Israel: Geo-Political Affair between Jews and Arabs
Israel has really been an intricated Geo-political affair between Jews and Palestine. The issue is with the land as the region is majorly divided into three. First, Israel which is governed by Jews, second is Palestine region which is partially governed by the moderate Arab group. And Gaza strip is controlled by extremist Arabs. The recent escalation between Israel and Gaza forces brought instability in the middle east again. An Israeli airstrike on 12 Nov has killed Baha Abu al-Ata, a senior commander of the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad(PIJ) in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated: “He(Abu al-Ata) was in the midst of planning additional attacks in the immediate short term. He was a ticking bomb.” In retaliation, PIJ vowed to “rock the Zionist entity”. The next day early morning rockets started raining in Southern and Central Israel. Around 450 rockets were fired from the Gaza strip. How quickly this escalated in current time is a concern for the rest of the world. But this clutter between Israel and Gaza is not very new, it’s a historical plight created by the British in 1918 and absolutely driven by Religion. Let’s understand the most unresolved Geo-political issue of the middle-east or probably the world.
History — Religion and British
According to the Hebrew Bible, Israel’s origins are associated with Abraham, who is considered the father of both Judaism (through his son Isaac) and Islam (through his son Ishmael). Abraham’s descendants were thought to be enslaved by the Egyptians for hundreds of years before settling in Canaan, which is modern-day Israel. Starting from King David 1000 B.C ruled it and then his son King Solomon, who is credited with building the first holy temple in ancient Jerusalem. Throughout history, Jews and Arab have coexisted in the region so is the tension between them. Both communities consider the city of Jerusalem sacred, as it has Temple Mount, which includes the holy sites al-Aqsa Mosque, the Western Wall, the Dome of the Rock and more.
Ottoman Empire, longest-lasting dynasties in world history and Islamic-run superpower ruled Israel along with the Middle East from 1517 to 1917. In the last year of World War I, the British submitted a letter of intent(known as Balfour Declaration) supporting the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine(Israel) with a hope to get allies in WWI. When the war ended in 1918 with the victory of the British and allied nation British took control over Palestine. Arabs passionately opposed the Balfour Declaration but the British controlled the region till the end of World War II. Finally, Israel became an independent state in 1947.
Arab-Israeli War in 1948 & 1967
By the early 1940s, the region was a victim of violence between Jews and Palestine. As in 1947 British decided to leave Israel, it worked with the UN to divide Israel into Palestine(West Bank) and Israel. Palestine leaders were not happy with it and declared war against Israel, Israel won the war and even pushed the area of Palestine. A ceasefire was declared which continued till 1967. In 1967 Israel fought another war with Arab nations consisting of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and within 6 days it took control of the whole region including some parts of Egypt. Now the decision has to make for either keeping the whole region and giving them Israel’s Citizenship or give land to Palestine to create their own state. While the government was in the process to make any decision further, Jews saw this war as a religious win over Arabs and start settling to Palestine region where a major history of Jews happened.
This movement was motivated by or as part of the Zionism movement which started in the late 19th century. Even after global criticism and the UN declaring this settlement illegal the settlement keep on growing. This is how the current map looks like. You can see the settlements in the blue dots. These settlements are really in between and around the major cities of West Bank.
The Zionism Movement
In the late 19th and early 20th century, an organized religious and political movement known as Zionism emerged among Jews towards the Hill of Judee & Samarie in the Palestine region where most of the Judaism emerged. They wanted to reestablish a Jewish homeland in the region. Large numbers of Jews immigrated to the ancient holy land and built settlements. Between 1882 and 1903, about 35,000 Jews relocated to Palestine, again 40,000 more settled between 1904 and 1914.
The migration got accelerated due to fear of execution by Nazis and Hitler. Many Jews living in Europe and elsewhere took refuge in Palestine. The aftereffect of the Holocaust and World War II affected deeply to Jews community and the movement primarily focus shifted to create an independent Jewish state. This settlement is still ongoing and funded by the many pro-Jews organization including Israel Government. You can see the current trend in the plot.
Oslo Accord
The settlement by Jews let to violent protests by Arabs in the region and made the area unstable for a long time. In the 1990s, after intervention from US President Bill Clinton, Israel Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization(PLO) ’s Chief Yasser Arafat signed Oslo Accord. The agreement led to authorizing PLO governance in parts of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. But the settlement areas in West Bank were still in control of Israel. Also, Israel made a network of highways in the West Bank to inter-connect settlements and to easily access these settlements from mainland Israel.
Independent Gaza — Governed by Hamas
After Oslo accord, the Gaza Strip was completely under PLO governance. In 2005, Israel Prime Minister Aerial Sheron pulled out Jews settlers from Gaza Strip. In 2007 elections of West Bank liberal PLO Party lost the election and an extremist Palestinian Islamic organization Hamas won the election. The result was unacceptable by PLO leaders which led to violence on the street between Hamas and PLO. Hamas took control of the Gaza since. The conflict ongoing is still in the same phase. PLO leader has made negotiation with Israel which make World Bank relatively stable but the Gaza strip has many restrictions from Israel in all capabilities which is the reason for poverty, underemployment and underdevelopment of the region. And this seems a reason for them to strike on Israel very often.
Future ???
Instability around Israel region has always been a concern for the world as it also involves religion. UN and many countries are pushing for new fresh peace accord taking Hamas into consideration as well. While Israel thinks the affair is more difficult to solve. So they are constructing huge walls around its border and West bank settlements to make their people secure, but the fact is thousands of Jews and Arabs are getting killed in violence every year. Both Jew and Arabs pray for peace from their respective Gods whose father is the same. Hope the conflict got over soon and both country sign on some common ground to distribute the land or at least to restore peace.
