The Colonization of Palestine

By Hafsa Jawad

Many credit the birth of the conflict to the post-World War II partition of Palestine and the subsequent 1948 Arab-Israeli War. However, the seeds of the conflict between present-day Israel and Palestine were planted in the early 20th century with the founding of the modern Zionist movement. Jewish immigration to Ottoman-ruled Palestine saw an increase between 1882 and 1914 in an attempt to establish a Jewish state. Problems started to arise following the fall of the Ottoman Empire after Allied victory in the first World War, allowing Great Britain to attain control of Palestine. Great Britain was in favor of establishing a Jewish state in Palestine, which led to the Balfour Declaration, encouraging Jewish immigration to Palestine. Along with the rise of anti-Semitism and Nazism in Europe, Jewish immigration to Palestine increased dramatically. Between 1932 and 1939, Palestine absorbed 46% of Jewish immigration from Europe.

Many Arabs saw this sudden influx of Jewish immigration as a European colonial movement causing a series of bitter fights between the two groups. Great Britain found it impossible to contain these fights and turned to the United Nations for assistance. In 1947 a plan to partition Palestine into two sections was proposed. This proposition would give about 56% of Palestine to the Jewish residents and 44% to Arab Palestine. Jewish leaders accepted this plan, but the Palestinian Arabs rejected it, arguing that they should be granted more land as they consisted of roughly twice the population of the Jewish community. Despite protests from Arab Palestine and surrounding countries, Israel was officially declared an independent state in May 1948. At the time of Britain’s withdrawal from Palestine, and estimated 700,000 Palestinians were left without homes.

Almost immediately after Israel was declared a state, the Arab-Israeli War broke out between Israel and five Arab countries—Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon. By the time a cease-fire agreement was reached, Israel possessed 77% of what was previously known as Palestine which included everything other than the West Bank and the eastern quarter of Jerusalem (controlled by Jordan), and the Gaza Strip (controlled by Egypt). By 1949, Palestinians no longer had a country to call their own.

Left without a home, many Palestinians relocated to the West Bank and Gaza Strip while the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was formed to create a platform for establishing a plan for a Palestinian state within Israel. However, those plans were halted in 1967 with the Six-Day War where Israel attacked Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. This resulted in major land gains for Israel, including the Gaza Strip, West Bank, Sinai Peninsula, and Golan Heights.

Today, the West Bank is nominally controlled by Palestinian Authority under Israeli occupation and Gaza is controlled by Hamas (an Islamist fundamentalist militant party) under the Israeli blockade. Violent clashes between Israel and Palestine are still commonplace, with both groups blaming each other for terror attacks. Palestinians are still fighting for an official state that’s formally recognized by all countries. Key territories, such as Jerusalem, are still fought over by both groups. While this conflict is a disagreement between two self-determination movements at its heart, it only grows increasingly complex as time passes. The futures of both Israel and Palestine remain unknown, but world leaders, as well as citizens of both groups, hope for a resolution that will result in peace throughout the region. May Allah protect the Muslims in Palestine from any harm and give them the strength to continue through their struggles. May Allah bring peace into the region and give them the guidance to stop the warfare.