History of the Arab–Israeli Conflict

The Arab–Israeli conflict is an umbrella for related disputes involving Israel, Palestinians, and neighboring Arab states. These conflicts have been connected by questions of national self-determination, territory, security, refugees, and recognition, but each bilateral or Palestinian arena has also developed along its own political and military path.[1]

Its history includes interstate wars, terrorism and irregular warfare, Palestinian uprisings, military administration, negotiations, peace treaties, interim self-government arrangements, and regional normalization. The balance among these forms has changed over time: major conventional wars gave way to bilateral diplomacy and conflicts involving the PLO, Hezbollah, Hamas, and other non-state actors.

The modern conflict developed from competing national movements and claims to political control of the territory that became the British Mandate of Palestine. Historical accounts differ over when the conflict should be said to begin and how to characterize the emergence of Israeli and Palestinian national identities. Some trace Jewish-Arab tensions to the late Ottoman period and the growth of Jewish immigration; others emphasize the political contest between Zionism and Palestinian Arab nationalism or specific imperial and Mandate-era policies.[2][3][3]

Jewish immigration to the Land of Israel increased in the late nineteenth century, as the land also had an Arab population. The numbers of Arabs living there at the time, and the timing and scale of Arab migration to Palestine, are subjects of historical dispute. Some accounts note that improved economic opportunities and living conditions drew Arab migrants, alongside Jewish immigration and settlement. Opposition among Palestinian Arabs to Zionism and Jewish settlement grew, in part amid fears that continued immigration would produce political subordination or expulsion. Demonstrations and violence took place in 1920, 1921, 1929, 1933, and 1936–39, with demands including an end to Jewish immigration and land sales and the establishment of Palestinian Arab independence.[2][7]

Political Zionism emerged in response to oppression and persecution of Jews in Europe, and the First Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897 formally established the Zionist Organization. During the First World War, Britain issued the Balfour Declaration on November 2, 1917, supporting a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. Britain had also promised Arabs independence in connection with their wartime assistance. The competing promises and political claims became part of the background to the conflict.[8][9]

After the First World War and the end of Ottoman rule, Britain received the Mandate for Palestine. The League of Nations approved the Mandate in 1922, and the British Mandate period is commonly dated from 1923 to 1948. It incorporated the commitment to facilitate a Jewish national home. During the Mandate, Zionist demands for Jewish self-government and a growing Arab nationalist movement that rejected Jewish presence and national aspirations challenged British rule. The authorities also sought to limit Jewish immigration. Violence between Jewish and Arab communities, and attacks on British personnel, contributed to Britain's decision to refer the question of sovereignty to the United Nations in 1947.[10][10]

The 1929 violence included the Hebron massacre, in which 67 Jews were killed. Jewish responses to Arab opposition and violence were not uniform: mainstream leaders advocated “self-restraint,” while underground groups supported harsh retaliation. In 1936 the British Peel Commission recommended partitioning Palestine into Jewish and Arab areas. Jewish leaders accepted the principle of partition, while Arab leaders rejected the proposal. The Arab Revolt against British rule lasted from 1936 to 1939 and was suppressed by British forces.[9][7]

The conflict has been conducted through interstate warfare, terrorism and irregular attacks, uprisings, border clashes, blockades, military operations, and political negotiations. Armistices and disengagement agreements have often stopped particular rounds of fighting without resolving the wider conflict, while peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan ended the formal states of war on those bilateral fronts.[11][12]

Diplomatic practice has included United Nations resolutions, U.S.-mediated negotiations, direct bilateral talks, secret contacts, interim self-government arrangements, and normalization agreements. Resolution 242 supplied a framework for land-for-peace diplomacy; Camp David produced an Egyptian-Israeli framework and a proposal for Palestinian autonomy; and Oslo established interim Palestinian governing institutions while deferring permanent-status questions.[13][14]

In 1947, Britain referred the Palestine question to the United Nations as the Mandate approached its end. The UN Special Committee on Palestine recommended two states, Arab and Jewish, with Jerusalem under a special international regime. The proposed states and Jerusalem regime were to have economic arrangements for cooperation on matters including currency, roads, and public services. On November 29, 1947, the General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 by 33 votes to 13, with 10 abstentions. Zionist leaders accepted the plan, while Palestinian Arab and surrounding Arab leaders rejected it.[15][16]

