Palestine and Israel: Everything You Need To Know

Recently, mass attention has been drawn to the Palestine and Israel “conflict,” as Israel inflicts some of the worst violence on Palestine in years. This has sparked protests all around the world, with people showing their solidarity with Palestine, demanding to "Free Palestine" - so here is a comprehensive timeline to help you understand what is going on and why.

Israel, officially known as the State of Israel, is a country located just east of the Mediterranean Sea and is the worlds only Jewish state. Palestine or the State of Palestine - which is how it is officially recognised by the United Nations - is a region that has been occupied by Israel since 1967. The territories occupied by Israel are the West Bank – including East Jerusalem – and the Gaza Strip. Palestine is situated between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.

Timeline of the history:

Israel’s acts of violence against Palestinian people can be dated back to the early 20th century.

In 1920, Britain took control over the region known as Palestine after the Ottoman Empire is defeated in world war one. During this time, the land belongs to an Arab Muslim majority, with a Jewish minority.

Between the 1920s - 1940s, this region saw an influx of Jewish people, as they wanted to establish a national homeland as Jews were fleeing persecution in Europe. After the end of world war two – as more Jews flee to the region - tensions begun to intensify and violence broke out.

In 1947, In order to reduce the violence and tension, the United Nations decided to vote for Palestine to be split into separate states – a Jewish state and an Arab state, with Jerusalem becoming an international city. The UN’s decision to split the two was accepted by Jewish leaders, but rejected by the Arab side, as both groups claim rights to the land.

In 1948, British rulers left the region and the State of Israel is created by Jewish leaders. This only intensified things and a war begins. Neighbouring Arab countries formed a coalition with Palestinian factions, this included; Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

The Israeli government and forces aggressively removed hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes and many other Palestinians were forced to flee. This is referred to as the Nakba, an Arab word for “catastrophe,” as Israel’s violent actions resulted in around 700,000 Palestinians becoming refugees – a refugee crisis that is still going on to this day. Currently, it is estimated that there are seven million Palestinian refugees.

In 1949, a ceasefire is called and the fighting ends and Israel occupies most of the territory, with Jordan taking control over the land that is known as the West Bank and Egypt took control over Gaza. By this stage, a peace agreement hadn’t been made, so tensions continued to rise.

In 1967, between 5 and 10 June, the “Six-Day War” begins, as Israeli armed forces and warplanes strike Egyptian airfields and they raided Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula – a region between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

Israeli forces won this war and the State of Israel gained control over the Gaza Strip, Sinai (the Sinai Peninsula was later returned to Egypt), the West Bank, the Golan Heights and predominantly Arab east Jerusalem.

This created an even bigger influx of Palestinian refugees fleeing the region. One factor that makes getting a peace agreement difficult is that a core Palestinian demand in peace negotiations is for the return of the Palestinian refugees and their descendants, as not a single one has ever been allowed to return home. Israel doesn’t want Palestinian refugees to return, as they have said it would “overwhelm the country” and would threaten its existence as a Jewish state. If Israel allowed the return of refugees, then it would make Jews a minority, as Israel’s total population is around eight million – including 1.5 million Arabs, so Israel has refused to consider including the right to return in any final peace agreement or status deal.

In September, 1978, a peace deal was created between Egyptian president, Anwar Sadat, and Israeli prime minister, Menachem Begin, known as the Camp David Accords and is signed by US president, Jimmy Carter. At this time, Palestinian peace deals were once again discussed, but failed to be carried out.

In 1987, The First Intifadas took place. This intifada was one of two that took place that saw a Palestinian uprising against Israel. The intifada in the 80s consisted of a series of Palestinian demonstrations, non-violent actions such as mass boycotts and refusing to work jobs in Israel and attacks (Molotov cocktails and occasionally firearms) on Israelis. The Israeli military met protesters and civilians with heavy force, resulting in the death toll of Palestinians, including children, to increase – the death toll of Israelis (both civilians and armed forces) during the intifadas was significantly less than that of Palestinians.

