ISREAL : HISTORY, CRISIS AND PEOPLE

THE STATE OF ISRAEL
Estimated population :8,849,420
Religion: Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Druze
Capital: Jerusalem (not internationally recognized)
Currency: Shekels
Ethnic groups: Jews , Arab mostly.
Present Prime Minister: Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. It has land borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan on the east, the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the east and west, respectively, and Egypt to the southwest
Israel is the world's only Jewish state. Israel is located east of the Mediterranean Sea. Palestinians, the Arab population that hails from the land Israel now controls, refer to the territory as Palestine, and want to establish a state by that name on all or part of the same land.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is over who gets what land and how it's controlled.
Though both Jews and Arab Muslims make claims to the land a thousand years, political conflict began in the 20th century.

Jews from Europe wanted to establish a national homeland in a then an Arab- and Muslim-majority territory in the Ottoman and later British Empire. The Jews mostly those who were evading the Holocaust. The was a then Peace attempt by the United Nations in splitting the land but this wasn't a success. A war then followed for territory between the Jews and their surrounding Muslim Arab countries. Historical there are records of two wars one in 1948 and another in 1967, with that of the latter having more effects as it left Israel in charge of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, two territories that had Palestinian presence.

The West Bank today is controlled by the Palestinian Authority and is under Israeli occupation. This comes in the form of Israeli troops, who enforce Israeli security restrictions on Palestinian movement and activities, and Israeli "settlers," Jews who build ever-expanding communities in the West Bank that effectively deny the land to Palestinians. Gaza is controlled by Hamas, an Islamist fundamentalist party, and is under Israeli blockade but not ground troop occupation.

FORMATION OF ISRAEL

The old palestine
Due to political and social developments in Europe the Jews felt they needed their own country, and their ancestral homeland would be a right choice. From Europe 90 percent of the Jews arrived at Zionism this was also triggered by the anti-Semitic persecutions. Between 1896 and 1948 Jews resettled from Europe to the then British-controlled Palestine.

The influx of Jews was not a welcomed development by the Arabs as they sort it to be a European colonial movement. In 1947 the United Nations voted to split the land into two regions which the Palestinians kicked against but was welcomed by the Jews.
This would then lead to the 6 days war. The Arab states of Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, and Syria would then declare war on Israel.

Israeli forces defeated the Palestinian militias and Arab armies . The UN promised about 56 percent of British Palestine for the Jewish state. By end of the war, Israel possessed 77 percent of the land apart from the West Bank and the eastern quarter of Jerusalem as well as the Gaza Strip . It left Israelis with a state, but not Palestinians.

NAKBA

Nakba :Arabic for "catastrophe" .
The effect of this Nakba is still felt as it left about 700,000 Palestine refugees and over the years this population would grow and leave them leaving them with no homes.

Going by statistics there are over 7 million Palestinian refugees, who are descendants of the displaced people in 1948 . The Palestinian people want an to return to their homes as part of the peace talk. There are about 8 million people in Israel of which 1.5 million are Arab. Israelis refuse to even consider including the right to return in any final status deal because adding a extra 7million Arab refugees would make the jews a minority.

WEST BANK

The West Bank is home to 2.6 million Palestinians this makes up the heart of any Palestinian state. Israel control o in 1967 would let Jewish settlers to move in. The Palestinians consider it illegally occupied Palestinian land.

In 1967, Israel fought a war with Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. Israel fired the first shot, but claims it was preempting an imminent Egyptian attack; Arabs disagree, casting Israel as an aggressor. In six days, Israel routed the Arab powers, taking the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan.

Israel has controlled the West Bank since the Six-Day War (as it's called). For many Jews, this is wonderful news in theory: the West Bank was the heartland of the ancient Jewish state. It's home to many Jewish holy sites, like the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, that Jews were previously cut off from. In practice, Israeli control of the West Bank means military administration of a territory full of Palestinians who aren't exactly excited about living under Israeli authority.

The border between Israel and the West Bank would probably have to change in any peace deal. There are about 500,000 Jewish settlers living in the West Bank, many of whom live near the border with Israel proper. In a two-state deal, some of these settlers would have to leave the West Bank, while some border settlements would become Israeli land. In exchange, Israel would give over some of its territory to Palestine. These would be called "land swaps." No set of Israeli and Palestinian leaders have agreed on precisely where to draw the border.

JERUSALEM

For the first 20 years of Israel's existence, Jerusalem was divided.
Jerusalem is a city that's has between Israel and the West Bank. It's home to some of the holiest sites in both Judaism and Islam. Therefore Israel and Palestine want to make it their capital. How to split the city fairly remains one of the fundamental issues dividing Israelis and Palestinians — and on December 6, President Donald Trump weighed in on Israel's side.

Jordan controlled the Temple Mount, a hill in the map's brown splotch. The Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock being inclusive, Israeli Jews weren't allowed to pray in the area while Jordan controlled it. During the 1967 war, Israel took control of East Jerusalem. Israel regards Jerusalem its undivided capital today, but almost no countries recognizes it as such.

GAZA

Gaza is a highly populated region that is mostly surrounded by Israel and peopled almost exclusively by Palestinians. Israel once controlled this region but left at about 2005. Israel has therefore put the region under blockade.

Going by history Egypt controlled Gaza until 1967, when Israel occupied it (along with the West Bank) in the Six-Day War. Until 2005, Israeli military authorities controlled Gaza in the same way they control the West Bank, and Jews were permitted to settle there. In 2005, then–Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pulled out Israeli troops and settlers unilaterally.

Gaza is controlled by the Islamist group Hamas. Hamas formed in 1987 as a militant "resistance" group against Israel and won political power in a 2006 US-based election. Israeli blockade of the flow of commercial goods into Gaza was based on the control Hamas had and also argued Hamas could use those goods to make weapons against Israel. The blockade has eased with time, but it still felt as social amenities are being cut off.

Israel argue that Palestine lie about their population for political reasons and that the Israeli population is not doing bad either. There are bigger problems facing Israel, they have choice between three possible outcomes:
A two-state solution,
A non-democratic state controlled by Jewish minority
End of a Jewish state.
SOLUTIONS

THE TWO STATE SOLUTION
This would establish Palestine as an independent state in Gaza and most of the West Bank, leaving the rest of the land to Israel. Though the two-state plan is clear in theory, the two sides are still deeply divided over how to make it work in practice.

THE ONE STATE SOLUTION
The alternative to a two-state solution is a "one-state solution," this means one and not the other either land becomes Israel or Palestine. This may cause more problems than it would solve, taking a look a population Jews might become the minority which may be the end of the Jewish state.
Links for better understanding

https://www.google.com.ng/search?client=ms-android-xiaomi&ei=dRDqWq2-CZCZsAf0w7SICA&q=jerusalem+map&oq=jerusa&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-serp.1.1.0i67l3j0i131i67j0i67.1863118.1869904..1871127...1....1044.5196.3-1j2j0j1j3......0....1.......3..0i71j35i39.e4MKnrjBFtY%3D#imgrc=zC3dfVWXEq1XaM:
https://www.vox.com/cards