September 15, 2014

Palestine, a 27,000-square-kilometer piece of land by the Mediterranean Sea, is one of the oldest sites of civilization in the world. The Palestinian territory also bears great importance for the Islamic world: al-Aqsa Mosque, the original qibla of Muslims, the second temple build for God and the third most significant site for Islam, lies in Palestine, to which the Quran refers as the holy land. While Jews deem Palestine divine, Christians think of this part of the world as the cradle of their faith since Jesus was born there, and other major sites such as Bethlehem and Nablus remain in Palestinian territory.

Palestine's connection to the Jewish people, however, rests on political developments and a constructed identity rather than demographics. Against the backdrop of the rise of nation-states in the 19th century, European Jews yearned for a piece of land over which they alone would rule and live as a nation. Meanwhile, conflict in Eastern Europe and discrimination against Jewish communities, among other things, turned the establishment of a safe haven into a priority item on the group's agenda. Consequently, the Zionist movement's 1897 foundation by Theodore Herzl in Basel, Switzerland paved the way for the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and the subsequent migration of European Jewish populations to Palestine under the protection of the Sykes-Picot Agreement and the U.K. until 1948. The number of Jewish settlements and the size of occupied territories grew without interruption. During this period, settlers took control of approximately 160 districts along with their natural resources that constitute parts of Palestine.

Roughly 2 million people live as refugees on the territories, including the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, that have been occupied since 1948. Although the U.N. passed over 110 resolutions to facilitate the return of Palestinians who have been displaced through political, military and social mechanisms to their native land, the state of Israel has not taken any steps for implementation. Today, approximately 6 million Palestinians reside outside their native land, while 70 percent of the area's population falls into the categories of asylum seekers, immigrants or refugees – which is the highest among the world's displaced people and communities under occupation.

The Palestinian question reflects not only Zionist acts and the U.N.'s irrelevance, but also disagreements between Arab governments. Since 1971, Palestinians have been deprived of access to Jordanian soil. While the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) became the target of various assaults during the Lebanese Civil War of 1975 to 1990, the organization's connection to the Arab world became severed when Israeli forces pushed the PLO out of Lebanon in 1982.Meanwhile, the 1978 Camp David Accord left Egypt – previously the driving force behind the struggle – out of the equation. It was during the first intifada from 1987 to 1993 that Arabs, the Islamic world and the international community developed renewed interest in the Palestinian problem. Following the 1994 Gaza-Jericho Agreement, whose terms were agreed upon in Oslo, Norway the previous year, the PLO attained the right to represent the Palestinian people and form an autonomous government in Gaza and the West Bank. At the same time, however, the idea of returning occupied territories to their rightful owners became largely forgotten. Although the Gaza-Jericho Agreement's practical outcome was the creation of an autonomous polity with limited powers, Israel nonetheless maintained a right to veto any decision by the autonomous authority at will. As such, Palestinian communities could not even appeal for an independent state and the right to reclaim occupied territories.

The second intifada, which started in 2000, led to greater losses and more serious problems while the Palestinians continued to resist Israeli power. Hamas's rise to power in 2006, however, rendered the U.N. and other international actors that hoped to resolve the conflict through agreement less relevant than ever before. The Hamas-led government of the Gaza Strip has since become the target of Israeli assaults, serious security issues and a heavy embargo. In line with global discourse, terms such as terrorism and Islam assumed a more prominent role in the language of the Palestinian problem. The most recent wave of Israeli attacks has also made it clear that the conflict now represents nothing short of blatant racism and open hatred toward an entire community. Meanwhile, the Palestinian struggle attained the highest level of popularity in the international arena due to the destruction of tunnels, power cuts and the targeting of minors, even though the Egyptian government no longer sides with the Palestinian people. With the masses standing in solidarity with Palestine, most governments continue to maintain close cooperation with Israeli authorities.

Palestinians, to be sure, do not demand that a greater number of Jewish settlers lose their lives in the conflict, but the Israeli media and government did not hesitate to send a strong message about killing Palestinians. Given the circumstances, no cease-fire or peace can be lasting and genuine. After all, a lack of human tragedy, racism and violence as well as safeguards for equality and freedom must serve as the basis of peace. Today, Palestine represents an issue with serious humanitarian repercussions not only for the Islamic world but the entire international community. The demand for global justice that the international community and human rights advocates continue to voice does little to change the situation on the ground, which undeniably reflects a historical pattern involving the establishment and expansion of the state of Israel. The lesson of six decades of widespread displacement that has passed since Israel's foundation is that peace shall remain elusive so long as Palestinians do not enjoy equal rights.



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