Before World War I, Palestine was a peaceful country, and the people were living happily. Most of them were Muslims, but there were also Jews and Christians living among them. At that time, all that area was under the control of the Ottoman Empire, including Palestine, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. The Ottoman Empire also had other countries under its control, like European countries, Southern Africa, and most of the Middle East countries, which were named as “Saltanat-e-Osmania”. Some Arab leaders were fed up with the rules of the Ottoman Empire, and they wanted to get free of them. So they asked Britishers to help them escape the Ottoman Empire. The British made a promise to them and said that if they helped them fight against the Ottoman Empire, they would get a separate country to live in. They made the same promise to the Jews in Europe. Jews were always wandering from here to there; wherever they lived, they lived as minorities. They were hated by every person in Europe, and many times they were killed. But why? It’s because of the religious conflict. The Christians believed that Jesus Christ was killed by the Jews, so they were abominated by them. They were pensive about getting a separate country in the area of Palestine, and they named this movement “Zionism”. This movement was started by a Jewish political activist “Theodor Herzl”. He wrote a book, which is translated in English as “Jewish State”, in which he wrote, “If Jews in Europe have to live a peaceful life, and they must make a separate country in Palestine”. At first, many Jews were against this act because they were saying, “Why would we leave our country because of the anti-Semitism?” But they had no choice but to leave the country and join the movement. After that, they were funded by their own community, and they were funded to create businesses and factories there. In the 1st World War, the Ottoman Empire was defeated, and on November 2, 1917, Arthur Balfour wrote a letter to Lionel Walter Rothschild describing that “the British Government has made a decision that Jews can make a separate country in Palestine, and they will get full support from the British Government, and the Muslims will not get any harm after that”. After one month of writing that letter, British soldiers came and defeated the Ottoman Empire, who had ruled over four thousand years. But the question is what was the British Government demanding in exchange for giving Jews a separate country? Actually, the British government wanted a country in that region that would help them in the future as an ally. In World War I, Britishers tried their hardest to make a Jewish colony in Palestine, and they were successful in that mission. But the Palestinians said that the Britishers didn’t even ask them about their freedom. In 1919, Arthur Balfour wrote a memorandum in which he said, “There is no need to ask for permission from the Palestinians”. In Palestine, the immigration of Jews started from all over the world, and they began to build schools and houses there and made a small army, which is called “HAGANA”. Palestinians tolerated this for some years, but in 1939, Palestinians raised a voice against it. Raising a voice against the British is simply seen as betrayal. For doing that, many of the Arabs of Palestine were arrested, some leaders were thrown out of the country, and some were hanged to death, but the Palestinians didn’t stop the strike against them. Then the British Government made a peel commission, stating that Palestine would be divided into two parts, but the Palestinians didn’t agree to that either. Their strike continued till the release of the White Paper, in which the British government kept in mind the 20-year-old situation in Palestine and made a policy. At first, the Peel Commission was rejected for that policy, by which Palestinians ended the strike and immigration of new Jews was prohibited, and those Jews who were already there were banned from buying land in Palestine, and they demanded an independent Palestine in the next ten years, which will also be a home for Jews. White Paper caused a conflict between Jews and Britishers, and they attacked the British soldiers all over Palestine, resulting in the deaths of many local Palestinians. This continued for months. After that, a big issue came forward that caught the attention of all the countries, which was World War II in 1939. While this war engulfed six hundred crore lives, on the other side, Adolf Hitler killed sixty lakh European Jews in the death camps, and this act is known as “the Holocaust”. Between 1941 and 1945, Adolf Hitler killed over sixty percent of European Jews. The rest of the Jews had no choice but to immigrate to Palestine; they immigrated to Palestine despite the limited immigration. But Palestine was also in the worst situation because of the Zionist and British conflict. After World War II, Britishers were tired of fighting the Zionists, so in 1947, they made the decision to leave Palestine, but they handed over that conflict to the United Nations to solve on their own. At that time, there were six lakh thirty thousand Jews, one lakh forty-three thousand Christians, and eleven lakh eighty-one thousand Palestinian Muslims. These figures were given by the Italian Jewish demographer “Sergio Della”. In the partition plan of Palestine, 55% of the land was given to the Jews by the United Nations, and this proposal got 72% of votes in the UN General Assembly. At that time, Indian Prime Minister “Jawaharlal Nehru” was also present in the assembly, and he voted against that proposal, and he also said that the UN Ambassador was bribed by Zionists. This resolution of the UN was rejected by all Arab countries, and on the other side, Palestinians and Zionists began to fight each other, but obviously the Jewish military was stronger than the Palestinians, so they didn’t have any chance of winning. On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion officially announced the creation of Israel, and he became the first Prime Minister of Israel. In 1948, all the neighbouring Arab countries made a decision to attack Israel because they were against the UN General Assembly proposal and thought this was the new trick of Britishers to get control of our countries. This was the first Arab-Israel War in which five Arab countries attacked Israel, which was only created a few months ago, but Israel had support from western countries, which were more powerful, so Israel alone defeated those five Arab countries.
