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THIS ARTICLE WILL not aim to discuss the immediate causes of escalation and the evolving crisis in the Israeli-Palestinian situation. Instead, it will hopefully shed light on the key origins of the Palestinian issue and on some of the important political realities at the Israeli-Palestinian and international level.
It is true that we are witnessing a Palestinian moment of implosion in the occupied territories (Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem) and the Palestinian community inside Israel.
However, unlike what news headlines might currently tell us about the Palestinians and Israel’s blame of Hamas, the story of Palestine did not start today.
Historical roots and the Nakba
The roots of the Palestinian national struggle date back to more than a century. Put simply, the evolving events are a direct Palestinian response to a long historical process of colonialism, dispossession, land confiscation and the denial of national rights in Palestine. This process continues to be a living reality in the Palestinian national experience.
The Jewish movement, Zionism, emerged in Europe prior to the First World War and it sought to deal with the Jewish experience of European anti-Semitism.
However, in later years and with active assistance from Britain as the colonial power in Palestine and the Middle East region, the Zionist movement succeeded in establishing the State of Israel in the land of Palestine in 1948. It facilitated mass Jewish emigration and settlement in that country through violent and colonial practices against the indigenous Palestinians.
Taking over Palestine and expelling most of the indigenous Palestinian people in 1948 became recognised in Palestinian national history as the Nakba (meaning ‘catastrophe’ in Arabic).
The Nakba refers to the destruction of hundreds of Palestinian towns and villages and the expulsion of 700,000 Palestinians in 1948 as a result of the creation of the State of Israel in Palestine. Similar to Britain’s endorsement of Zionism following the First World War, the US continues today to fully support the State of Israel for a range of political, military and geopolitical reasons.
In recent years, Palestinian and Israeli scholars have documented the forced transformation of Palestine into a Jewish state and the developing consequences. Rashid Khalidi illustrated the role of the 1948 events in strengthening the Palestinian national identity and bringing “the Palestinians closer together in terms of their collective consciousness.”
Nur Masalha explored new ways of commemorating and remembering the 1948 Nakba, while the Israeli Jewish scholar, Ilan Pappe, highlighted how the Israeli military occupation of the remainder of the Palestinian territories in 1967 transformed Gaza and the West Bank into “the biggest prison on earth.”
Imprisonment and apartheid
In the biggest prison on earth, Israel has built and maintained a colonial system of discrimination, occupation, blockade and apartheid against the Palestinians. This oppressive system is not only noted by Palestinian and UN sources.
Israeli and international human rights organisations have also been issuing clear reports and warnings. Hagai El-Ad, the executive director of B’Tselem – Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories – acknowledged it publically: “We are Israel’s largest human rights group – and we are calling this apartheid”.
Human Rights Watch made a similar conclusion after years of close observations and research into Israeli’s policy towards the Palestinians. In April 2021, the internationally respected organisation issued a revealing report, indicating clearly that Israel is committing the crimes of apartheid and systematic persecution of the Palestinian people.
At the policy level, Human Rights Watch called for imposing international sanctions against Israel as a means of challenging its apartheid practices and crimes against humanity in Palestine.
Netanyahu and Hamas
Israel’s leaders and spokespersons choose to ignore this historical context, a context that cannot be overlooked and it helps people at the international level to locate the Palestinian national experience and the current wider unrest from Jerusalem to Gaza.
Israeli right-wing leader, Benjamin Netanyahu is encountering internal problems of corruption and leadership challenges from other Israeli political actors and from the right-wing movement. He is interested in protecting his political power and willing to use force and war against the Palestinians to increase his popularity and power, especially among religious-nationalist parties and settlers in Israel.
Netanyahu pursues his preferred public discourse of ‘Hamas’s terrorism’ and ‘rocket fire’, especially during the times of escalation and military assaults on Gaza. This discourse does not provide any acknowledgement of the root causes of Palestinian violent actions or historical grievances, including the Nakba, occupation, apartheid and the denial of basic human rights.
It also fails to recognise that the emergence of the Palestinian political and armed movement, Hamas, in the late 1980s was connected to the harsh realities of Israeli military occupation in Gaza and the West Bank. The US Harvard academic, Sara Roy, studied and researched well the politics of Hamas and the strong link with the occupation.
Gaza
Today, around two million Palestinians in Gaza continue to be subjected to extreme violence and destruction. To take one example from the last few days, Israeli airstrikes wiped out entire families and their children in one of Gaza’s overcrowded areas, known as the Shati refugee camp.
