The Israel Palestine Conflict

The Israel-Palestine conflict is a situation that has been going on for about 75 years. Right now, another war has erupted between the two nations. On 7th October, suddenly hundreds of air missiles were fired at Israel. Well, it wouldn't be much of a problem for Israel as they have an Iron Dome System. When rockets are fired at Israel, they can counter-attack by firing more rockets so that they explode mid-air without any casualties. However, Hamas fired around 5000 rockets in about 20 minutes, so the Iron Dome failed, resulting in thousands of Israeli deaths. The missiles weren't the only thing Hamas did, however, as they have also launched a full-scale attack on air, land, and water. A part of their border was destroyed by a bulldozer, and one Israeli tank was captured. Moreover, some cities and villages close to Israel's and Palestine's border were taken over by Hamas, resulting in thousands of civilians dead and some taken hostage. Due to this, Israel has declared war, by sending missiles to Gaza (A part of Palestine, taken over by Hamas). Before saying anything else, we also need to understand the context of the situation. Palestine is separated into two parts: One in the West Bank and the other in the southwest of Israel. The Part of Palestine in the West Bank is controlled by Fatah, a Palestinian political party. Whereas Gaza is controlled by Hamas. Hamas is considered a terrorist group by many countries like USA, UK, Japan, Israel, etc. Some countries do not recognize Hamas as terrorists, for example, Syria, Egypt, Iran, and most countries in the Middle East. Instead, they recognize Hamas as freedom fighters, or something else. Hamas is mainly known for attacking Israel at times. They justify their actions by claiming that Israel has also been doing the same thing to them for years. Due to Hamas keeping on attacking Israel, they have also attacked by carrying out 'Operation Iron Swords where they basically just deploy their military on Gaza and send drone strikes, send missiles, or do anything else to fight. The citizens of Israel are not happy about this. Most people in Israel are disappointed with the government because although they have one of the most powerful militaries in the world, they have failed to maintain peace. The whole world is freaking out about this because Israel is not an irrelevant country, they are one of the most powerful in the world, so if they were to go to war, it is deemed to be big. Most of the Western countries claim that 'Israel has a right to defend itself', whereas the Middle Eastern countries claim that Hamas was attacking in a form of self-defense. Now, Palestine has also been terrorized by Israel for decades, so they need some kind of support. But, they will not get peace by getting support from a group that murders innocent people and takes them hostage. Responding to violence with more violence will only escalate the situation. Hamas has been known for murdering innocent people, but so is Israel. Israel is a big military power, and they do not need to counter-attack the very weak Hamas in comparison to them. There has been severe injustice in the Palestinian people, but how will killing more innocent Israelis give them justice? Also, there is something else that needs to be said. Everything happens for a reason, so this war must also have a reason. To find it, we need to look at the history. Israel and Palestine weren't enemies in the past, as they lived the Ottoman Empire together, in peace. It was later that the Ottoman Empire dissolved and formed Israel and Palestine as independent countries. After that, a chain reaction of wars, alliances, battles, shootouts, and hatred started. It was only after that that the tense relations between Israel and Palestine started. The main history starts in the time of Hitler. We all know how badly the Jews were treated, with the holocaust and all that. Because of that, the Jews needed to stay in one place and make their own country. Thus, the Jews migrated to the Palestine area. They chose this place because it was a very holy area for them. It is not only holy for them, however, as it is also important for the Muslims and the Christians. At this time, the Jews, Muslims, and Christians lived peacefully in the Ottoman Empire. It was awesome, until 1915 when World War I started. The British, French, and Arab revolutionaries together fought against the Ottoman Empire and then won. To thank the Arabs for their help in defeating the Ottoman Empire, The British gave the Arabs the Palestine area. The British had also made the same deal to the Jews, promising their own independent country near Palestine. It seemed okay, but it wasn't because they had also made a deal with France. They decided to split the Middle-Eastern Area in Half. One belonging to France, and the other belonging to the UK. Later, the UK took full control over the Palestinian Region. At this time, Hitler was in power and the holocaust had happened. The remaining Jews fled to Palestine. Initially, they were allowed to enter, but later their entry was blocked. Thus, an Israeli Nationalist Movement started. Around the 1940s, the Palestine Nationalist Movement also started. Both groups start demanding their own country. In 1948, the UK was fed up with the Jews and Arabs so they left the area and made the two groups form a country on their own. But they realized that they couldn't do that so they just left the responsibility to the United Nations. The