The history behind the Israeli-Palestinian conflict 

The Islamic Resistance Movement, more commonly known internationally as HAMAS, is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni-Islamist political organization that was officially designated as a terrorist group by the United States in 1997. HAMAS has had control over the Israeli occupied part of Palestine known as the Gaza-Strip since 2007. On October 7, 2023, HAMAS and several other Palestinian armed groups led an attack against Israel, continuing a long history of conflict between the parties involved.

Palestinian and Jewish claims on the land date back thousands of years, but the main conflict that is going on today began in 1916. The Arab Revolt was an uprising of Arab nationalists against the Ottoman Empire in the Middle Eastern Front of World War I. During that time, much of the Middle East (including modern-day Israel and Palestine) was part of the Ottoman Empire. At the start of the war, the United Kingdom promised the Arabs that, if they revolted against the Ottomans, the British would support Arab independence, to which the Arabs agreed. However, in 1916, the British, French, Russians and Italians created the Sykes-Picot Agreement which defined their post-WWI spheres of influence in the possibility of defeating the Ottoman Empire. This included dividing the Arab state that the British had promised independence, placing Palestine under British, French, and Russian “protection.” 

Even though the Arabs continued to believe that they would be given independence after the war ended, the British government released the Balfour Declaration in 1917, which was headed by Zionist politicians. This was a public statement announcing British support of establishing a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, which was a result of British and wider European antisemitism and Zionism. After the war ended, the British created ‘Mandatory Palestine,’ which was the British-ruled state of Palestine. In 1922, the Mandate for Palestine was issued to Britain by the League of Nations, requiring the Balfour Declaration to be put into place and, thus, sectioning off part of Palestine for the aforementioned “national home for the Jewish people.” This divided the territory into two national groups: the Palestinian Arabs and the Jews. 

Tensions continued to rise as more and more Jewish immigrants poured into Palestine from Europe, cultural differences only worsening the gap. Christian and Muslim Palestinians were at the forefront of this opposition as they made up almost 90% of the Palestinian population. Most Palestinians felt that the entirety of Palestine was being turned into a Jewish state as the borders of the territories were not clearly drawn. The Palestinians took offense to Jewish immigrants calling their homeland and their ancestor’s homeland the rightful Jewish home, especially since it was the Arabs that fought for Palestine and the other Middle Eastern states against the Ottoman Empire. They also saw the entire development as a betrayal by the British, a decision made without any regard for the desires of the inhabitants of the state. Thus, it was the anger for the European power that now resided over Palestine and supported the development of Zionism within Palestine that fueled the anger of the Palestinians and created Palestinian nationalism. The Balfour Declaration also did not outline the political rights of the non-Jewish citizens of Palestine, giving them less recognition in the eyes of the British and allowing for the displacement and marginalization of the Palestinian Arabs.

These tensions continued to get worse over the years until they culminated into a boiling point in 1936, which is known as the Great Palestinian Revolt. This was an uprising of the Palestinian Arabs against the British government, with the end goals of seeking independence from the British and ending the British authorities’ support for Zionism. However, the Palestinian revolt ultimately failed after three years of fighting and only worsened Palestinian treatment and strengthened Zionism support. 

However, with antisemitism rising in Europe as World War II approached, the influx of Jewish immigrants grew, and violence between the Palestinian Arabs and the Jewish population became worse and more frequent. In 1947, The United Nations General Assembly presented the 1947 UN Partition Plan, which aimed to end the internal conflict between the Arabs and Jews of Palestine by splitting the state into three territories. The issue was that, while the Jewish community made up 32% of the population, the plan gave them 56% of the territory. While Jewish leadership accepted the plan, Arab leadership rejected the United Nation’s authority and any form of partition and demanded that the state of Palestine be given wholly to the Palestinian Arabs, resulting in the Civil War of Mandatory Palestine, which lasted from 1947 to 1948. This conflict primarily took place between the Palestinian Arabs and Jewish with little interference from the British. This first part of the conflict resulted in the termination of British rule over Palestine and the creation of the State of Israel, leading to a time of forced displacement known as Nakba. The goal of Nakba was to remove the Palestinians from the territory that was not the State of Israel. An estimated 750,000 Plalestinians were forcibly removed from their homes, over 500 Palestinian villages were destroyed, and an estimated 15,000 Plaestinians were killed. This also led to the start of the second part of the civil war, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Support from other countries including Egypt, Iraq and Syria invaded the new state, fighting against the new Jewish State of Israel alongside the Palestinian Arabs. The UN placed multiple truces into effect throughout the year of war, even proposing a new partition plan which was rejected by both sides. In 1949, the war ended with Israel signing individual armistices with the nations that supported the Arabs, resulting in Israel holding about 78% of what used to be Mandatory Palestine, leaving the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the hands of the Arabs. 

Now, the Palestinians are wishing and fighting for their home nation back while the State of Israel declares the land to be the nation of Jewish origin and a holy place. The United States government has continuously denied issuing a ceasefire as well as stood firm with their long time allies, Israel. These decisions have sparked outrage within American citizens, especially college students, who have conducted many protests on their own campuses. American citizens have organized funding and aid to be sent to Gaza, boycotted institutions that support Israel, and spoken out in mass against the brutality happening in this conflict. 

A student from Hope College, who wishes to remain anonymous, recalled the few times that they have witnessed peaceful student protests against Israel on Hope’s campus, stating that they believe that peaceful protests are a great way to be seen and heard. They stated that college students can benefit from “getting involved” in this issue and issues like it and that it “is a great way to start the journey of learning why you believe in what you believe in, which helps you become a better citizen of the U.S. and growing your values and beliefs.” Speaking specifically about our campus, they stated that “as a Hope College student, in an education where we are pushed to think critically and be bold in what we believe in, I think it’s important for Hope students to learn about these issues.” Some of the ways that they think Hope encourages this is through special events such as the Critical Issues Symposium, films at the Knickerbocker and many other guest speakers and events. They also said that they appreciate all of the activism-based and academic department student organizations and resources offered at Hope, as well as the student development offices and resources. 

No matter your opinion on this topic or others like it, it is important to seek out truthful knowledge and critically think about what you learn, which includes learning the history of how the issue and those involved got to where they are. College students are taught to think critically about past and present global issues as well as their implications so that the world surrounding the campus is understood fully. It must be understood that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict did not suddenly begin with a HAMAS attack on Israel in 2023. This string of attacks on both sides is simply the most recent conflict within a generations-long war. There is no perfect answer, after all that has happened, but if we are unable to stop the purposeless and horrific murder of innocent civilians, it will continue on for generations more.

(Featured image source: Justin Lane via The Guardian)