The Shati refugee camp hosts more than 85,000 Palestinian refugees. Putting aside the illegality of armed attacks on civilians under international humanitarian law, the Israeli claims of targeting Hamas fighters among the refugee population in the camp have been refuted strongly by UN sources on the ground.
Gaza’s refugees represent approximately 70% of the total population in this shattered territory.
They were displaced and expelled by Jewish-Israeli forces from their original homes and land in Palestine in 1948. The UN has recognised the Palestinians’ right of return to their land since 1948 and it continues to provide Palestinian refugees with humanitarian assistance through the UN organisation, UNRWA.
Gaza’s refugee population has been dispossessed and under repeated Israeli attacks since the 1950s. However, they still represent the collective Palestinian memory of the Nakba and the struggle for national rights.
Not only Palestinians in Gaza are currently bombarded by Israeli advanced aeroplanes and drones but they also cannot flee the besieged territory because of the Israeli blockade by land, sea and air. They are stranded with a sense of permanent distress, trauma, entrapment, insecurity and lacking access to the outside world.
The besieged territory has also acquired a special place in Israel’s war economy and arms trade. The Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, spoke previously about the Israeli use of Gaza as a ground for testing new military technologies and weapons. These weapons are marketed at the international level as “battle-tested products”. Worse than ever, Gaza simply now means a disastrous state of physical imprisonment, collective punishment, death and destruction.
Palestinians may not have the same equal power as Israel, which is supported militarily and economically by the US and major European states, but the story of the Palestinian national struggle carries moral power and legitimate historical ambitions for justice and self-determination.
Yaser Alashqar is an adjunct assistant professor in International Peace Studies at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. His teaching and research fields include conflict resolution, mediation and Middle East politics. He is also an academic member of the Centre for Palestine Studies in SOAS at the University of London.
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This is a very good article which highlights the reasons why this conflict continues. It’s incredible that 70% of the people living in Gaza don’t originate from there. They have a right to return to their homes and land they were expelled from.
@Brendan Barry: it’s not a very good article…the problems started long before the establishment of Israel. Also to just say Israel began occupying land in 1967 without mentioning that they were attacked ?
@Brian Lyons: It highlights the injustices and inequality of a people who lost their land and homes through occupation and war.
@Brian Lyons: Who actually attacked on 1967? Were there not preemptive airstrikes by Isreal, that destroyed most of the Egyptian airforce on the ground? 1973 was a whole different story though, yes they were attacked. Yom Kippur war.
@Brendan Barry: It represents one point of view from one perspective, this isn’t exactly balanced. Ask an Israeli and they’ll likely give a different view from a different perspective.
@Arch Angel: it’s factual and comes from personal experience. If you know of an article that refutes his assessment please share.
@George Vladisavljevic: Actually it was Egypt under Nasser that precipitated the 1967 war when Egypt closed the Straits of Titan and expelled the UNEV. It was a decade old agreement between Israel and Egypt (after the Suez Crisis), that Egypt would respect the free movement of shipping through the Straits. And any closure would be considered an Act of War. Acting on false info from the Soviets, Nasser mobilised the Egyptian Army on the Border with Israel and closed the Straits. So one could say that it was Egyptian actions that caused the War. And it was again by Egyptian actions that cost the Jordanians the West Bank territory. The Jordanian Forces were only supposed to act in a Defensive manner but the Egyptian commander of the Jordanian Forces received orders from Nasser to attack Israeli Forces rather than just act as a blocking force as was the original plan. And as the the Jordanians were not set up for an attacking move, chaos and confusion reigned.
@Mick.: Yes, you are correct to the closure of the Straits of Tiran and the mobilisation of the Egyptian army being the justification for the SixDay War but one can also argue that the constant encroachment on, and seizure of the Palestinian lands as well as controlling their borders and restricticting what they can import can also be considered an act of war. Time has come to force serious negotiations on both sides. If they cannot do it themselves, come up with an internationally agreed upon peace plan and enforce it. Something like Rambouillet. Too many vested interests and veto wielders involved. This has been going on since ’48 and has been very one sided with only one big loser and we know who that is. Yes Hamas is a problem but they have not been in power since the creation of the Israeli state and are there, rightly or wrongly, because the people are not agreeing with the status quo.
