Arab-Israeli conflict

The Arab-Israeli conflict is one of the world’s most pressing, intractable, and violent issues, consisting of complex social, political, historical, ethnic, and religious elements. This conflict has roots dating back thousands of years, although it is often considered to have officially begun in 1948 (the year of the creation of Israel). In the decades since the establishment of Israel as an independent nation, the Arab-Israeli conflict has sparked various incidents of violence and warfare, as well as intense international diplomatic efforts to reach a long-lasting peace agreement between the opposing factions. Although certain steps toward progress have been made at various points throughout history, such progress has often been undermined by acts of violence committed by one group against the other, political assassinations of key diplomatic figures, and Israeli territorial expansion. Particularly intractable has been fighting between Israel and the Palestinians, which is considered a subset of the broader Arab-Israeli conflict.

Background

The modern Arab-Israeli conflict is a result of many complex and intertwined sociopolitical developments, with important roots dating back thousands of years. The present-day nation of Israel is located within a geographic region historically known as Palestine, the region of the Middle East located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. This region was instrumental in the development of three of the world’s major religions, the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The city of Jerusalem (the capital of ancient Israel) is of central importance to each of these religions: the remains of the Western Wall of the Second Temple in Jerusalem is the holiest site in Judaism, while Jerusalem is the site of both the Last Supper and the crucifixion of Jesus, making the city sacred for Christians as well. Jerusalem is the third holiest city in Islam (after Mecca and Medina, both of which are located in present-day Saudi Arabia) and is where the prophet Muhammad is believed to have ascended into heaven.

For much of the Common Era, Palestine was not an independent and sovereign territory but one ruled by imperial powers, ranging from the Greek and Roman Empires to Arab caliphates and the Ottoman Empire. Under Ottoman rule in the late nineteenth and early twentieth the diverse religious and ethnic groups in the Middle East enjoyed relative stability. Meanwhile, however, two important movements began to emerge with different visions for the region. Faced with a rising wave of anti-Semitism in Europe and elsewhere, many Jews embraced Zionism, or the movement for the establishment of a Jewish nation in the Jewish people's religious homeland in Palestine. Arab nationalism also started to coalesce, especially as the Ottoman Empire collapsed during World War I (1914–18).

The British Empire wrested control of Palestine from the Ottoman Turks after World War I. British policies in so-called Mandatory Palestine in the aftermath of the war directly contributed to sectarian conflict in the region. On one hand, the British had helped promote Arab nationalism as a way to undermine the Ottoman Empire, and they continued to make promises of sovereignty to various Arab groups. Yet under the Balfour Declaration of 1917, British officials also encouraged Jews living throughout Europe and other regions of the Middle East to settle within Palestine. The growing number of Jewish immigrants relocating to Palestine sparked opposition among many Arabs, prompting demands that the influx be halted out of concern that unchecked Jewish migration could threaten the cultural and religious way of life of the territory’s Arab Muslim majority. The Great Uprising of Arabs in Palestine in the 1930s, which included a general strike as well as violent resistance against both the British and Jewish settlers, highlighted the growing tensions and led the British to limit immigration into the territory.

Overview

Following World War II, amid outrage at the atrocities of Nazi Germany’s Final Solution and the Holocaust, Zionism gained broader international appeal across Europe and North America as sympathy for the Jewish plight increased. Great Britain moved to end its mandate in Palestine and requested United Nations (UN) assistance in sorting out the ongoing fraught tensions in the area. In a resolution approved in November 1947, the UN proposed partitioning the territory of Palestine between Arabs and Jews. While Jewish leaders accepted this plan, Arab leaders criticized it as violating the UN Charter and disproportionately awarding territory to the Jewish minority. Violence between Jewish and Arab contingents in Palestine escalated as they battled for control in advance of British withdrawal. The unified and well-organized Jewish forces had much success, and immediately following the official end of the British mandate they declared the establishment of Israel as an independent Jewish state on May 14, 1948.

The formation of Israel infuriated much of the Arab and Islamic worlds, and what had essentially been a Palestinian civil war quickly gave way to the First Arab-Israeli War (also known as the 1948 Palestine War or the Israeli War of Independence). Arab forces from Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq all invaded with the aim of quickly annihilating the fledgling Jewish state. However, Israel not only survived but even expanded its control beyond the borders outlined in the UN partition plan. Armistice agreements made in 1949 confirmed Israel's existence. However, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs had been displaced in what came to be known as the Nakba ("catastrophe" in Arabic), and the fate of Palestinian refugees would become a major issue as the Arab-Israeli conflict continued. Palestinian leaders and other Arab nations consistently argued for refugees' "right of return" to their homes, but Israel strongly resisted any such allowance.

