Middle-East Conflict: Everything About Palestine Explained
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is deeply rooted in historical and territorial disputes. Following World War II, the creation of Israel in 1948 was largely supported by Western powers, leading to resentment among many Middle Eastern groups, including Hamas. They view this establishment as the unjust appropriation of Palestinian land.
The term “Nakba” or “catastrophe” refers to the displacement of approximately 750,000 Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, a pivotal event in Palestinian identity, which included reported massacres by Jewish militias.
For Israelis, the creation of Israel provided a refuge after the Holocaust. Jews had been migrating to the region for decades, seeing it as their ancestral homeland, exiled 2,500 years ago by Babylonian and Roman occupations.
Israel’s subsequent wars led to the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, contrary to the 1947 UN partition plan. Hamas, formed during the First Intifada in 1987, governs Gaza under heavy Israeli restrictions and is deemed a terrorist organization by the US, UK, and EU.
Although Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, it continues to occupy East Jerusalem and the West Bank, establishing settlements criticized by the UN as violations of international law.
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