On May 14, 1948 Jews declared independence from Arabs and weeks later Arab states wanted to destroy Israel and declared war. Palestinians formerly know this as Al-Naqba “the day of catastrophe”. There were several wars each time Israel gained more land. The six-day war 1967, allowed Israel to capture lots of Palestinian land (Gaza, West Bank and Golan Heights). Egypt brought weapons from the Soviet Union and built troops but Israelis knew of the attacks and had a Pre-emptive strike. In six days Israelis crushed all of Egypt and received vast amounts of land. From then on Israel have captured more and more land and tightened Palestinian restrictions and a lack of freedom. Palestinians as a result are frustrated and have turned toward terrorism to fight for what they see is as wrong doings Israel has done to them.
This is a significant factor for Palestinians to act out acts of terrorism because they are being discriminated although they have a greater right to own more land than Jews due to the number of population. I also think they Palestinians feel they are not being taken into consideration by the western world.
The wars resulted in a mass emigration of 1.5 million Palestinians into Lebanon, Iraq and Syria from terror that Jews would slaughter them. Palestinians believe that Jews deliberately terrorized them into leaving their home in order to seize land for the new Jewish state. It states in a PLO pamphlet in 1984 “Plan was to frighten the rest of the Palestinian population into leaving to avoid the same happening to them”. This is a shocking source, which also quotes that “they murdered 154 men, women and children”. Another factor of bad treatment for Palestinians was a massacre, which took place in 1958 named after a village called Dier Yassin. This village was the target of a Jewish military attack and Israelis had killed all 254 inhabitants – men, women and children. As well as the history of bad treatment and refugees even today, Palestinians also feel humiliated and as if they are being kept under control within their homeland as Israel keep them on tight restrictions. Throughout the John Pilger documentary Israeli security forces are seen in Palestinian area like West Bank and Gaza. This shows that Palestinians are receiving a lack of freedom and vandalism is shown throughout the documentary in schools. Palestinians classroom have been invaded and faeces is scraped on floor stopping children from attending school. Israelis also give Palestinians curfews and restrict their amount of food and water, which are rationed; Israelis receive first priority.
Another factor of bad treatment to Palestinians by Israelis is the fact that they demolished Arab land and homes to build roads and settlements for Jew only access. This gave Palestinians a loss of their own land and Jewish cities were built upon homes also.
In addition a vital part of why Palestinians commit acts of terrorism is the West Bank Barrier created by Israelis. This barrier was a large security fence that separated Jewish from Palestinian areas. The fence consists of a network of fences with vehicle barrier trenches surrounded by troops; it is on average 60 metres wife and is up to 8 metres high.
This bad treatment is a crucial aspect concerning terrorism because Palestinians feel as if they have no life due to curfews, this also builds on humiliation for Palestinians and they are seen as less important than Israelis. The occupation of Palestinian land which is being taken away for use of Israeli roads is concerning for Palestinians and they would feel a loss of pride due to this.
A number of peace treaties have been arranged for both groups, most of which Israelis have broken; these are named Oslo, Camp David and The Road Map.
Camp David was appointed in 1947 to achieve peace in the Middle East. It aimed for Palestinians to govern themselves for 5 years and for Israeli troops to withdraw from Arab areas. Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Palestinian representatives who would also decide how Gaza and The West Bank should be ruled made this peace treaty. But during the 1970’s and 80’s Israel still occupied Palestine on West Bank and Gaza. Their claim was it was their land as stated in the bible. On the other hand Palestinians broke none of the agreements.
The Oslo Accords was finalized in Norway, 1993 and involved Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Palestinian representatives. This aimed to divide the Gaza and West bank into three main areas. Area A received full Palestinian authority, Area B received Palestinian civil control by Israeli security control and Area C claimed full Israeli control except over Palestinian civilians. Both Israelis and Palestinians agreed to stop violence and terrorism, Israelis agreed to withdraw troops from Palestinian territories. Later Israelis did not keep the agreement and continued to expand settlements further into areas alike West Bank and Jerusalem during the late1990’s. This time Palestinians had also had enough and resorted to violence due to expansion of settlements to too did not keep to agreements.
The Road Map for Peace was created in 2003 to resolve the dilemma and create a state of Palestine. The main points were to end terrorism, create an independent Palestine, reorganise the Palestinian political system and to make an end to the conflict. Both groups did not keep to terms of the treaty and Israelis attacked Palestinian settlements, arrested terrorists, monitored Palestinian movements and built The West Bank Barrier. Palestinians too had continued to act out acts of terrorism and suicide bombings due to the Israeli treatment.
