The Entire Israeli-Palestine Conflict Explained | Secret Wars Uncovered | War Stories

in the summer of 2000 the leaders of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization came to America at the invitation of U.S President Bill Clinton there were hopes of a resolution to a conflict which had lasted decades and killed thousands but two weeks of negotiations broke up without agreement each side blamed the other and the war of words soon escalated into more violence on Israel's borders they called it the second interfada the second uprising the surge in fighting lasted more than four years it was another Bleak chapter in a conflict which has defied resolution for Generations we have this cycle of violence which seems to me absolutely impossible to break it's been an aerial War um a an intelligence War a war of spies and a war of soldiers and that war has gone on consistently now for over 10 years the roots of the struggle between Israel and the Palestinians go deep with each passing year they seem to grow more entangled there's often a misconception that um the conflict is essentially the result of cultural predispositions between two conflicting religions and two conflicting cultures and that's just simply not true you have extremists on both sides who feed off hatred how did This Bitter conflict begin were there opportunities to end the war that were missed and how can peace be achieved when there is such implacable hatred and grievance on both sides [Music] [Applause] the British had been in Palestine for almost three decades they had come in the aftermath of the first World War they were leaving in the aftermath of the second stration had been a tumultuous one in the 1920s and 1930s thousands of Jews had emigrated to Palestine there were violent clashes with the local Arab population the British authorities were caught in between their attempts to limit further immigration enraged the Jews their earlier support for a Jewish homeland enraged the Arabs Usher's only grew and Jews were won by the Nazis in the Holocaust Survivors had witnessed Horrors Beyond imagination many saw no future for themselves in Europe thousands tried to move to the Jews historic Homeland in the Middle East after the second world war it was clear to Britain bankrupt as it was that it would have to withdraw by 1947 the British should realize that the current status quo was completely unsustainable it was no longer able to come up with a solution or even contain the conflict that was going on at the time between the two communities the future of Palestine was instead put in the hands of the newly formed United Nations in November 1947 a plan for the partition of Palestine was agreed the news was met with Jubilation among Jews and fury among Arabs violence broke out between the communities as British troops withdrew at midnight on the 14th of May 1948 the British Mandate of Palestine came to an end the state of Israel was born it was attacked immediately forces from Lebanon Jordan Syria Iraq and Egypt secured Arab territories in Palestine and launched military offensives against the new Jewish state they fought off six Arab armies with improvised weapons to establish and defend their territory and they ended up with a two slivers of territory which drove into Palestinian lands a lot of Palestinians some left voluntarily some left because they were frightened but most most were driven out of their territories to create the Palestinian problem of a peoples in the Middle East Israel may have triumphed but the fledgling state still surrounded and outnumbered numbered on its destruction the violence which surrounded the country's birth would continue [Music] the Six-Day War of 1967 saw Israel seized territory from Jordan and Syria and sweep across the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula that was a war in which the Arab Nations clearly were about to attack Israel Israel had as it were both a legal and moral right to to strike first and they did strike first so you ended up having the West Bank and Gaza which after 1948 you had the West Bank that was part of Jordan and got in The Gather strip that was then part of Egypt come under direct Israeli control foreign struck back in 1973. prize attack on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur began another round of violence they put in Israel under great pressure Israel responded it was a pretty close thing actually and they ended up back where they started from but it had shocked the Israelis the 73 War showed the Israelis really how vulnerable they were and it changed their thinking the fighting LED Egypt and Israel to negotiating table the Camp David Accords of 1978 returned to Sinai to Egypt but Israel kept East Jerusalem the West Bank the Golan Heights and the Gaza Strip and it was not just land the Israelis had acquired over a million Palestinian Arabs lived in the occupied territories it was the start of another long and bloody struggle and a very different kind of War foreign were the increasingly powerful Israeli Armed Forces on the other were the Palestine Liberation Organization the PLO targeted Israeli soldiers and civilians alike they attacked buses hotels and schools the Israelis responded with raids on PLO camps abroad with assassinations of leading militants and with more and more settlements on occupied Palestinian land yeah I had been kicked out from our homie 60 of our people have been became a refugees on the status the war seemed intractable but in the early 1990s secret peace talks began what distinguished Oslo from other peace agreements and its success was that Oslo again was an immediate um and desperate response from both the Palestinian and Israeli leadership um in response to the first and Father which really proved to both that the current status quo was completely unsustainable and it is based on a two-state solution so that there shall be an Israeli State guaranteed that