The Israeli-Palestinian conflict began around 1948, when the state of Israel was created on the back of Resolution 181, a 1947 Partition Plan devised by the United Nations to divide the British Mandate of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states.

Many Arab nations rejected the plan to divide Palestine between Arabs and Jews. When Israel was declared an independent state in May 1948, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Iraq invaded the region and sparked off the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Around 750,000 Palestinians were displaced during the war, which Israel won, and their territory was further split up in terms of a ceasefire agreement in 1949.

The Six Day War of 1967 saw Israel capturing the Sinai Peninsula, including the Gaza Strip. Israel drove Jordanian forces out of East Jerusalem and much of the West Bank and captured the Golan Heights from Syria. The Six Day War proved a decisive victory for Israel but a disaster for Palestine, as hundreds of thousands were displaced and more than one million were suddenly under the control of Israel in what is known as the occupied territories.

US Resolution 242, passed by the United Nations in November 1967, said Israel should withdraw from these territories to restore peace, but they remain occupied.