Fighting between Jewish and Arab forces began soon after the partition vote, as the British withdrawal neared. The Arab forces included Palestinian Arab irregulars and the Arab Liberation Army; Jewish forces included the Haganah, Irgun, and LEHI. Arab forces sought to block partition and prevent the establishment of a Jewish state, while Jewish forces sought control of the territory assigned to them in the plan. Violence included an Arab ambush of a bus carrying Jewish passengers on November 30, 1947. On April 9, 1948, Irgun and Lehi forces attacked Deir Yassin; news spread widely and fueled panic and retaliation. Days later, Arab forces attacked a Jewish convoy bound for Hadassah Hospital, killing 78 people.[11][17]

David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948, as British forces withdrew. U.S. President Harry S. Truman recognized Israel that day. The following day, armies from Egypt, Transjordan, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon entered the fighting. Saudi forces served under Egyptian command, and Transjordanian forces intervened. Fighting continued through months of battles and temporary ceasefires; it officially ended in January 1949, though armistice agreements were concluded separately over the following months.[18][5]

Israel signed armistice agreements with Egypt in February 1949, Lebanon in March, Jordan in April, and Syria in July. These were armistices, not peace treaties. The lines left Israel with territory beyond the area assigned to it by the UN plan, Jordan in control of the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria — and eastern Jerusalem, and Egypt in control of the Gaza Strip. The agreements established de facto, temporary frontiers that held until 1967.[5][11]

The war secured Israel’s independence and began a major Palestinian refugee crisis. The reviewed sources estimate that approximately 600,000 to 760,000 Palestinian Arabs were outside Israel at the end of the war, while the ADL gives a figure of as many as 750,000 who fled their homes. The sources describe multiple causes of departure, including people fleeing fighting or leaving at the urging of Arab leaders, and people forced to flee by individuals or groups fighting for Israel. Historical explanations and the relative responsibility assigned to Arab leaders, wartime conditions, Jewish forces, and the Israeli military remain disputed. Many displaced people went to the West Bank or Gaza, while others went to Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. The UN established UNRWA in 1949; the refugee question later remained among the issues for final-status negotiations.[19][20]

The war is called the War of Independence in Israeli usage and the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” in Palestinian usage. These names express different collective memories of the same period: Israel’s establishment and survival, and the displacement and loss experienced by Palestinians. They should not be treated as interchangeable labels for a single agreed interpretation of the war.[19][17]

The first major interstate crisis after the 1948 war was the 1956 Suez Crisis. On July 26, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal Company. Britain and France, whose interests were affected, held secret military consultations with Israel. Israel regarded Nasser as a security threat, and Israeli forces entered Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on October 29. British and French forces landed several days later. Israeli forces captured Gaza and much of Sinai, including territory east of the canal. U.S. pressure helped bring about a UN ceasefire on November 6; a UN Emergency Force was established, and Israel withdrew from the captured territory in stages, completing its withdrawal in March 1957. Egypt ended its blockade of Eilat, while a UN buffer force was stationed in Sinai. Although Egypt was militarily defeated, the crisis was viewed by many Arabs as an Egyptian victory.[21][17]

The Six-Day War took place from June 5 to 10, 1967, following an escalating regional crisis. Accounts describe a false Soviet report that Israel had massed troops on Syria’s border, Syrian-Israeli clashes, Egyptian troop movements into Sinai, and Egypt’s demand that UN Emergency Force personnel withdraw. Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping and blockaded Eilat, while Jordan joined the Arab coalition. The U.S. administration sought an international maritime initiative and urged restraint but did not secure support for the initiative.[13][13]

Israel began the war with an air assault against Egypt that destroyed the Egyptian air force on the ground. Jordan and Syria entered the fighting. By June 10, Israel had taken the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza from Egypt, the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. Israel subsequently administered the West Bank and Gaza, placing about one million Palestinian Arabs under its administration.[17][13]

Accounts differ in how they characterize the threat and Israel’s opening attack: some describe it as preemptive, while the Israeli government account presents it as self-defense. During the crisis, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson told Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban, “Israel will not be alone unless it decides to go it alone.”[9][13]

The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 242 on November 22, 1967. It called for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in the recent conflict, an end to belligerency, respect for regional states’ sovereignty and territorial integrity, and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries. The resolution became a basis for subsequent diplomacy and the “land for peace” framework. Israelis and Arabs interpreted its terms differently, particularly whether the withdrawal language required Israel to leave all territory captured in 1967. The status of those territories and the resolution’s application remain contested.[13][2]