the Arab neighbors of Israel should give up all of their rhetoric that they want to destroy Israel and must must be seen to do so and guarantee Israel's Security in return for that the Palestinians shall have an independent state not just an autonomous territory but an independent state and Jerusalem shall be a free City the talks led to the Oslo Accords and the establishment of a Palestinian Authority this promised an elected government for Palestinians in parts of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip so the Palestinian Authority were an interim self-governing Authority created through the Oslo Accords and they were essentially tasked with social welfare provision and security provision in the Occupy Palestinian territories the Assumption was we would move hesitatingly towards the realization of the Oslo Court the reality has been different after the failure of the Camp David Summit in 2000 violence flared once again and the hopes of Peace were soon to take another blow in 2006 the hard-line islamist group Hamas won elections in Palestine in their founding Charter was a commitment to the total Destruction of the Israeli state discover the past with exclusive military history documentaries ad-free podcasts presented by world-renowned historians all on History hit watch them on your smart TV or on the go with your mobile device download the app now to watch everything from the gripping story of the Band of Brothers to Operation Barbarossa and D-Day immerse yourself in the dramatic stories of this remarkable era by signing up via the link in the description in the early 2000s violence erupted once again between the Israelis and the Palestinians efforts to end their long-running conflict more than four years thousands died conflict driven by old disputes and unresolved grievances where each side blames the other [Music] it's our country it's our it's our holy place it's not to the to the Jewish people if we the Jews don't believe that this land is ours the World's Gonna believe it let's go back to 47. by January 2006 the violence of the second interferder had eased at last elections were held in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip poll Badoo voting had been delayed by a dispute over the electoral system and by fears over who would win under the control of the fatah party the Palestinian Authority had become a byword for incompetence and Corruption fata's leaders could agree on almost nothing and the people had noticed fata's political dominance was threatened by the rise of another party Hamas can probably conceptualize Hamas as being the armed wing of the Palestinian strand of a Muslim Brotherhood as they were created specifically for that reason in 1987. Hamas managed to essentially transform itself from being a marginalized political social and military organization into a deeply embedded and sophisticated art of Palestinian politics Hamas is pretty anti-semitic they say that you simply cannot trust the Jews you cannot trust the Israelis and Hamas represents a rejection both of the peace process and of the Palestinian Authority I can understand these Israeli perspective if Hamas wants to wipe Israel off the map which they say they do then Hamas cannot be included in any sort of Peace dialogue that there should be Israel the United States and the European Union had all declared Hamas a terrorist organization question but that did not Dent its popularity in Palestine when the elections finally came the results stunned the world it was a protest vote it was a protest against the crippling humanitarian conditions it was a protest against the ongoing Israeli occupation it was a protest against the rampant corruption from thatha and the Palestinian Authority the problem for the outside world with Hamas is that Hamas has many many deficiencies but lack of popular legitimacy is not among them and so anyone who condemns Hamas as merely a terrorist group has got to take on board the idea that one and a half million people in Gaza seem to back it the election plunged into crisis tensions between Hamas and fatah grew as they squabbled over control of the security forces immediately after the elections Hamas sought to create a Unity government with further negotiations are broken down and further outright refused the U.S intelligence Services had directly armed them to then go ahead and Carry Out military coup against Hamas but before that plan could get underway Hamas intelligence had kind of intercepted the plan and they had therefore preemptively taken over the Gaza Strip before that could happen and that's what essentially led to hamas's uh takeover and setting up of the de facto government in Gaza 2007. the Palestinian Authority split in two in the West Bank fatah retained control but in Gaza Hamas tightened its grip [Music] thousands have fled there after the founding of Israel in 1948 half a century on the Gaza Strip has become one of the most densely populated places on the planet life for civilians in Gaza was not easy even before Hamas sees control in 2007. after the Takeover things got worse much worse these Israeli attempt was to squeeze Gaza as long as you have Hamas as your leaders then you will suffer they blockaded Gaza they they prevented Gaza from receiving anything they didn't want them to receive Foods medicines and building materials so for example there was a ban on things like pasta chocolate School textbooks school chemistry textbooks you know it was very very arbitrary pretty much everything was banned even lentils in response to the blockade Hamas militants bombarded Israel with hundreds of rockets Israel retaliated with mortar and airstrikes in 2008 Egypt managed to broker a ceasefire the rocket attacks from Hamas were to stop Israel would halt the airstrikes and as part of the agreement the longer the truce held the more open the borders would become the love offered respite to civilians on both sides