The state of Israel was formed in the year 1948 after the approval of United Nations to partition Palestine to form a Jewish state in 1947. The state of Israel came to existence on 14 May 1948 after end of British mandate for Palestine (The British Mandate for Palestine was a legal framework for administering Palestine under British rule from 1920 to 1948). Soon after coming to existence Israel entered into war with neighboring state Palestine, because of a civil war between Jews and Muslims in Palestinian state. The conflict has continued to this day, with both sides claiming historical and religious ties to the land and seeking control over it.
Let’s understand the situation in detail:
Zionist movement
Zionism is a nationalist movement that emerged in the late 19th century that supports the establishment of a homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine. It was the time when Jews started migrating to Palestine to protect themselves from persecution in Eastern Europe. Palestine then ruled by the UK extended the support for the formation of national home for Jews and finally following World War II and the Holocaust, the United Nations voted to partition Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states in 1947. This was opposed by the Palestine and the armies from the states of Arabs: Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Egypt invaded the state of Israel immediately within a few days after the declaration. But Israel was successful at defeating Arabs. Post the exodus of Arabs, Israel became the largest home to the Jewish community. Following the establishment of Israel in 1948, Zionism became an ideology that supports the development and protection of the State of Israel.
The root cause of the Arab-Israeli conflict is opposition by Muslims to an independent Jewish state which is located in the heartland of the Muslim dominated region. Since the recognition of Israel as a separate nation, Israel and Arab countries has fought 7 wars (including 1948 and 2023 war) and with each war Israel continue to extend its control over the region around it. West bank area located on the east of Mediterranean Sea forms the bulk of Palestine territories, it is estimated that around 75% to 80% of the West Bank area is under Israel’s control now. The map below shows the Israel occupation on the Palestine territories.
The 2023 conflict.
Hamas is a Palestinian militant Islamist group that governs the Gaza Strip of the Palestinian territories 1. It was founded in 1988 after the beginning of the first Palestinian uprising, against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The ongoing war between Israel and Palestine started on 7 October 2023 when Hamas surprisingly attacked Israel and killed more than 1000 Israeli citizen, hundreds of civilians were taken as hostages to Gaza strip. Israel declared war on Hamas controlled Gaza the same day and till date more than 5000 people has been killed in the action.
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