The Arab League’s Khartoum position in August 1967 was summarized as “no peace,” “no negotiations,” and “no recognition” of Israel in the Israeli government’s historical account. Egypt fought a war of attrition along the Suez Canal from 1968 to 1970. These developments continued the military confrontation even after the 1967 war had ended.[9]

On October 6, 1973, Egyptian and Syrian forces launched a coordinated surprise attack on Israeli forces in Sinai and the Golan Heights. The attack came on Yom Kippur and caught Israel off guard. Israel suffered early losses before reversing many of them; Israeli forces crossed the Suez Canal and encircled Egypt’s Third Army, while also advancing into Syrian territory. The United States and Soviet Union resupplied their respective regional partners and came close to a direct confrontation during the crisis. A Saudi-led oil embargo followed, targeting the United States and some Western European countries. Ceasefire agreements with Egypt and Syria took effect in November 1973 and May 1974, followed by disengagement agreements.[17][12]

The 1973 war shifted attention toward territorial questions: Egypt sought restoration of sovereignty over Sinai, Syria sought the return of the Golan Heights, and Jordan sent an expeditionary force to the Syrian front.[22] The war became a turning point in U.S. diplomacy, prompting Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s shuttle diplomacy and U.S.-mediated disengagement agreements between Egypt and Israel in 1974 and 1975, and between Israel and Syria in 1974. The diplomatic process helped set the stage for the Egypt-Israel peace treaty.[12]

Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem in November 1977 opened a new phase of direct negotiations. At the September 1978 Camp David summit, Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and U.S. President Jimmy Carter agreed on two framework documents: one for Egyptian-Israeli peace, and another outlining Palestinian self-government in Gaza and the West Bank. The summit did not itself produce a formal peace treaty. Palestinian representatives did not participate in the Camp David discussions on autonomy, and the Egyptian and Israeli positions remained far apart.[14][14]

Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty on March 26, 1979. It ended their state of war, established mutual recognition and normal diplomatic relations, and provided for Israel’s withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula. The withdrawal was completed in 1982, returning the entire peninsula to Egypt. The bilateral treaty succeeded in ending hostilities between the two states, but the separate framework discussions on Palestinian self-government did not produce a negotiated Palestinian-Israeli settlement.[23][17]

The conflict also extended into Lebanon. Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 after cross-border terrorist attacks and an attempted assassination of the Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom, with the campaign directed against PLO forces and strongholds. The PLO evacuated Beirut under multinational supervision in August 1982. Israel withdrew most of its forces in 1985, but retained a presence in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah formed as a militia resisting the invasion and continued attacks against Israeli forces. Israel withdrew from Lebanon in May 2000, ending its 18-year involvement and dismantling the security zone it had maintained there.[23][24]

The 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war began on July 12, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel and its fighters crossed the border, killing Israeli soldiers and capturing two. Israel responded with air and ground operations in Lebanon. Fighting ended on August 14. One account reports more than 1,000 Lebanese dead and about one million displaced. The captured soldiers remained in Hezbollah custody until their remains were exchanged through UN-brokered negotiations in 2008.[17]

The First Intifada began in December 1987 in the West Bank and Gaza. It was a popular uprising against Israeli rule that began spontaneously and developed into an organized rebellion. Accounts connect it to years of Palestinian frustration with Israeli policies, including land expropriation, settlement construction, and restrictions on political activity; a vehicle collision that killed four Palestinian workers was the immediate precipitating event. The uprising included protests and attacks, as well as Israeli military and police responses. One account reports nearly 2,000 deaths during the violence, with Palestinian deaths slightly more than three times Israeli deaths. The uprising drew public and political attention to the Palestinian issue, influenced Israeli public opinion, and contributed to political space for negotiations.[25][26]

In November 1988, the PLO recognized Resolution 181 and renounced armed struggle, according to the cited INSS study.[22] The Madrid Peace Conference, convened by the United States and Soviet Union in October 1991, brought together Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and Palestinian participants, opening negotiations and laying foundations for further talks.[23]