Israelis broke a number of peace treaties, which continued to provoke Palestinians to act out acts of terrorism; this is significant because if Israelis kept to terms of the treaty there may have been an end to the conflict. Palestinians have also become frustrated due to the amount of diplomacy that has not worked and have instead resorted to terrorism to try to solve the problem.
Israel have set out and completed military attacks on Palestinians territory, which have caused riots and uprisings as children, men and women have all died. In a documentary named “The Bullet and the Ballet Box” Palestinian communities had admitted to loosing friends and a woman had lost all four children due to military attacks. This type of killing has caused people to resort to bombings and acts of terrorism, some feel it is a way to cope with their anger and more and more people join the Hamas Political party. The Hamas political party believe in violence and aim to obliterate Israel, the military attacks by Israel are a main reason for the increase in popularity of the Hamas party.
Innocent Palestinian civilians have been injured due to Israeli military attacks as a story from BBC NEWS quotes “Israeli troops opened fire at suspected looters in an industrial zone, wounding a 13-year-old boy in the head”. This quote shows the extent of anguish the Palestinians must receive. Israel also cause the deaths of hundred of Palestinians due to Israeli air raids, artillery fire and armoured incursions. As you can see from the image above, throughout the John Pilger documentary annihilated buildings are scattered all over the place and homes are destroyed causing a huge impact on Palestinians and families.
This is a major contribution toward the acts of terrorism Palestinians carry out; this is often the root cause of their anger and disappointment with losses of family and innocent people. Israelis have also attempted to kill the Hamas Prime Minister, Ismail Haniya. In spite of a loss of pride and humiliation Palestinians also receive deaths of friends that I think contributes to their acts of terrorism they carry out.
There are two main parties that dominate the Palestinian political system; Fatah have been head of the national movement since the 1950’s however Hamas have had a piercing increase and won a stunning victory in parliamentary elections in January 2006.
Fatah’s goal is to establish a Palestinian state in the Israel occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as capital through peaceful means but on the other hand Hamas seek the destruction of Israel and retaliate to Israeli attacks.
There has been an increase in the amount of votes for Hams because Palestinian civilians are loosing family through Israeli attacks and with support of Fatah they are not getting anywhere. The only party that helps civilians are Hamas who give people in poverty aid. This is seen in The Bullet and the Ballot Box documentary as Hamas women hand out bags of meat and help families who loose loved ones. Palestinians feel they do not receive compensation from Fatah and decided to vote for Hamas and terrorism, involving the problem of an occupied Palestine.
In addition Israel have joined with the international community and imposed economic sanctions; Palestinian government is not allowed any loan money, the amount of oil and petrol is restricted. This in turn has made it extremely difficult for Palestinians to strive and are struggling; resulting in poverty. All this has been done in order for the Hamas party to resign. A news article from GAZA CITY states “ sanctions are affecting the livelihoods of around one million people, or a quarter of all local Palestinians”. This source shows the implications of these sanctions and how Palestinians are suffering and as a resort turn to terrorism.
This is a key point for Palestinians to turn to terrorism because their country is suffering and they are receiving rations in water and food. This is making Palestinians more and more furious which is a crucial influence. As a result of the sanctions and poverty increasing Palestinians are suffering and businesses have to close down causing government statistics to dramatically decrease.
Taking all of the above into consideration the most prominent incentive for Palestinians to act out any acts of terrorism would be the bad treatment by Israelis. The Israelis have throughout the conflict treated the Palestinians in an appalling manner, Israelis have broken all three peace treaties of Camp David, The Oslo Accords and The Road Map and in turn have extended territories, tightened restrictions and made a number of military attacks killing many civilians. As a resort of this Palestinians have little homeland and are afraid to return to homes, Israel also refuses to talk to the Palestinian government; this bad treatment has started by the occupation of unlawful land and if Israelis did not occupy land there would be no issue of broken peace treaties and nor would Palestinians retaliate.
Another key point to be taken aboard is that both government Palestinian political parties don’t mind dividing up Jerusalem in to two sections providing they receive East Jerusalem because that where Haram al-Sharif is. Israelis however do not want to do this and want an Israeli state only. The Hamas party too would not have been formed if it wasn’t for the colossal amount of military attacks upon Israel and the conflict may have been resolved by now if it was not for the egocentric attitude of Israel. This concludes that the most important factor for Palestinians to resort to terrorism Is the bad treatment by Israelis although all are linked together closely.
