Gaza, a thin strip of land stretching along the coast of Israel, has been a key area of land to conflict in that area for a very long time. In early October, Israel declared war on Hamas, a militant group currently controlling the Gaza strip after the militant group sent rockets into Israel. Israel responded with attacks on the Gaza strip. Today, the conflict and fighting continues. This battle is predicted to be a long and hard battle. While social media, news outlets, and college campuses are crawling with protestors representing both sides of the conflict, many do not understand the complex history that has led to the conflict occurring today.

People who claim Palestine as home and those who claim Israel as home have frequently fought in the past. Israel is currently recognized by other nations as a nation while Palestine is not given that same level of recognition by many. However, the conflict cannot be reduced to simply that one element. Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all identify their holy land to be Israel, or specific locations within Israel. This has caused a lot of conflict between followers of the differing religions and nations who identify with a single particular faith.  

The conflict has origins that stretch back into biblical times when God called Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – fathers of the three Abrahamic faiths – to settle in the area now known as Israel and its surrounding regions. Over time, these areas became known as Israel, the Promise Land, Palestine, and more. By 1,000 BC a monarchy of Israelites was established. Eventually when King Solomon died, the kingdom split into two kingdoms: Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Both kingdoms were home to many people of Jewish descent and faith. However, the Jewish population declined significantly over the years as various groups of people, such as the Roman Empire, took over the land. During the Roman Empire’s rule, Judah was renamed Palestine. Thus, the existence of both Israel and Palestine in name can be traced back to ancient times.

In the 7th century, Arabs took control of the area and built the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem at the sight of the second temple of King Solomon. At this point in history, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all tied the origins of their faith and people to the same city as these faiths do share some of the same founding stories and share a single God (Allah or Yaweh). During the Crusades, Christians attempted to lay claim to the land, and more Jews in the area and across Europe were killed. Between the 16th century and the start of the 20th century, the Ottoman Empire, an Islamic empire, ruled over the holy along and most of the middle east, at that time the land was referred to as only Palestine. In the early 1900s Jews flocked back to the area in search of re-establishing a home there. Then, following WWI, Great Britain had control of the area, promising in the 1920s to create a Jewish state within Palestine. However, by 1923, when this promise went into effect, both Arabs and Jews claimed the land and tension leading to violence broke out. Great Britain tried to keep the peace, but as more Jews fled persecution in Europe, the tensions in the area grew.

In the 1940’s, the United Nation separated Israel into two states: The Arab state (Palestine), and the Jewish state. The city of Jerusalem, while located within the Jewish state, had international status. Israel’s population was made of ⅓ Jews and ⅔ Arabs. Still, the Jews got over 50% of the land, making the Arab population very unhappy. Jews and Arabs alike formed armies and fought many times until Israel declared themselves as an independent state in 1948, leading to yet another war in which neighboring Arab states banned together to support the Arabs within the newly declared Israel. By 1949, a ceasefire was declared, the Gaza strip at that time was occupied by Egypt and East Jerusalem and the area known as the West Bank was occupied by Jordan. The rest of Israel remained under Israeli-Jewish control. At this time, there was a mass expulsion of Palestians from their homes and into the regions occupied by either Jordan or Egypt – this is known as Al-Nakba, The Catastrophe. 

More fighting continued afterward, including the Six Day War in 1967, which resulted in Israel gaining control of the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank. Jewish-Israelites moved into areas formerly occupied by Muslims and/or Arab residents, and more fighting ensued for years as the groups of people vied for control of land and their homes. The West Bank and the Gaza strip, while residing within the Israeli nation became Palestinian unofficial territories, governed by local Palestinians. After more violent outbreaks, the Oslo accords were signed, officially establishing the Gaza strip and portions of the West Bank as under Palestinian control. 

One specific Sunni-Islamic militant group, Hamas, wants to destroy the state of Israel entirely and create one “glorified” Islamic state. Hamas split from the Palestinian authority and gained power in the Gaza strip, breaking away from West Bank’s Palestine entirely and creating their own form of government. There have been many attempts that Hamas made to take down Israel over many bloody battles. With more weapons, more recruits, and more motivation, Hamas has decided now is the time to take over the state of Israel. 

As of November 2nd, the war in Gaza shows no sign of slowing down.  According to the Associated Press, as of November 2nd, around 11,000 have been tragically killed, and even people are suffering with injuries through Gaza, Israel, and the West Bank. Exact numbers are difficult to determine with both Hamas and Israel reporting conflicting casualties. However, those suffering as a result of this most current conflict include not just military on both sides, but citizens as well. In an interview conducted by CNN with Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, Blinken claims, “we will be talking about concrete steps that can and should be taken to minimize harm to men, women, and children in Gaza, and this is something that the United States is committed to.” The United States hopes to move the citizens of Gaza as far away from the war zone while Hamas continues to use the small area as a base for fighting. 

As the war rages on, everybody’s safety is at risk in the country of Israel, the Gaza Strip, and even the West Bank. The ongoing fight between the world’s major religions to claim their sacred land and a place to call home and country is coming to deadly measures. Everybody all around the world is praying for a stop to this fatal battle, but it doesn’t appear to be ending anytime soon.  

References

Al Lawalti, Abbas, et al. “Israel is at war with Hamas. Here’s what to know.” CNN, Cable News Network, 15 October 2023. www.cnn.com/2023/10/09/middleeast/israel-hamas-gaza-war-explained-mime-intl/index.html 

Frankle, Julia. “These numbers show the staggering toll of the Israel-Hamas war.” APNews, The Associated Press, 5 November 2023. apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-death-toll-numbers-injured-5c9dc40bec95a8408c83f3c2fb759da0 

“History of Israel-Palestine Conflict” YouTube, Uploaded by History on Maps, 30 July 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=m19F4IHTVGc.