Secret negotiations in Norway led to the Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles, signed on September 13, 1993. Israel recognized the PLO as representative of the Palestinian people; the PLO recognized Israel’s right to exist and renounced terrorism, and undertook to change provisions of its covenant calling for Israel’s destruction. The agreement created a five-year interim framework for Palestinian self-government and further negotiations. The Palestinian Authority was established in May 1994, and territory was to be transferred gradually to Palestinian control. The process did not settle permanent-status issues, including borders, settlements, Jerusalem, refugees, security, and resources.[22][27]

The 1995 Oslo II agreement expanded Palestinian self-government through an elected Palestinian Council, provided for further Israeli military redeployments, and addressed elections, civil and legal affairs, and cooperation. It divided the West Bank into Areas A, B, and C with different distributions of Palestinian civil and security responsibilities and Israeli security and civil responsibilities. The arrangement was intended to lead to a final-status agreement. The parties did not resolve the outstanding issues, and implementation and compliance became disputed.[9][9]

Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty on October 26, 1994, following improved relations and the progress of Israel-PLO negotiations. The treaty ended the 46-year state of war between Jordan and Israel. These peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan survived later deterioration in relations between Israel and other Arab countries.[9][27]

The Oslo process encountered serious obstacles. One INSS account says negotiations did not yield significant tangible results, while Israeli settlement activity continued and Palestinian violence delayed some territorial transfers. It also reports the Palestinian Authority’s position that the continuing Israeli military and civilian presence made it difficult to stop violence. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in November 1995 by Yigal Amir, an Israeli opposed to the Oslo Accords on religious grounds. Subsequent Hamas terrorist attacks undermined support for the Labor Party before the 1996 election.[22][27]

A July 2000 summit at Camp David involving U.S. President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat ended without agreement. The parties remained at odds over borders, Jerusalem, and whether Israel would recognize Palestinian refugees’ “right of return.” Accounts differ over why the summit failed, and the question of responsibility is politically contested.[27]

The Second Intifada began in September 2000 as the Oslo process faltered. Accounts differ on its immediate cause. Palestinian accounts cited Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa compound on the preceding day, while Israeli leaders argued that Palestinian leaders had orchestrated the violence and pointed to earlier incidents. The uprising involved terrorist attacks by Palestinian groups, including suicide bombings, and Israeli military operations. It halted progress in negotiations and lasted several years; its onset and responsibility for its escalation remain disputed.[5][27]

Israel withdrew its forces from southern Lebanon in May 2000 after 18 years of involvement. The failure to reach an Israeli-Palestinian agreement and the Second Intifada worsened Israel’s relations with Arab countries, although the peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan endured. In 2002, Saudi Arabia led the Arab Peace Initiative, which offered normalization with Arab and Muslim states in return for progress toward a settlement. Israel did not accept the initiative. Israel also maintained communication channels and security cooperation with some Arab states, at times clandestinely.[1]

Israel unilaterally withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005. The plan evacuated 21 Gaza settlements, containing about 9,000 Israeli settlers, as well as four settlements in the West Bank; the military withdrawal was completed on September 12. The decision followed the collapse of negotiations during the Second Intifada and debate in Israel over the costs of maintaining settlements and forces in Gaza. It was implemented without close coordination with the Palestinian Authority on how the territory would be secured and developed. Accounts differ in their description of the post-withdrawal status of Gaza and the significance of Israel’s continued control over borders and airspace.[28][24]

Hamas won a majority of seats in the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council elections. A violent Palestinian factional struggle followed, and Hamas took control of Gaza from Palestinian Authority forces led by Fatah in 2007. Israel, with Egypt’s help, imposed a blockade restricting imports, exports, and movement into and out of the territory. Israel said the restrictions were intended to prevent Hamas from acquiring weapons. Gaza subsequently saw major armed conflicts between Israel and Hamas in 2008, 2012, 2014, and 2021; Hamas retained control and rebuilt military capabilities after these rounds. Hamas’s control, the blockade, and the consequences of the 2005 disengagement remain politically contested.[28][29]

The Abraham Accords marked another change in regional relations. Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain signed normalization agreements on September 15, 2020; Morocco followed on December 22, 2020. The agreements were followed by diplomatic appointments and expanded cultural, economic, and security ties. The Negev Summit in March 2022 included Israel, the United States, the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Egypt. The accords were a regional breakthrough in that they advanced normalization without resolving the Palestinian issue. Their significance and consequences remain debated.[4][4]

