Israel and the Palestinians: History of the conflict explained

The conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people is one of the world's longest and most intense disputes, with roots stretching back over a century. During this time, there have been a series of wars between Israel and Arab nations, and the Palestinian people have launched multiple uprisings (known as "intifadas") against Israeli occupation, while Israel has responded with retaliatory and repressive actions.

The impact of this historic dispute on issues such as land, borders, and rights continues to this day, including the recent war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. So, what was Israel like before 1948? How was it established? After the Ottoman Empire was defeated in World War I, Britain took control of the area known as Palestine. At the time, it was inhabited by an Arab majority population and a Jewish minority, along with other ethnic groups.

Tensions between the Jewish and Arab populations escalated when Britain agreed in principle to establish a "national home" for the Jewish people in Palestine. Jewish people had historical ties to the land, but Palestinian Arabs also had centuries-old claims and opposed the move. Britain stated that the rights of the Palestinian Arabs already living there had to be protected. The number of Jewish people arriving increased throughout the 1920s to 1940s, many of whom were fleeing persecution in Europe. The murder of six million Jewish people during the Holocaust made the need for a safe haven even more urgent.

By 1947, the Jewish population had reached 630,000, just over 30% of the total population. In 1947, against a backdrop of increasing violence between Jewish and Arab people, and against British rule, the United Nations voted to partition Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states. Jerusalem would become an international city. No Arab countries supported the decision, arguing that the plan gave more land to Jewish people even though they had a smaller population. Britain abstained, decided to withdraw, and handed the problem over to the UN when it ended its mandate on May 14, 1948.

Hours before the end of British rule, Jewish leaders in Palestine declared the establishment of an independent state called Israel. Israel gained recognition from the UN the following year. The day after Israel declared independence, it was attacked and surrounded by the armies of five Arab countries. This conflict is known in Israel as the War of Independence. By the time a ceasefire was agreed in 1949, Israel controlled most of the territory. The agreement left Egypt in control of the Gaza Strip, Jordan in control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Israel in control of West Jerusalem.

Around 750,000 Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes in what became Israel, eventually becoming refugees. This event is known in Arabic as the "Nakba" (catastrophe). In the following years, hundreds of thousands of Jewish people left or were expelled from Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and North Africa, many of whom went to Israel. The Middle East War, known as the "Six-Day War," changed the borders of the Middle East and had a major impact on Palestinians. During the war, Israel fought against Egypt, Syria, and Jordan.

The war began when Israel, fearing attacks from Egypt and Syria, launched an attack on the Egyptian air force. When the fighting ended, Israel had taken the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza from Egypt, most of the Golan Heights from Syria, and East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan. About one million Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem came under Israeli control. Israel’s occupation of these areas continues to this day. Israel signed a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979 and returned the Sinai Peninsula.

Israel annexed East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, making them part of Israel, although this is not recognized by most of the international community. The West Bank, the land between Israel and the Jordan River, is estimated to be home to three million Palestinians. Along with East Jerusalem and Gaza, it is widely referred to as the "occupied Palestinian territories." Palestinians have always opposed Israel’s presence in these areas and want them to be part of a future independent state, a wish supported by the vast majority of the international community.

Israel still has overall control of the West Bank, but since the 1990s, a Palestinian government called the Palestinian Authority has administered most of the towns in the area. There are around 150 Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, home to about 700,000 Jewish people. Palestinians want all Israeli settlements removed, and under international law, these settlements are considered illegal. However, the Israeli government disputes this. It says that at least the largest settlements are permanent, and that all settlements are rooted in its historical rights.

It does not recognize the Palestinian right to their own state and sees the West Bank as part of the Jewish homeland. The Israeli government announced plans to expand settlements after it came to power in 2022. It says that creating a Palestinian state would be a threat to Israeli security. In July 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN’s highest court, said that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territories was illegal. It said that Israel should withdraw all settlers and that it was in breach of international agreements about racism and apartheid.

