West Asia Conflicts Explained: Six-Day War, Oslo Accords & Hamas (Part 2/3)

Introduction: The Wound That Would Not Close

Before proceeding read Part 1 to understand the roots of the Israel-Palestine conflict from Zionism and the Balfour Declaration to the catastrophic 1948 Nakba.

If the Nakba of 1948 was the original wound, the decades that followed were a sustained failure to heal it. Each successive war, each broken agreement, and each diplomatic shortcut deepened the injury. To understand October 2023, one must trace five decades of conflict, occupation, and failed peace — from the Six-Day War of 1967 to the Abraham Accords of 2020.

The Six-Day War (June 1967): Occupation Begins

The Six-Day War of June 1967 is the single most consequential event in the modern history of the conflict after 1948. In a devastating pre-emptive strike, Israel defeated the combined military forces of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria in less than a week. The territorial consequences were enormous: Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan; the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula from Egypt; and the Golan Heights from Syria.

For the first time, the entirety of historic Palestine — including the West Bank and Gaza — came under Israeli military control. Millions of Palestinians who had been living under Jordanian and Egyptian administration were now under Israeli occupation. The UN Security Council responded with Resolution 242 (November 1967), calling for Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories and the right of all states in the region to live within secure and recognised boundaries — the foundational 'land for peace' formula that has remained unimplemented for over fifty years.

TERRITORIES CAPTURED BY ISRAEL IN 1967

• West Bank and East Jerusalem — captured from Jordan; remains under Israeli military occupation
• Gaza Strip — captured from Egypt; Israel withdrew in 2005 but maintains a blockade
• Sinai Peninsula — captured from Egypt; returned under the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty
• Golan Heights — captured from Syria; annexed by Israel in 1981; annexation not recognised by most states

The Yom Kippur War (1973) and Camp David Accords (1978)

On October 6, 1973 — Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism — Egypt and Syria launched a coordinated surprise attack to reclaim territories lost in 1967. The initial Arab advances shocked Israel. The US provided massive emergency military supplies to Israel; the Arab states responded with an oil embargo against Western nations, demonstrating the global economic reach of West Asian geopolitics.

Israel recovered militarily, but the war proved transformative diplomatically. It showed Israel's military dominance was not absolute, creating space for negotiation. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat made a landmark visit to the Israeli Knesset in November 1977, leading to the Camp David Accords (1978) brokered by US President Jimmy Carter, and the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty of March 1979. Egypt became the first Arab state to formally recognise Israel. In exchange, Israel returned the Sinai. Sadat was assassinated by Egyptian Islamist militants in October 1981 — paying with his life for the peace he had made.

The First Intifada (1987) and the Birth of Hamas

By 1987, Palestinians in the occupied territories had lived under military occupation for two decades — enduring land confiscations, settlement expansion, arbitrary arrest, restricted movement, and the systematic denial of political rights. In December 1987, a traffic incident in Gaza triggered the First Intifada — a grassroots Palestinian uprising marked by stone-throwing protests, general strikes, and civil disobedience.

Hamas (Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya — Islamic Resistance Movement) was founded in December 1987, growing out of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood's Gaza branch. Unlike the secular PLO, Hamas combined Islamic ideology with armed resistance and a foundational refusal to recognise Israel. Hamas grew in strength every time the diplomatic track failed to deliver a Palestinian state. It was the conflict's most significant political by-product of the occupation.

The Oslo Accords (1993): The Peace That Almost Was

After secret negotiations in Oslo, Norway, a historic agreement was announced in September 1993: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Chairman Yasser Arafat shook hands on the White House lawn before US President Bill Clinton. The Oslo Accords were the first direct agreement between Israel and Palestinian leadership. They created the Palestinian Authority (PA), recognised the PLO as the legitimate Palestinian representative, and established a framework for negotiating final-status issues — borders, Jerusalem, settlements, and refugees — within five years.

Oslo created a Palestinian Authority with the responsibilities of a government but without the powers of one — administering occupied territory on behalf of an occupying power, while the settlements kept growing.

But Oslo had fatal structural flaws. It did not freeze Israeli settlement construction — settlements in the West Bank continued to expand aggressively throughout the Oslo period and beyond. It did not define final borders. It gave the PA administrative authority without sovereignty. The five-year timeline for final-status negotiations passed without agreement. In November 1995, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by Yigal Amir, a Jewish extremist opposed to the peace process — removing the one Israeli leader fully committed to it. The Camp David Summit of 2000, convened to negotiate a final deal, collapsed. The Oslo process was finished.

The Second Intifada (2000–2005) and the Separation Wall

The collapse of Camp David triggered the Second Intifada (2000-2005) — far bloodier and more militarised than the first. Suicide bombings struck Israeli buses, restaurants, and public spaces. Israeli military operations responded with sieges, targeted assassinations, and mass arrests. Approximately 3,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis were killed. In 2002, Israel began constructing the West Bank Barrier — a combination of concrete walls and fences that cuts deep into Palestinian territory. The International Court of Justice ruled in a 2004 advisory opinion that the barrier's route through occupied Palestinian territory violated international law. It has never been removed.

Gaza: From Disengagement to Blockade

In 2005, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon unilaterally withdrew all Israeli settlers and military forces from the Gaza Strip. In January 2006, Palestinians held legislative elections — certified as free and fair by international observers — and Hamas won a surprise majority. The US, EU, and Israel refused to recognise the Hamas-led government and imposed sanctions.

