How the White House Impacted The Hamas-Israel Hostage Deal 

by Jude Mann

Although the war between Israel and Palestine has been widely discussed on all news platforms lately, this conflict is certainly not new. In fact, this dispute has lasted for seven decades. Whenever a war occurs it is important to review the history of both sides, in order to understand the motives of the parties involved. This article summarizes important information regarding the origin of the enduring tension between Palestine and Israel.

Since World War I, both Jews and Palestinians have been adamant about an independent state in Palestine. The Hussein-McMahon correspondence of 1915-16 guaranteed British support for Arab independence, while in return Arabs would lend support against the Ottoman Empire. In this agreement, a predominantly Arab historical Palestine was hardly considered. In the years that followed, there was a significant increase in the population of Jews in Palestine, with the immigration rate being controlled by the United Kingdom, which resulted in protests by the Arab population. On November 29, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly proposed to divide Palestine into Arab and Jewish states along with international rule over Jerusalem. While Jerusalem agreed and gave the assembly fifty-six percent of Palestine's land, the Arab League rejected the proposal. On May 14, 1948, the state of Israel was established, which created a safe place for Jews. The following day, both Israel and its forces that had occupied the land proposed by the U.N. for Arab rule were attacked by troops from five Arab states. The Palestinians claimed that Israel’s actions had prevented their chance to become a state, which Israel denied. This resulted in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians either fled or were expelled, while hundreds of thousands of Jews resettled in Israel after they had fled or been expelled from Arab countries.

For high school students, it is important that instead of relying on the information provided by parents, teachers, friends, and social media accounts, we refer to historical evidence regarding the Israeli-Palestine conflict, in order to establish an opinion regarding this matter based on facts and our understanding gained from research. Although researching through decades of history may not sound appealing, we are experiencing the events of a lasting dispute that will go down in history, and we need to be aware of the circumstances.

What do you know about the Israel/Hamas conflict? What do you think of it?