The Palestine-Israel conflict is rooted in a dispute over West Bank and Gaza Strip lands. The Jewish claims the land as their biblical birthrights while Palestine sees the lands as theirs because they were the original inhabitants. Both West Bank and Gaza Strip developed as non-self-governing took over these lands after the first battle between Arab and Israel in 1948. Before the conflict, the disputed regions belonged to Mandate Palestine. However, in 1967, Israel forces occupied the whole of Gaza Strip and West Bank after emerging winners in the third Israeli-Arab war. Therefore, the paper focuses on the rise of settlement in the West Bank and Gaza Strip between 1967 and early 1980s.
No Israeli had lived in Gaza Strip and West Bank territories before the Six-Day War that took place between Arabs and Israelis forces. However, in 1968, a few religious Jews rented Park Hotel in Hebron for Passover. The group said that it needed a close proximity to the Tomb of Patriarchs, which is one of the most sacred places for both Christians and Muslims. At that time, Israel had established and Military government in both Gaza Strip and West Bank territories. The Israeli government reluctantly allowed the religious group to temporarily rent Park Hotel. However, they never left the Hebron because Israeli government allowed them to continue staying.
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Therefore, the religious Jewish who came to Hebron in 1968 were the first settlers in the two disputed territories and they believed that Israeli victory in the Six-Day War was an act of God (Myre, 2016). Henceforth, a large number of Jews started settling in West Bank and Gaza Strip and they use both religion and need for Israeli security as justifications for staying in the two territories that initially belonged to Palestine. Consequently, Israeli government started creating Jews settlement in the newly acquired lands, West Bank and Gaza Strip, and many settlements overtook both Palestine towns and villages. As a result, the tension between Palestine and Israeli started emerging as the former was fighting to retain the two territories.
The election of Manachem Begin as Israeli Prime Minister in 1977 was the beginning of massive Jewish Settlement in both Gaza Strip and West Bank territories. Begin’s government started offering financial incentives for Israelis to move and settle in the newly acquired territories. Begin’s strategy was to solidify Israeli’s hold on the new territories and to prevent Palestine from establishing a state in the two places ( Rampel, 2006) . At the same time, subsequent Likud-led governments were keen in ensuring that a large number of Jews settled in Gaza Strip and West Bank. The groups of Jews who were motivated to settle in Gaza Strip and West Bank by Begin’s and Likud-led governments were driven by economic reasons to move into the areas. Therefore, it was the Israeli government that encouraged and motivated Jews to settle in West Bank and Gaza Strip.
In order to counter the increasing number of settlers in Gaza Strip and West Bank, in December 1987, Palestinians organized an uprising, which was popular known as intifada ( Rampel, 2006) . Intifada was characterized by street demonstration, the confrontation between Israeli and Palestine soldiers, and tax resistance. The uprising led to a strive for self-rule and Palestine started fighting to return to their homeland that was acquired by Israel. As a result, Palestine established independent states in both West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1987. Therefore, the current conflict between Israeli and Palestine is based on the struggle to control Gaza Strip and West Bank, which are largely inhabited by Jewish settlers.
References
Myre, G. (2016). 7 Things To Know About Israeli Settlements . Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/12/29/507377617/seven-things-to-know- about-Israeli-settlements
Rampel, T. (2006). Palestinian Refugees in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip . Retrieved from http://www.forcedmigration.org/research-resources/expert-guides/palestinian-refugees- in-the-west-bank-and-the-Gaza/all documents