Goods began to flow again but it lasted just six months the ceasefire collapsed in December 2008. yet again each side blamed the other day [Music] Israel launched operation cast LED F-16 fighter jets and Apache helicopters led the attack in the first four minutes of the operation 100 targets were hit for 22 days afterwards the Israelis continued to pound Gaza [Music] began and soldiers penetrated deep into Gaza City the Israelis said their strikes were pinpoint attacks on Hamas targets but in such a densely populated area civilian casualties were inevitable way shape or form is Revenge a legal strategic option certainly not under the Geneva Convention so it was an ex in my view it was an excessive overuse of force by the Israeli military part of this is the fact that the Israelis are not as good at dialing up and dialing down their reactions as they would like us to believe the the IDF the Israeli Defense Forces are only 65 000 professionals or more than a hundred thousand conscripts who are not necessarily so well trained by mid-January up to 1400 garzons had been killed among them 313 children in the face of growing International condemnation Israel ended the operation on the 18th of January 2009. the only problem the Israelis have when they do intervening Gaza is it creates terrible headlines around the world because their action always seems disproportionate if anything it's about hamas's popularity not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank where you see where you saw demonstrations come out in support of Plaza and then that was then met by not only Israeli retaliation but also the Palestinian Authority clamping down on demonstrators [Music] targets of the Israel Israeli offensive a network of tunnels thousands of garzans worked on them some tunnels were defensive used to store weapons or offer shelter for her Mass officials other tunnels were for attack to deliver Fighters across the fence to Israel and some were used to cross the border with Egypt bypassing the economic blockade the tunnels have provided one of the very few means that they have to access the very essential things that they need to survive the Israelis have invaded Gaza they've tried to block the tunnels they bomb them they have tried to locate the tunnels they've they've done quite a lot but they could never stop them being used for a time in 2012 Hamas had a friend across the border in Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood held power in Cairo Hamas were their allies and goods flowed across the border into the Gaza Strip 13 however the Muslim Brotherhood were overthrown in a coup the new military government of Egypt was far less friendly to their neighbors in Gaza when mercy fell the CC government in Egypt very right-wing very military authoritarian government have done more to try to block the tunnels they've flooded them they've put poison gas in them they've put sewage in them they've done all that they can to try to make these tunnels impossible [Music] the underground Network joining Gaza to the outside world was systematically picked apart by 2014 Hamas was in a financial crisis without the flow of smuggled Goods to tax the income of the government collapsed almost half the adult gazan population were unemployed Millions had little access to clean water power shortages were widespread the United Nations declared a humanitarian emergency [Music] like the suffering in Gaza Hamas remained popular their Defiance was attractive many gazans blamed Israel or the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank for their troubles instead while there remained a fight for the hearts of Palestinians Hamas had an interest in prolonging the conflict with Israel politics can perpetuate violence and a Siege mentality and this is no less true of the other side in this wall Israel as in Gaza a Hardline approach can be a vote-winning one the 8th of May 1972. Sabina flight 571 had just left Vienna when four armed Palestinian terrorists entered the cockpit they ordered the pilot to land at Lord the largest airport in Israel the terrorists Two Men and two women then demanded the release of more than 300 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel the Israeli government led by prime minister goldamayir began negotiations as the hours ticked by the hijackers allowed a group of white-clad technicians to approach the plane there was a problem with the hydraulics if the Boeing 707 was to take off again it would have to be fixed but the men in white were not mechanics they were soldiers from the elite Sarat matkal unit of Israel's Special Forces when it comes to the Israeli combating of terrorism it's safe to say that they take a hard power approach that was unusual but Special Forces are noted for going to the extreme if necessary of doing remarkable things they don't normally have to but what's special about them is that if they ever need to they will they are extremely well trained and they are technically brilliant they are right up there with with the best of us in the West the disguised Israeli Commandos stormed the hijacked plane it was over in minutes the two male terrorists were killed the two women were captured a hostage was fatally wounded and one Commando was shot in the arm he was a young Soldier nearing the end of his time in the military his name was Benjamin Netanyahu Netanyahu would go on to become one of the most successful politicians in Israeli history he would be prime minister longer than the country's Founding Father David Ben Gurion and he more than anyone else would shape the israeli-palestinian conflict in the early 21st century what we want to see here is a new beginning the terror is the old world it's the old Fighting it's the old recalcitrance what we would like to see is a break with the past in the beginning of a new future for peace with the Palestinian Arabs with the Arab states after serving as Israeli ambassador