Palestine 101: A Brief History
Welcome to Palestine 101, the first post in our Palestine series! This series is meant to provide introductory information on Palestine's history, culture, and politics. If you’ve wanted to learn more about the situation in Palestine but have felt confused or overwhelmed by the amount of information out there, this series is for you!
We will begin this series with an abridged history of Palestine, focusing on major events including and after the year 1948. This is not meant to be a comprehensive historical guide, but rather a general informational overview. In this post we seek to answer a critical question: How did we get here?
The Beginning
Often when people discuss Palestine’s history, they begin in 1948 with the creation of Israel. However, it is important to understand the context of Palestine prior to 1948. Palestine’s strategic location in the Middle East has historically made it a critical crossroads for trade, culture, and religion. Prior to 1920, Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire. In 1922, the League of Nations, an international governing organization, approved a mandate that gave Great Britain control over Palestine. The principal takeaway from this time period is that both Arabs and Jews were present on the land. In 1939, World War II broke out with Hitler’s invasion of Poland. The Holocaust was Germany’s organized genocide against Jewish, Romani, and disabled people, in which 6 million Jews were murdered and European Jews as a whole were persecuted, tortured, and displaced. This led to increased Jewish immigration (escape) to Palestine, as well as the proliferation of Zionism, or the movement for the creation of a Jewish homeland in what is now Israel. In the wake of WWII, there was a United Nations Special Committee on Palestine that established separate Arab and Jewish states, known as UN Resolution 181 (the Partition Plan). The Jewish state comprised 56% of the land, despite previous Jewish land ownership having made up only around 7% of Palestine.
The Nakba
This map shows UN Resolution 181’s proposed territories, as depicted in Eugene L. Rogan’s book, “The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948.”
Almost immediately after the implementation of Resolution 181 in 1947, the mass displacement and massacre of Palestinian Arabs followed to allow for the creation of Israel. At least 750,000 Palestinians (75%) were expelled from their homes, and the Israeli military committed several dozen massacres in villages across Palestinian territories. One key factor to note is that much of the ethnic cleansing (removal of an entire ethnic group) was carried out by recent immigrants to the Jewish state against Arabs who were indigenous to the area. Palestinians know this 1948 event as the Nakba (or “catastrophe” in Arabic).
The Naksa
As a result of the Nakba, neighboring Arab states attacked Israel in what became the “6-Day War” in 1967, but were forced to essentially forfeit because they couldn't compete with Israel’s support from Western military superpowers. Israel would continue to invade territories and falsely promise peace in exchange for the land, known as “land for peace” trades. During this time, Israel seized the remaining Palestinian territories of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. Prior to this, Jerusalem had been split between Palestinian and Israeli control. Because Palestinians in certain territories (like Gaza) are legally considered refugees, they are subject to prosecution under military law. This led to the ill and unjust punishment of many Palestinians for minor crimes, including many children. As a result of this Naksa (or “setback” in Arabic) Palestinians officially lost control over their land.
Emergence of The PLO
The emergence of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), was recognized by Arab countries as a legitimate representative of the Palestinian People in 1974, forcing international recognition of Palestine. Despite this, Palestine never received statehood.
Land Day
In 1976, Israel seized nearly 5,000 additional acres of Palestinian land. During a protest against this land confiscation, Israeli troops killed 6 unarmed Palestinians. Palestinians now commemorate this as Land Day every year on March 30th.
The First Intifada
20 years after the Naksa, in 1987, Israeli troops fired into a crowd at a funeral for 4 men who were run over by an Israeli Jeep outside of a refugee camp, triggering the First Intifada (or “uprising” in Arabic). During the Intifada, Palestinians, largely unarmed, took over neighborhoods and refused to go to work. The Israeli army tear-gassed, arrested, beat and shot protesters, killing 6 and injuring dozens more. The Intifada was followed by destruction of Palestinian land and businesses, increased Israeli violence against Palestinians, strict curfews, and checkpoints when moving from Palestinian territory to Israel and between towns. The Intifada lasted 6 years, but these measures still remain in place.
The Oslo Accords
A series of peace agreements between the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel in 1993 are known as the Oslo Accords. The PLO recognized Israel's right to exist in peace and denounced the terror they have rained on Palestinians.
The Second Intifada
The Second Intifada was triggered by the peaceful protest of an Israeli politician visiting Al-Aqsa (a famous mosque in East Jerusalem) and lasted from 2000-2005. Throughout protests during this time period, violent methods of crowd control used by Israeli forces resulted in the deaths of around 3,000 Palestinians and an illegal separation wall around the West Bank. 1 million rounds of ammunition were fired in just the first week. Palestinian resistance forces attacked an Israeli town called Sderot via rocket attacks in 2001, killing two people.
In 2007, in an act of domination over Gaza, Israel established a sea and air blockade, making it extremely difficult for aid and goods to travel in or out. In 2008, Israel bombed Gaza for 22 days, killing over 1,200 Gazans and destroying over 46,000 homes. Victims of bombings in Gaza historically, and still today, are mostly civilians (the majority children).
2012-2018 Bombings
Israel bombed Palestine in 2012 for 8 days after the killing of a Hamas leader. In 2014, Hamas kidnapped and killed three Israeli teenagers, leading Israel to retaliate by bombing Gaza for 7 weeks and killing 2,100 Palestinians. For now, know that Hamas is a Palestinian resistance group and a governing force of the Gaza strip. We will dive deeper into Hamas and other resistance groups in a later post.
The Great March of Return
In 2018, there was a nonviolent Palestinian protest at the Gaza border. Israeli troops opened fire and killed 170 peaceful protestors.
2021-2022 Bombings
In May 2021, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Israel launched air raids on Gaza, killing at least 260 people. In 2022, Israeli planes bombed and killed over 30 Palestinians.
October 7, 2023
In October of last year, Hamas launched rockets aimed at Israeli military command centers and kidnapped 251 Israeli civilians. In the days following, Hamas offered to release all civilian hostages in exchange for Israeli forces ceasing entrance into the Gaza Strip- Israel rejected this offer. In response, Israeli forces initiated a genocide against Palestinians living in Gaza. This genocide has included bombing schools, hospitals, and safe zones, as well as invading Palestinian homes and restricting access to aid, water, and electricity. It is crucial to view the events of the last 9 months within the context of 76 years of Israeli occupation, which has included abuses such as continuous killing, torture, and unjust legal practices. At the time of publishing, the current death toll is estimated to be around 1,200 Israelis and 37,000 Palestinians, though experts estimate that up to 180,000 Palestinians may die from the combined effects of the genocide. Spread of disease, lack of health care, and lack of essential resources will likely have a continued impact on the Palestinian death count.
Thank you for reading our first blog post! Please remember that this post only scratches the surface of Palestinian history. We encourage you to use this as a jumping-off point into more research! Stick around for our next Palestine 101 post, where we will be defining common terminology you might hear in Palestinian liberation spaces.
Some Instagram accounts to follow:
@letstalkpalestine @theimeu @middleastmatters @eye.on.palestine
