Written by: Liam Schulte

Ever since the sixth century BCE, the area in the Middle East called the Holy Land has been a celebrated area because of its religious significance in religions like Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. It sits on the eastern side of the Mediterranean Sea, where beautiful areas such as Alexandria, Egypt and the Greek Islands such as Crete lay. 

But, why is this specific area such a sought (and fought) over area?

Well, very religious states, such as Israel and Gaza want to claim this region for their religion, with Israel representing Judaism, and Palestine Islam. For Judaism, the religion was birthed and has major roots within the Isreali-Palestinian controlled area. For Islam, this area is the last place the prophet Muhammad traveled before he ascended to heaven.

But, where did they start?

When the British military conquered the area from Ottoman Turks during the First World War, they sought to create an area for Jewish people within Palestine to live. This happened under the Balfour Declaration in 1917.

When the declaration was ratified, around six percent of the population was Jewish. But, in 1947, this population increased to 33 percent because of the spread of Nazism across Europe and the lack of territory for the safety of Judaism. So, the area became a refuge for many Jews in Europe.

Because of the huge spike of Jews within Palestine, Palestinians were not happy with the demographic change, as they had already been there for almost five decades. This led to the Palestinian Revolt from 1936-39. Zionist organizations fought against the Palestinian people, which they then began to call for a Jewish state in Palestine after Palestinians had fled.

 In the Arab-Israeli War of 1948, violence persisted across the area, which caused for foreign resistance to be necessary. The United Nations adopted Resolution 181, which gave about 55 percent of Palestine to the Jews and the remainder to the Arabs, also dividing Jerusalem into both West and East Jerusalem.

Two decades later, the Jewish people occupied the West Bank area of Palestine in the Six-Day War of 1967. They created outposts in the area they had seized, and the Western part of Arab Palestine was under Jewish control.

Almost a half century in the future, the Hamas group, separate from the Palestinian state, committed to resistance against the Israeli and an Islamic Palestinian state, took power in 2007. Israel responded by putting a blockade on the Hamas state.

On October 9th, the Hamas group had been put onto a total blockade after a surprise attack earlier in 2023.

Ever since, the war has persisted, with Israel launching missiles and pushing into the Gaza strip, while the Hamas group also resists against the Israeli forces. 

Today, the fighting still ensues, and the death toll (26,637 for Gaza; 1,139 for Israel) for both countries still rises as a more than a century-long conflict begins to uproar in the 21st century.

The war has also had influence on foreign life as well, as many pro-Hamas and pro-Israeli movements have arisen in countries, like the United States and England, as well as separate political movements because of the conflict.