Israel vs. Palestine: The Conflict Explained
Amid renewed fighting between Israel and the Palestinian territories, The Washington Post’s Ishaan Tharoor offers a background on the decades-old conflict and the current escalation in the video, below.
Tharoor begins by noting that “altogether, Israel and the Palestinian territories are the size of Maryland and have a population of about 12 million people.”
The U.N. proposed separate Israel and Palestine states in 1947 but a series of wars would lead to large-scale displacements, shifting boundaries and the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian territories. Today Israel still occupies the West Bank and tightly controls the movement of people and goods into Gaza.
Since 2007 Gaza has been controlled by Hamas, and infamous organization with a militant wing that is considered a terrorist group by many in the international community. Every few years since, conflicted has erupted with civilians on both side paying the price.
Since 2000, more than 7,000 Palestinians have been killed, in conflicts with Israelis. More than 1,000 Israelis have died.
The video goes on to explain that “the most recent flare-up was sparked, in part, by the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers who were studying in religious seminaries in the West Bank. “
Israel then arrested hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank, many of them suspected Hamas operatives, and then launched air strikes on Hamas positions in Gaza. Hamas responded with rocket fire on Israel and Israel eventually launched a ground invasion of Gaza.
Hundreds have been killed in fighting, a majority of them Palestinians, including many women and children, and more than 100,000 Palestinians have fled their homes in the tightly packed Gaza Strip for U.N. shelters.
Western and regional diplomats have been pushing for a cease-fire, but even that likely won’t resolve any of the underlying issues with the conflict. It just pushes them off to another day and another battle.
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