@Brian Lyons: Yes as a professor in TCD this should be considered carefully. Many Arabs stayed in Israel as Palestinians left thinking the neighbouring countries that attacked/ invaded would be successful. This is a glaring omission, and representing TCD, shows poor academic insight. Many Jews were invited by the previous Ottoman regime. Following WW2 many were held in concentration camps by the British in Cypress. They fought a guerrilla war with the Brits for self rule. Most immigration happened after the Holocaust ( unsurprisingly ) and expulsion from Arab states.
@George Vladisavljevic: Well yes Egyptian army gathered at border for ground invasion sparked that
@Brendan Barry: The article may be factual, that doesn’t mean it’s not from the perspective of one person’s point of view, making it one sided by default. To be balanced an opposing point of view should have been sought, don’t you agree?
@George Vladisavljevic: all the attackers have admitted they were going to attack…Israel just got in first because they had top class intel
@George Vladisavljevic: And there in lays the problem. Israel as a Jewish State is not going to go away no matter how much many on the Palestinian side would wish it.
And to add to the problem are the “Ultra Religious” Isrealies that view all of the territory that was the historical and biblical “Kingdom of Israel” as rightfully part of the modern Israel, and is the “Promised Land” given to them by “God”. And they are unwilling to live alongside non Jewish “Gentiles”. And this provides an intractable problem for any of the main Israeli political parties wishing to form a Government that would be willing to contemplate a Two State Solution.
And on the Palestinian side there are those, Hamas amongst them that will accept nothing other than the complete removal of the State of Israel and it’s Jewish population.
How about an article on the struggle of Israel to survive while surrounded by countries calling for its destruction?
@Seamus Mac: I think you’re well qualified to write it and I’ll respond on the comment section. In the mean time this article is factual and highlights the injustices being perpetrated on human beings by an apartheid regime.
@Seamus Mac: Israel seems to do really well seamus…..
There calling for its destruction but never even try it
@Brendan Barry: The article is factual to a point but it glosses over a lot of stuff, some real nasty stuff and if there is to be peace, all that nasty stuff will have to be addressed.
@John McG: Ok enlighten me with facts. “Lots of stuff” is not very helpful .
@David cotter: they are doing well but they wouldnt be there at all if it wasnt for US support. Im not a fan of Israels but the one sided reporting in this country is baffling.
@John McG: Yes your right but this article is about the circumstances which lead to the current crisis.
@David cotter: have you ever read a history book or even checked your assumption? Isreal has been involved in 8 wars with its neighbours…….everytime its neighbours have been the aggressors
@Kev Devereux: This is very true. But Israel is often the aggressor internally against Palestinians.
@Seamus Mac: Hear hear!
Not trying to be political. I just want to know more.
If you support Palestine do you also support Hamas?
If you don’t support Hamas what should Palestine or its allies do about Hamas?
@oMaraTpe: if you support an unified Ireland, does that mean you support the IRA?
@Jim Buckley Barrett: luckily IRA doesn’t have as many big rockets and launchers
@oMaraTpe: me personally, no. I do not support Hamas. But you can’t expect a marginalised people like the Palestinians to overthrow Hamas along side what they are up against from the Isrealis. Your everyday Palestinian has no choice. For me, it’s to raise awareness of the situation. Yes there are other situations across the globe. But nothing compares to this in terms of duration, balance of power and US support.
@Jim Buckley Barrett: The IRA don’t control Ireland, whereas Hamas do control Gaza.
@james spice: Fair point. And what Israel are doing now, the incredible munitions they’re using in one of the most densely populated areas on earth is unforgivable and certain to cause civilian loss of life. Last I heard was over 30 children dead. They claim to give warnings to clear buildings before destroying them and call this humane, leaving multiple families homeless in an instant.
@oMaraTpe: Also, the Irish voice on a national level will probably have more influence over the UK and US than it would Iran ( Hamas allies)
@Arch Angel: it will be hard to call it self defence in 50 years when Palestine is just outright gone.
@oMaraTpe: Unfortunately the Israeli regime are supplied with state of the art weapons courtesy of the U.S. England and France. Ironically the U.S. condems the Iranian nuclear program while conveniently not mentioning Isreal is a nuclear power. Home made rockets against the might of Israel. For a people who suffered under a Nazi regime..they have now become the same regime.
@oMaraTpe: “JuSt asKInG a QewwwesTion…..”
