeli occupied territory, the Israeli government made sure to rule with an iron fist— Palestinians faced discriminatory employment practices, were often detained without trial, and police brutality, such as killings and shootings, was commonplace. The idea was to make living standards so deplorable that Palestinians would be forced to leave, thus reducing the Palestinian population and allowing for the annexation of Gaza and West Bank. This much is clear in then Prime Minister’s Levi Eshkol’s words during a meeting right after the six day war:
“[P]recisely because of the suffocation and imprisonment there,
maybe the Arabs will move from the Gaza Strip.”
The second way in which this was achieved was through the establishment of Israeli settlements in the Israeli occupied territories. Since 1967, more than 130 settlements have been built with Israeli government permission, and settlements like Modi’in Ilit, Ariel, Ma’ale Adumim, Beitar Illit are so extensive that they have practically reached city status. Yet, in the process of creating these settlements, countless Palestinian communities were divided, with millions of Palestinians forcefully deported. This effectively strips Palestinians from their territorial integrity and their demographic continuity, which hence makes it difficult, if not impossible, for Palestinians to establish their own state.
Anger and resentment towards Israeli occupation reached a breaking point in 1987, whereby Palestinians in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank revolted against the Israeli government from 1987-1993 in the “First Intifada (First Uprising)”. Across the West Bank and Gaza, a wave of protests, riots, strikes, and boycotts spread as Palestinians came together, united and fuelled by their hatred for the Israeli government. And amidst the chaos and violence, Hamas was born.
Phase II: 1993–1955: A brief turn in tide
The First Intifada served as a crude awakening for then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin— Israel's current approach towards preventing a Palestinian state was not feasible; it instead only bred more violence and threatened the security of Israel. As such, peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians began in the 1990s, and both sides eventually came to an agreement known as the Oslo Accords. Under the Oslo Accords, Israel accepted the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) as the representative of the Palestinians, and the PLO renounced terrorism and recognized Israel’s right to exist in peace. Further, the Accords allowed for the establishment of the Palestinian Authority and its governance over the West Bank and Gaza Strip. While it was a crucial step towards peace, this move was immensely unpopular amongst right-wing Israeli, and shortly after the second installment of the Oslo Accords was signed in 1995, Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a right wing radical. The death of Rabin marked the end of a short lived chapter— right wing Zionist Benjamin Netanyahu took over the reins as Prime Minister the next year, and the peace process between Palestinians and Israelis eventually broke down.
Phase III: 2003-2007: A new approach, and its consequences
In 2003, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon proposed a disengagement from the Gaza strip. This was completed in 2005, whereby the 21 illegal Israeli settlements were unilaterally dismantled and withdrawn from Gaza. While the official justification for the disengagement was the security of Israelis within Gaza, Sharon’s senior advisor Dov Weissglass’s comments in an interview revealed that there was more to it than meets the eye :
“The significance of the disengagement plan is the freezing of the peace process, and when you freeze that process, you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and you prevent a discussion on the refugees, the borders and Jerusalem.”
And by all counts did the disengagement achieve this goal. The withdrawal of Israeli authorities created a power vacuum, and the two main Palestinian political parties within the Palestinian Authority, the aforementioned Hamas and another party, Fatah, sought to fill it. In 2006, Hamas won the legislative elections. Dismayed, the incumbent party, Fatah, attempted to forcibly hold on to power, leading to a civil war between the two parties. The conflict eventually resulted in Hamas splitting from the Palestinian Authority and taking control over Gaza while Fatah gained control over the West Bank. Yet there was a bitter divide between the two, for neither side acknowledged the political legitimacy of the other. This played perfectly into Israel’s hands— Peace talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis was impossible, for the Palestinian Authority arguably does not represent all Palestinians, yet the divide between the two sides makes coming together to negotiate for a Palestinian state difficult. In this way, the partition of Israel into two states is indefinitely prevented.
