While this conflict, which has deep historical roots, continues to increase the tension between the parties, the whole world follows the developments closely. This complex problem between Israel and Palestine remains important as an issue awaiting solution along with the political, cultural and historical dynamics affecting the region.
How did this problem, which ceased to be regional and gained an international dimension, evolve into an endless process?
Their calendar is a little backwards; We will translate it to the Ottoman Empire periods. At that time, Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire.
Palestine, which was in the hands of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, came under the control of England with the collapse of the state. In addition to the Arab majority, a Jewish minority also lived in this region. When Britain was given the task of establishing a “national home” for Jews in Palestine, tensions between the two communities increased.
While the Jews argued that these lands were their historical homeland, the Palestinians opposed this. From the 1920s to the 1940s, the number of Jews escaping from persecution in Europe and looking for a new home gradually increased. Meanwhile, violence against the British administration was increasing. In 1947, the United Nations proposed dividing Palestine into a separate Jewish state and an Arab state; He also voted for the proposal to leave Jerusalem under UN control as a city with special status. Although this plan was accepted by Jewish leaders, it was never implemented because the Arabs rejected it.
II. When the British withdrew from the region after World War II, the state of Israel was officially established in 1948.
This historical day is called “Al Nakba”, meaning “The Catastrophe” for Palestinians. The declaration of independence made by Jewish leaders on May 15 ignited a long-running and complex war in the region. Al Nakba Day marked the beginning of a period in which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced to leave their land…
With these developments, conflicts in the region gradually deepened. Besides the Palestinians, neighboring Arab countries are also involved in the war, and some areas of Israel are occupied. Even though the war ended with a ceasefire at the end of the following year, Israel began to control most of the region.
With the establishment of Israel, there was Jewish immigration to this new state from Europe and other areas where the Jewish population was concentrated. This wave of immigration shook the demographic structure of the region to its core and brought about the complex political and ethnic dynamics that have continued since the founding of Israel.
The process of immigration to Palestine among Jews is defined by waves of immigration called “Aliyah”.
Thousands of Jews immigrated to these lands during the First Aliyah of 1882-1903, the Second Aliyah of 1904-1914, the Third Aliyah of 1919-1923, the Fourth Aliyah of 1924-1928, and the Fifth Aliyah of 1929-1939. These migrations, II. It continued with the intensification of Jewish immigration to Palestine between 1948 and 1951 after World War II.
Immigrant Jews founded the organization Irgun Z’vai Leumi in 1931, paving the way for the establishment of the state of Israel. But this process caused conflicts between Jews and Palestinians. Many people from both the Jewish and Arab communities lost their lives in the events of April 1920 and May 1921.
The events and strikes that started in 1936 continued until 1939.
Founded in 1946, the organization made history with the bomb attack on the King David Hotel. Many people lost their lives as a result of these events. The Deir Yasin massacre that occurred later became an important and tragic turning point in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On April 9, 1948, militants under the leadership of Avraham Stern, leader of the Lehi organization, and Menachem Begin, leader of the Irgun organization, carried out a bloody raid on the village of Deir Yasin in the west of Jerusalem. These attacks were also supported by other organizations.
After the 1948 War, Israel expanded the areas it occupied and subjected Palestinians to forced migration.
This process; It took place in an environment dominated by fears of torture, rape and massacre. This triggered a huge wave of migration from Palestinian lands. According to Israeli sources, 500, according to Arab sources, 900, and according to the United Nations, 726 thousand Palestinians left the lands they lived in. These numbers correspond to approximately 70% of the Palestinian population at that time. That is a very serious number.
In response to this situation, the UN, with its decision No. 194 dated 1948, called for the migrating Palestinians to be allowed to return. However, the implementation of this decision and the return of the immigrants to their countries became quite difficult due to the deepening political chaos in the region.
June 5 is important because it is the day that the 1967 War began, as well as the day Palestinians accept as “Naksa” (Decline).
The consequences of this war brought new waves of migration, and even some Palestinians who emigrated in 1967 were forced to emigrate again. However, another noteworthy point is that more than 250 new Jewish settlements have been built since 1967, especially in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. It is known that approximately 650 thousand Jews settled in these settlements.
The West Bank and the Gaza Strip are two main Palestinian territories that are important in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
What we call the West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River; It is a region surrounded by Israel from the south, north and west. The region was occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War and has been under Israeli control ever since. This region includes Jerusalem, which is another cause of conflict between Palestine and Israel.
The Gaza Strip, which is under the control of Hamas, is a small coastal region on the Egyptian border. Israel also occupied Gaza in the 1967 Six-Day War, but withdrew unilaterally from the region in 2005. Israel continues to impose a blockade and control Gaza’s borders, viewing Gaza as a “hostile entity”. This situation negatively affects the economic and humanitarian conditions of Gaza.
The Israel-Palestine problem has become not only a regional problem, but also a global security and human rights issue. Subject to the 1907 Hague Convention and the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel is responsible for complying with the rules of international humanitarian law in the confiscated areas of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and East Jerusalem. Because these regions are considered “Occupied Territories” within the framework of the law. We hope that a fair and sustainable solution will be found between the parties and the foundations of a permanent peace will be laid.
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