A history of Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Owen Armentrout

March 24, 2025

A young boy standing outside a crumbled house in Jabalia refugee camp, Gaza. Source: freegazaorg

October 7th was long from an initial blow; the conflict as we know it today has persisted for nearly a century. But where did it find its origin?

From 1936-1939, the Palestinian population revolted against British rule in part, for their allowance of widespread Jewish immigration into Palestinian territory. Then in 1947, there was a civil war in Palestine brought on by the United Nations’ plan to partition Palestine into separate Arab and Jewish states. The following year, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Sudan conducted a joint attack on Israel, this was known as the Israeli War of Independence; in the end, Palestinian land losses rose from 55% to 77%. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced, this became known to the Arabs as the Nakba, or “Catastrophe”. The West Bank and Gaza came under Jordanian and Egyptian occupation respectively.

Then in 1956, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria once again went to battle with Israel in what became known as the Suez Canal Crisis. This time, when Israel defeated its Arab neighbors, it captured Gaza, occupying it for a series of months before returning it.

In 1963, the Six-Day War ensued off of a false flag conducted by the Soviet Union. The USSR told Egypt that Israeli battalions were stationed at the border, which prompted Egypt, Jordan, and Syria to mobilize troops. Israel declared war and six days of bloodshed engulfed the region. By the end of the conflict, Israel seized both the West Bank and Gaza from Jordan and Egypt. And in essence, this is what has gotten us to where we are today.

To check out the complete timeline of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, click here