Recently, on October 18, hospitals in Gaza were hit by the rockets, and more than nine hundred people were killed in that hit. Israel is targeting hospitals and houses now, and they are killing hundreds of innocent civilians and children. They also have a shortage of food, water, and medical supplies. The civilians are suffering because of that conflict between HAMAS and Israel, and the innocent children are getting killed day by day in that war. The situation has become chaotic in Palestine, and those who are being targeted are innocent civilians. And the world is watching those innocents die in rocket attacks.
After the war, Israel began to occupy the land of Palestine. In 1967, Israel not only occupied the West Bank and Gaza, but they also occupied the whole of Egypt. After that, Palestinians made an organization called “PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization)” to get their separate land, and at first they tried to get their land forcefully and hijacked many planes and ships, so the Americans and Israel declared this a terrorist organization. But many of the countries refused to accept them as terrorists because they were revolutionists who were fighting for their land, and in 1974, the PLO was officially recognized by the United Nations. After that, peace talks between Egypt and Israel beganto happen, and Egypt becomes the first Arab country to officially recognize Israel. Israel then hands over the Egyptian land to them, but after two years, the Egyptian Prime Minister was killed by an extremist group because of the agreement with Israel. In 1992, peace talks began between the PLO and Israel, and Yasser Arafat, the leader of the PLO, officially recognized Israel. Israel’s PM, Yitzhak Rabin, also recognized the PLO and declared that they were not terrorists. At that time, PLO also split into two groups, in which there were those who opposed this act and created a separate organization known as “HAMAS”. Israel and the PLO made a solution for the West Bank: they will divide it into three parts: one will be under the PLO, the second will be under both the PLO and Israel, and the third will be under the control of Israel. But in 1995, Jewish extremists killed their own Prime Minister because they didn’t want any Palestinians to live in the West Bank, and in 1996, the first election happens in Palestine and there becomes the first government, but the HAMAS was not happy with that and they boycotted the election. Not only that, but they also bombed Israel, making Israel and Palestine enemies again, and the clashes continued for a long time. Again in 2006, elections began to happen, but this time HAMAS won, which created a civil war between HAMAS and the PLO, which led to the partition of Palestine into two parts. Now HAMAS has control of the Gaza Strip, and in the West Bank, there are a small number of PLO governments. Most of the fights between Hamas and Israel happen in Gaza, from which rockets are fired toward Israel. That’s why Israel made a big fence around the Gaza strip. Nowadays, every two to three years, the fight between Hamas and Israel takes charge. On June 16, 2021, incendiary balloons were launched from Gaza into Israel, which the Israeli Air Force responded to with multiple airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, resuming the fighting. And now, on October 7, 2023, HAMAS fired over five thousand rockets toward Israel. But Israel responded to that sudden attack by bombarding the Gaza Strip with airstrikes. Israeli ministers have declared a complete siege on the blockaded Gaza strip, denying its two million residents a supply of food, water, and electricity. But on the other side, HAMAS has kidnapped more than 100 Israeli citizens and soldiers. Recently, on October 18, hospitals in Gaza were hit by the rockets, and more than nine hundred people were killed in that hit. Israel is targeting hospitals and houses now, and they are killing hundreds of innocent civilians and children. They also have a shortage of food, water, and medical supplies. The civilians are suffering because of that conflict between HAMAS and Israel, and the innocent children are getting killed day by day in that war. The situation has become chaotic in Palestine, and those who are being targeted are innocent civilians. And the world is watching those innocents die in rocket attacks. Now it is the time for Muslims around the world to raise their voices against Israel and try to stop this chaotic war between Hamas and Israel. And Insha’Allah, Palestine will be free forever, and they will live happily again like before.
(The author is a freelancer. The views, opinions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the author and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”.)
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