At the beginning of the month, a deadly war broke out between Israel and Hamas, the Terrorist regime that controls Palestine. 1,400 Israelites and 4,300 Palestinians have died since the beginning of the conflict. I’m sure we have all heard about this humanitarian issue, whether it be from the news, or our favorite celebrities posting about it on social media, however this conflict runs much deeper than just the past month, and I believe to truly understand the Israeli-Palestinian war we must look all the way back at the history of the nations.
We begin during World War I, when the current land was controlled by The Ottoman Empire. When the War ended, the land was conceded by the Ottomans to the British Empire, who then started the Zionist movement. The term Zionist refers to people who believe the sacred land of Jerusalem (or Zion) should belong to the Jewish people. However it wouldn’t be until February of 1947 that Britain proposed creating space for displaced Jewish people after World War II. It was decided by the UN that the land would be split equally, one half for the Jewish Israel, and the other side for Arab Palestine, however the Arabs, who had inhabited that land for centuries, refused to agree to any of the United Nations rules. This would result in Israel claiming independence and declaring war on Palestine. With Israel being backed by foreign powers, they would end up winning the war and dividing the land into three parts, Israel, The Gaza Strip, and West Bank. The West Bank and Gaza would be controlled by Jordan and Egypt until 1967. In 1967, war would break out between Israel and the surrounding Arab countries, however, once again backed by foreign powers, Israel would win back The Gaza Strip and The West Bank in just 6 days. This would force many Palestinians to run from their home or live under the rule of Israel. This forced 2 million Palestinians into the 140 square miles of the Gaza Strip. It wouldn’t be until 2006 when Hamas would take over Gaza politics and begin revolting against Israel in minor ways. But the final switch that brought us to the tragedy at hand was on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launches rockets at Israel and leads them to retaliate and decimate the Gaza Strip.
This conflict has become extremely controversial in the US, but I do truly believe in order to form your own opinion you must educate yourself on the history of the people of the land and have empathy for those respected people.