Israel Palestine Conflict| Jerusalem | Gaza | West Bank | Sohail khan
1993 was the year when Israel and Palestine were very close to drafting a peaceful solution.
But what happened after it that the situation worsened to the extent that
today there is a war between them?
If we want to understand today's crisis properly, we need to know the history first.
This is why, in today's article, let's get to know the detailed history between the two countries.
How did the country Israel came to be?
And how did the conflict between Israel and Palestine begin?
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| Israel Palestine Conflict| Jerusalem | Gaza | West Bank | Sohail khan |
Our story begins thousands of years ago.
You must've heard about how Hitler had treated the Jews.
But do you know, the atrocities against Jews began thousands of years ago.
It is said that Jesus Christ was born into a Jewish family.
And some Christians believe that some Jews wanted to crucify Jesus Christ.
This is a belief from an ideology
that remained among the Christians for several years, decades, and even centuries.
And when the crusades happened around a thousand year ago,
Christians killed the Jews in large numbers.
At that time, many rumors were being circulated against the Jews
that they drink the blood of Christian children,
or that they use the blood for religious rituals.
Because of these rumors, there was rampant hatred against the Jews.
The hate that the Jews had to bear
hardly any religion had to bear that in the last thousand years.
After the 1800s, this hatred towards the Jews was not only because of religious reasons
but also because the Jews were being seen as a different ethnicity as well.
Because of all these reasons, till the late 1800s,
Jews living around the world began feeling that no country accepts them as their own.
If they wanted to live peacefully, they would need to create their own country.
To create a Jewish country.
There was an Austro-Hungarian journalist named Theodor Herzl.
He started a new political movement in his 1896 pamphlet.
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| Israel Palestine Conflict| Jerusalem | Gaza | West Bank | Sohail khan |
Zionism.
He said that the Jews should get their separate country.
At the time this wasn't a new idea.
Since the 1870s, several organizations were calling themselves Lovers of Zion.
They were already propagating this idea.
Because of these reasons, in 1881, the first large scale migration of Jews was seen
in the Palestine area.
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| Israel Palestine Conflict| Jerusalem | Gaza | West Bank | Sohail khan |
The Jews built many permanent settlements in the area and started living there.
Why did they choose the Palestine area?
Because this was a very holy area for them.
Jerusalem is the holiest place for the Jews.
Do remember that at that time there was no Israel, Gaza, or the West Bank.
The whole area was Palestine.
That fell under the Ottoman empire.
Under the Ottoman empire, the Christians, Muslims, and Jews lived together peacefully, more or less.
There were no conflicts.
One reason behind it can be that most of the land was empty.
There were very few settlements on the land.
And the population was very little in the area.Now we fast forward to the year 1915.
World War 1 began.
The British, French, and Arab revolutionaries were fighting the Ottoman empire.
The British play a clever hand here.
They tell the Arab revolutionaries that in return for their support in defeating the Ottoman empire,
they will give them the Palestine area.
And the Arab revolutionaries were fighting to create a unified Arab country.
The Arab revolutionaries wanted one Arab country from Syria to Yemen.
The Britishers promise the same thing to the Jews.
That they will help them to create their own Jewish country near Palestine.
Why do they do this?
So that they could appease the American Jews.
And could gain influence on American politics.
But in reality, the British made a secret deal with the French.
As soon as the Ottoman Empire fell after World War 1,
Britain and France divided the Middle East area between themselves.
The British took over the control of the Palestine region.
1918-1948 the entire Palestine area was under the control of the British Government.
At this time in Germany, Hitler gets political power.The Jews flee from Hitler-controlled Europe to different countries to save themselves.
Some get refuge in America.
But many of these Jews go to Palestine.
Britain allows them to enter Palestine initially.
But later, they start stopping them from coming to Palestine.
Because of this, an Israeli Nationalist Movement starts in Palestine.
At the same time, around the 1940s, Palestine Nationalist Movement had also begun.
And the Palestinians were also demanding their own country.
In 1948 the British Government realises that enough's enough.
And that they cannot remain there longer.
They left the Jewish to form a Jewish country and the Palestinians to form their own country.
They accepted that they could not do that and ceded the responsibility to the United Nations.
The British then leave Palestine.
United Nations comes up with a partition plan.
About the area to be allotted for creating a Jewish country and a Palestinian country.
In 1947 the United Nations Partition Plan is released.
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| Israel Palestine Conflict| Jerusalem | Gaza | West Bank | Sohail khan |
In the plan, the United Nations keeps 57% of the area for the Jewish country
And 43% of the area for the Arab-Palestinian country.
Jerusalem is a very historically important area for three religions,
Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
So the United Nations decided that Jerusalem would be under international control.
The Jews accept this plan and name their new country Israel.
