Decades of violent conflict from both Israel and Palestine have dictated the current crisis in both states. Both have lost civilians, infrastructure, and peace.
Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a full-scale attack on Israel in early October. Now, over one month after the attack, the Israel-Hamas war has killed over 11,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and over 1,200 Israelis.
“The Arab-Israeli conflict is not just a morality play between good and evil,” said former United States President Bill Clinton at the 2001 Israel Policy Forum gala. “It is a conflict with a complex history, whose resolution requires balancing the needs of both sides, including respect for their national identities and religious beliefs.”
From 1917 to 1947, Palestinian territories were under the administration of the U.K., and during that time, the U.K. expressed support for Palestine to be “a national home for the Jewish people.” After decades of Arab-Jewish violence and terrorism, the U.K. turned the future of Palestinian territories over to the U.N. To bring independence and peace, the U.N. proposed Resolution 181, or the Partition Plan, to internationalize Jerusalem and split Palestinian territories into a Palestinian Arab state and a Jewish state.
In 1948, one of the states declared independence as the nation of Israel. Palestine then became two small territories within Israel: the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
During the same year, the first Arab-Israeli war began, with Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq invading Israel. The battle continued until 1949 when the countries signed armistice agreements and ceded defeat to Israel. Throughout the war, over 700,000 Palestinian refugees fled, spurring the U.N. to adopt Resolution 194, which gave refugees the right to return home.
In June of 1967, Israel fought a six-day war with neighboring Arab countries and claimed the West Bank and Gaza, along with east Jerusalem and sectors of Egypt and Syria. The U.N. responded in November of 1967 with Resolution 242, calling for Israel’s withdrawal from recently acquired lands on the grounds of recognizing all state boundaries.
However, Israel did not cede from its acquired territory in Syria and Egypt, and the countries fought the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Amplified by Cold War tensions, the U.S. supported Israel, while the Soviet Union supported Egypt and Syria. The U.N. ended the fighting with Resolution 338, which asserted Resolution 242.
From 1978 to 1979, Egypt and Israel signed the Camp David Accords, a peace treaty requiring Israel to withdraw from Egypt, committing both countries to discussing the arrangement of the Gaza Strip.
Eight years later, in 1987, the first Intifada, or Palestinian uprising against Israel in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, occurred when an Israel driver struck four Palestinians. Over six years, around 200 Israeli and 1,300 Palestinian civilians and soldiers were killed as the militaristic Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the national front of Palestine founded in 1964, facilitated violence.
During this period of warfare, Hamas was founded as a Palestinian military group committed to armed resistance against Israel and the creation of Palestinian territory in place of Israel.
Covert negotiations in Norway in 1993 between PLO negotiator Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin permitted Palestine authority in Gaza and the West Bank, required Israel to withdraw from the West Bank, allowed Israeli control of large sectors of land with its settlements, and created the Oslo Accords, which ended the first Intifada.
The Gaza-Jericho Agreement implemented the Oslo Accords in 1994, clearly outlining Palestine's jurisdiction and authority structure. Months later, Israel signed apeace treaty with Jordan for international diplomacy and territorial settlement, making it the second Arab-Israeli peace treaty.
The Oslo II Accordswere signed in 1995, outlining the administration, electoral, and economic arrangements.
Later, in 1997, the U.S. recognized Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) as terrorist organizations. The U.S. government defines terrorism as an act dangerous to human life, infrastructure, and property and is intended to intimidate, coerce, or affect a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping.
The years 2000 and onward saw a significant rise in violence, deaths, and widespread protests as Hamas dismissed the Oslo Accords, citizens on both sides became restless, and the world experienced increased internet accessibility.
In the summer of 2000, former U.S. President Bill Clinton attempted to host peace talks with Israeli and Palestinian authorities at the Camp David Summit. Still, they failed to come to an agreement, and the second Intifada occurred in September 2000.
Palestinians maintain the second Intifada was caused by Israeli politicians visiting the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, a day prior.
However, Israeli leaders claim Palestine authority was planning a violent outbreak since as early as July.
