Can someone explain carefully how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict started from the beginning and how has it evolved?

Answer 1

Note: ANY answer to this will be influenced by the biases and prejudices of the author since the question is looking for a thematic discussion of the conflict.

Answer 1

The main reason the conflict started was because Israelis think the land is theirs but in the other hand Palestinians think the land belongs to them. Yasser Arafat the leader of Palestine and Yitzhak Rabin the prim minister of Israel have shook hands to make a peace process but the ended in war over and over to this very day.

Answer 2

The Conflict has four major periods which will be discussed herein.

1) British Mandate Period:

This period was characterized by a British Mandatory Government controlling the area called the British Mandate of Palestine. Some of the major events during this period were the increased Jewish immigration to the Mandate of Palestine and their modernization of the territory. This brought in Arab immigration from neighboring territories who wished to live in the more sanitary and developed conditions in Palestine. This combined immigration led to massive population increases. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Jewish population was becoming more significant and Arab leaders and militias urged the British to prevent further Jewish immigration. This resulted in the British rescinding Jewish immigration rights to the territory and culminated with the 1939 White Papers permitting only nominal Jewish immigration. During World War II, Palestine remained off-limits to Jews wishing to flee the Holocaust. This, combined with the White Papers, led many Jewish leaders to openly resist the British Occupation. In 1947, the British relented and brought the Palestinian and Jewish question to the United Nations. The slaughter of the Holocaust and American and Soviet pressure galvanized the world to provide for a Jewish State and an Arab State. The Palestinian Jewish population (who could anachronistically be called Israelis) approved of the Partition whereas the Palestinian Arab population refused further territorial concessions.

2) 1948-9 War and Armistices

When the United Nations passed Resolution 181, the Arabs rejection of the plan lead to skirmishes between Jewish Militias and Arab Militias. In 1948, when the British announced the end of the Mandate, the Jewish Settlement used the opportunity and the legal avenue opened by Resolution 181 to declare a State (Israel). The day after, seven Arab armies from neighboring countries joined with the Arab Militias already operating. As the fighting progressed, Israel was able to repel the invaders and claim about 78% of British Mandate of Palestine as the grounds of their new state. The War is considered by most to be an Israeli Victory.

Throughout the fighting (from 1947-1949) numerous Palestinians were forced from their homes inside what would become Israeli territory. Other Palestinians left in fear that they too could be attacked and forced to leave. This climate of fear and and desire to leave was increased by Arab leaders who encouraged such activities claiming that it would get civilians out of the way while the fighting occurred. After the War and the elimination of Israel, the Palestinians would return without issue. This did not happen as Israel was victorious. Palestinians call this event (the overall war and removal from their homes) the Nakba or Great Catastrophe. Israel has refused the Right of Return for Palestinians claiming that if it did so, it would no longer have a Jewish majority, putting the entire purpose of a Jewish State in jeopardy.

Additionally, Jews from elsewhere in the Middle East (from Arab countries and Turkey) fled to Israel (in roughly equal numbers) in the wake of mass Arab Anti-Semitism, which had been growing since the early 1940s. Jews in Arab countries were subject to discriminatory treatment, pogroms, executions, and humiliations prior to their flight to Israel.

As a result of the war, there was also a semi-viable State of Israel and remaining Palestinian territories were occupied by other Arab Nations. As a result of the 1948-9 Arab-Israeli War, Israel now occupied 78% of the Mandate of Palestine. During this period, Israel was considered weak by both allies and enemies and was treated to belligerent treatment from its neighbors (even during the "peace"). Syrian missiles rained down on the Galilee lowlands periodically, Egyptians cut off Israeli shipping through the Suez Canal (leading to the Suez Crisis of 1956), skirmishes in the water occurred, and the Old City was forcibly cleansed of its Jewish inhabitants by Jordanian forces. Palestinian rights were also suppressed by the Arab States as Jordan militarized the West Bank and Egypt openly annexed Gaza after watching its Palestinian Puppet State fail. The Egyptians openly taunted Israel and amassed troops at the Israeli border in 1967 in order to eradicate the country.

3) Expansive Israeli Period

This period is characterized by an Israeli State that acquired (through war) numerous additional territories from Arab States. During this period, most Arab States (Egypt excepted) refused to negotiate with Israel and therefore did not successfully reacquire these lands. The Six Day War completely changed the dynamic of Arab-Israeli relations. Israel was now negotiating from a place of strength and ceding territories for peace. Among the territories now under Israeli military authority were what have since been called "the Palestinian Territories" of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The Israeli Military Occupation attempted to maintain Law and Order in these regions. Although, Palestinians did have a hard time under occupation, there was no real international non-Arab support for Palestinian self-determination. Many Palestinians sought work in Israel and numerous Israeli companies hired Palestinians as lower-class laborers. This would continue until the late 1980s with the Intifada leading to border closures.

However, the conditions were still less than desirable which lead to the formation of the Terrorist and Paramilitary organization called the Palestine Liberation Organization, whose intent was to create a self-sovereign Palestine. The Palestine Liberation Organization was (of course) illegal in Israel and the Occupied Territories. In 1970, they attempted to launch a coup d'état in Jordan which resulted in their expulsion from that country. They tried out a few other countries like Tunisia and Libya before being kicked out of those countries as well. They eventually found refuge in Southern Lebanon creating their own state-within-a-state and eventually leading to the Lebanese Civil War, which expelled them from Lebanon in 1982. A smaller, more Islamist Paramilitary and Terrorist Organization called Hamas was developing concurrently in Syria and refused to join up with the PLO since they considered the PLO too secular.

4) Palestinian Intifada and the Palestinian States

This period is characterized by the creation of the Palestinian Authority and beginnings of a Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza Territories. Following the eviction of the PLO from Lebanon, they eventually made their way into the West Bank and were able to coordinate an Intifada or an Uprising of Palestinians. The Palestinian Uprising began to show Palestinian dissatisfaction with the continuing Israeli military occupation of the territory and lasted from 1987-1993. In 1993, the Oslo Accords were signed, granting recognition to a new body called the Palestinian Authority which would be responsible for governing Palestinian affairs. Most of the members of the PA were former members of the PLO who were among the moderate members of the organization. In the wake of the Oslo Accords, Jordan finalized a Peace Treaty with Israel in 1994. Israel ceded discrete pieces of land to the PA, but refused to give up large chunks of land until 2005 when it ceded all of Gaza to the PA. In 2000, the Second Palestinian Intifada began in response to Palestinian anger over perceived Israeli intransigence in devolving more power. This intifada lasted until 2005 and was considered a loss by Palestinians. In 2007, the Palestinian Elections sparked a civil war between Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah (the remnant of the PLO in the PA), leading to the former controlling Gaza exclusively and the latter controlling the West Bank exclusively. Hamas continued to exhibit bellicose behavior, bothering both Israelis and Egyptian Military leaders (who termed the territory Hamastan). Responding to constant civilian bombardment, Israel invaded Gaza in December of 2008 in what resulted in nearly 1400 Palestinian Civilian casualties.