ISRAEL'S FUTURE - Article 1

When I ask Americans what is the first thing that passes through their minds when they hear the word "Israel", their answer is usually "chaos."

People around the globe learned that the entire Middle East and Israel in particular lie in a chaos, and some believe that this unstable condition is here to stay. Many Israelis have lost hope for a real, sustainable peace, and so have the Palestinians that live around them. All of us were born into this situation, and the mere thought of a point in time in which we will resolve this conflict is just unthinkable. While every conflict in history has reached an ending point, for some reason many people believe that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is different, even though it is composed of characteristics of past clashes. In this series of articles I'll explain what we fight about, Israelis' public opinion and how you as the international community can actually help to put an end to this bloody conflict. Everything will be presented from my point of view, I am not a journalist. I will begin by covering the complicated history briefly. I see so much ignorance arounds that prevents people from stating their mind, so here are the facts. I obviously couldn't cover all the facts, but everything that is presented here is correct, you are welcome to check by yourself.

History

The Jewish people began returning to their homeland about 200 years ago, when Zionism was found. Jews refer to Israel as their homeland because this is the place in which the nation was established, and when they lived in the diaspora, out of Israel, they have always prayed to return. The Jewish origins of this place is not only based on the bible that is holy to Christians and many Muslims consider it important, but on historical research and archeology. After the dreadful holocaust, that took the lives of six million Jews, including most of my grandparents' families, the Jewish people understood that it is finally time to come home, a place that can serve not only as a shelter, but as a piece of land in which Jews can prosper. The United Nations voted on splitting the land between the Palestinians and Israelis on November 29th, 1947, and the vote has passed. Israelis danced in the streets of Tel Aviv and cried of joy, even though designated-Israel lacked many historical significant territories. The Arab leadership rejected the plan, and began attacking the new-born state. Soon enough, Israel was attacked by 6 militaries when it didn't really have an established army of its own yet. It was a war that was imposed on Israel, but against all odds Israel won. The war was the first cause of the Palestinian refugee crisis. Today, the Palestinians are the only refugees to have a hereditary status that is recognized by the UN, and around 5 million refugees.

In 1967, The Six Days War broke, in which Israel took control of Gaza, the Golan Heights, the Sinai Peninsula and the West Bank – biblical Judea and Samaria. When it was time to make peace with Egypt, Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to the Egyptians.

In 1993, the Palestinian Authority was established in the historical Oslo Accords. It gave the Palestinians autonomy to conduct their everyday life. They even work with Israel to prevent terror attacks from within them. It was supposed to be just a stage in establishing an independent Palestine, but the process was cut off and the authority lives on till today.

Since taking control in 1967, Israel's government began to build Jewish neighborhoods in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, that are referred to an settlements. In 2005, Israel decided to disengage from Gaza and to take down all of its settlements. It was a one-sided action and there was no peace agreement included. The control was given to the Palestinian Authority headed to this day by President Abbas, but quickly the PA lost control of the territory to Hamas. Today, there are two Palestinian identities that are not continuous, and are headed by different governments.

While the PA has encouraged intifadas (violent Palestinian riots that killed thousands of Israeli citizens), Hamas fires missiles from its bases in schools and hospitals, and digs tunnels into Israel to smuggle weapons and attack families. When the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) declares a military operation, it's due to massive rocket attacks in which citizens are targeted and in order to eliminate the terror tunnels.

When I followed the international media's coverage of the operation in 2014, I saw no mentioning of the tunnels. They chose to focus on how Israelis harm Palestinians and not on how Hamas harms its own citizens and Israelis. As in any war, there have been mistakes. The IDF tries and succeeds to prevent as many casualties as possible using moral techniques, but sometimes it's just too difficult. Israel tries to limit its time in the Gaza Strip as much as possible, and after an operation it takes out the troops. Hamas puts too many lives in danger, with the help of Iran. That tries to influence and take control of the area, in Lebanon and Syria as well.

Today, there are six million Jews in Israel and 2 million non-Jewish citizens, most of them are Arabs. There are 2 million Palestinians living in Gaza and 2.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank. What can be done to bring peace to the area? What is the only solution, a one state or a two states solution? What do Israelis think? I will cover it all in future articles.