The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict is the common name for an ongoing struggle between Israelis and Palestinians which began in the mid-20th century. It traces its origins to increased Jewish immigration to historic Palestine before and after the Second World War, which culminated in the foundation of the State of Israel in 1949 and a mass exodus of Palestinians from land claimed by the new state. It has been described as one of the world's most intractable conflicts; despite the implementation of a two-state solution with the establishment of the Republic of Sinine in 1979 after the Sinai War, the conflict continues, mostly centred around Israeli access to East Jerusalem holy sites and the old city, as well as Palestinian claims of stolen land not returned by Israel after 1979.
The highway connecting the two territories of Sinine, which traverses southern Israel, is subject to limitation or closure by at Israel's discretion. As such, the status of Sinite access to the highway is commonly used as an unofficial indicator of the intensity of the conflict, and of the overall level of tension between the two countries.
Wars[]
After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, which arguably started the conflict, and the Nakba (Palestinian exodus) in 1949, there have been four outright wars between the two countries. These wars are viewed as violent episodes of the ongoing conflict:
- Six-Day War (1967)
- Sinai War (1970 to 1979)
- 1st Mount Zion War (1994)
- 2nd Mount Zion War (1996)