The 1948 war was just the first in a series of Israeli-Arab wars that would arise out of the broader conflict. Especially notable among these was the Six-Day War (1967) in which Israel launched preemptive strikes that destroyed most of the air force and army capacities of three Arab nations: Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. Importantly, Israel also annexed further territory, including the Golan Heights (previously part of Lebanon), the Gaza Strip (along the Mediterranean coast), and the West Bank (along the Israeli-Jordan border). While Israeli leaders framed these actions as necessary to stop terrorist attacks, establishing rule over an additional six hundred thousand Arabs proved difficult and stirred considerable international sympathy for the Palestinian people. The dispute over Israeli-occupied territories would remain another core aspect of the conflict for decades to come.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was created in 1964 by Palestinians living within Israel to draw international attention to the Palestinian cause and promote the creation of an independent Palestinian nation. It became a key player in the Arab-Israeli conflict as a whole over the following decades, both in militant action and political activity. For example, by 1970 many PLO guerilla fighters were based in Jordan, from which they increasingly launched raids on Israel. However, that year Jordan expelled the militant group over fears of its growing influence. Regrouping in southern Lebanon, the PLO continued its attacks and the splinter terrorist faction known as Black September gained notoriety for atrocities including the murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics.

An important turning point in the Arab-Israeli conflict was the 1973 Yom Kippur War, also known as the October War or the Fourth Israeli-Arab War. It began with a surprise invasion of Israel by Egypt and Syria, but after initial heavy losses the Israelis once again repelled Arab forces and launched successful counterattacks. After a ceasefire agreement was reached, the heavy losses on both sides helped inspire a push to establish a lasting peace. This resulted in the Camp David Accords hosted by the United States in 1978 and an official peace treaty between Israel and Egypt in 1979. Although Egypt's recognition of Israel proved controversial among Arabs, it ended the phase of large-scale military conflict between Israel and neighboring Arab countries.

After the Yom Kippur War the Arab-Israeli conflict increasingly focused on Israeli-Palestinian conflict specifically, though it occasionally still spilled into international engagement. Israel's efforts to combat the militant wings of the PLO led to the invasion of southern Lebanon in 1978 and then the 1982 Lebanon War. However, these campaigns did little to diminish the PLO's political influence in the occupied territories. The already-volatile situation in these areas grew increasingly tense during the 1980s, as the Israeli government began encouraging Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This era saw the beginning of the first Palestinian intifada (uprising) against the Israeli government. These revolts would continue over the decades, taking a variety of forms ranging from peaceful protests, marches, and civil disobedience to acts of violence. The intifadas generally fostered even further crackdowns by the Israeli government.

International diplomatic efforts in the 1990s showed some promise. Negotiations between Israel and Jordan, in part brokered by US president Bill Clinton, resulted in the signing of a peace treaty between the two nations in 1994. Peace talks between Israel and Palestinian leaders also progressed significantly in the early 1990s. Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin agreed to a withdrawal of Israeli troops and settlements from the West Bank and pursued a truce with PLO leader Yasir Arafat during the Oslo Accords. One important outcome was the 1994 establishment of the Palestinian Authority as a governing body for parts of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. However, there were also setbacks, including Rabin's assassination in November 1995 by an Israeli gunman opposed to Rabin’s reforms. While some factions of the PLO, most notably Fatah, generally embraced the peace process, others—prominently including Hamas—maintained a more militant approach.

The aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, led to renewed American interest in the Arab-Israeli conflict amid rekindled concerns over Islamic extremism and terrorism in the Middle East. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama continued US efforts to negotiate a lasting peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, but with little success. One frequently raised proposal was the "two-state solution," which calls for Arab recognition of Israel’s existence in exchange for the creation of an independent Palestinian nation. However, support for the two-state solution was often decidedly mixed among both Palestinians and Israelis, with some skeptical that it could be peacefully implemented and others opposing it outright. Some observers therefore called for a one-state solution instead, though specific proposals varied widely, from complete domination by one side to complex forms of federation or shared sovereignty.

Amid such peace efforts, the Arab-Israeli conflict continued to evolve. For example, the Second Lebanon War in 2006, in which Israel invaded Lebanon in retaliation for an attack by the militant group Hezbollah, indicated how ongoing tensions and terrorist activity could continue to flare into international warfare. That conflict also revealed the increasing influence of Iran—a non-Arab nation that backed Hezbollah as well as other anti-Israel groups such as Hamas. As a result, over the following decades Israel would even at times find itself aligned with certain Arab nations (such as Saudi Arabia) in opposition to Iran.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict remained the focal point of the broader Arab-Israeli conflict through the 2000s and 2010s. Important developments included Israel's military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005; Hamas's victory in the 2006 Palestinian elections and control over the Gaza Strip following a 2007 civil war against Fatah; Israel's subsequent blockade of Gaza; the 2009 election of Benjamin Netanyahu (who staunchly opposed Palestinian statehood) as Israeli prime minister; and UN recognition of Palestine as a nonmember nation in 2012. Sporadic growth of Israeli settlements in traditionally Arab territory also continued, keeping tensions high. Occasional violence remained common, often in the form of rocket attacks against Israeli military or civilian targets and subsequent reprisals. While the Obama administration managed to restart peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians, little progress came from the negotiations that lasted from 2013 to 2014. In late 2016 the United Nations voted to condemn Israeli settlements, with the United States abstaining.

