The Gaza Strip and the West Bank: physically situating the Israel-Palestine conflict

As the Israel-Palestine conflict threatens to rend West Asia further, we look at the geography of this unique region, and attempt to situate it geographically for our readers.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas militants entered Israel in a surprise offensive, killing around 1400 people. Israel has retaliated in a continuing series of ferocious air strikes targeting the Gaza Strip, including areas it earlier designated as safe zones for Palestinians. It is also reportedly amassing troops and tanks for a ground invasion; residents of certain towns along the border with Lebanon border have reportedly been asked to evacuate.

The conflict is unfurling in the Gaza Strip, one of two territories where Palestinians live, the second being the West Bank. These are the two Palestinian enclaves that Israel lays claim to, beyond the borders of the Green Line— the boundary of Israel as determined by the Arab-Israeli Armstice Agreement of 1949. While not officially annexing these areas, Israel has engaged in settlement building in the two, leading to outcry from Palestinians and the international community.

The Hindu examines the embattled land in the Levant where the bloody Israel-Palestine face-off has been underway for decades.

Also see:Worldview with Suhasini Haidar | The Israel-Gaza conflict | What line is India taking?

Two terms familiar to the historian can be used to describe the general area where Israel and Palestine are located— the Levant and the Fertile Crescent. The Levant is the historical region in West Asia bordering the Mediterranean Sea which contains present-day Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and Palestine. The Fertile Crescent is the broader area, fed by the Tigris, the Euphrates and the Nile, consisting of modern-day Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Egypt, and parts of Turkey, Iran and Iraq. Once the cradle of civilisation, known for rich soil and hospitable conditions, the region has seen deterioration due to the demands of urbanisation and growing population.

Israel itself lies to the west of the Mediterranean Sea, with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan to the east and southeast, and Egypt to the southwest. It claims Jerusalem as its principal seat, although this is not widely recognised in the the international community.

A trickle of Jewish migration to this region increased during World War 2, further intensified by the Holocaust and persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany. The Jewish nation of Israel came into being on May 14, 1948.