Does the intractability of the Israel-Palestine conflict ultimately stem from the false belief that Palestinians encompass? Perhaps, as was recently argued in Providence. Yet the Palestinians remain, and there is still no peace between Arab and Jew. Looking back historically, perhaps the real crux of the problem lies in the refusal of extremist Palestinian movements to make peace with Israel. 

On October 7, 2023, Hamas again led the murderous charge against Israel, attacking and killing roughly 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages. This prompted a massive Israeli counterstrike that killed over 60,000 Palestinians in Gaza and reduced much of the territory to rubble. Once again, the Arab-Palestinian people have chosen war and intransigence over peace—and, once again, they have lost badly. Hamas’s attack acted against the long-term interests of all Gazans. 

War has decided who controlled or occupied the coastal Levant for millennia. The Jews held it in biblical times but were exiled by Assyrian and Babylonian conquests. Then came the Greeks, followed by a brief period of Hasmonean rule. Rome conquered the region, later giving way to Islamic caliphates, the Crusaders, and then again to Islamic rule under the Ottoman Empire. Finally, after World War I, the British inherited the territory under the 1922 Mandate, and it became their headache to solve. They actually offered the Palestinians a remarkable deal in the Peel Commission Plan of 1937. 

Had the Arabs living there accepted the 1937 plan, their plight might have been far better. That proposal would have given most of the land to the Arabs, created a much smaller Jewish state, and left Jerusalem as an international city. Neither party was ecstatic, but the British plan granted considerably more territory to the Arabs. However, amid the Arab Revolt of 1936–1939, no agreement was forthcoming. The Arabs ultimately rejected a deal that, in retrospect, might have provided them with far more land than any plan since. 

Then came the United Nations Partition Plan of 1947. By any sensible standard, it was a kind of awkward gerrymander. The UN attempted to draw boundaries along demographic lines, but it was hard to imagine how two functioning states could emerge from such a patchwork. Still, had the Arabs accepted, they would have gained a larger Palestinian state than any subsequent opportunity has offered. The 1947 plan allocated roughly 5,500 square miles to 500,000 Jews and 4,500 square miles to 800,000 Arabs. For perspective, today’s West Bank is about 2,100 square miles. Though the plan seemed less generous than the 1937 proposal, it still represented a viable path to independence. Yet, once again, the Arabs refused—and went to war. 

They lost badly. Jews call it their War of Independence; Arabs call it the Nakba (“Catastrophe”). For them, indeed, it was. 

After the 1948 war, Israel declared independence, and over 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled. Neighboring Arab states—Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon—absorbed refugees unevenly. Jordan annexed the West Bank and East Jerusalem; Egypt took control of Gaza. From 1949 to 1967, there was no Palestinian state—only Arab control. 

Then came the Six-Day War of 1967, when Israel, facing imminent attack, launched a preemptive strike against Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, capturing the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank. This marked the beginning of the modern territorial dispute. Israel later returned Sinai to Egypt after the Camp David Accords (1978)—a landmark peace deal between Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat, for which both leaders won the Nobel Peace Prize. Sadat paid for that peace with his life, assassinated by Islamist militants in 1981. 

In 1993, the Oslo Accords briefly raised hope. Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat shook hands on the White House lawn, agreeing to a phased process toward Palestinian self-government. Yet mutual mistrust, Hamas terrorism, and Rabin’s assassination in 1995 by a Jewish extremist derailed the process. The Second Intifada (2000–2005) and years of suicide bombings hardened attitudes further. 

In 2005, Israel withdrew unilaterally from Gaza, removing all settlements. Instead of peace, Hamas seized control in 2007, expelling the Palestinian Authority. Since then, Gaza has become a launching pad for rockets and terror, and Israel has responded with repeated military operations—Cast Lead (2008), Pillar of Defense (2012), Protective Edge (2014), Guardian of the Walls (2021)—each bloodier than the last. The cycle has repeated endlessly: Hamas attacks, Israel retaliates, civilians suffer, and peace remains elusive. 

And then, tragically, came October 7, 2023, when Hamas once again struck Israel, massacring civilians and taking hostages. The result: devastation in Gaza, 60,000 dead, nearly 2 million displaced, and a humanitarian catastrophe. The refusal to come to peaceful terms has again produced only ruin. 

Looking at the historical record, the objective observer sees an ever-diminishing reward each time the Arab side has chosen war over peace. In 1937, a deal was refused; in 1947, another rejected; in 1948 and 1967, wars were lost; in 2000 and 2023, opportunities were squandered. Every time, the result has been less land, more suffering, and fewer prospects for independence. 

The lesson that should have been learned long ago is simple: peace pays. A truce, coupled with real development and coexistence, would serve Palestinians far better than perpetual resistance. Yet the question remains: how? When hatred and mistrust run this deep, peace seems like a distant fantasy. 

History, however, is not a fairy tale. Studying the past reveals that Palestinian militancy has never paid off. Every path of aggression has backfired, while Israel has only solidified its position. Today, one can only say, “Peace now—but how?” 

It is certainly in everyone’s long-term interest, but attempts at reconciliation have often proved fatal. Sadat was assassinated in 1981 for making peace. Rabin was assassinated in 1995 for the same. Religious zeal and political extremism have repeatedly destroyed the chance for coexistence. 

Extremism still holds hostage the one thing that matters most: the prospects for peace. Jews must be content to live among Arabs, and Arabs content to live alongside Jews. Both must rediscover a vision for mutual dignity. Any rational observer must desire peace between Jew and Arab but struggle to imagine how it can be achieved. So many opportunities lost, so much blood spilled, and so much mistrust hardened. 

Should we not, then, be legitimately concerned for peace in the long-term interests of both peoples? The Hebrew Bible and the Christian Gospel command us to love our neighbor as ourselves (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:39). Likewise, the Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said: “None of you is a believer until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.” Yet how good we are at failing to do this. 

Looking back, one sees opportunity after opportunity lost. The most sensible, though hardest, task now is to make the long and painful trek back to peace.