The Middle East Conflict

Black and white photograph of the UN General Assembly in New York, 1947, taken from above. The rows of seats in the General Assembly are seen from behind.
On 29.11.1947, Resolution 181 was passed at the UN General Assembly that led to the end of the British Mandate for Palestine. The planned partition proposed the founding of two democratic states – one Jewish and one Arab, © Israeli Government Press Office
Black and white photograph of a ship crowded with people docked in a harbour basin. The words 'Hagana Ship - Jewish State' are written on the ship. A large number of people are crowded together on the deck of the ship. A number of uniformed people are standing in the harbour looking at the ship.
In 1947, the refugee ship ‘Jewish State’ carrying Jewish survivors of the Shoah from Europe arrived at the port of Haifa. With few exceptions, the British authorities refused to allow the passengers to leave the ship. Instead, they were deported to internment camps in British Cyprus as part of ‘Operation Igloo’, © Smith Archive / Alamy Stock Foto

The Middle East conflict is a complex territorial conflict between Israelis and Palestinians and their respective allied states. The roots of the dispute lie in the late 19th century when both supporters of the idea of a Jewish nation state (Zionism) and sections of the Arab population made territorial claims on the region between the Mediterranean and the Jordan in what was then the British Mandate for Palestine.

Both parties to the conflict tried to achieve their political goals and establish new states through diplomacy as well as through violence and terrorist attacks. After the founding of the State of Israel in 1948 as a reaction to European antisemitism and the Shoah, wars and continuous violence ensued.

Palestinians driven out of their homeland and their allies described the creation of the State of Israeli as “nakba” – a catastrophe. In the 1960s, the “Palestine Liberation Organisation” (PLO) was founded that attracted worldwide attention through plane hijackings and deadly attacks, particularly after the Six-Day War in 1967. Parallel to the violent conflicts, protagonists on both sides strove to achieve peace.

Sepia-toned photograph of a refugee camp, taken from a hilltop. In the foreground of the photograph, a man wearing a kufiya headdress sits on the hill looking towards the camera. Many rows of tents can be seen in the valley, with paths running between them. At the foot of the hill are children looking up at the camera.
Palestinian refugee camp during the first Arab-Israeli war, 1948, © Archive PL / Alamy Stock Foto
Photograph taken at the signing of the ‘Oslo I’ accord on 13.9.199 . Two men are facing each other and shaking hands. They are the Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzchak Rabin, and the Chairman of the PLO, Yasser Arafat. Behind them stands another man, both arms slightly outstretched in a unifying gesture. It is US President Bill Clinton.
The Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (left) and the chairman of the PLO Yasser Arafat (right) at the signing of the ‘Oslo I’ accord on 13.9.1993. The agreement was a milestone in the peace process between Israel and the PLO. In the background: Bill Clinton, then President of the United States, © UtCon Collection / Alamy Stock Foto

Great hopes were held in the 1990s following the signing of the Oslo Accords. The peace process was named after the Norwegian capital as, with international support, the first secret negotiations between representatives of Israel and the PLO had been held there. The accord was intended to pave the way for the peaceful coexistence of Palestinians and Israelis in two neighbouring states in the long term. Hanna Maron, who was seriously injured in the Palestinian attack in Riem 1970, supported a peaceful coexistence that was to have been orientated on the borders of the State of Israeli in 1967, in other words, before the Six-Day War.

Vehement opposition to the agreement on both the Palestinian and Israeli sides ultimately jeopardised the peace process. In 1995, the Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing extremist Israeli in Tel Aviv after taking part in a peace demonstration. On the Palestinian side, politically and religiously motivated protagonists rejected the State of Israel and, with attacks and waves of violence, blighted efforts to reach a peaceful coexistence. To this day, no lasting peace in the region is in sight.

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