While the timing of recent developments in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories may have been unexpected, the events themselves were inevitable. It has existed for nearly 75 years.
THE CREATION OF PALESTINE
- Britain took control of the area known as Palestine after the ruler of that part of the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire, was defeated in World War One.
- In 1947, after some conflicts the UN voted for Palestine to be split into separate Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem becoming an international city.
- That plan was accepted by Jewish leaders but rejected by the Arab side and never implemented.
THE CREATION OF ISRAEL
- In 1948, unable to solve the problem, British rulers left and Jewish leaders declared the creation of the state of Israel.
- Many Palestinians objected and a war followed. Troops from neighboring Arab countries invaded. • Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced out of their homes in what they call Al Nakba. • By the time the fighting ended in a ceasefire the following year, Israel controlled most of the territory.
- In another war in 1967, Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank, as well as most of the Syrian Golan Heights, Gaza and the Egyptian Sinai peninsula.
- Most Palestinian refugees and their descendants live in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as in neighboring Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
- Neither they nor their descendants have been allowed by Israel to return to their homes, Israelis believe this would overwhelm the country and threaten its existence as a Jewish state.
- Gianluigi Di Marzo, III C
