Israel and Palestine Conflict: What You Need to Know
The attack began at 6:30 am, October 7, with a strike of at least 5,000 rockets launched from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel. By land, sea, or air, it was the first time Hamas directly invaded Israel. They attacked homes, civilians,and soldiers, killing about 1,200 people in Israel, with thousands injured and hundreds kidnapped.
The Gaza Strip is a narrow piece of land in the State of Palestine located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, bordered by Egypt and Israel. Its population of more than two million people is almost completely Palestinian Arab. Since 2007, Gaza has been governed by Hamas, an Islamist militant movement and one of the Palestinian territories’ major political parties.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been one of the world’s longest and most controversial conflicts since 1948, more than 75 years ago.
It all started with the Balfour Declaration in 1917, a public statement issued by the British government announcing an establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. Between 1917 and 1948, Palestine was inhabited by Jewish immigrants, Arab Muslims and Arab Christians. Tension began to form between the Arab Palestinians and the Jewish as both groups tried to take claim over the same land. This problem was turned over to the United Nations when the declaration expired in 1947. They believed that the Jewish deserved their own state, therefore introducing Resolution 181, which decided to divide Palestine into two states: one Arab, one Jewish. Following violent clashes between Zionist militia and Arab guerillas, war broke out on May 15, 1948 when five Arab countries protested this resolution by invading Israel. The war ended a year later with Israel’s victory. Over half of the Palestinian Arab population was displaced.
Wars have been happening almost once every five years. Hamas and Israel have fought at least five wars. One of the major outbreaks of violence commenced on May 10, 2021. It was marked by protests, rocket attacks on Israel by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (another organization in Palestine), and Israeli counterattacks with airstrikes in the Gaza Strip.
In retaliation for the devastating October 7, the Israeli military has been relentlessly bombing Gaza, killing more than 13,300 Palestinians. With all the focus on Gaza, tensions are also rising in the West Bank where Israeli citizens are taking advantage of the war, lynching several dozen Palestinians. Israelis and Palestinians each tend to see themselves as victims, both claiming to be simply responding to violence from the opposed side.
by MELISSA YU TYNE NG