ISRAEL GAZA CONFLICT

For past two months Israeli forces have been pounding the
areas in Gaza strip controlled by Hamas militants, killing
hundreds of innocent Palestinians in retaliation to the
sporadic rocket attacks by the Hamas militants. This is not
the first time that armed conflict has erupted between Israel
and Palestine. The conflict between Arabs led by
Palestinians and Israel has its roots in the late 19th and
early 20th century.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: After the First World War,
the Britain took the control of the
then Palestine,
comprising of present day area of Gaza, West bank, Jordan
and the Israel. In 1930s, Britain captured Syria also leading
to protests by Arabs.
This conflict continues till date.
Later, during the Second World War when German Nazi
forces committed genocide of Jews to punish them for
support to Britishers, demand for a separate homeland for
Jews grew strong.
BIRTH OF ISRAEL: On November 29, 1947, the U N
General Assembly adopted a resolution recommending the
partition of the then Palestine into an Arab state called
Palestine and a Jewish state called Israel and UN controlled
Jerusalem. The state of Palestine had two geographically
separate parts - West Bank and Gaza strip.

frequent armed conflict continued, killing numerous people

on both sides.
Another major breakthrough came in the shape of the Oslo
Accord 1993 and 1995 when Israel recognised the Palestine
Liberation Organisation led by Yasser Arafat.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
However, peace could never be achieved in reality and
armed skirmishes continue till date. The area in West Bank
is presently controlled by militant group called Al-Fateh and
the Gaza Strip is controlled by another militant group called
Hamas. Israel controls borders of Gaza and has put it under
a under a military siege.
CURRENT PROVOCATIONIN GAZA
The present strife is result of alleged killing of three Israeli
youth by Palestinians. Israel has retaliated by firing its own
rockets and air strikes killing hundreds of Gaza inhabitants.
FUTURE PROSPECTS
There does not seem to be any solution in sight as Hamas
refuses to accept Israel and Israel refuses to accept the
existence of Palestine.

The Israel was declared an independent country on 14th

May 1948. Palestinians, obviously, protested partition of
their homeland and vowed to get the area evicted of the
illegal occupants (Israelis).
Israel on its part never accepted Palestine as independent
country and demanded that Gaza Strip and West Bank
should be merged with adjoining Egypt and Jordan,
respectively.
The attempts by Palestinians supported by Arabs of Egypt,
Syria and Jordan to evict Israel from Palestine led to four
wars between them:
1948
War of Independence
1956
Sinai War
1967
Six Day War
1973
Yom Kippur War
In all these wars, the Arabs were defeated by the Israelis
backed as they were by US, Britain and France.
PEACE PROCESS
In 1978, USA and its allies attempted to brokerage peace
between Israel and Egypt, one of the main player in the
region. Known as Camp David Accord, it was the first such
agreement between Israel and any Arab country. They
agreed to recognize existence of each other. However, no
peace could be brought between the two warring sides and
GENERAL AWARENESS SEPTEMBER 2014

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