Palestine Becoming A Country

When traveling anywhere, whether it is as a political act or not , you should understand the history and the present standing of that country. The Palestinian Territories have a long and complicated history with its neighboring countries which plays the major role in how the territories are viewed now. Beginning in 1920 after World War 1 the Ottoman Empire is divided into territories called mandates, one of which became the Palestinian Mandate.

 By 1947 the mandate had been dissolved and Israel had gained over half of the territory from the mandate while the Arab nation recieved what remained. On May 14, 1948 many countries went to war with Israel which created around 700,000 palestinian refugees. In 1949 Israel had control of around 78% of the Palestinian Mandate.

In 1964 the Palestinian Liberation Organization was created, which had the goal to reclaim all the land originally given to the Palestinians. The Six Day War began in 1967 which ended with Israel gaining control of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusulam, the Sinai and the Golan Heights, this created another flood of Palestinian refugees. Violent acts began occuring between Palestinian citizens and Israeli officers.

 In 2003 the United States, the UN, the European Union and Russia introduce the Road Map To Peace as an attempt to have guidelines to establish a peaceful state between Israel and Palestine. Later Israel builds a barrier along the West Bank to divide Palestinian and Israeli territories. This is later voted as an illegal act by the UN but Israel reported they would not remove the barrier although they did alter the route it was built along.

This map shows the amount of land the Palestinians have lost to Israel within the course of only 54 years. While this map does not show the most current land boundries for Palestinians, it shows how devastating and frustrating the recent past has been for Palestine. Understanding why there are conflicts between Palestine and Israel like the conflict of land agreement or the issues with oil, can help you truly travel as a political act.

 Understanding that Palestinian culture and their way of life has had to change drastically because of the conflicts with the surrounding countries in the recent past is crucial. Traveling as a politcal act requires knowledge of the history of the destination, as it can always give information to why the culture is the way it is presently.