The Israel-Palestinian conflict is a long-standing political and territorial dispute between Israel and Palestinians. The war began in the early 19th century and intensified with the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, and has seen numerous disputes and some peace accords as well.
On May 14, 1948, the first Arab-Israeli war was started. As a result, Israel won the war with Arabs, Palestine was displaced and territory was divided into three parts; the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and the state of Israel. In 1979, a peace treaty, namely Camp David Accord was signed between Egypt and Israel. However, the relationship between Israel with its neighbours improved. Still, the question of Palestine’s self-determination and self-governance remains unsolved. Palestine launched the first intifada in 1987, where almost hundreds and thousands of Palestinians stood up against Israel for self-determination. In 2000-2005, the second Intifada was launched in reaction to the Israeli Prime Minister’s visit to Al-Aqsa Mosque.
When Israel set fire to a Palestinian house southeast of Nablus in April 2023, caused the death of more than a hundred Palestinians. The Foreign Minister of Palestine stated, “These Crimes reflect the extremist racist colonial mentality of enflaming the conflict that does not hesitate to commit the worst crimes against Palestinian Civilians”.
Israel, as a powerful nuclear-armed state, should not be allowed to use unnecessary force against innocent, unarmed people.
On 16th July 2024, one of the deadliest attacks occurred in the humanitarian of Al-Mawasi, west of the Southern city of Khan Younis. Israel keeps attacking the schools run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) in Nuisiera. It is reported that around 50 Palestinians were killed and dozens injured in a series of Israeli air strikes in South and Central parts of Gaza. As per the Aljazeera Report of July 17, 2024, more than 38,848 people have been killed and 89,459 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7, 2023. It is also argued that more than 1139 people are still held captive in Gaza.
Discrimination against Muslims is fostered in the International community by the growing intolerance for any action taken in opposition to Israel’s illegal actions and violations of International Law. President Biden declared in February 2023 that the US will not militarily assist or aid anyone who could use them to violate human rights. Consequently, Rules are equal to all meanwhile, International safeguards like the European Union do not appear to apply this principle to Israel, which has been taken to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over claims of genocide in Gaza.
Palestine has not only one but plenty of reasons to hate Israel; but why does Israel hate the Palestinians so much? It systematically terrorized, blockaded, imprisoned, and used violence against them by all means after taking control of their lives and livelihood, denying their fundamental rights, and freedom. Fear, Envy, and Anger are identified as the main reasons behind Israeli hatred towards Palestine.
Israel has a fear that Palestine can be proved to be an existential hurdle or a fear of its occupied lands and of its sentiment of becoming a mighty regional and nuclear power state.
Israel is fear of the Palestinian language, Palestinian Culture, Palestinian unity, Palestinian democracy, Palestinian steadfastness, Palestinian National Symbol, Palestinian Poetry, Palestinian morals, Palestinian history, geography and nature of the landscape and the Palestinian flag, which is trying to ban and extinct permanently. A historian warned 12 years ago that demography is a threat to the survival of the Jewish state much like Israel, for example, because in his view, Palestinians could become a majority by 2040-2050. A propagation to remove Palestine from the world map needs to be an end now.
Lastly, Israel is angry at the Palestinian steadfastness in not giving up their land in Israeli hands. Israel after long wars since 1948, became a regional superpower, forcing Arab regimes to bow in humiliation. Israel aimed to massacre and kill the Population so only they could rule the land.
Israel has the whole world along with the US, EU, and even the Arab Regime on its side while acting as its mediators. It is countered that Israel is being triggered to get aid from the International Community for killing so many innocent people a question mark for International safeguards for their human rights stance. On the contrary, when something went wrong in Gaza, the International Community kept silent and even always blamed and pointed fingers at Palestine. That’s easy for them to blame someone (unarmed) for protecting their belongings. Ignoring Palestinians basic rights, and letting them alone concede defeat. Rather than enraging Israel to concede the bloodshed from Innocent Palestinian territory. This silence of the International community gives Israel the green light to continue its human rights violations on Palestinian soil. OIC and NAM are also missing from the action and so is GCC. All these entities are equally responsible in the context of a crisis.
In conclusion, the ongoing dispute and Washington’s’ assistance to Israel continue to influence political dynamics, human rights discourse, and regional security with significant implications on both national and international levels. The only way to resolve the issue is for mediators to act as a true “mediator”. Also, there is a need for a practical implication in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel, as a powerful nuclear-armed state, should not be allowed to use unnecessary force against innocent, unarmed people, which is against International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Thus, it is the responsibility of every individual to stand with Palestine and support the BDS movement, because this is the only way to weaken the power being exercised in Gaza.
The writer is associated with Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad. She can be reached: [email protected]