On October 7, 2023, approximately 6,000 Hamas and other terrorists entered southern Israel from Gaza, killing at least 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages to Gaza. The attack began a new phase in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Israel-Hamas War. Israel responded with large-scale air and ground operations aimed at dismantling Hamas’s military capabilities and securing the return of the hostages.[6]

The assault involved thousands of rockets launched over roughly 20 minutes as terrorists crossed the border and captured civilians and soldiers. Iran had provided material support to Hamas for decades, but a U.S. intelligence assessment cited by the Congressional Research Service said Iranian leaders did not orchestrate the attack and had no foreknowledge of it. The subsequent war expanded to involve other regional actors and drew mediation efforts from Qatar, Egypt, and later the United States.[30][17]

The war caused extensive destruction, repeated displacement, and severe humanitarian conditions in Gaza. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry reported more than 67,000 Palestinian deaths during the two-year war without distinguishing between combatants and civilians, while nearly two million people were repeatedly displaced. Casualty figures, responsibility for civilian harm, and legal and political characterizations of the war remain contested and time-sensitive.[6]

A ceasefire took effect in October 2025, brokered by the United States, Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, according to a Congressional Research Service account. The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2803 in November 2025, endorsing a 20-point plan and authorizing transitional governance and international civil and security presences in Gaza until the end of 2027. In January 2026, a U.S. special envoy announced Phase Two, described as establishing a transitional technocratic Palestinian administration and beginning demilitarization and reconstruction.[29]

The same Congressional Research Service report, updated July 2, 2026, said bouts of fighting had taken place since the ceasefire. It described Gaza as divided between areas where Israeli troops were deployed and areas generally subject to Hamas security control, with displacement, overcrowding, food insecurity, and shortages of shelter and other essential supplies continuing. At the time of that report, the future of the transition and the extent of Hamas’s control remained uncertain.[29]

The conflict’s history is not a single uninterrupted war between Israel and a unified Arab bloc. It consists of related conflicts between Israel and its Arab neighbors, each connected to the Palestinian question but developing along its own path. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a distinct focus within that wider history, even as events in one arena have affected relations in another.[1][17]

Peace efforts have produced important bilateral agreements. The 1979 treaty with Egypt ended the state of war and returned Sinai to Egyptian sovereignty. The 1994 treaty with Jordan established normalized relations. The Oslo process created an interim Palestinian Authority and staged self-government, while leaving permanent-status questions for later negotiations. The Abraham Accords opened diplomatic and economic ties with additional Arab states without resolving the Palestinian issue.[17][9][4]

At the same time, the central questions of sovereignty, borders, Jerusalem, security, settlements, refugees, and Palestinian self-government have remained unresolved. The interpretation of Resolution 242 and the status of territories captured in 1967 are disputed. So too are the causes and responsibility for Palestinian displacement in 1948, the failure of the 2000 Camp David talks, the outbreak of the Second Intifada, and the consequences of Israel’s 2005 Gaza disengagement. These disputes involve competing historical narratives and political claims, rather than a single agreed account.[19][2][27][28]

The conflict’s regional dimension has also changed. The wars of 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973 were followed by peace with Egypt and Jordan, while Israel’s conflicts with the PLO, Hezbollah, and Hamas demonstrated that interstate diplomacy did not end armed confrontation. The 2020 normalization agreements showed that some Arab states could advance relations with Israel without waiting for a settlement of the Palestinian question; the post-October 2023 war, however, renewed the conflict’s regional significance. The extent to which ceasefire arrangements and transitional governance can establish a durable political framework remains uncertain in the available reporting.[1][17][4][29]

Major disputes concern both facts and interpretation. Historians disagree about the conflict’s most appropriate starting point and the relative importance of immigration, competing national movements, British policies, land disputes, and intercommunal violence. The causes and scale of Palestinian displacement during the War of Independence, including the relative roles of wartime flight, Arab leaders, Jewish forces, and the Israeli military, also remain contested.[2][19]

Later debates include whether Israel’s opening attack in 1967 is best characterized as preemptive or as self-defense, whether Resolution 242 required withdrawal from all territory captured in the war, and why the Oslo process and the 2000 Camp David summit failed.[13][27] The causes of the Second Intifada, Gaza’s status after the 2005 disengagement, and casualty figures and legal characterizations arising from the post-October 2023 war remain politically sensitive and dependent on the sources and dates used.[28][6]