Palestinian suicide bombings on Israeli civilian and military centers countered by Israel's military engagement in the Gaza Strip and West Bank characterized the second Intifada. When Hamas suicide bombed a hotel in Netanya, Israel, during the Jewish celebration of Passover, killing 30 and injuring 140, the Israeli government approved a three-year plan to build a security barricade along the West Bank, preventing Palestinian terrorists from breaching civilian areas.
This barricade stopped Palestinian civilian and commercial activity as its path went through towns and cut parts of the West Bank off from Jerusalem. Israel’s military defense and barrier proved successful and halted several terrorist attempts, leading to the end of the second Intifada in 2005. Throughout the five years, over 4,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis were killed.
In 2005, Israel began evacuating their civilians and military personnel from the Gaza Strip, though they still controlled the border, coastline, and airspace. In response to the disengagement, Hamas and other smaller militant groups fired into Israel from Gaza.
Throughout the conflict thus far, Fatah had been the dominant political group in the PLO. However, Hamas defeated them in the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) elections with 74 out of 132 seats, resulting in talks between the groups for joint governance, which quickly failed, and Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007.
The U.S. and the European Union (EU) halted financial aid to Palestinian territory as they recognized Hamas as a terrorist organization. The region is still separately ruled: Hamas dominates Gaza, and Fatah primarily runs the West Bank.
In 2006, a few months after the elections, Hamas personnel took an Israeli soldier hostage. The soldier, Gilad Shalit, was on Israeli soil near the Gaza Strip and was held captive until 2012.
In November 2008, Hamas started a month-long war with Israel when they fired nearly 800 rockets into civilian territory in Sderot. Israel responded by attacking the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of civilians and military personnel on both sides were killed, garnering international pressure for a cease-fire. In January 2009, the U.N. adopted Resolution 1860, calling for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and international assistance to alleviate the humanitarian crisis.
In 2012, the U.N. formally recognized Palestine as an observer state, with the right to speak at assembly meetings but not to vote on resolutions. Renewed desire for permanent peace negotiations began in 2013 with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Ultimately, negotiations collapsed over Israeli settlements, prisoners, and Palestinian attempts to use their observer state status to join international organizations.
After a series of small attacks on civilians by militant groups in both Israel and Palestine in and around 2014, Israel mounted a full offensive on the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian forces fired into large Israeli cities. Known as Operation Protective Edge, the 50-day battle killed around 2,000 Gazans and 71 Israeli civilians and military. The U.S. brokered the ceasefire in consultation with Egypt and other neighboring countries.
Palestinians paint “Save Gaza” on a section of a destroyed building in May, 2023. (Activestills)
2014 to 2023
In December 2017, former U.S. President Donald Trump revised a long-standing policy and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. This resulted in violent protests in Gaza, East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and even Egypt, Iran, Iraq, and Jordan. International criticism also comes from numerous Arab and European nations.
Two years later, in 2019, the Trump administration was the first to recognize Israel’s power over Golan Heights, an area annexed from Syria in 1981. During this time, the Trump administration and Israeli diplomats created a peace proposal, “Peace to Prosperity,” that outlined territory, economics, and aid to both Israel and Palestine.
Palestinian authorities rejected the plan immediately as it was crafted without their input. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had deigns on areas of the West Bank that “Peace to Prosperity” would’ve allowed them to annex.
For the first time in over 25 years, peace talks between Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with Israel in 2020 normalized diplomatic relations between them via the Abraham Accords, halting Israel’s plan to attain the West Bank.
In 2021, the Israeli government began evicting Palestinian civilians from east Jerusalem, resulting in Hamas involvement. Over 200 Palestinians in Gaza and 10 Israelis died before the Biden administration brokered a truce and restarted U.S. aid and diplomacy with Palestine while continuing support for Israel.
A resurgence of Palestinian rioters throwing stones and explosives at Israeli soldiers in 2022 created another rise in Hamas offensives in Israeli cities, offset by the Israeli military’s counter operations. Several hundred civilians and military died on both ends.
