History of the Conflict
Important facts, dates, and other information to provide historical background and context for the current conflict.
Jewish roots in the land of Israel
- Jews have lived in the land of Israel for 4,000 years. There has always been a Jewish presence in Israel and in Jerusalem, and until the last 70 years across the entire Middle East.
- Judaism predates Islam by approximately 2,500 years.
- Judaism began in approximately 2000 BCE, in the land now known as Israel.
- Islam began in approximately 610 CE, in the land now known as Saudi Arabia.
- After Islam was created, Jews and Muslims coexisted in the region, though not always peacefully.
- Social and economic discrimination caused significant Jewish emigration from the land of Israel, and Muslim civil wars in the 8th and 9th centuries pushed some Jews out of the region.
Birth of the modern State of Israel
- Following the pogroms in Eastern Europe in the early 20th century, many Jews fled persecution to join existing Jewish communities in their ancient homeland, including Jerusalem.
- Jews also built new communities in unoccupied vacant areas; Jews founded the city of Tel Aviv on what was a sand dune in 1909.
- After World War I, Britain obtained a Mandate from the League of Nations to govern the areas which are now Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and Jordan.
- Though relations between the Jewish and Muslim communities in British Mandate Palestine were always fraught, tensions began to rise dramatically in the first half of the 20th century.
- This further increased Nazi Germany’s (1933-1945) use of collaborators throughout the Arab world to advance its political goals.
- In 1947, the United Nations proposed splitting British Mandate Palestine into two states:
- One state for Jews (Israel) and one state for Arabs (Palestine)
- The organized Jewish community accepted the United Nations Partition plan that was approved by the UN on November 29, 1947.
- The local Arab community and the surrounding Arab nations rejected the partition plan. Their position was that there should not be a Jewish state at all.
- On May 15, 1948, the day after Israel declared its independence, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq invaded Israel.
- Israel defeated this mass invasion and reached armistice agreements with the invading Arab nations in 1949, setting the borders for the modern State of Israel until 1967’s Six Day War.
- In the lead up to, and immediately after, the founding of Israel more than 850,000 Jews were expelled from their homes in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Morocco, and several other Arab countries – places they had lived for centuries. More than 99% of the area’s Jews had fled or been driven out by the 1970s.
- Arab and Muslim governments accelerated the persecution of their ancient Jewish communities, allowed the murder of individual Jews, the confiscating assets, and passing restrictive measures.
Israel’s changing borders
- In 1967, a coalition of Arab countries—led by Egypt, Syria and Jordan—mobilized to attack Israel, closed the Red Sea to shipping destined for Israel, and threatened Israel’s water supply.
- In response, Israel launched a pre-emptive attack on military targets in Egypt and Syria. At the time, Egypt controlled the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip; Jordan controlled the West Bank (including Eastern Jerusalem); and Syria controlled the Golan Heights.
- Israel won a decisive victory that included capturing the Sinai Peninsula, Golan Heights, Eastern Jerusalem (including the Old City), the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.
- The status of these territories became a major point of contention in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
- In 1979, Israel returned the Sinai to Egypt and peace was made between the two countries.
- Also in 1979, Israel offered Gaza to Egypt, but Egypt declined.
- As part of the 1993 Oslo Accords, the Palestinians were given control over most of Gaza, excluding a few Israeli settlements and military outposts, and both sides agreed that a Palestinian Authority (PA) would be established and assume governing responsibilities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
- In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew all civilians and military personnel from Gaza. Prior to Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, there had been no Israeli presence in Gaza for nearly 19 years.
Gaza’s dual borders
- Gaza has two borders: one with Israel, and one with Egypt.
- Both Israel and Egypt control entry and exit to Gaza from their respective borders for security reasons.
- Egypt has maintained a blockade of Gaza since Hamas took control, with tight controls on both people and goods.
- Until Oct. 7, Israel allowed Gazans to work in Israel, even with the long history of terror attacks, and facilitated the movement of goods and utilities into Gaza.
Hamas’ role in Gaza
- Since 2006, Hamas, an internationally recognized terrorist organization, has been the sole governing authority in Gaza.
- In 2006, Hamas was elected by the Palestinian people in Gaza over the Palestinian Authority. By 2007, Hamas killed or evicted from Gaza all other officials, maintaining governmental control to this day.
- Hamas’ charter calls for the murder of Jews, the destruction of Israel and the establishment of a fundamentalist Islamist state in its place— from the border of Lebanon to the Israeli city of Eilat, and from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.
- Hamas embeds its command centers, rocket and missile launchers, and military operations in hospitals, mosques, civilian neighborhoods and schools, and regularly uses civilians as human shields.
- Antisemitic, militaristic, and other adversarial content hostile to Jews and Israel is found in Palestinian school textbooks, often funded by the United Nations through UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency), which appears to have direct ties to Hamas.
- Hamas has kept the Palestinian people in Gaza in poverty, stealing billions of dollars of humanitarian aid to build Hamas’s army and military infrastructure.
- Hamas has built more miles of terror tunnels in Gaza to attack Israel then there are miles of subway tunnels in New York City.
Timeline on the Israel-Hamas border
Timeline on the Israel-Hamas border
1993
Oslo Accords signed, ending state of war between PLO and Israel; Nobel Peace Prize for Israeli Prime Minister from Yitzhak Rabin, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and PLO Chairman (Palestinian Authority President) Yassir Arafat; Palestinian Authority begins to take over Palestinian population centers of Jericho and Gaza.
2000
Second Intifada begins. Sometimes called “Al Aqsa Intifada,” because Palestinians claim it was in response to Knesset Member Ariel Sharon going to the Temple Mount, location of the Al Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock. Subsequent evidence has shown that the Palestinians were ready for a war and were just looking for an excuse to start it. Israel begins construction of security barrier on Gaza border to end constant flow of suicide bombers into Israel.
2005
Israel unilaterally pulled all civilians and military personnel out of Gaza, leaving Gaza entirely to the Palestinians; there was no longer any Israeli presence in Gaza.
2006
Hamas wins parliamentary elections in Gaza and evicts or murders Palestinian Authority officials. Hamas takes total control of Gaza.
October 7, 2023
Thousands of armed Hamas terrorists and allies, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad, broke through the security barrier between Israel and Gaza under the umbrella of missile and rocket fire. Hamas called its operation, “Flood Al Aqsa;” They committed mass atrocities, raping, torturing and murdering 1,200 civilians, and taking 240+ people hostage. In addition to the thousands of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists, an unknown number of Gazan civilians crossed the border and looted the ravaged Israeli towns.