Chronology of the Land of Palestine and Israel
October 2023 will go down in the history of the Middle East and the world as one of the most tragic dates. Another clash between Israel and Palestine in the Arabian Peninsula, a permanent zone of turbulence, claimed the lives of thousands of civilians and caused destruction in both countries.
The world has split into two camps: supporters of Palestine and their claim to lost territories and supporters of Israel, which defends its right to historical lands on religious grounds. It is not yet clear how the new round in the confrontation between Jews and Muslims will turn out, but it is impossible to deny the scale of violated agreements and human rights.
Origins of the Middle East crisis
Palestine is a Middle Eastern region with a long history, whose borders have changed rapidly over the centuries due to the peculiarities of its location. The territory has been a crossroads of different religions - Judaism and Christianity, cultures, trade routes and political interests of foreign countries. Palestine was at different times under the control of the Roman Empire, Byzantium, Arab conquerors, Muslim rule represented by the Ottoman dynasty and the British Mandate. However, the land that historically belonged to Palestine is now divided between Israel and the partially recognized State of Palestine.
At the beginning of our era, the Palestinian territories were conquered by the Arabs who came to replace Byzantine rule. And in the 13th century - by the time the Crusades period ended, during which Christianity and Islam clashed in the region - Palestine became a fully Muslim region. For the next two centuries, the state remained fully under the mandate of the Mamluk Sultanate centered in Cairo, and from 1516 - the Ottoman Empire. But already in 1920, as a result of the First World War, the Palestinian lands were handed over to Great Britain.
Despite the constant change of patrons, the constant problem of the region remained the incessant migration of the Jewish people. It is known that in 137 A.D. the Romans expelled the Jews and forbade them by law to return to Jerusalem. The Jewish people were forced to leave these lands and settled along the entire African coast, in the Balkans, on the shores of the Black Sea and in Europe, where anti-Semitic sentiments began to emerge, negatively affecting the life of the Jewish Diaspora. Thus, for the first time, the idea of returning Jews to their historical lands in Jerusalem appeared due to the fact that a part of Israelis remained in the Palestinian region. According to historical data, before the British Mandate, 10% of the local population in Palestine were Jews, who were not oppressed by the Arabs, but, on the contrary, coexisted peacefully and had no territorial and religious claims against each other.
Zionism took on a political coloring only at the end of the 19th century, when ethnic and religious intolerance towards Jews began to gain momentum in Europe. The idea of relocating all Jews to a certain place that would become a state for them began to be actively discussed. Potential territories for relocation were modern Kenya, Madagascar and Palestine. Thus, Theodore Herzl, the ideologist of Zionism, developed his concept of repatriation of Jews to the region of Palestine, writing the book "The Jewish State", and a year later, in 1897, under his leadership, the World Zionist Organization (WZO) was established. And with the British coming to power in Palestine in the early 20th century, the British government began to promote Zionist policy in the new colony, which was the beginning of ethnic strife and years of war over territory, claiming the lives of innocent people.
Israeli and Palestinian sovereignty issues
In 1947, Palestine was divided into Arab and Jewish parts in accordance with UN Resolution 181. This decision was prompted by the Peel Commission's conclusion that the British Mandate was incapable of continuing its work in the region and that the colonial regime should be abolished. This Commission investigated the unrest during the Palestinian uprising against the British colonizers for national independence and the country's security from foreign control.
The UN Resolution recommended the establishment of independent states and the granting of special international treatment to the city of Jerusalem, and attached a partition plan. It provided for the termination of the British Mandate, the gradual withdrawal of British military forces and the delimitation of the borders between Israel and Palestine. According to the first part of the Plan, the United Kingdom was to leave Palestine no later than August 1, 1948, and new states were to emerge two months after the withdrawal, but no later than October 1, 1948.
However, the consequence of the plan to partition the Palestinian region was the introduction of Arab troops into the territory of the newly proclaimed Israel and the outbreak of the 1947-1949 war. Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen joined forces to defend the sovereignty of the Palestinian state. But despite the disproportionate forces of the opponents, the war ended with the defeat of the Arabs and the reduction of the Palestinian territories allotted by the UN Resolution. West Jerusalem was under Israeli control, while East Jerusalem was occupied by Egypt and Jordan and they held these territories until 1967. The armistice resulted in the demarcation line between Israel and Palestine, which was initially considered a ceasefire line, and after the Six-Day War in 1967 it acquired political status.
In 1967, Arab and Jewish tensions between Syria and Egypt on the one hand and Israel on the other began to clash again in earnest: fighting over water resources and then over justice for the Palestinian Arab people. In this war, the Arab states were again defeated, while Israel, after destroying all of its opponents' aircraft, de-energized them and defeated them after six days. As a result, the territories of the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights were ceded to Tel Aviv. The Green Line of 1949 became the administrative boundary between Israel and the new territories.
Despite heavy losses during the Six-Day War, a month later Egypt decided to reclaim the territories of the Sinai Peninsula from Israel, starting the "War of Attrition" of 1967-1970. By the end of 1967, Israel, with a more capable army, moved the conflict inside Egypt, affecting not only military installations but also civilians. But eventually the countries signed a ceasefire agreement without territorial changes.
Thereafter, each decade was marked by one or more clashes between Arabs and Jews. Thus, on October 7, 2023, another bloody and brutal conflict between Hamas and Israel began, which claimed the lives of more than 11 thousand civilians and attracted the attention of the world community.
International support for the parties
It is difficult to predict the duration and outcome of this conflict, but it is worth noting that an inter-ethnic confrontation that has lasted for many years cannot end in peace overnight, especially given the involvement of other states in this dispute.
For example, during all military clashes between Arabs and Jews, Washington - Israel's longtime ally - has regularly provided military support to IDF forces, and today's conflict is no exception. U.S. President Joe Biden has said that support for Israel is a wise investment in the future that will pay dividends.
Arab countries, despite their numerical advantage, are unable to enlist the support of a world giant like the US due to historical opposition to each other. However, within some Muslim states there are radical Islamist organizations with significant military power. For example, the rebels of Yemen, supported by Iran, have announced the possibility of attacking Israel if the U.S. openly, militarily, opposes Hamas. Iraq adheres to the same position, moreover, on October 18, the forces of the "Islamic Resistance of Iraq" attacked a U.S. base in Iraq.
Today, the situation among Islamist groups, as well as their negative attitude toward the U.S. presence in the region, has reached a climax, which may lead to an escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.
Thus, the long-standing enmity between Jews and Arabs is experiencing a new wave of aggravation, bringing destruction to the region. The lack of compromises the Palestinians are willing to make is forcing them to become increasingly radicalized to achieve their goals. The increasing number of casualties and the escalating brutality of the two sides may not only exacerbate the conflict, but also permanently freeze the possibility of sitting down at the negotiating table. It is unknown what borders this confrontation may reach, but the involvement of concerned Muslim countries is quite possible.