For example, in 1988, 289 Palestinians were killed by Israeli security forces, 48 of them were children. In the same year, 13 Israelis – six of them civilians, four security forces and 3 children – were killed by Palestinians. Between the 80s to 2000, Israeli forces killed 1,376 Palestinians, 281 were children and Israeli civilians killed 115, including 23 children during this timeline. This death toll is only for those killed in occupied areas, so the death toll of all Palestinians during the intifadas is much higher.

In 1987, Hamas is founded, which is a Palestinian militant group. Hamas is an acronym of an Arabic phrase meaning “Islamic Resistance Movement.” The group is known for suicide bombings and rocket attacks against Israeli forces. Hamas has a goal of replacing Israel with a Palestinian state. Israel, Canada, the EU, Japan and the US classify Hamas as a terrorist organisation.

In 1993, the first of two pairs of agreements were signed by the Israeli government and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). This is known as the Oslo Accords and it began setting out a peace process. However, this is still left unresolved, as key issues remain, such as Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Israeli security and the state of Jerusalem.

In 2006, Hamas wins the majority of seats in the Palestinian Authority legislative elections, meaning they would receive a commanding position for both the West Bank and Gaza. However, Hamas declined previous deals that the Palestinian Authority (PA) had made with Israel, resulting in Western powers to stop aid that the PA depends on, to any Hamas-led PA. This escalated tensions and violence between Hamas and the PLO which turned into a war between the two factions. This war resulted in Hamas governing Gaza independently from the West Bank. In 2017, PLO and Hamas reached a preliminary unity agreement, but it still remains unclear if this will lead to a united government.

In 2008, Gaza was victim to a string of attacks by Israel that lasted three weeks. Over a thousand Palestinians were killed and at least 13 Israelis were killed.

In 2012, Israel kills Hamas military chief, Ahmed Jabari. This set off more than a week of rocket fire from Gaza and Israeli airstrikes, resulting in 150 Palestinians being killed and six Israelis.

In 2014, Hamas militants kidnapped and killed three Israeli teenagers near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. Hamas initially denied that they had any involvement in the teenagers’ deaths, but later admitted to it. A seven-week long violent fight in Gaza left 2,200 Palestinians dead and 67 Israeli soldiers and six civilians also died.

In 2017, the Trump administration recognises Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announced that they plan to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv, which triggered outbursts among Palestinians.

In 2018, Israeli armed forces killed more than 170 Palestinian protesters over several months in Gaza.

In 2021, violence and tensions escalate to the highest it's been in years, after hostility in Jerusalem grew during Ramadan, as Israeli police imposed harsh restrictions on gatherings during their month of fasting and far-right Israeli’s marched through the Old City allegedly chanting “death to Arabs.” Israeli’s heavy policing of Palestinians escalated to the use of CS gas and stun grenades inside al-Aqsa mosque, a holy site for both Muslims and Jews.

Palestinians are threatened to be removed by force from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah, a Palestinian neighbourhood outside the Old City. Hamas issued an ultimatum to Israel to remove its armed forces from the al-Aqsa compound and from Sheikh Jarrah and then begins to fire rockets at Jerusalem, which Israel responds to with strong violence.

The airstrikes by Israel have caused major destruction of infrastructure in Gaza, including electricity and water supplies. As of 17 May 2021, Israel have killed more than 212 people, including 61 children and around 1,500 Palestinians are wounded. The majority of the Palestinians killed or wounded are innocent civilians.

Palestine, the West bank and Gaza have been facing a humanitarian and refugee crisis for decades because of the Israeli forces and government’s violations of human rights - Israel's actions has often been accused of ethnic cleansing. Israel is being accused of ‘war crimes’ by multiple different activists, politicians and organisations, which isn’t the first time Israel has been investigated for war crimes against Palestinian people.