Here, the Israel country is born in 1948.
But unfortunately, the other neighboring Arab countries
weren't pleased with this plan at all.
They believed that the plan was the Britisher's way of continuing their colonialism.
So they start a war against Israel.
Saying that they will not allow the Jews to take any part of the land.
This war is named the First Arab-Israeli war of 1948.
And this is a very historic war in and of itself.
More than 5 countries were fighting against a tiny new country.
The Jews living in Israel knew that five years ago
they had seen how the rest of the world treated them.
How Hitler had treated them.
And then all the Arab countries were starting a war against them.
If they didn't fight to survive then, they wouldn't be able to survive ever.
So to save themselves, they fought with all they had.
And very surprisingly, Israel won the war.
Defeating all these countries.
After the war ends in 1949,
the areas that were supposed to be Palestine's according to the UN Partition Plan,
Israel occupied several of these areas.
The Gaza Strip area went to Egypt.
And the West Bank area went to Jordan.
This meant that the Palestinians did not have a country any longer.
More than 700,000 Palestinians had to leave their homes and become refugees in Arab countries.
This is named the 1948 Palestinian Exodus.
After this, in 1967, the Second Arab-Israeli War takes place.
This war lasts for six days.
And Israel wins this easily too.
Not only does Israel occupy the Gaza Strip and the West Bank area
but also this large Egyptian Peninsula gets occupied by Israel after this war.
Palestinians want their own country.
For this reason, in 1964, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was founded.
Initially, their aim is through armed struggle.
To use weapons to get their own country.
In the beginning, they also wanted that Israel should cease to exist.
Because of this, the USA and Israel declare it to be a terrorist organization.
But one thing that needs to be remembered is
if you see them from the perspective of one person they'll seem like a terrorist organization
and from the perspective of another, they're revolutionaries who want freedom for their country.
In 1973, the Third Arab-Israeli War begins
but it isn't very important for our story because, after that, nothing changes much.
But in 1974, PLO gets officially recognized by the United Nations General Assembly.
To be the representative of the Palestinian people.
In 1979, the peace talks between Egypt and Israel is successful
And Egypt becomes the first Arab country to recognize Israel as a country that exists there.
After the Peace-Talks, the entire Egyptian peninsula area captured by Israel
is returned to Egypt by Israel.
The Egyptian and Israeli Prime Ministers both are awarded Nobel Peace Prize
for this successful peace treaty.
But unfortunately, after two years, the Egyptian Prime Minister gets assassinated.
By the right-wing extremists in Egypt.
The fanatics questioned the Prime Minister's treaty with Israel.
They wanted to kill him because he reached a compromise.
And so he was assassinated.
From 1967 to the 1980s,
It had been more than 10 years since Israel had occupied the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
During this period, many Israelis start establishing their colonies in the West Bank.
They start building settlements and living there permanently.
Israeli government supported them directly or indirectly.
And the prices of the homes were low there.
Some people go there for cheap housing while others for their religious nationalism.
Some fanatic Israelis claim that the entire West Bank area is theirs.
And so they'll reside there.
And so Israeli settlements start cropping up in the West Bank area.
The international community deems these settlements to be illegal because
these settlements go against the United Nations Partition Plan.
And the Palestinians see them as colonization.
Their country is being colonized by the Israelis.
In 1992, Israel gets an amazing Prime Minister.
His name was Yitzhak Rabin.
He said that PLO is not a terrorist organization.
They just want their country and the Israelis should let them have it.
Israel officially recognized PLO.
And in return, PLO officially recognized Israel as a country.
And here the 1993 Oslo Accords take place.
For the first time, both of them come together and talk.
About how the country can be correctly and peacefully divided.
About how the Palestinian country can be created.
As a result, in 1994, the Palestinian Government is established for the first time.
It is named the Palestinian National Authority.
But at this point,
Israelis had already established permanent settlements in many West Bank areas.
Which were supported by the Israeli Government.
And the Palestinians were living in few areas in bits and pieces.
It was then decided to divide the West Bank area into three parts.
Area A, B, and C.
Area A would be where the Palestinian government would be in control.
In Area B both the governments will exercise control.
And Area C will be the areas where the Israeli Government will retain control.
Let alone the United Nation's Partition Plan
In reality, in 1994, Palestine gets only some bits and pieces in the West Bank area and Gaza Strip
to form their country.
But the good news is that then, Israel and Palestine were very close
to come up with a peaceful solution.
For this reason, in 1994, the President of the Palestinian Authority - Yasser Arafat,
and the Prime Minister of Israel Yitzhak Rabin was awarded Nobel Peace Prize.
But unfortunately, after this, the whole situation goes downhill.
When the extreme wight-wing Jewish people assassinate their Prime Minister.
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