If the Ottoman Empire had not involved itself in World War I by aligning with Germany and Austria-Hungary, the fate of Palestine might have been different. World War I raged from 1914 to 1918.
No one knows for certain what motivated the Ottoman Empire to participate in World War I, but at the time, the Ottoman Empire was in a state of decline, often referred to as “The Sick Man of Europe,” especially after its defeat in the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, which led to the loss of all its European territories.
Some argue that the Ottoman Empire’s decision was driven by an effort to preserve the survival of an empire that once spanned from Europe to Western Asia. The weakened Ottoman Empire also prompted two colonial powers, Britain and France, to plan the division of Ottoman territories.
This compelled the Ottoman Empire to enter World War I because remaining neutral would have left them vulnerable to being carved up by Britain, France, and Russia. By taking sides, the Ottoman Empire had allies that could help restore its global influence.
Unfortunate for the Ottoman Empire, they found themselves on the losing side, which led to the cession of their territories to Britain, France, and Russia. The division of Ottoman territories had been planned before World War I ended.
Britain and France created an agreement that divided the Ottoman Empire’s territories in the Middle East into their protectorates. This agreement was known as the “Sykes-Picot Agreement,” named after two diplomats, Mark Sykes and François Georges-Picot.
Once World War I concluded, Britain and France implemented the Sykes-Picot Agreement, dividing the Turkish regions in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, and TransJordan into their protectorates. Palestine fell under British control.
Meanwhile, long before World War I erupted, anti-Jewish sentiments had been growing in Europe, leading to the Zionist movement in 1897, which aimed to establish a Jewish state in the land inhabited by Arab Palestinians. At that time, Palestine was still part of the Ottoman Empire.
One year before the end of World War I, on November 2, 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour wrote a letter to a prominent British Jewish figure, Lionel Walter Rothschild. The Rothschild family has often been associated with various global conspiracy theories. The Balfour Declaration, containing 67 words, promised British facilitation for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, which at the time was inhabited by 90% Arab Palestinians. This letter later became known as the Balfour Declaration.
After Britain officially received the mandate for Palestine in 1923, Jewish people from Europe began migrating to the region in significant numbers. The exodus intensified during World War II when Nazi Germany carried out the Holocaust, which targeted Jewish communities in Europe.
Arab residents opposed this migration. They rose up in resistance during the Arab Revolt of 1936-1939. Under British protection, Jewish militias engaged in acts of terror against Arab Palestinians, resulting in the loss of 5,000 Palestinian lives.
By 1947, the Jewish population had surged to 30 percent of the total population of Palestine, even though they only inhabited 6 percent of the land. This demographic shift played a significant role in the complex dynamics of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
The 1967 Six-Day War
In 1947, the newly formed United Nations issued the Partition Plan for Palestine, recommending the establishment of two states and international supervision of Jerusalem. However, Palestine rejected this plan because it required 56 percent of Palestinian land to be handed over to Jewish residents. At that time, Arab Palestinians controlled 94 percent of the land and constituted 67 percent of the total population in Palestine.
As tensions escalated, Britain terminated its mandate in Palestine on May 14, 1948, the same day when Jewish residents proclaimed the establishment of Israel. One day later, the Arab-Israeli War broke out and lasted until January 1949 when Israel reached ceasefire agreements with Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria.
During the war, in December 1948, the UN issued Resolution 194, guaranteeing the right of Palestinian refugees to return to the land occupied by Israel. In 1950, Egypt occupied the Gaza Strip, and Jordan governed the West Bank.
The flames of conflict continued to burn, but the Palestinian struggle lacked a unified leadership structure. Then, in 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was founded, followed by Fatah in 1965, which became the political wing of the PLO.
The Arab-Israeli relations indeed grew tenser, especially in the context of the Cold War. In 1967, a six-day war erupted between Israel and an Arab coalition. Israel emerged victorious and occupied the remaining Palestinian territories in the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and East Jerusalem, in addition to the Golan Heights in Syria and the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. This effectively led to the total annexation of Palestinian lands by Israel.