to the UN during the 1980s Netanyahu returned home and began a remarkable political rise in 1993 he was elected leader of the right-wing liquid party [Music] a coalition of nationalists likud had broken the domination of the left in the 1970s and remade Israel's political landscape in 1996 Benjamin Netanyahu was the Party's candidate for prime minister he narrowly won the election but his first term in office would be short as part of the peace process in 1998 Israel ceded territory in the West Bank to Palestine netanyahu's right-wing allies were outraged his ruling Coalition collapsed an election followed which Netanyahu lost but he did not give up on his political career Ten Years Later he became prime minister once again this time Netanyahu would not be risking his future on compromises with the Palestinians [Music] the 2008 Israeli incursion into Gaza an uneasy and unofficial truths had held there were still Hamas rockets and secret Israeli raids people were still dying but a full-scale war had been avoided until 2012. it began with a drone strike the targeted assassination of Hamas leader Ahmed Jabari kibari was the man blamed by Israel for masterminding the rocket attacks on their civilians drones and special forces are the spearhead of the Israeli military in fact in drones they were one of the leading Pioneers if not the Pioneer they created some of the first weaponized drone systems and as a result they're one of the most advanced drone actors in the world so they say look we're in his existential War for our survival it will go on as long as we can foresee and we have to fight this war in always possible in the days that followed more strikes hit positions all over the Gaza Strip they targeted Hamas headquarters and munition stores as well as civilian infrastructure Hamas responded with a surge of katusha Rocket fire these were indiscriminate attacks targeting cities and civilians did the Rockets being fired by Hamas come before the airstrikes and the penetration and the assassinations by the Israelis or did the Israelis come to us many of the Rockets were intercepted by the latest Innovation from Israel's world-leading defense industry Iron Dome missile Shield was the most advanced air defense system ever deployed was its biggest test yet the number of missiles shot down is disputed but in the week-long conflict just six Israelis were killed by Hamas Rockets Israel's military superiority had guaranteed victory the Israeli public overwhelmingly backed their prime minister but some could not help noting that operation pillar of Defense had come just weeks before parliamentary elections despite losing seats they could remained the largest party Benjamin Netanyahu stayed on as prime minister he began his third term facing an old question how could the conflict with the Palestinians be resolved at the urging of the Americans peace talks resumed but they soon ran into trouble the disputed settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank continued to expand in April 2014 the peace talks collapsed sadly in my view with the right-wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu there is clearly no effort to resurrect the two-state solution how can you create a state when you have Villages effectively cut off from each other being separated by settlements walls and checkpoints it certainly suits Israeli purposes at the political level there are those who would argue that it is to an Israeli government advantage to continue the conflict peace was apparently impossible tipping back into open conflict would prove all too easy [Music] in June 2014 three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and murdered in the West Bank operation was launched to find those responsible 350 Palestinians were arrested including leading Hamas officials tensions Rose quickly a Palestinian youth was killed by a gang of Israeli nationalists Rockets were fired from Gaza then on the 8th of July Israel began operation protective Edge once again the Gaza Strip became a war zone uh very much trying to avoid a military confrontation with Israel because after the two previous confrontations it could not afford to go into another war with Israel what happened then was absolutely horrific in terms of the amount of force that was actually used they used their air power assets their f-16s and their drones and one of the most controversial ways in which the Israelis seek to counterterrorism is through the knock-on roof tactic and this is where they send in a dud missile which hits the top of the roof doesn't really do any damage but it's a warning and it's a potent warning of an imminent threat because within the next 15 minutes that home is going to be destroyed International attempts to secure a ceasefire faltered on the 17th of July 2014 a ground offensive was launched by the end of the seven week operation twenty thousand homes in Gaza had been destroyed more than 2 000 Palestinians had been killed and again it proved incredibly detrimental to the organization and not only to Hamas but also to Gaza as a whole because this time it really did effectively destroy the strip the thing is that Israel has all of the cards here Israel surrounds Gaza it has the ability to completely cut it off from the outside world elections were soon due in Israel once again Netanyahu had been in power for six years and a close race was predicted Netanyahu called for a nationality bill which would Define Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people and the Jewish people alone and he confirmed no Palestinian state would come into being during his next term so often controversial dies at home and abroad but they seem to work Netanyahu won a fourth term as prime minister but likud had cannibalized the support of previous allies in government perform a new Administration they would have to rely on nationalist parties even more hostile to the peace process Benjamin