@Jim Buckley Barrett: Good comment…as far as I understand this article describe just one point of view we should listen the other side
@oMaraTpe:
You do know, do you not, that Hamas was elected by the people of Gaza in a democratic election, which was internationally monitored by Jimmy Carter, the former US President.
They are therefore legitimised to defend its citizens by all means possible, according to the UN Charter.
The other thing that I believe is different now than back in 2014, is that there are many more Jewish led organisations in Israel the US and beyond calling out this apartheid Israeli government. There is also a growing discontent among Democrats in the US.
The USA, together with UK and Germany are combining with Israel in the destruction of Gaza and Genocide of the Arab population.
The UN seem powerless to intervene and one wonders where is Russia and similarly China.
It’s a good article but glad it’s an opinion piece because I don’t believe it’s without bias (which is completely normal) A huge issue I believe will hinder peace between both sides is blaming modern generations for the crimes of previous ones. Israel was created in 1948, which was 73 years ago. Modern Israelis can’t be blamed for the sins of their Fathers or Grandfathers. Over 80% of Israelis were born there, and Israel is the only home they’ve ever known. Are they native? Many maybe not but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to be there. Just as much as a white American isn’t native.
Secondly I think it’s never mentioned that Palestinians have rejected all and any peace plans. There’s an unwillingness to concede anything. Even we conceded the North for peace. Lots to discuss though.
@Nathan Mawhinney: Interesting that you say we can’t blame modern Israelis. Even if they are bombing children in Gaza? By the way Israel has successfully claimed compensation from Switzerland because of what the previous generation looted their wealth during WW2. So if the Israelis believe that they are entitled to compensation for something that happened over 80 years ago i dont know why doesn’t this apply to something that applied 78 years ago?
@Nathan Mawhinney: can you tell me which of the parts of this article are biased. I see facts but not bias.
@Joe Griffin: I never said we can’t hold modern israelis accountable for modern crimes man… I was making the point that this is now a multi-generational conflict. Whether you believe Israel was created morally or immorally, its here and it’s modern citizens had no hand in its creation.
The bias I believe is in blaming Israel for all of its suffering, when Palestinians have rejected peace deals such as the Oslo accords.
@Nathan Mawhinney: your knowledge of history is very poor
@Ghulam Mustafa: what a great rebuttal…
Israel is a stolen country….using its huge wealth to create a fantastic military to dominate a giant prison camp (Gaza)it’s the ultimate bully
Que Outrage no folks………
Good article, but wonder why the author never mentioned the root cause of the chaos that now engulfs the middle East. The Sykes Picot agreement. A secret deal between England and France made in 1916 to divide the Ottoman empire between them .Syria, Lebanon, Palestine Iraq. Jordan, Saudi Arabia did not exist at this stage . Jewish settlements in Palestine were even then in conflict with their neighbours at that period of time. Ever wonder why Borders of middle Eastern countries have straight lines. Can’t recall who said it but when England and France left the middle East ..They drew lines in the sand.
@Donal Desmond: I was just thinking the same…
The colonial forces of Europe left behind an irreparable disaster on the whole of the African continent and middle East = Divide and Conquer.
A great song
https://youtu.be/M-khcUWRN4U
@Donal Desmond: https://youtu.be/M-khcUWRN4U
Mike Batt tells the story
@Donal Desmond: Exactly, you’ve got that one deadright I also think that before people start disparaging “Zionists” they should read the history of the Zionist movement.
Yes, it isn’t about this or that … but when it comes to protect an Arab nation against the abuse of other Arab nation … the silence of the whole Arabs community at World wide level is quite shocking.
Maybe you should start to free the Saharauis from Morocco occupation and disobeying an UN order to leave the country and allow the Arab Republic of Sahara to be the free and independent country that Spain granted them in the 70′s at the end of a fascists dictatorship of a Nazi allied.
As a nation any Arab should be ashamed of the abuse of Morocco against the Arab Republic of Sahara. As well as Spain, a well known ultra catholic nation, has been assisting more the Saharauis both in their refugees camps in the desert of Argelia and at diplomatic level by being their voice and supports.
We gave them their independence and that must be
He missed the bit about his Arab Muslim ancestors who invaded in the 7th century and robbed, raped and plundered their way through the land.
@Colin Heffernan: Never as bad as the crusaders. At least the Arabs in Spain left beautiful cities. The crusaders if not killing each other destroyed and murdered in the name of Jesus and plunder.