In 1973, another war broke out, with a coalition of Syria and Egypt facing Israel. Egypt and Syria aimed to reclaim the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt managed to hold its own against Israel, compelling the two nations to agree to a ceasefire that required Israel to withdraw its forces from the western Sinai Peninsula.
Two years later, on September 4, 1975, Israel and Egypt signed a peace agreement, leading Israel to return the entire Sinai Peninsula to Egypt. In return, Egypt recognized Israel and established diplomatic relations.
Another conflict erupted in 1982 when Israel invaded Lebanon to target the PLO, which was based in Lebanon. Three years later, Israel withdrew its forces from Lebanon after the PLO also left the country.
In the years that followed, Palestinians adopted new methods of resistance through the intifada movement in 1987. A year later, Hamas (Harakah Al Muqawamah Al Islamiyyah or the Islamic Resistance Movement) was founded.
After a period of heightened tensions, an Israeli-Palestinian agreement was reached in Oslo, Norway, in 1993. This agreement allowed the PLO to establish offices in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to form the Palestinian National Authority. However, Hamas and Islamic Jihad rejected this agreement.
Starting with the State of Palestine: In September 2000, the Second Intifada erupted, leading to a conflict between the Palestinian Authority forces and the Israeli Defense Forces. This conflict ended in 2005 when Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered the withdrawal of Israeli troops and Jewish settlers from Gaza.
A year later, Palestine held elections, and Hamas won 44 percent of the Palestinian Legislative Council seats. Israel responded to Hamas’s success with economic sanctions, demanding that Hamas accept previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements and recognize Israel.
In 2007, internal conflict between Fatah and Hamas led to Fatah’s expulsion from Gaza. In the aftermath, Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip. Saudi Arabia mediated between Hamas and Fatah to form a unity government, with Hamas governing Gaza and the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority.
There were some positive developments following this, leading to an improved status for Palestine at the United Nations. Since November 2012, Palestine is no longer considered an “observer non-member state” but recognized as the “State of Palestine.”
Nevertheless, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continued, including the 2014 Gaza war. After a relatively calm period, violence escalated again in November 2022 when a right-wing government led by figures associated with extreme right-wing ideologies came to power in Israel under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu.
During this government’s tenure, violence erupted throughout much of 2023 in various Palestinian territories, including Al-Aqsa, resulting in the highest number of casualties since 2005.
These times were also marked by significant diplomatic breakthroughs when four Arab countries followed in the footsteps of Egypt and Jordan by establishing diplomatic relations with Israel. While these breakthroughs did not change the fate of Palestine, Saudi Arabia, the most influential Arab and Islamic country, attempted to follow suit.
However, amidst expectations of Saudi-Israeli reconciliation, on Saturday, September 30, Hamas launched its deadliest attack. Hamas accomplished what no Arab army had done before by infiltrating and occupying Israeli territory.
Whether this attack is related to the Saudi-Israeli reconciliation efforts remains to be further explored. What is clear is that the September 30 attack opened a new reality regarding the extent of Hamas’s strength and the resilience of Israel’s defense.
The event might have made the Palestinian-Israeli conflict even more complex, but it could potentially drive a much-needed comprehensive resolution there, as it’s not feasible for the Palestinian people and the 21 percent of Israeli citizens who are of Arab ethnicity to perpetually engage in conflict.
In May 2017, the then-leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, declared that Hamas would accept a Two-State Solution, with the condition that the State of Palestine would be established in the territories occupied by Israel during the 1967 War, including East Jerusalem.
Although Hamas’ commitment wasn’t accompanied by recognition of the state of Israel, it still represented a significant step toward the Two-State Solution. At the very least, the establishment of a Palestinian state should begin, as other formulas have proven ineffective in putting an end to the conflict.
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