The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Century of Conflict and the Search for Peace
A new round of large-scale conflict between Palestine and Israel broke out, and the situation continued to escalate. The bloody conflict between Arabs and Jews has lasted for nearly a hundred years, and countless refugees have left their homeland. Many countries have called for peace and have brokered mediation between the two sides. However, the door to peace has repeatedly opened and closed, and Palestine and Israel have never been able to reach an agreement on issues such as territory and borders.
The Palestinians were displaced. On
November 29, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed the partition resolution, stipulating the establishment of an Arab state and a Jewish state in Palestine. Arabs accounted for about 69% of the total population of Palestine at that time, and received a little more than 40% of the land; Jews accounted for about 31% of the total population, and received more than 58% of the land. Jerusalem and its surrounding villages and towns are administered by the United Nations. The partition resolution was strongly opposed by Arab countries and Palestinians.
On May 14, 1948, the Zionists declared the establishment of the State of Israel. The next day, angry Egypt, Transjordan (now Jordan), Iraq, Syria and Lebanon sent troops to Palestine one after another, and the first Middle East war officially broke out. Ultimately, it ended with the defeat of the Arabs. The failure of the war cost the Palestinians a heavy price. Not only did they miss the opportunity to establish an independent state, but the territory on which they based their country was also divided up. A large number of Palestinians have become refugees.
Multiple Middle East wars, tragedies continued to occur.
The 1948 Middle East War was just the beginning of decades of bloody conflict between Arabs and Israel. On July 26, 1956, Egypt announced that it would nationalize the Suez Canal, which had previously been basically under the control of a British-French joint venture. For this reason, Britain, France and Israel launched military operations against Egypt. On October 29, 1956, the second Middle East War broke out. Although Egypt was ultimately defeated, it gained sovereignty over the canal. Israel obtained navigation rights in the Strait of Tiran in the Gulf of Aqaba, established a buffer zone between Egypt and Israel, and gradually developed into a regional military power.
On June 5, 1967, the third Middle East war broke out. The war lasted for six days. Israel occupied Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, Syria’s Golan Heights, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The Old City of Jerusalem also fell into Israeli hands. Palestinians fled their homes in large numbers.
The Arabs were not reconciled to their previous defeat and decided to send troops again. They set the day of attack on October 6, 1973, the Jewish Day of Atonement. On this day, devout Jews did not eat, drink, or work, but prayed in synagogues. At 2 pm on the 6th, 200 Egyptian fighter jets took off and launched a surprise attack on the Israeli army. The fourth Middle East War broke out.
The Arab countries with high morale achieved a huge victory in the first three days of the war, while Israel hurriedly responded to the war and later took advantage of Egypt’s serious mistakes to reverse the situation. Finally, at the request of the United Nations Security Council, Egypt and Israel ceased fire.
On June 3, 1982, the Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom was assassinated and seriously injured by Palestinian militants. On June 6, Israel sent troops to Lebanon to attack Palestinian forces in Lebanon, and the fifth Middle East War broke out. The war ended in Israeli victory and the PLO withdrew from Lebanon.
The door to peace repeatedly opened and closed. On
November 15, 1988, the Palestinian National Council, the highest authority of the PLO, held its 19th special session in Algiers and issued the Declaration of Independence: “Establish a Palestinian state on our Palestinian land. , whose capital is glorious Jerusalem.”
In 1993, with the mediation of Norway, representatives of the PLO and Israel reached a peace agreement. On September 13, Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Rabin formally signed the “Oslo Accords” on the White House lawn. According to the agreement, “permanent status negotiations” between Israel and Palestine were to begin before May 1996, and an agreement on the permanent status of Palestine was to be reached before May 1999.
