Israeli Palestinian Conflict Summary

Vocab Arabic = sacred language of Islam; dominant religion spoken in the Middle East and North Africa Arabs = People who speak Arabic Refugee = a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster. Terrorism = the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims

Where is Israel?

Creation of Israel 6 million Jews were killed in the Nazi Holocaust

Creation of Israel After WWII, the UN (United Nations) agreed that Jewish people should have their own homeland. In 1948, Jews were given an area called Palestine in the Middle East which had been under British control. The area was then renamed Israel. The Arabs who lived in Palestine and in the surrounding area felt like this was unfair and would not accept the new country of Israel (many still refuse to see Israel as an actual country to this day)

Conflict In 1948, the two sides went to war. When it ended, an area called Gaza was controlled by Egypt and another area, the West Bank, by Jordan. These two areas contained thousands of Arab Palestinian refugees who fled Israel during the war. In 1967, after another war, Israel gained back control of these two areas. Israel hoped to negotiate a deal with neighboring countries to get them to recognize Israel in exchange for Israel leaving Gaza and the West Bank.

Israel finally left Gaza in 2005 A group called Hamas won elections and took control there. Much of the world (including Israel) calls Hamas a terrorist organization. It refuses to recognize Israel as a country and wants Palestinians to be able to return to their old home - and will use violence to achieve its aims.

Since then, Israel has held Gaza under a blockade, which means it controls its borders and limits who can get in and out. Large numbers of people are unemployed in Gaza because businesses can get very few of their products out of Gaza to sell, and people don't have much money to buy things.

Rockets are regularly fired from Gaza into Israel and Israel fires back

Other countries, particularly America, have worked hard to settle the fighting between the Arabs and Israelis but so far nothing has worked. Many people want Gaza and the West Bank to be turned into a new country called Palestine. Israel won't agree to this unless it feels safe - and Hamas accepts its right to exist. The other sticking points are what will happen to Israelis who've settled in the West Bank, who will run Jerusalem and what will happen to the Palestinian refugees.