Walk into any pub or scroll through a social media feed and you’ll see the same thing. People are shouting. They are picking sides like it’s a football match. They want a clear winner and a clear villain. But when you ask the question, israel or palestine who is right, you aren't actually looking for a simple answer. You're looking for a way to make sense of a century of trauma. It’s messy.
Honestly, the "who is right" framework is kinda broken. If you look at the history, you realize that both sides are operating from a place of deep, legitimate historical grievance and a desperate need for safety. It isn't just a "land dispute." It’s a collision of two valid national movements—Zionism and Palestinian nationalism—occupying the same tiny sliver of territory.
The Core Claims: Why Everyone Thinks They're Right
To understand the Israel-Palestine conflict, you have to look at the stories each side tells itself. These aren't just myths. They are lived realities.
The Jewish connection to the land isn't some 19th-century invention. It goes back over 3,000 years. Archaeological sites like the City of David or the Western Wall aren't just tourist traps; they are physical proof of a continuous presence. After centuries of horrific persecution in Europe—culminating in the Holocaust—the Jewish people felt that a sovereign state in their ancestral homeland was the only way to ensure survival. Can you blame them? After the world turned its back on them during the 1940s, "Never Again" became a survival mandate, not just a slogan.
But then, look at the Palestinian perspective. They didn't cause the Holocaust. They were living in their villages, farming olives, and building lives for generations under Ottoman and then British rule. To them, the arrival of hundreds of thousands of European immigrants felt like a colonial invasion. In 1948, during the war surrounding Israel's creation, about 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes. They call this the Nakba, or "Catastrophe." For a Palestinian family in a refugee camp in Lebanon or the West Bank, "who is right" isn't an academic question. It’s about the key to a house their grandfather used to own in Jaffa or Haifa.
The Problem of 1948 vs. 1967
The debate usually splits into two different timelines.
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Some people focus on 1948. This is the "existential" debate. If you believe Israel’s very existence is an injustice, you’re looking at the 1948 borders. On the other hand, many international bodies and moderate activists focus on 1967. That was the year of the Six-Day War. Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. This is where the "occupation" argument lives.
Even if you believe Israel has a right to exist, the daily reality for a Palestinian in the West Bank is incredibly grim. We're talking about checkpoints. We're talking about restricted movement. We're talking about the expansion of Israeli settlements, which most of the world—including the UN and the EU—considers illegal under international law. When a settler moves onto a hilltop in the West Bank, it makes a future Palestinian state look more and more like a pipe dream.
Why There Is No Simple Answer
If you’re looking for a "gotcha" fact to win an argument, you'll find plenty. But they won't lead you to the truth.
For instance, pro-Israel advocates often point out that Arab leaders rejected the 1947 UN Partition Plan. They say, "We offered peace, they chose war." That's factually true. But Palestinians argue they shouldn't have been asked to give up half their land to a population that had largely arrived in the previous few decades.
Then there’s the security argument. Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005. Every single soldier and settler left. What happened? Hamas took over, and thousands of rockets were fired into Israeli towns. This is why many Israelis are terrified of leaving the West Bank. They look at Gaza and see a "trial run" that went horribly wrong.
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But if you’re a Palestinian teenager in Jenin, you don't see "security." You see a foreign army controlling your life. You see your father humiliated at a checkpoint. You see no path to a job or a vote. Is it any wonder that radicalization happens?
The Role of International Law
International law is often cited as the ultimate referee, but even here, things get murky.
The UN's Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits an occupying power from transferring its own civilian population into the territory it occupies. This is the legal basis for the argument against settlements. Meanwhile, Israel argues the West Bank is "disputed" rather than "occupied" because there was no recognized sovereign power there before they took it (Jordan had annexed it, but almost no one recognized that).
- UN Resolution 242: This is the big one. It calls for Israel to withdraw from territories occupied in 1967 in exchange for "peace within secure and recognized boundaries."
- The Right of Return: Palestinians cite UN Resolution 194, which says refugees should be allowed to return to their homes. Israel says this is a non-starter because it would end Israel as a Jewish-majority state.
Basically, everyone has a resolution they can point to.
The Security vs. Human Rights Paradox
Israel has a genuine need for security. You can't ignore the suicide bombings of the Second Intifada or the horrors of the October 7th attacks. No country would just sit back and let that happen.
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But you also can't ignore the humanitarian crisis in Gaza or the "Swiss cheese" map of the West Bank. When you have a military occupation that lasts for over 50 years, it stops being a "temporary security measure" and starts looking like a permanent system of inequality.
The "Who is Right" Trap
The reason Google is flooded with searches for israel or palestine who is right is that we are hardwired for binary thinking.
The truth is that both sides have suffered immensely. Both sides have committed acts that are indefensible. And both sides have a deep, spiritual, and historical connection to the land.
If you're looking for a winner, you're missing the point. The only way forward—if there even is one—isn't about deciding who was "more" right in 1917 or 1948. It’s about how seven million Jews and seven million Palestinians are going to live between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea without killing each other.
Actionable Steps for Understanding the Conflict
Stop looking for a side to join. Instead, try to understand the internal logic of both narratives.
- Read Diverse Sources. Don't just stick to your echo chamber. If you usually read Al Jazeera, try reading The Times of Israel. If you only watch Fox News, try looking at reports from B'Tselem or Human Rights Watch.
- Learn the Geography. Look at a map of the West Bank. Not a general map, but one that shows Area A, B, and C. Look at where the settlements are. It’s impossible to understand the "two-state solution" debate without seeing how fragmented the land actually is.
- Acknowledge the Trauma. Recognize that for Israelis, the threat of annihilation is a psychological reality based on history. For Palestinians, the experience of being displaced and stateless is an ongoing trauma.
- Question Simple Slogans. Whether it’s "From the river to the sea" or "There is no such thing as Palestinians," simple slogans are designed to erase the other side. If a solution sounds simple, it’s probably wrong.
- Support Grassroots Peacebuilders. There are groups like Standing Together or The Parents Circle-Families Forum where bereaved Israelis and Palestinians work together. These people have lost more than any of us, yet they are the ones talking about coexistence.
The conflict isn't a movie. There is no "The End" where the credits roll and we all go home. There are only people. Real, breathing, scared people who want to go to work, raise their kids, and not worry about a bomb or a bulldozer.
If you really want to know "who is right," the answer is probably: anyone who is trying to find a way for both peoples to live in dignity and safety. Everyone else is just contributing to the noise.