Headlines across the world have seemingly transitioned from headlines regarding the Russian and Ukrainian war to headlines about the new Israel and Hamas conflict.
The origins of the Israel and Palestine conflict go back nearly a century.
It begins when there was an increasing Jewish population in Palestine during the early to mid-1900s, and after World War II, many Jewish people sought a new land where they could be safe after the Holocaust and began migrating to what was then British mandated Palestine. Palestine was a Jewish minority and an Arab majority, tensions and conflicts between both groups continued to rise. In 1947, the British Empire had handed the conflict to the United Nations. The UN then proposed a plan to split the land into two separate countries; one Jewish and one Arab country. The Jewish people supported this plan, while the Palestinian Arab’s did not.
Israel then declared itself an independent state, and throughout the next few decades many wars and conflicts occurred between Israel and Arab states such as Egypt, Jordan and Palestine. These wars included the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War. Israel won both wars, and conquered land such as Gaza and the West Bank, among other land. However, tensions between Israel and other Arab countries continued to slowly get better over time, and at the Camp David Accords in 1978, Egypt and Israel made peace and Israel gave formerly conquered land back to Egypt. Attempts to make peace with other countries such as Palestine occurred, such as the Oslo Accords. However, they failed after leaders were assassinated due to attempting to make peace.
In early October of this year, on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, the Palestinian Hamas terrorist group launched attacks aimed at the Gaza Strip. Initially, Hamas launched nearly 5,000 rockets from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, and shortly after, roughly 3,000 Hamas militants then began a ground movement and began to infiltrate Israel using vehicles. Many other attacks on Israel by Hamas continued during this time, including numerous massacres on civilians, one of the most notable attacks being the Re’im music festival massacre.
At this festival, roughly 360 Israelis were murdered and 40 were taken hostage. Footage later surfaced online of the aftermath of this music festival, with one video showing a German girl who was visiting the music festival nude, dead and being paraded around on a Hamas pickup truck.
Shortly after these first attacks, Israel retaliated with numerous air strikes on Hamas targets. Israel has, however, been attempting to minimize civilian casualties on both sides, and dropped leaflets over Gaza that urged civilians to evacuate and that certain locations would be attacked. However, many civilians are unable to evacuate due to the Israeli blockade of Gaza, as well as Hamas not allowing civilians to leave so that Israel is forced to bomb civilians while attacking Hamas, somewhat framing Israel to commit a war crime.
The conflict has sparked numerous debates, movements and protests across the world as well as inside of the United States due to the United States’ support of Israel and other factors. Many protests have occurred, including those in support of Palestine, Hamas, Israel or just a peaceful ceasefire.
U.S. President Joe Biden announced that a roughly $14 Billion-dollar foreign aid package was being prepared to be sent to Israel. Biden also announced a roughly $100 million dollar aid to support displaced civilians in Gaza and the West Bank.
“In our view, it has to be a two-state solution, and that means a concentrated effort for all the parties — Israelis, Palestinians, regional partners, global leaders — to put us on a path toward peace.” President Biden said during a conference on Oct. 25.
Israel already operates numerous United States built war machines, including the world’s most technologically advanced fighter jet, the F-35, and a large amount of the $14 Billion-dollar aid package will consist of munitions to be used with these already existing U.S. made weapons that Israel operates.
“You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself, but as long as America exists, you will never, ever have to,” said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a press conference in Tel Aviv on Oct. 12.
The fate of this conflict will remain unknown for months, and most likely years to come. Both Hamas and Israel have been accused of a number of war crimes by the United Nations. Although at this time there is no official death count from an independent and non-bias source, it is estimated that in total roughly 19,000 people, with a large majority being civilians have been killed on both sides combined. Opinions on who is in the right in this conflict remain divided across the globe, despite the blood being spilled on both sides.
