Palestinians' Century-Long Fight: A breakdown from then to now.
Who Are Palestinians?
Palestinians are the native inhabitants of the historic region of Palestine. They are historically composed of Muslims, Christians, and Jews. Palestinians are indigenous to Palestine. Their ethnic & cultural identity is inextricably tied to their connection to the land. Palestinians are historically a farming society, where they directly relied on their land for material sustenance. Without it, they would lose their lives & meaning as a coherent community. This is so crucial to understand because, at the core of the Palestinian Struggle, is the desire to belong to their land.
This is why Zionist-Jewish settlers uproot Palestinians' olive trees & crops as a means to erase their identity & belonging. Palestinians in exile can only visit their homeland as foreign-passport holders, not as Palestinians. They wake up every day under occupation knowing they may be shot, forcibly evicted, or arbitrarily detained. Palestinians suffer from generations of PTSD caused by bombings and ongoing torture at the hands of the Israel Military. Palestinians with Israeli citizenship are second-class citizens, with multiple Israeli discriminatory laws against them.
Currently, millions of Palestinians live in the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Israel under the control of the state of Israel. The conflict over these lands has left Palestinians facing an ongoing humanitarian crises, like a lack of water, food, electricity, and basic needs to live.
The Balfour Declaration
More than 100 years ago, on November 2, 1917, Britain’s then-foreign secretary wrote a letter known as the Balfour Declaration. It committed the British government to “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” In its simplest form: a European power promised the Zionist movement a country where Palestinian natives made up more than 90 percent of the population. A British Mandate was created in 1923 and lasted until 1948. During that period, the British facilitated mass Jewish immigration.
Palestinians were alarmed by their country’s changing demographics and British confiscation of their lands to be handed over to Jewish settlers. Escalating tensions eventually led to the Arab Revolt, which lasted from 1936 to 1939. By the second half of 1939, Britain had massed 30,000 troops in Palestine. Villages were bombed by air, curfews imposed, homes demolished, and mass killings were widespread.
The pre-state settler community (the Yishuv), backed by the British, established weapon factories to expand the Jewish paramilitary, that later became the core of the Israeli army. Between 1936 and 1939, over 5,000 Palestinians were killed, 20k+ injured and more than 5k were imprisoned. By 1947, the Jewish population had grown to 33 percent of Palestine. Even before the British Mandate expired on May 14, 1948, Zionist paramilitaries were already embarking on a military operation to destroy Palestinian towns and villages to expand the borders of the Zionist state. From 1947 to 1949, more than 500 Palestinian villages, towns, and cities were destroyed in what Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or “catastrophe” in Arabic. An estimated 15,000+ Palestinians were murdered.
The Zionist movement captured 78 percent of historic Palestine. The remaining 22 percent was divided into what are now the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip. An estimated 750,000+ Palestinians were forced out of their homes. On May 15, 1948, Israel announced its establishment. The following day, the first Arab-Israeli war began. In December 1948, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 194, which calls for the right of return for Palestinian refugees. At least 150,000 Palestinians remained in the newly created state of Israel and lived under a tightly controlled military occupation for almost 20 years before they were eventually granted Israeli citizenship.
In 1964, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) was formed, and a year later, the Fatah political party was established. (Political organization in Palestine). On June 5, 1967, Israel occupied the rest of historic Palestine, including the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Syrian Golan Heights, and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula during the Six-Day War against a coalition of Arab armies. This is known as the Naksa. For many Palestinians, this led to a second forced displacement, or Naksa, which means “setback” in Arabic.
Settlement construction began in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. A two-tier system was created, with Jewish settlers afforded all the rights and privileges of being Israeli citizens, whereas Palestinians had to live under a military occupation that discriminated against them and barred any form of political or civic expression.
Fast Forward
Now let's fast forward to 1987, when the first Intifada was sparked by decades of Israeli occupation and immediate incidents of violence, igniting widespread civil protests among Palestinians in the occupied territories. This also led to the establishment of Hamas, an organized resistance against the Israeli occupation. The Israeli army’s heavy-handed response was characterized by the “Break their Bones” policy. It included summary killings, closures of universities, deportations of activists, and destruction of homes.
The Intifada was primarily carried out by young people and was directed by the Unified National Leadership of the Uprising, a coalition of Palestinian movements committed to ending the Israeli occupation and establishing Palestinian independence. According to Israeli human rights, over 1k Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces during the Intifada, including 200+ children. More than 175,000 Palestinians were arrested.
The Intifada ended with the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 and the formation of the Palestinian Authority (PA), an interim government that was granted limited self-rule in pockets of the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. But in 1995, Israel built an electronic fence and concrete wall around the Gaza Strip, snapping interactions between the split Palestinian territories.
The second Intifada began on September 28, 2000. Israel again caused unprecedented damage to the Palestinian economy and infrastructure. Israel reoccupied areas governed by the PA and imposed a strict regime of closures and checkpoints. The Israeli military killed over 3,000 Palestinians, including 600+ minors. Thousands of Palestinian homes, vast areas of agricultural land, and hundreds of commercial properties were demolished, and entire neighborhoods were reduced to rubble. The second Intifada officially ended in 2005 when Israel and the Palestinians agreed to a ceasefire. However, violence continued at the hands of the Israeli military periodically.
In 2005, Israel “withdrew” from the Gaza Strip but imposed a blockade on it. The siege caused a dire humanitarian crisis for the two million Palestinians living there. In 2006, Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections. However, the international community refused to recognize the government unless it renounced violence, recognized Israel, and accepted previous agreements. This led to a split between Fatah and Hamas.
In 2008, Israel launched a military attack against the Gaza Strip, killing over 1300 Palestinians, most of them civilians. Another attack in 2012 killed 160+ Palestinians, and in 2014, a 51-day war resulted in the deaths of 2,250+ Palestinians, including over 500 children.
Today, Israel continues its illegal settlement expansion and demolition of Palestinian homes. Palestinians are subjected to daily violence, arbitrary arrests, and restriction of movement. They are denied access to their own water resources and agricultural lands. They continue to resist the occupation and advocate for their rights, aspiring to a future of freedom, justice, and equality.
Since October 7, Israel has been bombing Gaza indiscriminately, targeting hospitals, schools, apartment buildings, marketplaces, and more, all while completely cutting off water, food, and electricity.
For over 16 years, Israel has trapped Palestinians in Gaza, rarely allowing anyone to leave, even for life-saving medical care. Since 2007, Israel has restricted Gaza's access to electricity, drinking water, food, and medicine. Now Israel continues to mass murder Palestinians in Gaza, killing over 70 thousand people in a matter of a few months.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have urged Israel to end its apartheid system against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. The UN has declared Gaza "unlivable" for years because of Israel's harsh siege. Israel has subjected Palestinians to daily violence for decades. Now, these acts of violence further illustrate their objective to annihilate the Palestinian population completely.
However, they must now act in the light. There is no more hiding. They can no longer operate in the shadows. Everything they do must be in full view of the world. For the first time, all parties are forced to recognize the harsh reality, as they have no choice but to see the truth. Social media has changed everything. With the help of brave journalists in Gaza, we have the power to generate widespread recognition. We have the strength to hold Israel accountable. Do not underestimate the power of numbers, and the force behind a united cause.
Godspeed, and Free Palestine