Palestine and Israel
Palestine refers to the land that Arabs claim; Israel refers to the same land that Jews claim. Both nations claim the land going back centuries and millennia. The Zionist Movement (seeking a permanent homeland for the world’s Jews) influenced the outcome of World War II. After the war and the persecution of Europe’s Jewish population, the world’s Jewry was given protected land, a homeland that could serve as a beacon of unification and protection from continued persecution.
Three crucial lands within this conflict are the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem.
The West Bank is Palestinian land was has been controlled by Israel since the war in 1967. Israel has allowed Jewish settlers to move in, but Palestinians consider it illegally occupied land. For the Jews, this is great because the West Bank is seen as the heartland of the ancient Jewish state. For the Arabs, this means military occupation of their people and culture.
Gaza is almost completely surrounded by Israeli land and is almost completely made up of Palestinians. While Israel used to have military control of the territory, now it is under military blockade and is being controlled by the (depending who you ask) political/terror group Hamas.
Jerusalem sits between Israel and the West Bank and is claimed as the homeland of all three Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This is why both Israel and Palestine want Jerusalem to be their capital. Jerusalem used to be shared by Israel and Jordan, until Israel annexed the remaining part of Jerusalem, which the United Nations sees as a violation of international law. Almost no country recognizes Israel’s claim of Jerusalem as its capital. The United States avoided weighing in on the controversy until President Trump threw his support behind Israel and recognized Jerusalem as the rightful homeland of the Jews.
Settlements are one of the most controversial part of this conflict. Settlements refer to the land within the West Bank that Israeli settlers are moving into. Reasons for their move can be religious, political(they have the right to the homeland) or because the land is cheap and subsidized. Settlements are seen as a huge impediment to peace. Settlements split the Palestinians apart and thus weaken their hold on the territory thus changing the facts on the ground. Palestinians are subject to Israeli military rule while Jews in the same area are subject to different law, Israeli civil law.
Apartheid is a political event that was thought to be over when South Africa ended the racist policy. This policy, though, continues in present day Israel and Palestine. Within the settlements, under military control, Palestinians are prevented from using Israeli-only roads and must go through various security checkpoints. A United Nations report that was meant to look into whether or not Israel has established an apartheid regime determined that it has, through “its settlement policy and rejection of Palestinian self-determination”. In doing so, the United Nations claims that Israel is creating a de-facto one-state and is erasing Palestinian from the narrative of world relations. Palestinians face “discrimination in access to education, healthcare, employment, residency and building rights”, as well as “expulsions and home demolitions”.
There are two identified possible solutions to this conflict. The One-State Solution would see the unification of Israel, West Bank and Gaza Strip. Either the Palestinians would rule because they would outnumber the Jews and thus end the Jewish state. Otherwise, the Jews would rule and would either force out the Palestinians or deny them the right to vote. The Two-State Solution would create a separate Israel and Palestine and is the mainstream approach to ending the conflict. Polling suggests both majority of Jews and majority of Palestinians support the two-state solution.
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