The election of US president Donald Trump in 2016 appeared to open a new era in US involvement in the Arab-Israeli conflict, as the often-inflammatory Trump hinted he would strongly side with Israel. Indeed, Trump signaled a US shift away from support for a two-state solution, appeasing Netanyahu and his supporters while drawing suspicion from many Arabs and international human rights groups. In December 2017 the Trump administration officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a highly controversial move praised by conservative Israelis but condemned by Palestinians, other Arabs, and many international experts and commentators on the grounds that it unnecessarily stirred tensions and damaged prospects of a two-state solution. The United Nations General Assembly, for example, voted to repudiate the US recognition of Jerusalem, though the nonbinding vote had little practical effect. Many countries continued to view the status of Jerusalem as unresolved and in need of ongoing negotiation between the various parties with interests in the historic city. A wide range of commentators suggested that Trump's move of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018 further eroded the credibility of the US in mediating peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians.

Meanwhile, outside of US involvement, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remained prone to flareups of tension. For example, in the summer of 2017 Muslims decried the Israeli government's installation of extra security measures at the disputed al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, which was enacted after the killings of Israeli police officers. Riots over the alleged discrimination against Muslims led Israel to engage in talks with Jordan to defuse the situation, and ultimately metal detectors were removed from the mosque. One positive development came earlier in 2017, when Hamas indicated it would support a more moderate stance, dropping its call for the destruction of Israel.

As international efforts toward fostering improved relations in the Middle East continued, the US-mediated Abraham Accords signed in 2020 saw the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain establish normalized diplomatic relations with Israel. The two Persian Gulf states became just the third and fourth Arab nations to formally recognize Israel, after Egypt and Jordan. Morocco reached a similar agreement later in 2020 and negotiations with Sudan progressed as well. However, while many praised the apparent warming of Arab-Israeli relations overall, some observers warned that it might actually worsen the unbalanced conflict between Israel and Palestine by leaving the former increasingly isolated and desperate. Concerns of a mounting humanitarian challenges in Palestinian refugee camps, especially in Gaza, heightened these fears.

Indeed, tensions in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict heightened in the early 2020s. By May 2021, Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood had initiated a legal effort to remove a number of Palestinian families who had resided there since the 1950s. Protests erupted in the area, and after Israeli authorities forcefully responded, rockets were fired toward the area of Jerusalem by Hamas. Throughout the remainder of the month, Israel launched air strikes in Gaza while rockets fired from Gaza also struck Tel Aviv. A ceasefire was reached between Israel and Hamas toward the end of May, but human rights groups suggested the situation in Gaza was increasingly dire following the wave of violence after years of blockade.

In October 2023 Hamas launched a massive surprise attack against Israel, massacring civilians and taking numerous hostages with the explicit goal of inciting broader warfare and drawing fresh global attention to the conflict. The attack was widely denounced as terrorism, though some observers, particularly in the Arab world, suggested the violence was rooted in ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. Israel responded by tightening the blockade on Gaza, heavily bombing the area, and launching a large-scale ground invasion intended to destroy Hamas altogether. Although the US and many other Western nations initially offered strong support for Israel, criticisms quickly mounted as the war progressed. International observers noted a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza as many civilians had little opportunity to avoid the fighting and food, medicine, and other supplies were scarce. After about a year, Israeli forces had eliminated many top Hamas leaders, but the militant group remained active. The conflict had also widened; in October 2024 Israel invaded Lebanon in response to increased strikes by Hezbollah, while Israel and Iran traded attacks as well.

In January 2025, Israel and Hamas agreed to a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal based on a proposal that former US president Joe Biden made in May 2024. The three-stage deal went into effect on January 19. According to the plan, the first stage, lasting forty-two days, comprises a complete ceasefire, the release of 33 hostages by Hamas, the release of about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners by Israel, the departure of Israeli forces from populated areas of Gaza as well as the Netzarim Corridor, the return of displaced Palestinian civilians to their neighborhoods, and the entry of hundreds of aid trucks into Gaza daily. The second stage is to establish a permanent ceasefire, exchange any remaining living hostages in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners, have Israel forces completely withdraw from Gaza. During the final stage, Hamas is to return the bodies of all remaining dead hostages and reconstruction of Gaza is to begin.

In early February 2025, US president Donald Trump proposed that Palestinians be permanently transferred out of Gaza and that the US would take over the contested territory and transform it into the "Riviera of the Middle East." Although Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Trump's proposal "remarkable," it was condemned by the international community, including by Russia, China, Germany, and Saudi Arabia.

On February 10, 2025, Hamas said it was delaying the release of Israeli hostages because Israel had violated the Israeli-Hamas ceasefire deal. Netanyahu responded by saying that if Hamas did not release the hostages as scheduled, Israel would resume fighting until Hamas was defeated.

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