Israel is the world's only Jewish state. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is between the Jews and the Arabs over the ancestral homeland of Jews and how it is controlled.
History of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Jews have had a continuous presence in the land of Israel for the past 3,300 years. King David (1010-970 BCE) made Jerusalem the Capital of Israel. His son Solomon built the First Temple in Jerusalem (Old Testament). In 587 BCE, Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar's army captured Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple, and exiled the Jews to Babylon (modern-day Iraq).
After the exile by the Romans in 70 CE, the Jewish people migrated to Europe and North Africa. The region was ruled or controlled by a succession of superpower empires in the following order: Babylonian, Persian, Greek Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Empires, Islamic and Christian crusaders, Ottoman Empire, and the British Empire.
Jews have been returning to their native land as early as 1880. However, World War II saw a massive influx of Jews in the British-controlled land called Palestine. This vast influx of Jewish immigrants into the region caused tension with the native Palestinian Arabs, and violence flared between the two groups. The United Nations (UN) proposed an Arab-Jewish partition of Palestine — between Palestine and the new state of Israel. This partition plan mandated 53% of the land to the Jewish-majority state (Israel) and 47 per cent to the Palestinian-majority state (Palestine). However, this was not acceptable to the Arab world, so they waged war against Israel in 1948. Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan jointly attacked Israel. It was the first Arab- Israeli war. Israel won this war and occupied more land than previously envisaged in the 1947 UN partition plan. By the war's end in 1949, the West Bank and East Jerusalem came under Jordan's rule, while West Jerusalem came under Israel's. The Gaza Strip was under Egyptian military control after the end of the war in 1949. Thus, an early United Nations plan to give each group part of the land failed due to the war.
The Six-Day War of June 5–10, 1967 (also known as the June War): The war between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, & Syria. The Arab states of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria also contributed troops and arms. At the war's end, Israel had gained control of the Sinai Peninsula (later returned to Egypt), the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights.
Today's borders of Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip largely reflect the outcomes of two wars, one waged in 1948 and another in 1967.
Despite a long-term peace process and the general reconciliation of Israel with Egypt and Jordan, Israelis and Palestinians have failed to reach a final peace agreement. The remaining key issues are mutual recognition, borders, security, water rights, control of Jerusalem, Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Palestinian freedom of movement, and displaced Palestinian refugees to return.
West Bank: The West Bank is a chunk of land located - as the name suggests - on the west bank of the river Jordan and bounded by Israel to the north, west and south. To its east lies Jordan. During the 1967 war, Jordan lost the West Bank to Israel. Israel occupied the West Bank and established a military administration throughout the area, except in East Jerusalem. Israel incorporated it into itself, extending Israeli citizenship, law, and civil administration to East Jerusalem.
During the first decade of Israeli occupation, there was little civil resistance to Israeli authorities and very little support among Palestinian residents of resistance activity. However, during the early 80s, the Israelis started settling in West Bank. They occupied land and buildings annexed from the Palestinian inhabitants, many of whom had fled because of the 1948 and 1967 wars.
The "Oslo Accord" (1993) between the Israeli government and the PLO led the PLO to recognise Israel's right to exist and renounce violence and the creation of the Palestinian Authority (PA). After the "Oslo Accord" part of the West Bank and the entire Gaza Strip came under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA). However, in 2006, the Palestinian Authority lost the election to Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Hamas (an Islamist fundamentalist group) is an anti-Israel military group. Hamas took over the Gaza Strip. The PA Govt continued in the West Bank with the support of Israel and continues to work toward establishing itself as an independent government in the Palestinian urban areas of the West Bank.
The Gaza Strip: The Gaza Strip (40 km long and 6–8 km wide) is situated on a relatively flat coastal plain of the Mediterranean Sea. Israel controls the Gaza Strip's airspace and territorial waters as well as the movement of people or goods in or out of Gaza by air or sea. However, it was under the British mandate till 1948. Gaza Strip is densely populated (2 million) with Palestinians and has high population growth and high rates of unemployment. It had been under Israeli occupation since 1967 until Israel decided to "disengage" from the territory in 2005. But as discussed earlier, in 2006, the Palestinian Authority lost the election to Hamas. Hamas took over the Gaza Strip and refused to recognise Israel as a country. Hamas engaged Israel with rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, and Israel responded with aerial attacks on the probable hideouts of the militants.