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Current circumstances of Israel and Palestine
These conflicts now bring the world to Oct. 7, 2023, where decades of military force, kidnapping, and terrorism in both states have provoked “the deadliest day for Jews since the holocaust,” according to Biden. Meanwhile, the Gaza Strip is in a dire crisis, with over 1.4 million displaced residents sheltered in schools in Gaza with little to no access to clean water, electricity, food, and medicine.
“Hamas is really smart. When they decide to rocket Israel, they insinuate themselves in the hospitals, in the schools, in the highly populous areas, and they are smart,” Clinton said at a campaign event in 2016. “They try to put the Israelis in a position of either not defending themselves or killing innocents.”
However, it is essential to note that Hamas does not represent all Palestinians and the Israeli government does not represent all Israelis.
Taking sides
About 76 years of armed conflict and failed peace talks have led to the current circumstances between Hamas and Israel’s authority. With dozens of airstrikes and military attacks killing and injuring civilians on both sides for decades, Palestine and Israel are in a perpetual humanitarian crisis.
However, the debate over which side provoked which, who is justified, and who should come out on top is heavy as nations and people become increasingly polarized.
Biden has announced his support for Israel on the notion they are responding to terrorist attacks, maintaining Trump’s stance.
“History has taught us that when terrorists don’t pay a price for their terror, when dictators don’t pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos and death and more destruction. They keep going, and the cost and the threats to America and to the world keep rising,” Biden said in a briefing regarding his stance on current wars.
However, the ideological split between countries is far from equal. The U.N. General Assembly met on Oct. 26 to vote on a non-binding plan proposed by Jordan, calling for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities.”
Results are as follows: 120 countries voted in favor, 45 refrained from voting, and 14 voted against. The U.S., Israel, Austria, and Paraguay are among the countries that voted against the proposal.
International debate has also transcended into the U.S., where citizens are boycotting brands and celebrities that don’t follow their ideals. Many have taken to X and Instagram to call a boycott on Starbucks, which is allegedly suing the union of their workers for posting a pro-Palestinian message on social media. The Palestinian organization Boycott, Diversity, and Sanctions (BDS) has called for other targeted boycotts on McDonald’s, Amazon Web Services, and Chevron for their support of Israel.
Many U.S.-based brands are refraining from publicizing their support. However, as the leading pop culture influencers, celebrities are in the spotlight to define their side.
Among them are actress Natalie Portman, who extended empathy to the people of Israel on Instagram, model Gigi Hadid, who gave her condolences to her Palestinian and Jewish loved ones, and Jamie Lee Curtis, Mark Ruffalo, and Adam Sandler, who are among the celebrities that declared the side of peace.
“Millions of Israelis and Palestinians have worked so hard to end the cycle of violence, only to see it escalate. Beyond governments engaged in conflict, there are people crying out for an end to the human suffering that has gone on for many generations,” actress Lynda Carter wrote on X.
The cost of war
Several thousand Palestinians protest the Gaza fence and Israeli activity in Jerusalem in 2018. (Mohammed Zaanoun/Activestills)
As of Nov. 10, over 11,000 people have died in Gaza, with another 27,000 injuries reported. Around 68% of deaths were identified as women and children. Over 1.6 million, or around 70%, of Gazans are internally displaced. Thousands remained buried under the rubble.
As of Nov. 10, over 1,200 people have died in Israel, 70% of them civilians, and over 5,000 injuries were reported. Around 239 hostages are currently held in Gaza.
Since 2008, over 18,500 Palestinians have been killed and over 183,000 injured in conflict with Israel, many of them civilians.
Since 2008, over 1,500 Israelis have been killed and over 11,000 injured in conflict with Palestine, many of them civilians.
Jackson is a junior at Carlmont High School, and she is so excited to be a part of the Scot Scoop editorial board. She covers topics ranging from tragedies to local events and Bay Area news. In her spare time, she is often found writing, playing sports, and traveling. You can see her portfolio here.
Emma Yin is a senior at Carlmont High School. This is her third year in the journalism program and currently serves as a staff writer and cartoonist. She is interested in art and dabbling in global news. You can find her drawing on her iPad, playing badminton and music, and hunting for a new boba shop. Follow her on Instagram @em.24.ma
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