A violent political confrontation between Hamas and Fatah (a secular Palestinian nationalist political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organisation) erupted in 2007. Hamas seized full control of Gaza; Fatah retained the West Bank. Israel and Egypt imposed a comprehensive blockade on Gaza — restricting goods, construction materials, fuel, and the movement of people. The blockade has been in place for nearly two decades. Multiple UN agencies and international human rights bodies have described it as collective punishment of 2.3 million civilians, prohibited under international humanitarian law.

Iran's Axis of Resistance

One of the defining features of West Asian geopolitics since the 1979 Iranian Revolution has been Iran's construction of a network of allied armed non-state actors across the region — the Axis of Resistance. This network was built by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), particularly through its Quds Force. It includes: Hezbollah in Lebanon (Iran's most powerful proxy, which fought Israel to a stalemate in 2006); Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza; Houthi rebels in Yemen; and Shia militias in Iraq and Syria.

Iran's strategic logic: rather than confront Israel or the US directly, maintain pressure through allied forces spread geographically across the region. General Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force, was the principal architect of this network. He was killed in a US drone strike at Baghdad Airport on January 3, 2020 — a major escalation that brought the US and Iran to the brink of open conflict.

Jordan: The Complicated Neighbour

Jordan's relationship with the Palestinian question is uniquely complex. The Hashemite Kingdom was carved from Transjordan — a British-administered territory. In 1948, Jordan annexed the West Bank; in 1967, it lost it to Israel. In Black September (1970), King Hussein ordered a military crackdown on Palestinian armed organisations (principally the PLO) operating from Jordanian soil. Thousands of Palestinians were killed. The PLO was expelled to Lebanon. Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994 (the Wadi Araba Treaty). Today, with an estimated 60-70% of Jordan's population of Palestinian origin, the Palestinian question is not just foreign policy for Amman — it is the central question of Jordanian domestic stability.

The Abraham Accords (2020): Normalisation Without Peace

In 2020, the United States helped broker the Abraham Accords — agreements where Israel normalized relations with countries like the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. These deals were seen as a big diplomatic success because, for the first time, several Arab countries openly recognised Israel.

But there was a major issue: the Palestinian problem was ignored.

• There was no progress toward creating a Palestinian state.
• Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories continued.
• Palestinian leaders were not involved in the discussions.

The countries that signed the agreements were mainly focused on their own interests — like security concerns about Iran, economic benefits, and closer ties with the U.S. — rather than supporting the Palestinian cause.

From 1967 to the Abraham Accords, diplomacy largely managed rather than resolved the conflict. The October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas and Israel’s response exposed this fragility, escalating into a wider regional crisis. It showed that ignoring the Palestinian question risks turning managed tensions into broader conflict.

FIVE DECADES OF CONFLICT: KEY EVENTS

• 1967 — Six-Day War: Israel captures West Bank, Gaza, Sinai, Golan Heights; UNSC Resolution 242
• 1973 — Yom Kippur War; leads to Camp David Accords (1978) and Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty (1979)
• 1979 — Egyptian President Sadat assassinated by Islamist militants (1981) after making peace with Israel
• 1987 — First Intifada begins; Hamas founded December 1987
• 1993 — Oslo Accords: Palestinian Authority created; Rabin-Arafat handshake; Nobel Peace Prize
• 1995 — Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin assassinated by Jewish extremist Yigal Amir
• 2000 — Camp David Summit fails; Second Intifada begins (2000-2005)
• 2004 — ICJ advisory opinion: West Bank Barrier's route violates international law
• 2005 — Israel unilaterally withdraws from Gaza Strip
• 2006 — Hamas wins Palestinian elections; West refuses recognition; Gaza blockade begins 2007
• Jan 2020 — IRGC Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani killed by US drone strike in Baghdad
• Sep 2020 — Abraham Accords: UAE, Bahrain normalise ties with Israel (Sudan, Morocco follow)

This topic is relevant to GS Paper I (World History: post-WWII realignment) and GS Paper II (India's foreign policy; international institutions). Also useful for Essay and Interview.

Test Your MCQ Preparation:

Question 1:

With reference to the Six-Day War (1967), consider the following statements:

1. Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan.
2. Gaza Strip was captured from Syria.
3. UN Security Council Resolution 242 proposed “land for peace.”
4. Sinai Peninsula was permanently annexed by Israel.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

(A) 1 and 3 only

(B) 1, 2 and 4 only

(C) 2 and 4 only

(D) 1, 3 and 4 only

Question 2:

With reference to the Oslo Accords (1993), which of the following statements is incorrect?

(A) They recognised the PLO as the legitimate representative of Palestinians

(B) They created the Palestinian Authority

(C) They froze Israeli settlement expansion

(D) They established a framework for future negotiations

Question 3:

With reference to the Abraham Accords (2020), consider the following statements:

1. They involved normalisation of relations between Israel and several Arab countries.
2. They led to the immediate creation of a Palestinian state.
3. Sudan and Morocco were part of the agreements.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

(A) 1 and 2 only

(B) 2 and 3 only

(C) 1 and 3 only

(D) 1, 2 and 3

Sample GS Mains questions:

GS Paper I — World History

"How did the outcomes of the Six-Day War of 1967 reshape the political geography of West Asia? Discuss."

“The Oslo Accords (1993) marked a turning point in the Israel–Palestine conflict, yet failed to achieve a durable resolution.” Examine their significance and analyse the key factors that limited their success”

GS Paper II — International Relations

"Discuss the key limitations of the Abraham Accords (2020) in achieving lasting peace in West Asia.”