Hey guys, so we’re talking about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
today but before we jump in, I want to be clear about a few things: 1.
This is a controversial issue, but for what it’s worth, I really don’t have a side that I’m
on when it comes to this conflict. Frankly, I understand where both sides are coming from,
but I also personally believe that both sides have done some things that are pretty messed up. 2.
This is a short video and we won’t be able to cover every event that factors into this
messy web of conflict. This issue will necessarily be way oversimplified, so check
out the resources in the YouTube description to fill in some of the blanks. Let’s jump in.
[Intro]
While there has been at least a small Jewish presence in the Palestine region
since ancient times, over the centuries many Jews were scattered into other regions of the
world. But in the decades preceding World War I, a movement began among Jews known as “Zionism.”
Zionism was all about Jews returning to their ancestral homeland, Israel, and establishing an
independent Jewish state. Remember, the last time the Jews had been an independent nation
was after the Maccabean revolt in 167 BC. By World War I, tens of thousands of Jews had immigrated
to the Palestine region. Before World War I, the Palestine region was part of the Ottoman
Empire until the British took control in 1917 during the war.
That same year, the British published something that Jews were quite excited about:
The Balfour Declaration, which supported “the establishment in Palestine of a national home
for the Jewish people.” But, remember that Jews were not immigrating to
empty land. Under the Ottomans, Palestine had been inhabited largely by Muslim Arabs
for a few hundred years. The Jews viewed this as a return to their ancestral homeland. But from the
Arab perspective, the Jewish people were sweeping in and taking control of their Arab homeland. So,
opposed to an independent Jewish state, Arab leaders vied for an independent Arab state.
After the war, the League of Nations mandated that the British should remain
in control of Palestine until the people could govern themselves, and the League
further supported the goal of creating a national home for Jews within Palestine.
Jewish immigration to Palestine continued and was heightened by WWII as Jews fled Nazism in Europe.
Tensions between Jews and Arabs continued to escalate, resulting in various clashes
over the years. The British tried to satisfy the Arabs by limiting Jewish immigration,
but that only made the Jews mad at the British and led to a whole lot of illegal immigration.
The British mandate would end in 1948, but after the British would pull out of the region,
what would happen to Palestine? The British left that decision up to the newly-founded
United Nations. Towards the end of 1947, the UN decided to split up the land in Palestine,
giving some land to an independent Jewish state, and some land to an independent Arab state,
with Jerusalem as an international zone. It was a “two-state solution”. Jewish leaders accepted the
plan. Arab leaders did not, feeling that giving up any amount of land to the colonizing Jews was
unfair. Nonetheless, UN Resolution 181, passed. It immediately sparked a civil war between Jews
and Arabs, while the British largely stood back and let the factions fight it out.
Just as the British mandate over Palestine expired in mid-May, 1948, Jewish leaders declared
Israel to be an independent state, tentatively composed of the land allotted to them by the UN.
As a result, the civil war expanded into an international war, as surrounding Arab
nations declared war on Israel. Israel won, and ended up in possession of the land allotted to
them by the UN, plus West Jerusalem and more than half of the land that had been allotted
for the Arab state. The nation of Jordan came into power over the land known as the West Bank,
and Egypt gained control of the Gaza Strip. Then, in 1967, the extremely short Six-Day War
broke out between Israel and the surrounding Arab nations. Israel won again and gained control of
the Sinai peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and East Jerusalem.
In 1979, Israel and Egypt agreed to a peace treaty. Egypt became the first Arab nation
to officially recognize the state of Israel, and Israel gave them back the Sinai Peninsula
but continued to control the Gaza Strip. In 2005, Israel pulled all of its citizens and
military out of the Gaza Strip but retained control of the Strip’s borders and airspace.
The Strip came under the control of a Palestinian political party known as Hamas.
Various nations recognize Hamas as a terrorist organization while some others do not.
Meanwhile, after the Six-Day War, tensions continued to grow between Jews and Arabs as
Israeli settlements began to increasingly pop up in the Israeli-occupied, but Arab-inhabited West
Bank. Some nations and organizations believe these settlements are illegal under international law.
Israel disagrees. In 1995 the Olso Accords divided the West Bank into Areas A,
B, & C. The Palestinian Authority, currently controlled by Hamas’ rival political party, Fatah,
governs A, the PA and Israel share control of B, and Israel controls C. It’s a very busy map.
And in the middle of all of this is the highly significant city, Jerusalem. In the UN’s original
plan, Jerusalem was to belong to no one. But then Israel captured and effectively annexed West
Jerusalem in 1948, and then later occupied East Jerusalem after the Six-Day War. Israel claims
the entire city of Jerusalem as its capital city. This is, of course, contested by Palestinians.
Long story short: There are about a million different influencing factors that are all playing
a part in the Israeli-Palestinisn conflict. There have been wars and countless clashes, hundreds of
thousands of refugees, Palestinian uprisings or Intifadas, and heavy-handed Israeli oversight.
When you dive into both sides you’ll find an almost endless cycle of “Well, we did this because
you did that.” “But we did that because you did this,” etc. There’s a lot of history and nuance
embedded in almost every aspect of this topic. And please note that not all Israelis are Jews,
and not all Palestinians are Muslim. While religion is one of many influencing factors
in this conflict, generally speaking, it’s more about “who has the right to control what”. And
there are both good and bad people on both sides. If you want to learn more, check out the resources
in the YouTube description, and talk with your Israeli and Palestinian friends. Have a great day!