US Embassy in Jerusalem

Very, Very Brief History of Israel and Palestine

The conflict between Israel and Palestine could be traced back to the Old Testament/Qur'an/Torah with Abraham, Sarai, Hagar, and Ishmael, but to make this more concise I'm going to start in the 20th century. After the Holocaust, the Jewish people were granted their own country (in essence a guarantee of safety and freedom of religion) by the United Nations. In biblical times, the Jewish people had lived in the Palestinian region, so following World War II the UN broke up part of the land where the Palestinians lived to create Israel. Palestine refers to the organized group of Arabs who shared a common culture in that specific area. Palestine wasn't an independent country; they did not rule themselves nor have their own established government until 1988. **Britain was occupying Palestine in the 1940's, so it was Britain creating Israel, not the people currently living there. However, the idea of a peaceful place for Jews to practice their religion is far from a reality, as both the Palestinians and Israelis continue to fight for control of the land. Today there are two major solutions to resolving the tension between the Palestinians and the Israelis: the two-state or single state solutions. The two-state solution proposes the creation of two separate nations with their own governments, a Jewish Israel and a separate Palestine. The single state solution proposes the unification of both groups and all the territory of that region into a single country and government. 

1948: The Arab-Israeli War. Britain withdrew its troops, ended occupation of Palestine, and left Israel. As a result, new territorial lines were drawn, creating the Gaza strip and the West Bank as Palestinian-dominated areas.

1967: The Six-Day War. Israeli troops occupied Palestinian areas for years. Israelis hoped to exchange the occupied land for Arab recognition of Israel's right to exist and to forge lasting peace.

2005: Israel withdrew its troops from Gaza. In Gaza, a radical political group called Hamas won the elections. In 1997, the US State Department officially recognized Hamas as a terrorist organization. Hamas refuses to recognize Israel as a country and believes Palestinians should return to their old homelands, using force.

To this day, Gaza is blockaded by Israel and Egypt. While Palestine does not have a national army, Hamas has a military branch and there are weapons within the Gaza Strip. In protest to the blockade and the existence of Israel, many indiscriminately fire (targeting civilians and soldiers) rockets across the border. Israel in turn, has lead many offensives to stop the rocket fire. 

2008: The Gaza War // Operation Cast Lead - Israeli offensive. Hamas labeled the attack as the Gaza Massacre and the Battle of al-Furqan. Israel's goal was to prevent weapon smuggling and indiscriminate rocket fire on Israel. During the three-week war, an estimated 1,300 people (mainly civilians) were killed in Gaza before a ceasefire was declared.

November 2012: Operation Pillar of Defense - Israeli offensive on Gaza. At least 167 Palestinians and six Israelis were killed. After eight days a ceasefire was declared with both sides promising to stop attacks.

July 2014: Three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and killed by Hamas. Violence erupted and authorities have said over 2,200 people were killed - most of them Palestinians - during 50 days of violence. An interesting point about this conflict: both sides claimed victory.

26 August 2014: Ceasefire agreed between Israel and Hamas 

Why Moving the Embassy is Controversial 

Previously, Jerusalem was shared between the Palestinians and Israelis. It served as neutral religious ground where both groups could worship. However, in December 2017, President Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The US embassy in Israel was established in Tel Aviv in 1966, but was moved to Jerusalem this week. Tensions have always been high within Jerusalem as the city is shared between both groups, yet this move pushed many Palestinians to protest. As of writing this blog, more than 50 Palestinian protesters have been killed by the Israeli police, and 2,700 have been injured. 

The timing of the opening could not have come at a worse time. Tensions and emotions ran hot as May 15th is the 70th anniversary of what Palestinians call their “nakba,” or catastrophe; May 15th was when hundreds of thousands Palestinians were removed from their homelands upon the creation of Israel. Additionally, the blockade of the Gaza Strip --put in place after Hamas took over Gaza-- might be coming to an end along the Egyptian border. Hamas leadership has been meeting in Cairo for what is presumed to be negotiations for opening the border. 

SITES

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/20436092

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/gaza-protests-take-off-ahead-of-new-us-embassy-inauguration-in-jerusalem/2018/05/14/eb6396ae-56e4-11e8-9889-07bcc1327f4b_story.html?noredirect=on

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/14/us/politics/trump-jerusalem-embassy-middle-east-peace.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/14/world/middleeast/gaza-protests-palestinians-us-embassy.html

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-israel-palestine-gaza-border-protests-20180515-story.html

http://time.com/5277529/palestine-protests-israel-embassy-jerusalem-funerals/

MAPS

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/03/v3_israel_palestinians/maps/html/israel_founded.stm

http://internationalrelations.org/israel-palestine-conflict/