When Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, the number of Jewish settlers grew even further and with it the resistance of the Palestinians. In 1936 it erupted. The Palestinians revolted against British rule and Jewish colonization. They attacked Jewish and British targets such as railways, trains and Jewish settlements. After three years the British managed to quell the revolt, but the discontent remained.
Palestine is divided by the United Nations in 1947
In the years that followed, the British were unable to calm the unrest. That is why they wanted to transfer control of Palestine to the United Nations. They came up with a solution in 1947 the territory would be divided. There would be both an Israeli and a Palestinian territory. Who got what depended on the number of inhabitants. Places where mainly Jews lived would become Jewish areas. And areas where Palestinians were the majority would become Palestinian.
Disagreement over division between Israel and Palestine
At that time more Palestinians than Jews lived in Palestine. Still, in view of future settlers, the Jews were allotted greater territory than the Palestinians. The Jews accepted this partition plan, the Palestinians did not. Why not, there are different ideas about this.
‘They thought it was an unfair division of the territory’, for Israel Palestine conflict says Aarts. According to the Israel Information and Documentation Center (CIDI), the Palestinians did not like the very idea of a Jewish state and wanted to keep the entire territory for themselves.
Arab countries invade the territory
The Jews did not let their dream of a state of their own be taken away by Palestinian rejection. When the British officially withdrew on May 15, 1948, Israel declared itself an independent state. That’s where it really went wrong. ‘The surrounding Arab countries did not let that go their way.’ The next day, Arab troops invaded the self-proclaimed state, seeking to liberate Palestine.
Peaceful settlement in Palestine
The term two-state solution is often used internationally, Jews and Palestinians should live peacefully side by side in two different states. But its elaboration has so far been stranded in reluctance and division on both sides, about the whole idea or its details. Violence between the two parties flares up again and again, often provoked by radical elements. Every few years, Israel moves into the Gaza Strip to stop shelling from that side.
Israel currently seems to benefit more from the status quo, with walls and fences on the West Bank largely protecting them from major attacks by Palestinian militants. And where the occupation of the West Bank and the throttling of the Gaza Strip prevent the Palestinian economy from thriving.
A peaceful status quo is unlikely. On the Palestinian side, higher birth rates, combined with high unemployment and frustration about the lack of freedom of movement, will contribute to radicalization. There is too little internal political pressure on the Israeli side to reach a definitive solution. Moreover, Israel, especially with US President Trump as an ally, feels sufficiently supported to continue on the current path.
