The Endless Struggle
By: Gabriel Urrea
Tags: Conflict, History, Palestine, Israel

Lost amid the modern wars (Iraq, Afghanistan, Rwanda), commonly ignored in the western media and with more than 80 years of struggling history; the conflict among Israelis and Palestinians is one of the oldest on Earth. Despite multiple geographic reassembling and treaty signings, there is yet to be an agreement in which both sides can concur. With the issue becoming a hot spot in light of the recent bombarding of both Palestinian and Israeli cities, it is worth taking a look at what initially transpired as just another mass migration.

Brief History of the Conflict

In order to understand the reasons for the geographic battle occurring, it is necessary to consider the chronicle of the past habitants of the land.

Palestine was not an official nation until 1988, the habitants known today as Palestinians, have their ancestry roots on the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea from east to west, and the Litani River and the Neguev Desert from north to south. These people have a lasting dynasty of rulers, from the Ottoman Empire to the Persian Empire and the more recent British Empire, the Palestinians, have deep roots of withstanding colonialism for years.

In 1920, thanks to the help of common friends (British Empire) who had promised beforehand to assist in providing a territory, the first Jewish people (mostly Zionists) started to settle in today’s Palestine. The long-awaited Jewish State was becoming a reality. This first settlers aimed to make exclusive, not only for Jews, but for Zionist Jews in that matter. Anybody who dared to think otherwise, would be asked to leave.

With the creation of the United Nations, diplomacy came to town. It was in 1944 that the initial partition of the territory took place. This first division proclaimed the official birth of the independent nation of Israel, and its counterpart Palestine. Although it was only a small portion of the ground that was entrusted to Israel, it was sufficient to put the Palestinians on notice.

Since the Jewish occupation, the territory has erupted with violence. The first war started in 1936 which lasted more than a year and a half, with the native’s defeat. In 1967, the famously known six-day war took place, named as such due to Israel’s quick victory. In 1993 and 2000, two massive coups, organized by the overpowered minority (the radical Palestinians), were both suppressed with massive violence from the government. After so many defeats at the hands of the Israelis, an extremist group was born with the name Hammas, one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations in the world.

The Palestinians just had enough. It is no longer about the Israelis as enemies, the label is held by anyone other than themselves. An for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, has become the invisible law that permeates the zone. Neither side is interested in reaching a peaceful settlement, their sentiment has become one that rewards vengeance against the people that hurt them, they want compensation for what they feel has been an utterly disgraceful treatment of their people and territory.

The Palestinian authority, in constant search for an end to the conflict, is despised by most of their own people. The extremist group Hammas was chosen by popular vote to be the representative of the Palestinian interests, instead of their current government. The Israelis, on the other hand, are also quite neglectful to bring relationships to a more civil state. When their own prime minister advocated to reduce the Jewish settlements on the West Bank (the largest Palestinian zone) and in Gaza (Hammas HQ), he was called a traitor, and was murdered by the same Israelis.

Hammas elements.

International Intervention

The globalized environment makes it imperative to be thoughtful not only on the primary protagonists of the war, but on the secondary characters that could vaguely portray themselves as barely involved. We’ve accustomed ourselves to expect a vocal stand of the most powerful countries. Foreign politics is something the many voters in each of these nations tend to look at when deciding on the ballot, making it relevant not only to Israelis and Palestinians, but also for the people that aspire to rule these powerful countries.

Arabic nationalism was flooding in the early years of the 1960s, which garnered the attention of the U.S.S.R. (back then, the biggest supporter of the ideology), allowing it to build multiple alliances with a bunch of countries of the Middle East, in this case Palestine being a perfect target.

On the other hand, the United States felt themselves obligated to make their posture a firm one against communism. They became even bigger advocates of Israel. There’s a long account of their “friendship” dating back to one of the top 10 industries in the whole world, filmmaking. An industry which in the beginning was primarily supported by immigrant Jews. Post WWII, USA needed allies in the Middle East. The energy market and oil resources managed by the OPEC, made it imperative for the Americans to have an important presence in these sectors of the world, and thus the relationship grew stronger.

If initially Israel was used as an excuse against communism, it has evolved into the fight against Islamic extremist groups in Muslim nations like Al Qaeda and ISIS. Every year, the United States offers the amount of 3 billion dollars to Israel in military force, help in construction and more. With Israel being a relatively new nation in search of democracy and similar aspirations as it’s American counterpart, and Palestine being the absolute opposite in terms of ideology against their Soviet rivals; Israel and Palestine was turned into a perfect proxy war between two of the giants on earth.

Closing Thoughts

It is true though, that most nations have expressed vocal support to Palestine, and have condemned actions taken by the Israeli government, yet it’s both sides that have throughout 80 years performed despicable violent behavior. Whereas oppression is the preferred mechanism of the one, terrorism is the selected other, which in modern times, has become enemy of the state number one and is ever harder to defend.

It could be said there’s a better chance of raining frogs than Palestine and Israel solving their issues on their own, nevertheless, it grows even tougher when there are foreign pursuits that stir the diplomacy in their best interest. Between the unconditional support from the United States to Israel, the fear permeating the generalized Muslim terrorism and the refusal of both parties to come to agreement, the road to peace lies far beyond the horizon.