Casualties of War: The Israel-Palestine issue

 

Jerusalem, a holy city in Christianity, Islam and Judaism, as depicted in the game Crusader Kings 2

[Note: This post was written in response to the recent 2023 Israel-Gaza war. The following post is an attempt to be as neutral as possible. I try to be as nuance as possible in this post, and probably oversimplified.]

After Hamas launched an attack in Israel from Palestine-occupied Gaza in October 2023, the Israel has launched an offensive into Gaza.

The British Empire
One of the consequence of World War 2 was the dismantling of the British Empire. This was because the British promised India independence at the end of the war. Without the vast manpower , the British started to withdraw from their colonies. One of the this problematic regions is the Middle East.

After inheriting the Middle Eastern territories as spoils of war from the Ottoman Empire (after World War 1), the British Empire promised the land to the Jews, Palestinians and Arabs. What further complicates things is that groups are not neatly divided. The term Jews may refer to the ethnicity or religion, while the term Arab may refer to a national group or identity. Palestinians are often regarded as the people who were descended from the land who are neither Jew nor Arab.

The contest of the land containing the holy city of different ethnic and religious group often resulted in violence. This included the 1929 riots, the revolts in the late 1930s and the bombing of the King David Hotel in 1946.

Despite British attempts (such as the Peel Commission) to partitioned the land to both Jews and Arabs, there were rejections of such plans by the Arabs and the Palestinians (who would not have their own state).

The United Nations
Thus the future of the land was brought up to thee United Nations. After voting, it was agreed that the region would be partitioned into two-states -- a Jewish-occupied one and an Arab-occupied one.

1947 UN partitioned plan

What followed was violence. The Jews, having been through the Holocaust and displacement were happy to possess any land. The Arabs saw this as a betrayal and loss of a homeland. The Palestinians were not recognised as a state. 

Such resentment led to the 1947 civil war. Unable to keep the peace, the British started withdrawing from the region. They finally withdrew in May 1948, and the state of Israel was proclaimed by the Jews.

State of Israel

The response from the neighbouring Arab states was invasion. After the 1948 War of Independence, both the Jews and the neighbouring Arab states managed to gain territories, but the Palestinians were displaced.

Such resentment led to more  and more wars.

Rockets fired from Gaza to Israel, October 2023

Conclusion - historical actions have far-reaching effects
Sometimes we forger that we continue to bear the scars of previous historical conflicts. World War 2 resulted in the dismantling of the British colonies, which escalated the conflict in the Middle East.

We must be careful of the legacy we want to leave behind.

For more knowledge
Jerusalem the Biography (2011)