top of page

Explainer-What is the history of the Israel-Palestinian conflict?

Writer's picture: News Agency News Agency
A Palestinian rests near rubble of houses destroyed in Israeli strikes, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, September 30, 2024. Mohammed Salem
A Palestinian rests near rubble of houses destroyed in Israeli strikes, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, September 30, 2024. Mohammed Salem

Israel and Hamas have been waging war since gunmen from the Palestinian militant group in the Gaza Strip stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing 253 hostages, by Israeli tallies.


Israel responded with a military offensive in Gaza in which more than 41,500 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza health authorities. Nearly the entire population of 2.3 million people in the enclave have been displaced from their homes and much of the territory has been laid to waste.


The Gaza war is the bloodiest episode yet in a protracted conflict between Israelis and Palestinians that has rumbled for seven decades and destabilised the Middle East.


Recent weeks have also seen a dramatic escalation in a related conflict across Israel's border with Lebanon, where the Iran-backed armed movement Hezbollah says it is fighting in solidarity with the Palestinians.


WHAT ARE THE ORIGINS OF THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT?


The conflict pits Israeli demands for a secure homeland in what it has long regarded as a hostile Middle East against Palestinians' unrealised aspirations for a state of their own.


In 1947, while Palestine was under British mandate rule, the United Nations General Assembly agreed a plan to partition it into Arab and Jewish states and for international rule over Jerusalem. Jewish leaders accepted the plan, which gave them 56% of the land. The Arab League rejected the proposal.


Israel's founding father, David Ben-Gurion, proclaimed the modern state of Israel on May 14, 1948, a day before the scheduled end of British rule, establishing a safe haven for Jews fleeing persecution and seeking a national home on land to which they cite ties dating to antiquity.


In the late 1940s, violence had been intensifying between Arabs, who comprised about two thirds of the population, and Jews. A day after Israel was created, troops from five Arab states attacked.


In the war that followed, some 700,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes, ending up in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, and in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Palestinians lament this as the "Nakba", or catastrophe. Israel contests the assertion that it forced out Palestinians.


Armistice agreements halted the fighting in 1949 but there was no formal peace. Descendants of Palestinians who stayed put in the war make up about 20% of Israel's population now.


WHAT WARS HAVE BEEN FOUGHT SINCE THEN?


In 1967, Israel made a pre-emptive strike on Egypt and Syria, launching the Six-Day War. Israel captured the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem from Jordan, the Golan Heights from Syria and the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt.


A 1967 Israeli census put Gaza's population at 394,000, at least 60% of them Palestinian refugees and their descendants.


In 1973, Egypt and Syria attacked Israeli positions along the Suez Canal and Golan Heights, starting the Yom Kippur War. Israel pushed both armies back within three weeks.


Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 and thousands of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) guerrillas under Yasser Arafat were evacuated by sea after a 10-week siege. Israeli troops pulled out of Lebanon in 2000.


In 2005, Israel withdrew settlers and soldiers from Gaza. Hamas won parliamentary elections in 2006 and seized full control of Gaza in 2007. Major fighting flared between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza in 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2021.


In 2006, Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah militants captured two Israeli soldiers in the border region and Israel launched military action, triggering a six-week war.


There have also been two Palestinian intifadas, or uprisings, from 1987 to 1993 and 2000 to 2005. In the second, Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups carried out suicide bombings in Israel, and Israel conducted tank assaults and airstrikes on Palestinian cities.


Since then, there have been several rounds of hostilities between Israel and Hamas, which refuses to recognise Israel and is regarded as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the European Union, United States and other countries. Hamas says its armed activities are resistance against Israeli occupation.


WHAT ATTEMPTS HAVE THERE BEEN TO MAKE PEACE?


In 1979, Egypt became the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel, under which the Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egyptian rule.


In 1993, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Arafat shook hands on the Oslo Accords establishing limited Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank and Gaza. In 1994, Israel signed a peace treaty with Jordan. But a summit six years later attended by Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and U.S. President Bill Clinton at Camp David failed to secure a final peace deal.


In 2002, a proposed Arab League plan offered Israel normal relations with all Arab countries in return for a full withdrawal from the lands it took in the 1967 Middle East war, the creation of a Palestinian state and a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees. The presentation of the plan was overshadowed by Hamas, which blew up an Israeli hotel full of Holocaust survivors during a Passover seder meal.


Further Palestinian-Israeli peacemaking efforts have been stalled since 2014.


Under U.S. President Donald Trump in 2020, Israel reached deals known as the Abraham Accords to normalise ties with several Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.


Palestinians stopped dealing with the U.S. administration after Trump broke with U.S. policy by recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.


Qatar and Egypt have acted as mediators in the latest war, securing a truce late last year that lasted seven days, during which some hostages held by Hamas were exchanged for prisoners held by Israel, and more humanitarian aid flowed into Gaza.


WHERE DO PEACE EFFORTS STAND NOW?


Months of on-off talks on a further Gaza truce have so far proven fruitless, circling the same issues.


Above all, Hamas says it will free its remaining hostages only as part of a peace deal that ends the war. Israel says it will not end the war until Hamas is destroyed.


Other issues holding up a deal have included control over the border between Gaza and Egypt, the sequencing of reciprocal steps in any agreement, the number and identity of Palestinian prisoners to be released alongside Israeli hostages and free movement for Palestinians inside Gaza.


U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has sought a "grand bargain" in the Middle East that would include normalisation of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Riyadh says this would require progress towards creating an independent Palestinian state, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out.


