The Israel-Palestine Conflict
Israel is a nation that has faced oppression since long before. In 1967, the Arab countries joined hands to eradicate Israel; but the Israelites knew that if they lost the war then they would lose their nation so they put in their maximum effort. After six days of fighting, surprisingly Israel won the war. The Palestine Liberation Organisation recognised Israel as a country in 1993 and in , Israel officially recognized the Palestine Liberation Organisation as the representative of the Palestinian people.
Yitzhak Rabin, the then Prime minister of Israel and Yasar Arafat, the then chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation were both awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for coming to terms via the Oslo Agreement.
Setup of Israel-Palestine
There is an area called the West Bank where some areas are occupied by Israelites while other parts are occupied by Palestinian residents. There is no definite region but majority of the region is dominated by Israel. In the Southwest region there is a small strip of land called the Gaza Strip which is completely controlled by Hamas.
The tug of war for the control over the region started long before. In between Palestine region controlled by Palestine Liberation Organisation, Israel controlled by Israeli government and the Gaza Strip controlled by Hamas, lies Jerusalem, which is considered a holy place for Jews, Muslims and Christians. This divided city consists of West Jerusalem which has an Israeli majority and East Jerusalem whose majority is Palestinian residents but was captured by Israel in 1967.
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Hamas
Hamas is an Islamic resistant movement organised in 1987 and since 1994, the group has stated that it will accept a truce if Israel withdraws to the 1967 geographical area approved by the U.N., allows free elections in the regions and allows Palestinian refugees to return. However, this is difficult now because the Israeli population is not how it was back in 1967. Israel won many wars and single handedly pounced upon the regions in which its citizens reside.
Hamas is identified as a terrorist group by Israel, Canada, the European Union, Japan and the United States of America. It is not considered a terrorist organisation by Brazil, China, Egypt, Iran, Norway, Qatar, Russia, Syria and Turkey.
Hamas has used various methods including suicide bombings and rocket attacks to kill Israeli citizens. The organisation receives its funds from foreign sources like Arab countries and uses these funds to buy weapons and machinery to counter the Israeli army. Around 1100 Israelites have died in the Palestine-Israel conflict since 2000.
Current Situation
Israel, although small is one of the most advanced and economically strong countries in the world. They have MOSSAD, which is considered the top spy agency in the world. They have advanced weaponry system which helps tackle almost all of the attacks from Palestine and the Hamas. Israel has the Iron Dome mechanism which counters air strikes and sends their own counter missile to destroy the incoming enemy missile. Their counter attack system has proved to be effective 90% of the time.
Since 2000, nearly 1100 Israelites have been killed in Israel-Palestine conflicts but nearly 8000 Palestinian citizens have been killed. The death ratio is almost 1:8. This is because Israel has invested heavily on its army and counter intelligence because it knows the number of soldiers is less and they have an idea how powerful their enemies are.
The Israeli government said the violence began because Palestinians started throwing stones at Israeli police officers. While Palestinian witnesses claim that they threw stones because the Israeli police officers started firing rubber bullets and tear gas around Al Aqsa mosque. Hamas fired rockets from Gaza to Israel for the first time in seven years. Almost 2800 rockets have been fired until now but there has not been major casualties because of the Iron Dome counter-attacking scheme of the Israeli army.
Sheikh Jarrah Evictions
Sheikh Jarrah is a place in East Jerusalem which is inhabited by descendants of refugees who were expelled from their towns by Zionist militants in 1948. A local Israeli court ordered 58 people, including 17 children to evacuate from their homes. All these displaced refugees were supposed to earn their legal titles within 3 years but it never happened. In 2002, 43 Palestinians were evicted from the area, in 2008, two families were evicted from the Sheikh Jarrah area, and in 2017, one more family was evicted. In place of all those Palestinian families that were left homeless, Israeli settlers began occupying those places. Now, the Palestinians have tried to protest against these evictions which led to firing of the Al Aqsa mosque premises which agitated both Israel and Palestine.
Both Israel and Palestine must discuss their problems and come to a peaceful solution that will be beneficial for both the nations. They must set an example for other nations that will in the near future fight for land and water and other natural resources.
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