Since the 19th Century, Israel and Palestine have been embroiled in a conflict due to religious disagreements and land claims. However, over the past few decades, representatives from both sides and international entities have continuously attempted and failed to broker peace.
Subsequently, during the presidency of Donald Trump, the United States has taken a more active role in trying to foster peace between Israel and Palestine. For a peace deal to be effective and binding, it is imperative that leaders from the United States, Israel, and Palestine are all present and able to share their concerns. It is also vital for representatives to account for the complex and prolonged history that Israel and Palestine have shared.
The Israel-Palestine conflict is a long-standing dispute that finds its roots in the 16th century. In 1517, Palestine came under the Ottoman Empire’s rule and remained under its control for over 4 centuries. As the Ottoman Empire continued to expand, it grew to encompass many different ethnicities and religions, and the city of Jerusalem emerged as an important landmark for Muslims, Christians, and Jews alike. In 1799, French statesman and military leader Napoleon Bonaparte offered Palestine as a homeland to the Jewish community, and in 1882, the first major Zionist settlement was established in Palestine, sparking fierce opposition from Arab communities who had settled in the region.
The Partition of Palestine
The tensions between the Jewish and Arab communities in the area were exacerbated during the First World War. In 1914, Britain declared war on the Ottoman Empire, and Palestine’s future became an important issue for British policymakers. In 1917, after Ottoman forces retreated, Britain issued the Balfour Declaration, a public statement that announced the country’s support for the creation of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine. At the time, Palestine was home to a minority Jewish population. The Declaration was the first public expression of support for Zionism by a significant international power. It is viewed as one of the primary catalysts of the contemporary Israel-Palestine conflict and one of the critical elements that laid the groundwork for a Jewish state in Palestine.
During World War II, countless Jews fled Europe, fearing persecution and violence as a result of the Holocaust. In 1947, the recently established United Nations passed Resolution 181, which called for the partition of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states, and for the city of Jerusalem, which held significance to both Jewish and Muslim communities in the area, to be governed by a special international regime. Resolution 181 fuelled further tensions between the two communities, as it is often viewed by the Jewish community as the legal basis for the creation of the state of Israel, although the Arab community rejected it.
The 1948 Arab Israeli War
As the Partition Plan set out in Resolution 181 increasingly gained backing from global powers, the Arab League announced that it was prepared to carry out military operations to prevent the partition of Palestine and safeguard Palestinian Arabs’ rights. In May 1948, shortly after the Resolution was passed, Israel declared its independence and officially established its sovereign state.
The newfound state was subsequently recognized by the two prominent global powers of the time — the United States and the Soviet Union. In response, the Arab League nations declared war on Israel, sparking the first Arab-Israeli War. The war ended in the 1949 Armistice Agreements, which gave Israel control over land apportioned to the Arab state under the Partition Plan, Egypt was given control of the Gaza Strip and Transjordan had control over the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The Six-Day War
In 1967, the Six-Day War erupted in the region. Although the conflict was short, it was violent, and it considerably altered the map of the Middle East. Following the war, Israel obtained sovereignty over a significant amount of new territory, including the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula, which had been previously under the control of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. The war ended with a U.N.-brokered ceasefire, but it significantly heightened geopolitical tensions between Israel and its neighbors.
The Palestine Liberation Organization and Hamas
In 1974, the Arab League recognized the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the representative of the Palestinian people. Shortly after, the PLO obtained observer status at the U.N. General Assembly. Although the PLO still plays a prominent role in Palestinian affairs globally, domestic issues in Palestine are murkier, as Hamas is also vying for influence and control in the area.
Hamas is a Sunni-Islamic nationalist and military organization, which operates in Gaza. The PLO, on the other hand, operates primarily in the West Bank. Although the parties are not always aligned in their visions, both are responsible for carrying out violent attacks against Israelis, both are internationally recognized as terror organizations, and neither entity recognizes Israel as an independent country. Since Israel established its independence, violence, including lone-wolf bus bombings, stabbing attacks, and rocket attacks, have increased. While there have been numerous attempts to establish peace negotiations, internal tensions among Palestinian authorities and heightened tensions between Israeli and Palestinian forces have prevented this from occurring.
Tensions in the region are also compounded by the fact that Israel oversees all entry and exit points into Gaza and the West Bank, in an attempt to clamp down on terrorist attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians.
Peace Efforts
As the Israel-Palestine conflict has endured, many heads of state and international leaders have attempted to broker peace between the two parties. The signing of the Oslo Accords was considered to be a momentous development. In 1993, Yitzhak Rabin, Israel’s Prime Minister, and Yasser Arafat, the former chairman of the PLO, shook hands. For Palestinians, the deal signified their journey to statehood but it failed to achieve much and only increased tensions.
During his presidency, Donald Trump unveiled a Middle East peace plan which proposed an independent Palestinian state, recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the West Bank settlements, and recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s undivided capital. The plan garnered the support of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But, it was fiercely rejected by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who described the deal as a conspiracy that did not adequately account for Palestinian concerns and voices. Trump was the first U.S. President to put forward a clear and concise peace plan to resolve this seemingly neverending conflict.
Efforts by the United States and Israel to establish peace talks with Hamas have also been thwarted, as Ismail Abdel Salam Ahmed Haniyeh, a senior political leader of Hamas, has continuously turned down these requests. For effective and lasting peace to be established between Israel and Palestine, future peace talks must ensure that all relevant parties from Israel, Palestine, and the United States are at the table to discuss and consider their respective perspectives. Failing to do so fails to account for the complex history these parties have shared and how it shapes contemporary geopolitics in the region.