UN decided to separate the land but leave Jerusalem as an International Territory because it is important for three religions. The Jews accept it and name their country Israel. However, the neighboring countries did not like it. Thus, in 1948, the first Arab-Israeli War started. The Israelis fought against five countries and somehow won. The war ended in 1949. Now, Israel had captured some of the land that Palestine had been given by the UN. Gaza went to Egypt and the West Bank went to Jordan. This meant that Palestine did not exist any longer. In 1967, the second Arab-Israeli war started and Israel won easily. They had occupied a big part of the Egyptian peninsula plus the west bank, and the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians also want their own country, so the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was founded. Fast forward to 1979, Egypt becomes the first Arab country to recognize Israel as an Independent country. After the peace talks, the entire peninsula that was originally captured by Israel was given back to Egypt. It was nice while it lasted, because after two years the Egyptian Prime Minister was assassinated. After some time, the Israelis start to go to the West Bank due to cheap housing or for religious purposes. Some Israelis claim that the entire West Bank is theirs so they start living there freely. Those settlements were illegal and the Palestinians see it as colonizing them. In 1992 however, Israel got an amazing prime minister; Yitzhak Rabin. He claims that PLO is not a terrorist organization. He says that the Palestinians just want their country and that they should let them have it. Israel recognized the PLO, and in return, the PLO recognized Israel. In 1994, the Palestinian government was established and they finally got to have their own country. Unfortunately, many Israelis already had permanent settlements in the West Bank which were supported by the Israeli government. So, the Palestinians could only live in a few areas. Thus, the west bank is separated into 3 parts. In one part, the Palestinian government is in control. In the other part, other governments exercise control, and in the last part, the Israeli government is in control. Palestine and Israel had a close relationship till then, but after that, everything went downhill. Some Jewish extremists killed their prime minister. These Israeli extremists wanted everything to be theirs, including Gaza and the West Bank. Around this time, HAMAS formed. HAMAS is a Palestinian extremist organization that wishes for the destruction of Israel. The HAMAS group hates the PLO for being too 'compromising' with Israel. The hatred between the Palestinians and Israelis starts, which leads to attacks on both countries. Some time later a civil war started in Palestine, between the PLO and HAMAS. Later, HAMAS gets the Gaza Strip and the PLO and Fatah get the West Bank of Palestine. HAMAS rules over Gaza like a terrorist group, so a lot of attacks are seen there, but if you look at the West Bank, you will see barely any war or violence there. This shows that this war is not Israel versus Palestine, but Israel versus Hamas. To understand this further, we need to look at the Israel and Palestine map once more. Gaza is controlled by Hamas, as I said earlier, and the West Bank is controlled by the PLO and Fatah. Many Israelis live in the West Bank, and since the part of Palestine in the West Bank does not attack or interfere with Israel in any way, there is no violence, no rockets, and no Israeli military in any way. So, it's just Gaza and Israel in the war here. However, the people who are facing the effects of the war the most are the citizens of Gaza. They are economically cut off from the world by Israel and Egypt. The only money they get is from donations from around the world who want to help them. Unfortunately, that money is just used by Hamas to buy more weapons and guns. The people living there have barely anything to eat and live in fear of getting hit by missiles. This is very weird, however, because Israel has one of the most advanced military agencies in the world. With that technology, they should be able to successfully target Hamas without harming any citizens, but they can't, or won't. We do have to remember that killing citizens in war is a war crime. But, Hamas, too, makes their bases in difficult places, like under a hospital or an apartment building. Hamas themselves are keeping their people in danger by staying close to them. Using your people as a human shield is not patriotic. The main cause of this war is the extremists of both countries. By doing a set of stupid things, they have somehow managed to make a butterfly effect and resulted in war. The proper thinking of the citizens of both countries, the proper thinking of the government, and the proper thinking of the outside world can result in world peace. Unfortunately, instead of focusing on what can make the war end, most people pick sides like it's a sporting event. We need more peace supporters, not side pickers. This is also why most wars in the world came to be. Usually, the government does something stupid, and a series of chain reactions are made, which turns into a butterfly effect and results in war, in most scenarios. Instead of peaceful protests, people start acting violently to 'support' a country, which will only make the situation worse unless we manage to find peace, humanity will probably end. Either humanity ends wars, or wars end us.