@Donal Desmond: The Spanish cities where the Christian natives were treated like second class citizens in their own land? Ring a bell with anywhere closer to home my Easter Lily wearing friend? Barcelona is a beautiful well planned city with amazing architecture and none of it is Arab. Same with Madrid, Bilbao, San Sebastian, Santiago del Compostela. The amazing Aquaduct running through Segovia was built by the Romans. Down South, in Seville, only the Cathedral bell tower was built by the Arabs. Apart from Granada’s Alhambra Palace, there’s very little left behind from the Arabs. And, Arabs did their building on what used to be Christian sites. And the horseshoe shaped arch predates the Arab invasion, they just borrowed it.
You are letting your Islamophobia get in the way of facts.
Seville still has many Moorish (Arab) buildings such as the Alcázar, the city walls and the main section of the Giralda, the bell tower of the Seville Cathedral.
Cordoba has the Mosque-Cathedral, built as a mosque but later transformed into a cathedral, with Moorish architecture and Arab inscriptions and motifs. Also the famed Al Hambra Palace, with beautiful tile work, stucco ceilings, fountains, pools and gardens. The Moors engineered a system to bring water from the Darro River upstream from the city of Granada to the Alhambra fortress, so that they could withstand sieges and also use the water in the palaces and gardens.
Argelia sought for the assistance of Spain to evacuate the legitimate president of the Arab Republic of Sahara to save his life. We did.
The reaction of Morocco was to do nothing when a mass of people, full families with babies, got into the sea at neap tides, thinking they could walk into EU territory about 6,000 of people in the water who couldn’t swim.
Rescued by Spanish forces and people as usual. Morocco do nothing, just let the people dying as a sinister lesson to Spain.
The only thing showing by Morocco to the World is the incapacity of a Arab nation and Arab kingdom under Muslim Faith their inability to look after the people in need in their own country and own continent … under the silence consent of the whole Arab countries republics and kingdom
@Maria Quinn: so let’s keep bombing children in Gaza until Muslim countries start looking after their own starving population? OK I agree that many countries treat their citizens appallingly but I’m not sure that you can blame countries because their people are starving. And even if other countries are behaving badly towards their own citizens it doesn’t mean we should be OK with what is happening in Palestine. By the way that other great catholic country, Italy, refused entry to ships who were carrying rescued refugees and left them to die at sea. So not just Muslim countries who behave appallingly.
@Maria Quinn: —–And of course we have other friends of Hamas bombing girls schools because according to their religious beliefs girls shouldn’t be educated.
Only a century? Try 3 Millennium, but that would not suit the.
Who actually attacked on 1967? Were there not preemptive airstrikes by Isreal, that destroyed most of the Egyptian airforce on the ground? 1973 was a whole different story though, yes they were attacked.
@George Vladisavljevic: Israel but brought on by Egyptian ban on Israeli usage of some canal.
Cold hard facts about illegal Israeli occupation cannot be ignored anymore. Taking the 2020 International Labour Conference report ‘The situation of workers of the occupied Arab territories’ It is possible to understand what occupation means.
To quote Juan Somavia preface written in may 2020
The report makes for sobering reading. The situation prevailing in the occupied Arab territories continues to be a source of tension in the region and beyond: this at a time when all available energies and resources need to be harnessed for dialogue to improve the overall political, economic and social conditions in the region. All of us are aware of the restrictions, security measures, acts of violence and impositions that afflict people in the occupied Arab territories. This report goes behind the headlines to examine the impact that the heightened state of tension in the territories has on the daily life and work of Palestinian women and men and their families, and on their institutions. It is no consolation for them to observe that their near neighbours, Israeli workers and their families, are living through times of great difficulty in their own way, and many fear further acts of violence against them. The reality of life in the territories is one of strangulation of the economy, with consequent far-reaching social impacts. Poverty continues to grip Palestinian communities, relieved only by large-scale international assistance. The report documents in detail the many obstacles Palestinians face in trying to earn a living and support themselves in dignity and independence. It also shows the extraordinary resilience of the human spirit in overcoming the barriers to a normal life to make a space for physical and mental survival. I have placed special emphasis this year on the gender dimensions of the situation of workers, and the report highlights the role of Palestinian women in holding together families and communities through these very dark times.
https://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/ilc/ilc92/pdf/rep-i-a-ax.pdf
Where are the comments??!
@Liam Mernagh: don’t worry they will arrive deflecting away from the underline issues.
That wasn’t one sided at all.
have your say