The Israel–Palestine Conflict: A Century of Dispossession, Nationalism, and Struggle.

The roots of the Israel–Palestine conflict lie in the overlapping national movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries — Zionism and Palestinian Arab nationalism — both laying claim to the same land under the waning rule of the Ottoman Empire.

Zionism emerged in Europe as a political movement advocating for a Jewish homeland in response to growing antisemitism and pogroms. In 1917, Britain issued the Balfour Declaration, expressing support for “a national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine — then under Ottoman control and home to a predominantly Arab population.

Following World War I, Britain assumed control of Palestine under a League of Nations mandate, administering it from 1920 to 1948. During this period, Jewish immigration to Palestine increased significantly, especially during the rise of Nazism in Europe, intensifying tensions between Jewish settlers and the Arab majority. Palestinian Arabs opposed both British colonial rule and mass Jewish immigration, culminating in the Arab Revolt (1936–1939), which was brutally suppressed.

The situation reached a turning point in 1947 when the United Nations proposed a partition plan dividing Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem as an international city. While the Jewish leadership accepted the plan, Arab leaders rejected it, arguing it violated the rights of the indigenous Arab majority and allocated a disproportionate amount of land to the Jewish minority.

On May 14, 1948, the state of Israel was declared, prompting immediate military intervention by surrounding Arab states. The resulting Arab-Israeli War led to Israel expanding its territory beyond the UN partition lines. Over 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced or fled, an event known as the Nakba (“catastrophe”). Most were never allowed to return, creating a permanent refugee crisis that remains unresolved.

In the aftermath, the West Bank came under Jordanian control, and Gaza under Egyptian administration. In 1967, during the Six-Day War, Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula (later returned to Egypt). This occupation of Palestinian territories remains central to the conflict.

Palestinians, lacking a state or formal representation for decades, increasingly rallied behind the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), established in 1964. Violent resistance and political negotiations alternated in the following decades, including the First Intifada (1987–1993) — a grassroots uprising against Israeli occupation — which led to the Oslo Accords (1993–1995). These agreements created the Palestinian Authority and promised a two-state solution, but ultimately failed due to mutual distrust, political violence, expanding Israeli settlements, and lack of enforcement mechanisms.

The Second Intifada (2000–2005) marked a return to violence, resulting in thousands of deaths, mostly Palestinian. Since then, the situation has remained volatile. Gaza, governed by Hamas since 2007, has endured multiple military assaults, a strict blockade by Israel and Egypt, and an ongoing humanitarian crisis. Meanwhile, settlement expansion in the West Bank has undermined prospects for a contiguous Palestinian state.

The Israel–Palestine conflict is not merely a religious dispute or an “ancient feud” — it is a modern struggle rooted in colonial legacies, nationalism, displacement, and power asymmetry. Today, over seven million Palestinian refugees and their descendants remain stateless, while millions in the West Bank and Gaza live under military occupation or blockade.

Understanding this complex history requires acknowledging the legitimate national aspirations and deep historical traumas of both peoples. Peace will demand more than negotiation; it will require reckoning with injustice, dismantling systems of inequality, and centring human rights.