Over the past couple of days the resurgence of a very old conflict is once again rocking the world: Israel and Palestine have once again engaged in armed conflict. So far there have been 35 victims on the side of Palestine and 5 more in Israel, with hundreds of civilians injured on both sides, but the hostilities seem to be far from over.
The conflict between Israel and Palestine appears to have been going on for so long that occasionally, the media lose interest in it. This lack of developments might fool some people into believing that there is finally peace between the two, but this week’s events serve as a stark reminder of a grimmer reality.
The two sides have been hostile since the 1950s, or more or less since the creation of Israel as a country after the end of World War II. The primary reason for the conflict is that both Israel and Palestine lay claim to the city of Jerusalem, which is holy to both Jews and Muslims, among other territorial and religious disagreements.
Still, things had been more or less quiet for a few years. What sparked the current hostilities?
First of all, a court in Israel ruled that several Palestinian families who lost their homes in the middle of the 20th century and were allowed to settle in Jerusalem are now to be evicted, despite having lived there for decades.
Tensions continued to rise during the observation of Jewish and Arab holidays recently. Most notably, Jerusalem Day and the Muslim Night of Power coincided this year, with some clashes between people on both sides. This week’s Ramadan celebrations and Israel’s treatment of Muslims in what Israel considers to be its own territory have not helped things.
As a result, Palestine launched a rocket attack on Israel in the beginning of the week. Israel did not wait long before firing its own airstrikes into Palestinian territory.
The conflict received much criticism from the United States, the European Commission, and the United Nations as a whole. Yet things appear to be far from over, with Israel’s defense minister saying that the country is prepared to continue attacking Palestine.
Israel was also reportedly getting ready to send troops on land into the Gaza Strip, aside from the airstrikes that are still ongoing. Earlier this morning this seems to have become a reality, with some 7,000 troops stationed at the Gaza-Israeli border.
The conflict has also spread throughout the streets of Israel, where Jewish and Arab people are attacking each other. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for the mob violence on both sides to stop, but so far to no avail.
Thousands of people are also getting displaced, mostly on the Palestinian side, as Israel’s airstrikes continue to reduce whole buildings to rubble.
This escalation is quickly turning into outright war, which will naturally have an impact on the financial markets. For one, crude oil is something that typically appreciates due to Middle East conflicts, as those often result in supply interruptions. In addition, many international airlines have also decided to cancel flights to Israel. This development can affect airline stocks, especially considering the industry was already hard-hit by low travel due to the coronavirus pandemic anyway.
