Historical Background
During 1300 BCE, Moses brought the Hewbrews out of Egypt to Canaan, which they later called Israel. Since then, people living there were called Jews. Israel was ruled by the Romans in 63 BCE. Rome established a local leader named Herod as the ruler of the Jews. In the last years of Herod’s reign, Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Jesus founded Christianity. Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem, capital of Israel. Christians believe that he miraculously returned to life there and later ascended into heaven.
The Jews staged revolts against the Romans in 66 CE and 132 CE. Both rebellions were crushed, and Jews were driven out from Jerusalem. The Roman leaders renamed the area Palestine. In 570 CE, Muhammad was born in Saudi Arabia. Muhammad later wrote a holy book called the Koran. After his death, his followers, known as Muslims, believed that he rose to heaven from Jerusalem. Jerusalem, which had been the centre of the ancient Jewish homeland, had also become sacred to Muslims.
Major Historical Events
1948 – Israel is born
Warfare continued between Arabs and Jews for more than six decades. In March 1948, Jews and Muslims were fighting for control of the roads in Palestine. The Jews started a massacre in a Muslim village, killing about 20% of the villagers. This was said to have driven some of the Arab community out of Palestine. On May 14th 1948, Jewish leader David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel.
1967 – The Six-Day War
On 18th May, 1967, Nasser, President of Egypt, blocked the gulf of Aqaba to Israeli ships, breaking international law. The Israeli government considered that a sign of war. On 5th June, 1967, Israeli planes started an assault on the Arabian countries- Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. This broke out into a full scale war, lasting six days. The Six-Day War was a tremendous military victory for Israel. They gained control of the West Bank until the present. This has sharpened the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. It has also worsened the relations between Israel and the surrounding Arab states.
2005- Israeli Withdraws from Gaza
Since the end of the Six-Day War, Israeli has established settlements in the Gaza Strip. By 2005, approximately 10,000 Israelis lived there in twenty-five settlements. Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon realized that Israeli withdrawal from Gaza might be necessary to future relations between Israel and the Palestinians. On 20th February, 2005, Ariel Sharon signed evacuation orders for the settlements in the Gaza Strip. However, many Palestinians not only want to regain Gaza, but also land on the West Bank and the city of Jerusalem, which they believe belongs to them.
Causes of the Recent Gaza Conflict
Hamas was established in 1987. It is committed to destroying Israel and putting an Islamic state in its place. After winning elections in 2006, Hamas seized control of the Strip in June 2007. Israel has been restricting entry to and fro Gaza. They intensified the blockade after the Hamas took over, with the aim of isolating Hamas and to pressure it to stop firing rockets into Israel. The two sides signed an Egypt-brokered ceasefire in June 2008.
The Latest Gaza Conflict
When the ceasefire expired on 19th December 2008, Hamas refused to renew it, and started firing more rockets into Israel. Hamas’ reason for the recent attacks was that the Israeli blockade has caused the Strip to be slowly choked off, leading to life-threatening problems of sanitation, health, water supply and transportation. On 27th December, Israel launched its offensive, named Operation Cast Lead, in response. After eight consecutive days of bombing, Israel started Ground Invasion of Gaza on 3rd January, 2009.
The international community was extremely concerned about the Gaza conflict. The Security Council of United Nations passed a ceasefire resolution on 9th January, by a vote of 14-0, with United States abstaining. The United States has always been seen as the strongest supporter of Israel, because many Jews live in the United States, and they form an important voting group that lobbied in favor of Israel. Israeli declared a unilateral ceasefire effective at 2 a.m. 18th January 2009. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said "We have reached all the goals of the war, and beyond," As of 18th January 2009, it was reported that more than 1206 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed in this conflict. However, it remains to be seen if the Gaza Conflict will end here.
Acknowledgements
- Richard Worth. The Arab-Israeli Conflict. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2007.
- The Straits Times, Ceasefire terms are of vital importance,12th January 2009
- The Straits Times, What you don’t know about Gaza,12th January 2009
- The Straits Times, UN chief heads for talks with Israel and Hamas,14th January 2009
- The Straits Times, Gaza war may be near ‘final act’,17th January 2009
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