Both Israelis and Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their capital. Israel has controlled West Jerusalem, occupied East Jerusalem in the 1967 war, and later declared the whole city its permanent capital. It says that Jerusalem cannot be divided. Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. Most of the population of East Jerusalem is Palestinian, with only a minority choosing to be Israeli citizens. Holy sites in Jerusalem are at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The most sacred site, known to Muslims as al-Aqsa Mosque or the Noble Sanctuary, and to Jewish people as the Temple Mount, is located in East Jerusalem. The UN and most international opinion consider East Jerusalem to be Palestinian land occupied by Israel. The Gaza Strip is a narrow piece of land, 41km (25 miles) long and 10km wide, bordered by Israel, Egypt, and the Mediterranean Sea. It is home to around 2.3 million people, making it one of the most densely populated places on Earth. Even before the recent war between Israel and Hamas, Gaza had one of the highest unemployment rates in the world. Many people live below the poverty line and rely on food aid to survive.

Gaza's borders were drawn after the 1948 Middle East War, when it was occupied by Egypt. Egypt was driven out of Gaza in the 1967 war, and the strip was occupied by Israel, which established settlements and placed Gaza's Palestinian population under military rule. In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza, although it retained control of the shared borders, airspace, and coastline, effectively controlling the movement of people and goods. The UN still considers Gaza to be occupied territory by Israel because of its high level of control.

Hamas won Palestinian elections in 2006 and drove its rivals out of the territory the following year after fierce fighting. In response, Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade, with Israel controlling most of the supplies allowed into the territory. In the following years, there have been several major conflicts between Hamas and Israel, including in 2008-09, 2012, and 2014. In May 2021, a major conflict between the two sides ended with a ceasefire after 11 days. Each round of fighting has resulted in deaths on both sides, the vast majority of whom have been Palestinians in Gaza.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas militants launched an attack from Gaza, killing around 1,200 people in Israel and taking more than 250 hostages. This triggered a large-scale Israeli military offensive in Gaza. According to the Hamas-run health ministry, more than 46,700 people have been killed, the majority of whom have been women and children. Days before Israel marked the one-year anniversary of the October 7 attacks, UN humanitarian agencies signed a statement calling for an end to the "appalling human suffering and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza." On January 15, 2025, after 15 months of war, the US and mediators Qatar said that Israel and Hamas had agreed to a deal that could stop the war in Gaza. The deal is believed to include plans to release Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.

In May 2024, 143 of the 193 member states of the UN General Assembly voted in favor of Palestine gaining full UN membership, which is only available to states. Known at the UN as the State of Palestine, it has the official status of a "permanent observer state," which gives it a seat but not a vote. Some European countries, as well as the US, do not recognize the State of Palestine and say they will only do so as part of a long-term political solution to the Middle East conflict. In the UK, MPs voted in favor of recognition in 2014, but the government has not yet done so. In 2021, the then-Conservative government said: "The UK will recognize a Palestinian state at a time of our choosing, and when it best serves the objective of peace."

Israel says that it has historical rights to the West Bank and opposes an independent Palestinian state, saying that it would pose an unacceptable threat. There are around 5.9 million Palestinians registered as refugees by the UN. They are descendants of Palestinians who fled or were forced from their homes in what became Israel during the 1948-49 Middle East War. Most of them live in Jordan, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Syria, and Lebanon. Palestinians insist on the right of return for refugees, but Israel rejects this right. It criticizes UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, for allowing refugee status to be inherited by descendants.

The "two-state solution" is the formula supported by the international community for peace between Israel and Palestine. It proposes an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital. It would exist alongside Israel. Israel rejects the two-state solution. It says that any final settlement must be the result of negotiations with the Palestinians and that statehood should not be a precondition. The Palestinian Authority supports the two-state solution, but Hamas does not because it opposes the existence of Israel. Hamas has said that it might accept an interim Palestinian state based on the 1967 de facto borders without formally recognizing Israel if refugees were given the right of return.

Earlier efforts to resolve the conflict included an agreement signed by Israeli and Palestinian leaders in 1993 called the Oslo Peace Accords. The agreement was designed to provide a framework for peace negotiations. However, the negotiations eventually broke down, with both sides blaming the other.