Israeli-Palestinian conflict

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the most intractable and long-standing disputes in the world.

The establishment of Israel in 1948 in the wake of World War II as the British Mandate of Palestine was ending saw a rapid rise in hostilities between the fledgling state of Israel and its Arab neighbours. Tensions that had been building over a sharp increase in immigration driven by the persecution of Jews in Europe culminated in the Arab-Israeli War, which saw some 700,000 Palestinians displaced in what became known as the Nakba (“Catastrophe” in Arabic).  

The Palestinian territories today are divided between the West Bank – led by the secular Fatah party of Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas – and the Gaza Strip, ruled since 2007 by the militant group Hamas, which both the US and EU have designated a terrorist organisation.

International mediators have repeatedly tried to bridge the gap between Israeli security concerns and the Palestinian desire for an independent state, with limited success. Outstanding issues at the heart of the conflict include the status of Jerusalem, the right of return for Palestinians and the definition of borders. The 1993 Oslo Accords offered hope but the peace process subsequently stalled. Two intifadas and a cycle of violence have further entrenched mistrust.

The conflict continues to affect regional stability and alliances. The 2020 Abraham Accords, a US-backed agreement under which majority-Muslim nations including Bahrain, the UAE and Morocco agreed to normalise ties with Israel, shifted the balance and paved the way for bilateral trade deals. But regional relations remain tense over the situation in Gaza.