In politically stable times, as much as one-tenth of the Palestinian population travel daily to Israel to work in menial jobs. The Palestinians are not allowed to stay overnight in their workplace. Political tension and outbreaks of violence often led Israeli authorities to close the border for extended periods, putting many Palestinians out of work. As a result, a thriving smuggling industry emerged, based on a network of underground tunnels linking parts of the Gaza Strip with neighbouring Egypt. The tunnels provided Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip with access to food, fuel, medicine, electronics, and weapons.
Israel-Hamas war: On 7 October 2023, Palestinian militant groups led by Hamas launched a large-scale campaign against Israel. The war began with a militant invasion of Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing at least 1,200 Israelis and injuring more than 2,700. Hamas continues to fire Rockets at Israel and is holding Israelis hostage in Gaza. Iran has long been Hamas' main military supporter, smuggling weapons into the enclave through clandestine cross-border tunnels or boats that have escaped the Mediterranean blockade. The Iran-backed Hezbollah has been carrying out daily attacks on Israel amid the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. In addition, in Apr 2024, Yemen's Houthi rebels launched multiple drones at Israel in coordination with dozens of missiles and drones fired by Iran. Therefore, there is a growing risk of escalation of conflict between the Middle East and pro-Israel countries (the US, UK, France, etc.).
The negotiations to end the Israel-Hamas conflict remain deadlocked, with Hamas sticking to its demands for a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the entire Gaza Strip, the return of the displaced Palestinians to their residence, intensification of the entry of relief and aid, and the start of reconstruction. On the Other hand, Israel wants to secure the return of hostages seized by Hamas in its Oct 7 attack that triggered the war. Israel says it will not stop fighting until Hamas is destroyed as a military force.
India, meanwhile, launched Operation Ajay to repatriate its citizens from Israel and Palestine starting 12 October 2023. Indian special flights brought Indian nationals and Nepalese back from Israel.
Two-state solution: The two-state solution was the bedrock of the US-backed peace process ushered in by the 1993 Oslo Accords, signed by Yasser Arafat of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The accords led the PLO to recognise Israel's right to exist and renounce violence and the creation of the Palestinian Authority (PA). The talks had also grappled with the borders of a Palestinian state, along with the fate of Palestinian refugees and Jews who had settled in the territories captured by Israel in 1967. Advocates of the two-state solution have envisaged a Palestine state in the Gaza Strip and West Bank linked by a corridor through Israel. Known as The Geneva Accord, its principles include recognition of Jerusalem's Jewish neighbourhoods as the Israeli capital, recognition of its Arab neighbourhoods as the Palestinian capital, and a disarmed Palestinian state.
Palestinians hoped this would be a step towards an independent state, with East Jerusalem as the capital. However, this proposal is unacceptable to Hamas and the Utra-nationalist Israelis. Hamas' 1988 founding charter calls for Israel's destruction, and it refuses to recognise Israel. The process was hit by rejection and violence on both sides.
The fate of Jerusalem, deemed by Israel as its "eternal and indivisible" capital, was the main obstacle.
In 2024, the primary approach to solving the conflict with a "two-state solution" is no longer viable because, though there are only Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank has a population of 2,747,943 Palestinians and over 670,000 Israelis (a total of 30 lakh), making it impossible to separate the two communities. Hence, the first task is to neutralise terrorist groups like Hamas and then go for confederalism or federalism under an integrated Israel [9,727,000 people are living in Israel (Of those, 7,145,000 are Jewish (73.5%), along with 2,048,000 Arabs (21%) and 534,000 members of other minorities (5.5%)].
Conclusion: Israel and the Palestinian Authority have claimed Jerusalem as their capital city. However, the international community has broadly rejected both claims and argues that peaceful negotiations should resolve the matter. Hence, Hamas needs to lay down its arms and then negotiate for a peaceful resolution.