so, i'm going to be talking about what has been going on recently and even the past centuries regarding palestine and israel. i am not from palestine nor am i muslim or jewish, etc. however, i'm going to be talking about it to spread awareness and so people who aren't aware of the situation are educated on it.
first, a little history.
what are israel and palestine? why are they fighting?
israel is the world's only jewish state, located just east of the meditarranean sea. palestinians, the arab population that hails from the land israel now controls, refer to the territory as palestine, and want to establish a state by that name on all or port of the same land. the israeli-palestinian conlict is over who gets what land and how it's controlled.
though both jews and arab muslims date their claims to the land back a couple thousand years, the current political conflict began in the early 20th century. jews fleeing persecution in europe wanted to establish a national homeland in what was then an arab and muslim-majority territory in the ottoman and later british empire.
the arabs resisted, seeing the land as rightfully theirs. an early united nations plan to give each group part of the land failed, and israel and the surrounding arab nations fought several wars over territory. today's lines largely reflect the outcomes of two of these wars, one waged in 1948 and another in 1967.
the 1967 war is particularly important for todays conflict, as it left israel in control of the west bank and gaza strip, two territories home to large palestinian populations.
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today the west bank is nominally controlled by the palestinian authority and is under israeli occupation. this comes in the form of israeli troops, who enforce israeli security restrictions on palestinian movement and activities, and israeli "settlers," jews who build ever-expanding communities in the west bank that effectively deny the land to palestinians. gaza is controlled by hamas, an islamist fundamentalist party, and is under israeli blockade by not ground troop occupation.
what is the two-state and one-state solution?
the primary approach to solving the conflict today is the "two-state solution" that would establish palestine as an independent state in gaza and most of the west bank, leaving the rest of the land to israel. though the two-state plan is clear in theory, the two sides are still deeply divided over how to make it work in practice.
the alternative to a two-state solution is a "one-state solution", wherein all of the land becomes either one big israel or one big palestine. most observers think this would cause more problems than it would solve, but this outcome is becoming mroe likely over time for political and demographic reasons.
what is zionism?
zionism is israel's national ideology. zionists believe that judaism is a nationality as well as a religion, and that jews deserve their own state in their ancestral homeland, israel, the same way french people deserve france or the chinese people should have china. it's what brought jews back to israel in the first place, and also at the heart of the what concerns arabs and palestinians about the israeli state.
what is the west bank?
the west bank is a chunk of land east of israel. it's home to nearly three million palestinians, and would make up the heart of any palestinian state. israel took control of it in 1967 and has allowed jewish settlers to move in, but palestinians (and most of the international community) consider it illegally occupied palestinain land.
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what is gaza?
gaza is a densely populated strip of land that is mostly surrounded by israel and peopled almost exclusively by palestinians. israel used to have a military presence, but withdrew unilaterally in 2005. it's currently under israeli blockade.
the sporadic rocket fire that's hit israel from there since its pullback has strengthened israeli hawks' political position, as they long argue that any palestinian state would end up serving as a launching pad for attacks on israel.
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what is jerusalem?
jerusalem is a city that straddles the border between israel and the west bank. it's home to some of the holiest sites in both judaism and islam, and so both israel and palestine want to make it their capital. how to spilt the city fairly remains on of the fundamental issues dividing israelis and palestinians - and on december 6th, ex-president donald trump weighed in on israel's side.
for the first 20 years of israel's existence, jerusalem was divided. israel controlled the parts of jersalem and its subrubs inside the red dotted line on this map, while jordan controlled everything outside of it (blue dotted lines seperate jerusalem proper from suburbs):
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