UNRAVELLING EVENTS AFTER 2014
After the operation carried out by the Israeli forces in 2014, a lot of other incidents occurred which has either direct or indirect influence on the conflict between both sides, we are going to be looking at the major events that occurred beginning from 2015 below;
May 2015: Benjamin Netanyahu was reelected as the Prime Minister of Israel, leading the formation of the 34th government. The new government took a more conservative stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
December 2017: U.S. President Donald Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, announcing the relocation of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The decision was met with widespread international criticism around the world and was clearly viewed as a provocation and also in opposition to both the UN partition of 1948 and the Oslo accord considering the fact that it is a sacred place for different religion and has been agreed to be internationally accessible to everyone.
May 2018: The United States officially moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, further fueling tensions and protests in the region. Internationally, protests rocked the embassies as people protested against this and also, the Palestinians viewed it as a daring and provocative move.
March — December 2018: Palestinians in the Gaza Strip initiated the Great March of Return, a series of protests near the Gaza-Israel border. The protests demanded the right of return for Palestinian refugees and an end to the blockade of the Gaza Strip which has begun since 2007. Analysts explains that Gaza is the only open-air prison in the world where one is not allowed to enter or leave freely, even electricity, water and food supplies are under the control of Israel.
January 2019: The Trump administration unveiled its Middle East peace plan, titled “Peace to Prosperity.” The plan was met with skepticism and rejection by Palestinian leadership for its perceived bias towards Israel.
May — July 2020: Israel discussed plans to annex parts of the West Bank, raising international concerns and objections. Israel later suspended the annexation plans in the context of the normalization agreements with some Arab nations.
September 2020: The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain officially normalized relations with Israel, signing the Abraham Accords brokered by the United States. Sudan and Morocco later followed suit, normalizing relations with Israel with mutual agreements to some conditions.
May 2021: In early May of 2021, tensions escalated in Jerusalem, leading to an 11-day conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The crisis was triggered on 6 May, when Palestinians in East Jerusalem began protesting over an anticipated decision of the Supreme Court of Israel on the eviction of six Palestinian families in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Under international law, the area, effectively annexed by Israel in 1980, is a part of the Palestinian Territories; Israel applies its laws there. On 7 May, according to Israel’s Channel 12, Palestinians threw stones at Israeli police forces, who then stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound using tear gas, rubber bullets, and stun grenades. The crisis prompted protests around the world as well as official reactions from world leaders as a clear violation of the religious rights and sanctity of the Palestinian Muslims. The violence resulted in significant casualties and damage. On 18 May, France, along with Egypt and Jordan, announced the filing of a United Nations Security Council resolution for a ceasefire. Egypt mediated a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which came into effect on 21 May 2021, ending 11 days of fighting in which both sides claimed victory.
June 2023: US secretary of state Antony Blinken warned Israel that rising tensions with the Palestinians, including through advancing settlement activity, threatened the expansion of normalization agreements with Arab nations, and particularly Saudi Arabia. Speaking alongside Blinken earlier in June, the Saudi foreign minister had stated that “without finding a pathway to peace for the Palestinian people … any normalization will have limited benefits”
In conclusion, a lot of issues and events have happened within the scope of the Palestine-Israel conflict since 1948 of which there is no sight to its end as at present as both sides are not willing to relent on their claims.
