It’s complicated. If you’ve spent any time on social media lately, you’ve probably seen people shouting past each other about who started what and when. But the causes of war in Israel and Palestine aren't just about one event or one year. It’s a mess of overlapping claims, trauma, and really bad timing. Honestly, trying to find a "Year Zero" for this conflict is a fool's errand because both sides have deep, agonizing roots in the land.
You have two peoples who both feel—rightly, in their own minds—that they are the indigenous owners of a tiny sliver of territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. For Jews, it's the ancestral homeland, the only place they've ever been truly "from," especially after the horrors of the Holocaust. For Palestinians, it’s the land they lived on for generations, the place where their grandfathers’ olive trees still grow, and from which they feel they were unjustly evicted. When you have two "rights" clashing like that, you don't get a simple solution. You get a century of fire.
The land and the "Nakba" vs. "Independence"
Let's talk about 1948. This is the big one. To Israelis, it’s the War of Independence, a miraculous survival story where a brand-new state survived an onslaught from five neighboring Arab armies. To Palestinians, it’s the Nakba, or "Catastrophe." Basically, about 700,000 Palestinians fled or were pushed out of their homes during that fighting.
They didn't just disappear. They became refugees. Today, there are millions of descendants living in camps in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Jordan. They still hold the literal metal keys to their old houses in places like Jaffa or Haifa. Israel, meanwhile, sees the "Right of Return" as a non-starter because it would effectively end the Jewish majority of the state. This isn't just a political disagreement; it’s an existential fear on both sides. One side fears losing their home again, and the other fears never being allowed to go back.
Religious friction and the "Holy Esplanade"
It’s not just about dirt and borders. It’s about God. Or, more specifically, who gets to pray where. Jerusalem is the heart of the causes of war in Israel and Palestine, specifically the site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary).
The Al-Aqsa Mosque sits right on top of the ruins of the ancient Jewish Temples.
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Imagine the most sensitive spot on the planet. This is it. When Israeli police enter the mosque complex or when Jewish activists push to pray there, it sends shockwaves through the entire Muslim world. It’s a trigger. We saw this clearly in May 2021 and again in the lead-up to the October 7 attacks. Hamas actually named their operation "Al-Aqsa Flood." They use the perceived threat to the mosque to drum up support, and for many Palestinians, the mosque is the last symbol of national dignity they have left under occupation.
The physical reality of the West Bank and settlements
If you look at a map of the West Bank today, it looks like Swiss cheese. The "holes" are Israeli settlements. Since 1967, when Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have moved into these communities.
Some are there for religious reasons, believing God gave them this land. Others move because the housing is cheaper. But for a Palestinian, every new house built in a settlement is a nail in the coffin of a future Palestinian state. It makes the "Two-State Solution" look like a fantasy. You can't really build a country when there are checkpoints and Israeli-only roads cutting through your neighborhood. This creates a daily, grinding friction. Young Palestinians grow up seeing soldiers at every turn, which breeds a level of resentment that’s hard to overstate. It’s a pressure cooker. Eventually, the steam has to go somewhere.
Gaza: A separate, darker story
Gaza is different. Israel pulled its settlers and troops out of the Gaza Strip in 2005. But then Hamas—a group that basically refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist—took over in 2007. In response, Israel and Egypt put Gaza under a blockade.
Think about that for a second.
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Two million people packed into a space the size of Philadelphia, unable to leave, with limited electricity and a destroyed economy. Israel says the blockade is necessary to stop weapons from reaching Hamas. Palestinians call it an "open-air prison." It’s a breeding ground for radicalization. When you have a generation of kids in Gaza who have never met an Israeli who wasn't in a tank or a jet, and a generation of Israelis who only know Gaza as a source of rockets, empathy dies. It just evaporates.
The failure of leadership and the "Peace Process" ghost
There was a time in the 90s, during the Oslo Accords, when people actually thought this might end. Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat shook hands on the White House lawn. But then Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish extremist, Hamas started a wave of suicide bombings, and the trust just... broke.
Today, the leadership on both sides is, frankly, stuck.
- The Palestinian Authority is seen by many of its own people as corrupt and weak.
- Hamas uses its resources to build tunnels and rockets rather than infrastructure.
- The Israeli government has shifted further and further to the right, with some ministers openly calling for the annexation of the West Bank.
There’s no "peace camp" left with any real power. Most people are just tired. They’ve seen too many "final status" talks go nowhere.
Why the world can't look away
You might wonder why this matters more than, say, the civil war in Sudan or conflicts in Myanmar. It’s because of the alliances. The U.S. is deeply tied to Israel’s security. Iran uses Palestinian groups to project power across the Middle East. It’s a geopolitical chessboard where the pawns are real people’s lives. Every time a rocket is fired or a home is demolished, it ripples out to London, New York, and Tehran.
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What actually moves the needle?
Understanding the causes of war in Israel and Palestine requires looking at the cycle of trauma. It’s not just "ancient hatred." It’s modern, political, and very much about tangible things like water rights, building permits, and security cameras.
If you want to understand the current state of play, stop looking for "good guys" and "bad guys" for a second. Look at the incentives. Currently, the "spoiler" groups on both sides—the ones who want all the land for themselves—have all the momentum. The moderates have been sidelined by decades of failed promises.
Actionable steps for staying informed
To get a clearer picture of this conflict without falling into the trap of mindless propaganda, you should actively change how you consume the news.
- Read local sources from both sides: Don't just rely on Western media. Look at Haaretz (left-leaning Israeli), The Times of Israel (center-right), and Al Jazeera or Wafa (Palestinian perspectives). Seeing how the same event is reported differently is eye-opening.
- Study the maps: Go to Google Earth and look at the West Bank. Look at the "Green Line." Seeing the physical proximity of these towns explains why security is such an obsession for Israelis and why movement is such a struggle for Palestinians.
- Follow human rights monitors: Groups like B'Tselem (Israeli) and Al-Haq (Palestinian) document specific incidents on the ground. They provide the "boring" but vital data that doesn't always make the headlines.
- Avoid "Infographic Activism": If a 10-slide Instagram post makes the conflict seem simple, it's lying to you. Seek out long-form books like The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan or Side by Side: Parallel Histories of Israel-Palestine to understand the competing narratives.
The conflict isn't going to end tomorrow. But the first step to any kind of solution is realizing that both sides are operating out of a profound sense of insecurity and a very real history of loss. Ignoring one side's pain doesn't make the other side's claim any stronger; it just ensures the war continues for another generation.