Phase IV: Netanyahu’s return to power, and his unorthodox methods for winning the conflict
As a right-wing Zionist, Benjamin Netanyahu shared the same goal with many of his predecessors— to prevent the Palestinians from ever establishing their own state. As such, when he returned to power as Prime Minister in 2009, he continued and built upon the policies implemented by his predecessors to maintain control over the Palestinians.
For one, Netanyahu continued with the blockade imposed on Gaza following Hamas’s takeover in 2007. Since 2007, Israel has imposed a land, sea, and air blockade on Gaza, strictly restricting the flow of food, water, medical supplies, goods, and people in and out of Gaza. This has led to a severe humanitarian crisis, with 40% of Gazans living below the poverty line despite 80% of the population receiving financial aid.
Netanyahu has also pushed on with the Israeli settlements in the Israeli occupied Palestinian territories— Netanyahu’s Likud Party has pledged to “advance and develop settlement in all parts of the land of Israel – in the Galilee, Negev, Golan Heights, and Judea and Samaria” – the Biblical names for the occupied West Bank. Currently, more than 400,000 Israeli settlers now live in the West Bank alongside more than 2.6 million Palestinians. And this number is only set to grow: Just last year, Netanyahu’s government expedited the process for approving new Jewish settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, giving sweeping powers to finance minister Bezalel Smotrich. This undoubtedly has had a devastating effect on Palestinians: Just from 2022-2023 alone, 12% of the population of Palestinians in the West bank have been displaced from their homes.
However, Netanyahu also came up with an unorthodox plan to ensure that Israel continues to have the upper hand— aligning himself with Hamas. In May 2019, Netanyahu associate Gershon Hacohen, said, “We need to tell the truth. Netanyahu’s strategy is to prevent the option of two states, so he is turning Hamas into his closest partner. Openly Hamas is an enemy. Covertly, it’s an ally.” This much is said by Netanyahu himself as well: In a meeting with his party, he declared that “anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state needs to support strengthening Hamas. This is part of our strategy, to isolate Palestinians in Gaza from Palestinians in Judea and Samaria (West Bank).” Between 2012 and 2018, Netanyahu approved the transfer of approximately one billion dollars from Qatar to Gaza, with at least half going to Hamas, including its military wing. This is how this strategy works: By funding Hamas, Netanyahu ensures that Hamas remains in control over Gaza, hence maintaining the division between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. As mentioned above, this weakens the Palestinian cause and hinders the ability of Fatah and Hamas to negotiate for a Palestinian state together.
Further, Netanyahu’s crackdown on the Palestinians also keeps Hamas in power: It adds to Hamas’s legitimacy in the eyes of the Palestinians, for it shows that Hamas’s armed struggle against Israeli oppression is justified. This in turn leads to Hamas engaging in conflict with Israel, such as launching rocket attacks into Israel so as to maintain its popularity with the Palestinians. Yet, these acts of violence bolsters Netanyahu’s narrative that peace negotiations with the Palestinians are impossible, and the only way to maintain the security of the Israelis is to crack down on the Palestinians, which is Netanyahu’s key promises in his electoral campaigns. In this way, a perpetual cycle of violence whereby both Hamas and Netanyahu benefit from is achieved.
Conclusion
The ethos of creating an Israel state was to ensure safety and security of the Jews, yet Israel’s policies towards Palestinians directly resulted in the events of October 7th. With the funds and time bought from Netanyahu, Hamas built itself up from a minor terrorist organisation into a ruthless, highly trained army that shook the world with its atrocities. It is important to note that this is by no means an attempt to downplay, or even justify the acts of Hamas; both sides have blood on their hands and are equally responsible for the bloodshed.
With the casualty count only rising by the day, the call for peace has been more pressing than ever. But before both sides look towards the future, both have to take responsibility for their past, if we want a long lasting peace.
Thanks for reading :)
Written by: Le Xuan
Edited by: Yu Kang and Yu Fei
Designed by: Cayden
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