Israel-Palestine: Victims of Misunderstanding

Israel-Palestine: Victims of Misunderstanding

14th May 1948. The British Mandate of Palestine was formally terminated by the British government. This was followed by the creation of two independent states- the State of Israel and the State of Palestine, in accordance with the UN Partition plan laid out in Resolution 181 of the UN General Assembly, with the holy city of Jerusalem placed under UN administration. This resolution was vehemently opposed by Arab nations, who instead wished for a single Arab state in Palestine. 

As a result, on 15th May 1948, exactly one day after its independence, Israel was attacked on three fronts by five Arab states- Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq. Despite the odds, Israel won a phenomenal victory over the Arabs, due in part to good Israeli military planning, and partly to strategic blunders by the Arab states and a lack of coordination between them. As a result of the war, Israel found itself in possession of one-third more territory than what had been allotted to it by the UN Partition Plan, including West Jerusalem. Meanwhile, the remaining Palestinian territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip found themselves under Jordanian and Egyptian occupation respectively. 

This war established clearly the steadfast intention of the Israeli people to stay right where they were, and gave out a clear message to the world-- Israel was not to be trifled with. The Israeli people were not in a mood to be oppressed and subjugated- again. Most of Israel's citizens were immigrants from Europe, many of whom had suffered and escaped from the Third Reich, and the Holocaust was still fresh in the collective memory of the Israeli people. 

A few years later, in 1967, Israel launched a surprise attack on Egypt, followed by Jordan and Syria, leading to the [in]famous Six-Day War, wherein Israel won yet another astounding military victory. After the war, Israel found itself in possession of huge swathes of territory, namely, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Golan Heights. 

After a few years of recuperation from the humiliating defeat in 1967, the Arabs launched another collective attack on Israel in 1973, leading to the October War (known to the Israelis as the Yom-Kippur War and to the Arabs as the Ramadan War). Israel once again shocked the world by defeating the Arab forces who outnumbered the Israeli forces nearly three to one. 

However, these conflicts did not make Israel feel any safer. In fact, these military conflicts merely reinforced fear in the Israeli people, fear of the unpredictability of their Arab neighbors, fear of being overwhelmed the next time such a situation arises, and a fear for their own existence. 

Following the Six-Day War, Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, both of which were Palestinian territories. To this day, Israel still occupies the West Bank and the city of Jerusalem. While the main issue is that Palestine desires independence from Israeli occupation, many other issues have arisen from this dispute, such as the dispute for the Jordan River's water and the Jerusalem Dispute, to name a few. This is what is commonly known as the Israel-Palestine dispute today. 

The issues we see in the Israel-Palestinian conflict today are nothing but a manifestation of this fear. Israel and Israelis feel that they are facing a constant, never-ending existential threat; yesterday from their Arab neighbors, today from militants, terrorists, and extremists. Meanwhile, the Palestinians feel their sovereignty is being violated and that they are wrongfully being oppressed by the Israeli government and military. 

Both these fears are well-founded, and if seen from the perspective of each party, their actions may also seem justified. But ultimately, the casualties have been Israel and Palestine's innocents. This can be understood with the following example- the Israeli military and government start evicting Arab residents from their homes in the West Bank to accommodate Israelis. As a result, Palestinians begin protesting. In retaliation, Israeli police and military may fire tear gas, rubber bullets, and begin detaining protesters. Protesters may then start rock-pelting and arson, and the protests turn violent. Thanks to word of mouth, propaganda by political groups, and the respective Israeli and Arab media, a mutual hatred begins to spread among the two peoples, triggering social and communal clashes. This leads to a wave of repression and detention by the Israeli military, triggering militant responses on the part of Arab youth accompanied by groups like the Hamas. 

Today, thanks to social media, biased journalism, and political propaganda, supporters of either side fail to see the story of the other side. Everything becomes black and white. For a pro-Israeli, all Palestinians and Arabs are barbaric terrorists, while for a pro-Palestinian, all Israelis are Western puppets and selfish colonialists. 

The basic fact to be acknowledged here is, that there is a severe and worrying lack of a constructive dialogue between the two parties. Dialogue between the two parties (if any) is a wave of accusations of support for terrorism, crimes against humanity, violation of sovereignty, and disregard for international law and diplomatic conduct. There are speeches in the Knesset (Israel's legislature), there are addresses to the people of Palestine, and all of them convey a single message- of the 'other side' being the uncivilized and barbaric enemy, out to destroy their way of life, and that it is the duty of the people to 'fight back', to 'defend themselves' and whatnot. There is no mention of pursuing a dialogue with the 'other side', for each side has unilaterally already established that the other side will fail to cooperate. 

With these prejudices and stereotypes in place, no one will ever be exposed to the story of the 'other side', and thus, through this vicious cycle of mutual misunderstanding and misjudgment, will this trend of violence, that has been pursuing its course for more than half a century, will continue. Yes, there have been some apparent 'Peace Talks' between the two parties before, but almost all have broken down, mostly due to unreasonable demands on both sides, and inflexibility in negotiations, hindering any possibility of a compromise. 

This situation has only been aggravated by the repetitive and constant involvement of foreign actors, such as the USA, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Russia, to name a few. This unstable region, like many others, serves as a battleground for a proxy war between regional and global powers, and therefore, any efforts on behalf of the two parties to come to an understanding, and thereby a settlement, are nullified by the pressurization and actions of these foreign powers. For example, the Trump administration, a few months ago, decided to transfer its embassy in Israel from Tel-Aviv, the internationally recognized de-facto capital of Israel, to Jerusalem, the capital as proclaimed by Israel. This action led to dissent not only by Palestine's people and leaders, but by leaders worldwide, including those of France and Germany, some of the United States' greatest allies. This lead to protests by the Palestinian people, and thus increased hostility between the two. 

Therefore, it may be concluded that the only way to a peaceful resolution of this conflict is through a dialogue, not just between political representatives, but also amongst the common citizens of the two parties. Until then, there can be no end to the violence and hatred, and no end to the sufferings of the innocents of Israel and Palestine alike.