Palestine: A land of endless blood

Barrister Solaiman Tushar :

Palestine is an area of the eastern Mediterranean region, comprising parts of modern Israel and the Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip (along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea) and the West Bank (west of the Jordan River).

Palestine or at least a part of it is also known as the Holy Land and is held sacred among Muslims, Jews, and Christians.

Since the 20th century, it has been the object of conflicting claims of Jewish and Arab national movements, and the conflict has led to prolonged violence and, in several instances, open warfare.

The Holy Land is stained with continuous blood.

Israel has carried out thousands of airstrikes since the war began on 07 October 2023 following a cross-border raid that killed 1400 people in Israel and took over 200 others hostage.

Palestinian health officials said over 7,000 people in Gaza have been killed more than three times the number killed in the six-week-long Gaza war in 2014 since the fighting erupted.

With the airstrikes continuing around the clock, the full extent of the damage remains unknown.

Palestine is a small region of land that has played a prominent role in the ancient and modern history of the Middle East.

The history of Palestine has been marked by frequent political conflict and violent land seizures because of its importance to several major world religions, and because Palestine sits at a valuable geographic crossroads between Africa and Asia.

Today, Arab people who call this territory home are known as Palestinians, and the people of Palestine have a strong desire to create a free and independent state in this contested region of the world.

Today, Palestine theoretically includes the West Bank (a territory that sits between modern-day Israel and Jordan) and the Gaza Strip (which borders modern-day Israel and Egypt).

However, control over this region is a complex and evolving situation.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict dates back to the end of the nineteenth century.

In 1947, the United Nations adopted Resolution 181, known as the Partition Plan, which sought to divide the British Mandate of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states.

On 14 May 1948, the State of Israel was created, sparking the first Arab-Israeli War.

The war ended in 1949 with Israel’s victory, but 750,000 Palestinians were displaced and the territory was divided into 3 parts: the State of Israel, the West Bank (of the Jordan River), and the Gaza Strip.

Over the following years, tensions rose in the region, particularly between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, and Syria.

Following the 1956 Suez Crisis and Israel’s invasion of the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria signed mutual defense pacts in anticipation of a possible mobilization of Israeli troops.

In June 1967, following a series of maneuvers by Egyptian President Abdel Gamal Nasser, Israel preemptively attacked Egyptian and Syrian air forces, starting the Six-Day War.

After the war, Israel gained territorial control over the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt; the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan; and the Golan Heights from Syria.

Six years later, in what is referred to as the Yom Kippur War or the October War, Egypt, and Syria launched a surprise two-front attack on Israel to regain their lost territory; the conflict did not result in significant gains for Egypt, Israel, or Syria, but Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat declared the war a victory for Egypt as it allowed Egypt and Syria to negotiate over previously ceded territory.

Finally, in 1979, following a series of cease-fires and peace negotiations, representatives from Egypt and Israel signed the Camp David Accords, a peace treaty that ended the thirty-year conflict between Egypt and Israel.

Even though the Camp David Accords improved relations between Israel and its neighbors, the question of Palestinian self-determination and self-governance remained unresolved.

In 1987, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip rose against the Israeli government in what is known as the first intifada.

The 1993 Oslo I Accords mediated the conflict, setting up a framework for the Palestinians to govern themselves in the West Bank and Gaza, and enabled mutual recognition between the newly established Palestinian Authority and Israel’s government.

In 1995, the Oslo II Accords expanded on the first agreement, adding provisions that mandated the complete withdrawal of Israel from 6 cities and 450 towns in the West Bank.

After decades of unresolved crisis, the humanitarian situation of Palestinians is dire. 2022 has been the deadliest year since 2005, with 209 Palestinians killed, including 36 children.

Palestinians in the West Bank are denied adequate housing, and access to services while subjected to forced evictions and movement restrictions.

In Gaza, recurrent cycles of hostilities, greater divisions, and a blockade have considerably worsened people’s living conditions.

As a long-standing humanitarian donor, the EU responds to the population’s most pressing needs.

Some 2.1 million Palestinians, out of 5.3 million, need humanitarian assistance.

In the Gaza Strip, the economy has stagnated in great part due to a blockade imposed since 2007.

Over 80% of the population depends on aid due to access restrictions, and hostilities, which have undermined Gaza’s economy.

The impact of these restrictions is compounded by recurrent hostilities, a chronic energy crisis, and the internal Palestinian divide.

Trapped in a downward cycle of poverty, unemployment, and food insecurity, people have limited access to health care, safe water, and electricity.

The West Bank saw an alarming increase in violence, demolitions, evictions, and movement restrictions in 2022.

Out of 209 Palestinian deaths in 2022, 155 were in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Some 800,000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem, Hebron H2 area, and Area C – an Israeli-controlled area covering over 60% of the West Bank – need better access to essential services such as water, health care, and education.

Homes and other vital infrastructure are routinely demolished, and inhabitants are evicted by force.

This is due to the violence, intimidation, and rejection of building permits.

Schools continue to be damaged or demolished.

Palestinian students are routinely harassed on their way to school, hampering their access to education.

Since the creation of Israel, the Western World has been supporting Israel endlessly for every action even for evil work.

On the other hand, the Muslim world is endlessly silent in supporting to creation of an independent state of Palestine.

Therefore, the conflict between Israel and Palestine is unresolved.

An independent state of Palestine can be the only solution to resolve this problem.

Hence, the United Nations, the Western World and the Muslim World should work together to create an independent state of Palestine.

(Barrister Solaiman Tushar is an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and a researcher of International Law.)