Israeli and Palestine Conflict

The conflict between Israel and Palestinian Hamas has been destructive and deadly for both sides. On November thirteenth 2018, Hamas and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire brokered by the Egyptian government in order to calm the intense fighting that has taken place on the Gaza strip. The ceasefire is set to last for two days. (Holmes & Balousha)

This particular act of fighting between Israel and Palestine is very recent, but this conflict as a whole goes back all the way to the ending of the nineteenth century. The cause of this conflict isn’t over religion as one could guess giving that both groups of people have a different religion, Israel having a Jewish majority and Palestine having a Muslim majority. The conflict is actually over disputed land, the Gaza Strip. According to Merip.org "Jewish claims to this land are based on the biblical promise to Abraham and his descendants, on the fact that the land was the historical site of the ancient Jewish kingdoms of Israel and Judea, and on the need for a haven from European anti-Semitism." (Primer on Palestine) Merip.org also stated that "Palestinian Arab claims to the land are based on their continuous residence in the country for hundreds of years and the fact that they represented the demographic majority until 1948. They reject the notion that a biblical-era kingdom constitutes the basis for a valid modern claim." (Primer on Palestine)

During world war one in the twentieth century, the current British high commissioner of Egypt Sir Henry McMahon contacted Husayn ibn ??Ali who was the governor of Ottoman controlled territory Medina and Mecca. McMahon convinced Husayn to lead a revolt against the Ottoman empire, who were allies with the central powers during the war. McMahon promised to support an independent Arab state under Hashemite rule in the Arabian provinces including Palestine. When the revolt was successful, Britain took much of the area during world war one. Britain had made other promises that would cause trouble for the promise made to Husayn. In 1917 British foreign minister, Lord Arthur Balfour gave the Balfour Declaration which announced his support for the creation of a Jewish state in the Palestine area. This as one could imagine made the Arabs angry with the British decision to go back on their previous promises. According to merip.org "In 1920 and 1921, clashes broke out between Arabs and Jews in which roughly equal numbers from both communities were killed. In the 1920s, when the Jewish National Fund purchased large tracts of land from absentee Arab landowners, the Arabs living in these areas were evicted. These displacements led to increasing tensions and violent confrontations between Jewish settlers and Arab peasant tenants." (Primer on Palestine)

A few years before world war two in the 1930s, huge amounts of German Jews immigrated to Palestine due to the Nazi party taking control. (Refugees) Germany and Palestine had an agreement that Palestine would take the Jewish refugees and the Jews personal belongings and assets would stay in Germany in order to be disposed of. British mandated Palestine would receive payment in form of exports from Germany, this agreement is known as the Haavara agreement or transfer agreement.

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