Netanyahu was nearing the 10-year anniversary of his second stint in power but his political dominance was waning police began an investigation into possible corruption and the U.N passed a motion condemning the ongoing construction of settlements on occupied lands but if Netanyahu was weakened domestically he soon acquired a powerful new Ally on the international scene relations with the U.S administration of Barack Obama had become difficult there is exasperation in the White House about the Israeli Prime Minister's attitude to the peace process but Obama's time in office was coming to an end the presidential election was due and a political bombshell was about to go off in November 2016 Donald J Trump won the U.S presidential election the controversial Republican stunned the world with his unexpected Triumph it was a result which was welcomed by the government in Jerusalem the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had known Donald Trump for years now his friend was in the White House the new president promised change he did not disappoint he announced that the United States would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and relocate its Embassy to the city the move delighted many American supporters of Israel the government of Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the announcement as well but it was condemned by governments around the world even old American Allies in Europe expressed their concern they had their embassies in Tel Aviv and had no intention of moving them to live at the embassy to Jerusalem was largely met with significant protest on the Palestinian side I mean it was completely outrageous as far as Palestinians were concerned it you know it essentially violated uh you know the terms of what they see to be a resolution to the conflict [Music] protests soon scarred the West Bank and Gaza in Spring 2018 a campaign of weekly Mass demonstrations began they called it the great March of return what they're essentially demanding is two things the first is the right to return to their ancestors homes that were taken by Israel in 1948 and the second is to end this 12-year-long blockade that Gardens have been placed under and that the UN has openly proclaimed is amounts to Collective punishment the problem the Israelis always face when there is protesting guards a particularly peaceful protests or relatively peaceful protests is that they act disproportionately but also there's an element in Israeli defense thinking which is about punishment and so to actually overreact is is a way of convincing civilians in Gaza that the next time you think about these demonstrations bear in mind that some people may die president Trump soon enraged the protesters again in March 2019 just weeks before another Israeli general election he welcomed Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House the president announced that the United States would become the first country to endorse the Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights the United States has backed the expansion of Israel by means of warfare the role of the Trump Administration in the arab-israeli conflict has been completely one-sided and so the two-state solution which is the only solution that the world has been able to see to this conflict since 1967 is now very unlikely to take place [Music] the Trump Administration unveiled the final part of its long-awaited peace plan it promised a Palestinian state but gave Israel more land in return and the plan was dependent on Hamas giving up power in Gaza it was immediately rejected by the Palestinians foreign came to office promising to solve the israeli-palestinian conflict [Music] but a lasting peace seems as far away as ever [Music] Hamas still holds Sway in the Gaza Strip more than a decade after seizing power their Defiance towards Israel remains popular their dispute with Rivals fatter goes on in Israel two general elections in 2019 and a third in March 2020 have all failed to produce a stable government Benjamin Netanyahu may have become the longest serving prime minister in Israeli history but his political future seems increasingly uncertain more than 70 years have now passed since the founding of Israel the decades have been stained by grief and bloodshed but today the once fragile new country thrives a wealthy and Powerful democracy for the Palestinians life especially in the Gaza Strip seems to grow ever more difficult with each passing year there remains no sign of an end to the conflict current Israeli government really doesn't want the two-state solution they've more or less said that not in so many words but that's what they mean there is really no potential for this conflict dying down um anytime soon or any time in the near future and that's primarily because at the moment now in Israel you have the right-wing government and a right-wing leader in Netanyahu who is adamant on militarizing this conflict and and the more radical elements are always going to end up finding um political relevance in that kind of climate how can anybody deny the right of Israel to exist but also of the Palestinians to exist they both have an equal right to exist any lasting peace will involve compromise but compromise is unpopular and in Palestine Israel and America the demands of politics have too often triumphed over the needs of peace [Music] [Music]

Channel: War Stories

Views: 4,205,758

Keywords: Border Disputes, Civilian Casualties, Gaza Conflict, Ground Offensives, Israeli History, Netanyahu Administration, Operation Cast Lead Explained, Peace Accords, Peace Process, Peace Talks, Peacebuilding Initiatives, Peacekeeping Missions, Political Tensions, Propaganda War, Religious Conflict, Social Media Campaigns, United Nations Involvement, War on Terrorism, Weapon Capabilities, Western Media Bias

Id: 9cU8B7FXX6g

Length: 44min 16sec (2656 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 27 2023