WHAT ARE THE MAIN ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN ISSUES?


A two-state solution, Israeli settlements on occupied land, the status of Jerusalem, agreed borders, and the fate of Palestinian refugees.


Two-state solution: An agreement that would create a state for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza alongside Israel. Netanyahu says Israel must have security control over all land west of the Jordan River, which would preclude a sovereign Palestinian state.


Settlements: Most countries deem Jewish settlements built on land Israel captured in 1967 to be illegal. Israel disputes this and cites historical and biblical ties to the land. Continued settlement expansion is among the most contentious issues between Israel, the Palestinians and the international community.


Jerusalem: Palestinians want East Jerusalem, which includes the walled Old City's sites sacred to Muslims, Jews and Christians alike, to be the capital of their state. Israel says Jerusalem should remain its "indivisible and eternal" capital.


Israel's claim to Jerusalem's eastern part is not recognised internationally. Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital, without specifying the extent of its jurisdiction in the disputed city, and moved the U.S. Embassy there in 2018.


Refugees: Today about 5.6 million Palestinian refugees - mainly descendants of those who fled in 1948 - live in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in Gaza. About half of registered refugees remain stateless, according to the Palestinian foreign ministry, many living in crowded camps.


Palestinians have long demanded that refugees and their millions of descendants be allowed to return. Israel says any resettlement of Palestinian refugees must occur outside its borders.


-Reuters

Comments


Top Stories

Advertise Now (1).png
Live: UN Security Council Meeting on Multilateral Security Issues | Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Gaza
04:03:16

Live: UN Security Council Meeting on Multilateral Security Issues | Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Gaza

Watch the UN Security Council in action as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi chairs a key meeting discussing multilateral security challenges. Leaders from around the globe address pressing security concerns, promoting cooperation and diplomacy. Stay updated on global security with this in-depth coverage of the UN Security Council session. 1830GMT - H.E. Mr. Wang Yi, Foreign Minister of China will talk to reporters SPEAKERS: 1. The Secretary-General Council Members 2. China (President) – His Excellency Mr. Wang Yi, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Minister for Foreign Affairs 3. Pakistan – His Excellency Mr. Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs 4. Somalia – His Excellency Mr. Ahmed Moallim Fiqi, Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation 5. Algeria – Her Excellency Mrs. Selma Bakhta Mansouri, Secretary of State to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, in charge of African Affairs 6. Sierra Leone – Her Excellency Ms. Francess Piagie Alghalie, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation 7. Guyana 8. Denmark 9. Republic of Korea 10. Panama 11. Greece 12. Russian Federation 13. France 14. United Kingdom 15. United States 16. Slovenia Rule 37 17. Plurinational State of Bolivia – Her Excellency Ms. Celinda Sosa Lunda, Minister for Foreign Affairs 18. Hungary – His Excellency Mr. Péter Szijjártó, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade 19. Uganda – His Excellency Gen. Jeje Odongo Abubakhar, Minister for Foreign Affairs 2 20. Saudi Arabia – His Excellency Mr. Waleed Abdul Karim El-Khereiji, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs 21. Cuba – His Excellency Mr. Carlos Fernández de Cossío, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs 22. Ukraine – Her Excellency Ms. Mariana Betsa, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs 23. Slovakia – His Excellency Mr. Fedor Rosocha, Director General, Directorate for International Organisations and Human Rights, Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs 24. Kuwait 25. Qatar 26. Indonesia 27. Romania 28. Brazil 29. Germany 30. Thailand 31. Egypt 32. New Zealand 33. Jordan 34. Estonia 35. Singapore 36. Kazakhstan 37. Poland 38. South Africa 39. Peru 40. Ecuador 41. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela 42. Croatia 43. United Arab Emirates 44. Switzerland 45. Morocco 46. Ethiopia 47. Mexico 48. Islamic Republic of Iran 3 49. Nepal 50. Kyrgyzstan 51. Kingdom of the Netherlands 52. Spain 53. Austria 54. Liechtenstein 55. Türkiye 56. India 57. Philippines Rule 39 58. His Excellency Mr. Stavros Lambrinidis, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations Rule 37 59. Zimbabwe 60. Bulgaria 61. Portugal 62. Norway 63. Dominican Republic 64. Sweden 65. Finland 66. Viet Nam 67. Cambodia 68. Iceland 69. Timor-Leste 70. Mongolia 71. Guatemala 72. Maldives 73. Ireland 74. Lebanon 75. Japan 4 76. Ghana 77. Paraguay 78. Latvia 79. Tunisia 80. Lithuania 81. Chile 82. Bahrain 83. Malta 84. Angola 85. Sri Lanka 86. Namibia 87. Azerbaijan 88. Tajikistan Rule 39 89. His Excellency Mr. Paul Beresford-Hill, Permanent Observer of the Sovereign Order of Malta to the United Nations Rule 37 90. Australia 91. Uzbekistan 92. Bangladesh 93. Belgium 94. Suriname 95. Iraq 96. Senegal 97. Burundi 98. Malaysia 99. Nigeria 100. Eritrea 101. Serbia #UNSecurityCouncil #MultilateralSecurity #GlobalSecurity #UNMeeting #SecurityCouncil #WangYi #UNDiplomacy #ChinaSecurity #InternationalRelations #UNSession Amaravati Today delivers real-time updates on global events, featuring live streams, in-depth explainers, factual insights, and expert analysis to keep you informed. #WorldNews #LiveUpdates #GlobalInsights #AmaravatiToday Website: https://www.amaravati.today/ Source: Reuters