Thread by @TommyClarkUK

Israel/Palestine - THREAD 🇮🇱🇵🇸.

FACTS only. (1)

The myth that the conflict has been going on for hundreds of years is untrue.

It is about two groups of people who claim that the same area of land belongs to them.

The conflict really only goes back to the beginning of the 20th century.
(2)

Then, Israel and the majority of the surrounding area was under Ottoman Empire, and had been for hundreds of years.

It was mostly Muslim and Christian, with a small number of Jews - all who lived in peace.

In Europe, Jews were joining the Zionist movement. (3)

This was the idea that being Jewish was more than just a religion, but a nationality, that deserved a nation state of its own.

Theodor Herzl started this movement, and gathered thousands of Jews in support, mainly from the U.K., by travelling around floating the idea. (4)

After hundreds of years of abuse and persecution, many people - not just Jews believed that a nation state was their last chance of safety and security. Naturally, they saw their historic homeland in Israel as their best hope. (5)

From 1900-1910, upwards of 35,000 European Jews moved there.

During World War I, it more or less froze.

After World War I, the Ottoman Empire completely collapses.

The British and French sit round a table and carve up the Middle East, and the British... (6)

Take control of an area they then name the ‘British Mandate for Palestine’

The Brits allowed Jewish immigration.

Tension between Jews and Arabs rose, mostly from Jewish farmers being attacked.

Due to this, in the late 1920’s, the Brits began to limit Jewish immigration. (7)

Because of this, the Jews began to form militias - both to resist the violent Arabs, and to resist the British rule.

World War II comes about, and in such - The Holocaust.

Naturally, this led many more European Jews to flee for British Palestine. (8)

This gathers worldwide support for a Jewish State.

After World War II, the UN formed, and in 1947, they devised a plan to divide then British Palestine into two separate, independent nation states.

One was for Jews - Israel.
One was for Arabs - Palestine.
(9)

Jerusalem, where all Jews, Christians and Muslims have holy sites was to become a strange ‘international zone’, that belonged to no particular State.

This plan was to give the Jews the state they required, give the Arabs the state they never previously had, and... (10)

Allow Britain to leave the sectarian feud alone that they could no longer contain.

The Jews were happy with the plan, and so in 1948 declared independence throughout the State as the Nation of Israel. (11)

The Arabs, including in the surrounding regions however felt that this was just Europeans trying to steal their land.

Many Arab states instantly declared war on Israel in an effort to annihilate the Jews, and create an All-Arab ‘Palestine’. (12)

The Arab-Israeli war lasted 9 months.

The State of Israel won the war, and doing so pushed well past their borders under the UN agreement.

They took the Western half of Jerusalem, and much of the land to the South that was to have been part of ‘Palestine’. (13)

At the end of the War, Israel controlled all of the land in the region apart from the West Bank, which Jordan controlled, and Gaza, which Egypt controlled.

This was when Jews from neighbouring Arab nations fled, or were expelled. (14)

In 1967, there was the Six Day War.

This is commonly known today as ‘David vs Goliath’. This is because Israel were alone in their fight, against the following -

Egypt
Syria
Jordan
Iraq
Lebanon
Algeria
Kuwait
Libya
Morocco
Pakistan
The PLO
Sudan
Tunisia

(15)

Israel won this war, surprising the world, and when it ended it had seized -

- Golan Heights from Syria
- West Bank from Jordan
- Gaza from Egypt
- Sinai Peninsula from Egypt

Israel now occupied ALL of the Palestinian territory, including all of Jerusalem. (16)

In 1978, Israel and Egypt signed the ‘Camp David Accords’, brokered by the US Government.

This gave the Sinai Peninsula back to Egypt as part of the peace treaty.

Because the Egyptian government were making agreements with the Jews..... (17)

The then Egyptian President was assassinated.

He didn’t die in vein. It marked the beginning of the end of the ARAB/Israeli conflict. After the Six Day War, there was no Arab country who wanted to mess with Israel again - militarily atleast. (18)

Over the next few decades was when the conflict became an Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

The Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) fought against Israel, mostly through disgusting acts of terrorism. (19)

Initially, the PLO said they wanted complete destruction of the state of Israel.

Years later with absolutely no success, they later said they would accept dividing the land between Israel and Palestine.

In 1987, the ‘First Intifada’ began. (Arabic for ‘Uprising’). (20)

Beginning with protests but quickly with violence from the Arabs, the Israelis defended themselves - with heavy force.

Hundreds of Israelis and over 1000 Palestinians died during the First Intifada, that lasted until the beginning of 1993. (21)

During this time, a group of hard core Palestinians in Gaza who considered the PLO too soft, open and secular created Hamas - a violent extremist group whose single aim was the destruction of the Jews and the Israeli State. (22)

In 1993, the Oslo Accords are signed - again brokered by the US.

The world watched on and saw this as the first step from Israel withdrawing from the Palestinian territory.

This established the ‘Palestinian Authority’ allowing Palestinians freedom to govern... (23)

Themselves in certain areas. Members of Hamas were hugely against the Oslo Accords, and committed mindless acts of terror to try and sabotage the agreement.

The Camp David Summit in 2000 - supposed to be the final meeting for peace comes up empty. (24)

Palestinians accept that peace just isn’t coming, and begin the Second Intifada - much more violent than the first. At the end of it in 2005, around a thousand Israelis and three thousand Palestinians had died.

Israelis accept Palestinians don’t want peace (25)

And build walls and checkpoints in an effort to control violent Palestinians.

Absolutely NOBODY was trying to solve the conflict anymore. The Israelis were just managing it.

In 2006, Israel withdraws from Gaza and Hamas gain power there. (26)

Due to Hamas having power, Israel puts Gaza under a blockade, causing extremely high unemployment rates.

This is the state of the conflict as we know it today.

There are violent outbursts from the terrorists, Hamas with rockets firing into Israel on a daily basis. (27)

Nobody knows how the conflict is going to play out, but one thing everyone does seem to agree on is that it is definitely not going to get any better - only worse.

Thanks for reading! 🇮🇱🇵🇸 (28/final)