But the window of peace opened for a while and then closed again. In 1995, Rabin was assassinated in Tel Aviv by Israeli extremists who opposed the peace initiative, and initial negotiations stalled. Later, under the mediation of the United States, Palestine and Israel resumed negotiations to discuss issues such as the status of Jerusalem, the return of Palestinian refugees, Jewish settlements, border demarcation, and water distribution. These issues involve national sovereignty, security, economic and religious disputes between the two sides, and it is very difficult for either side to make concessions. Coupled with the obstruction by extremist forces on both sides and the multiple changes in Israel’s political situation, the Palestinian-Israeli peace process has repeatedly suffered setbacks.
On September 28, 2000, Sharon, the leader of the Israeli Likud Party, suddenly broke into Al-Aqsa Mosque Square, the Islamic holy site in the Old City of Jerusalem. Bloody clashes broke out between dissatisfied Palestinians and Israeli police at the scene, and the protracted “Aqsa Intifada” began. The situation in the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks has taken a turn for the worse, and the conflict continues to escalate.
Faced with the sudden launch of Operation “Aqsa Flood” by Hamas armed forces, the Israel Defense Forces also quickly launched Operation “Iron Sword”. There are various signs that the Israel Defense Forces are preparing to launch a large-scale ground attack on the Gaza Strip, and the situation between Palestine and Israel will be even bloodier in the future.
Judging from the current focus of the Israeli military’s “Iron Sword” operation, the first is to quickly eliminate the Hamas militants who have infiltrated the territory and protect the security of the territory; the second is to carry out a comprehensive siege of the Gaza Strip. Israeli Defense Minister Galante said on October 9: “I have ordered a comprehensive siege of the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, food, fuel, and everything will be closed.” This will not only siege the militants, but also put civilians in desperate situations. At the same time, the Israeli navy is also attacking Hamas targets along the Gaza Strip.
The Israel Defense Forces are no strangers to entering the Gaza Strip and fighting urban street fighting. In the past 20 years, the Israeli army has launched many ground attacks in the Gaza Strip and has accumulated rich experience in urban street fighting. With the emergence of new technologies, it is expected that a new round of urban street fighting will be a combination of old and new tactics.
First, heavy armor is still an important force for the Israeli army to organize street fighting assaults. Compared with the Israeli army, the Hamas armed forces are at an equipment disadvantage and can only use the old urban areas in the Gaza Strip to carry out urban guerrilla warfare. The specific tactics are to form a combat team of two to three people, carrying anti-tank rocket launchers/anti-tank missiles. Automatic rifles or sniper rifles shuttled through the ruins of the city, attacking Israeli military personnel and armored vehicles without warning, and then ran away without stopping to fight. In order to cope with the tactics of militants, the Israeli army’s armored vehicles have become heavier, including “Merkava 4” tanks, “Nagma Jon” armored vehicles, D9R armored bulldozers and other equipment that may seem strange to other armies. Only heavy armor can protect our own personnel in urban combat and improve battlefield survivability. These equipment will be the “pioneers” for the Israeli army to launch ground offensives.
The second is to skillfully use the “wall penetration” tactic. The urban area of the Gaza Strip has a labyrinth of narrow, winding streets and complex forks. It is densely populated and dotted with many booby-trapped houses and sniper points. The curved alley is convenient for setting up improvised explosive devices, and gas tanks can also be buried on the ground. Faced with this kind of street fighting, the Israeli army has long invented a tactic – “wall penetration”, which uses heavy hammers or limited blasting to make holes in the wall for people to pass through, and then penetrate through the windows or holes in the houses. OK.
The third is to actively use new loitering ammunition. On the battlefield of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the widespread use of loitering munitions has begun to change the battlefield situation. Israel, as the most active advocate and promoter of loitering munitions, will use it extensively in the coming urban street battles. This weapon is mainly used to suppress snipers and machine gunners. It is a more flexible and relatively cheaper option than anti-tank missiles.
The fourth is to make full use of special operations. The Israeli army will actively use special forces to infiltrate towns in the Gaza Strip to carry out arrests, “targeted killings” and other combat missions. Especially for hostage rescue, special operations operations are essential.
