For nearly eight decades, conflict has persisted in the Palestine and Israel region. This conflict-violence is once again rising. The issue has spread beyond just Israel and Palestine, creating waves of controversy within the global community.
On Saturday (October 7) morning, Hamas fighters unexpectedly entered Israel and launched an attack. In response, the Israeli army began bombing Gaza. Israeli airstrikes have turned various areas of Gaza City into dust. International news media report that at least one thousand people have died in Israel and more than 800 in Gaza due to Hamas's attack. Israel has announced an increase in attacks along with the imposition of a total blockade.
However, the roots of this controversy, which has resurfaced in discussions over time, are deeply embedded in history.
Destruction from Israeli attacks in Gaza (Photo: Al Jazeera)
How did Israel come into existence?
It is said that the birth of Israel primarily stems from the Balfour Declaration. On November 2, 1917, then British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour wrote a letter to Lionel Walter Rothschild, a member of the British Jewish community and a leader of the movement. The letter contained only 67 words. In this letter, the British government's commitment to 'establish a home for the Jewish people in Palestine' and to facilitate its achievement was mentioned. This letter is known as the 'Balfour Declaration.'
That is, a European power had promised the Zionist movement a country where Palestinian Arabs made up more than 90 percent of the population. In 1923, a British mandate was created on this issue, which lasted until 1948. Due to Nazism in Europe, Jews were fleeing, and at that time the British had extensively supported Jewish immigration to Palestine.
Meanwhile, the Palestinians had become concerned about the Jewish settlers in their land. In 1936, they formed the Arab National Committee. They declared a total boycott against the growing Jewish settlement and called for the rejection of goods produced by Jews.
However, British colonial rulers extended supportive hands to Jewish settlers in all possible ways. Britain also assisted in the formation of Jewish paramilitary forces. Between 1937 and 1939, in three years of fighting between Arabs and Jewish armed fighters, at least five thousand Palestinians were killed. Fifteen to twenty thousand Palestinians were injured, and five thousand people were imprisoned.
By 1947, Jews had occupied six percent of Palestine. Their total population accounted for 33 percent of Palestine. At that time, 67 percent of the Arab population owned 94 percent of the country's land.