Roots of Resistance – From Balfour to the Flood
Introduction
It has been more than two years since the Taufan al-Aqsa war erupted. Now, the fighting has stopped; but for how long, no one truly knows. A ceasefire has finally been reached between Hamas and Israel. Yet the central question remains: who actually won, and who lost?
To answer that, we must use a fair and objective yardstick. Let us review and assess a few key historical documents and events that reveal the deeper objectives of this decades-long confrontation, and see how these objectives align with the present reality.
We must look at the long history of this conflict and the main goals of each side. The present situation is full of sharp contrasts. Israel, with its superior military, caused immense destruction and pushed a Western vision of a Palestine without Hamas. Yet, it could not crush the unbroken spirit of Gaza.
This war has also sparked a rising wave in the West and a surge of global public support for Palestinians. The surprising survival of the Hamas leadership hints at a miracle of Gaza’s enduring resistance. Through it all, Palestinians have held firm to their core red line: the right to determine their own future.
So, as the dust settles, the real question is not just about this ceasefire, but what’s next in a struggle that has defined generations.
The Balfour Declaration (1917)
Issued by the British government, the declaration expressed support for the establishment of “a national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine; provided that “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities.”
While the second clause sounded protective, in practice the declaration became the cornerstone of the Zionist movement’s political legitimacy. Britain’s support enabled organized Jewish immigration and settlement in Palestine, while the indigenous Arab population saw their political rights steadily eroded. The seeds of today’s conflict were planted here.
The Nakba – The Catastrophe of 1948
When the British Mandate ended and Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948, war broke out between the new state and neighbouring Arab countries.
During the war, approximately 750,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled from their homes; over 500 villages were depopulated or destroyed, and entire Arab towns disappeared from the map. For Palestinians, this was Al-Nakba — “The Catastrophe.”
UN Resolution 194 called for the right of return and compensation for those displaced, yet more than seventy-five years later, millions of Palestinians remain stateless or in exile.
The Six-Day War (1967)
From June 5–10, 1967, Israel fought and decisively defeated Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. In six days, it captured the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights.
This victory gave Israel strategic depth but transformed more than one million Palestinians into residents of occupied territory. The war reshaped Middle Eastern geopolitics and led to UN Security Council Resolution 242, which called for Israel’s withdrawal from occupied lands in exchange for peace.
The occupation that began then continues in various forms to this day.
The Deal of the Century
Several U.S. administrations proposed “peace plans” over the years, but President Donald Trump’s 2020 proposal, which was dubbed “The Deal of the Century,” was among the most controversial.
While marketed as a path to a two-state solution, the plan effectively legitimized Israel’s settlements and left Palestinians with fragmented territory, limited sovereignty, and heavy restrictions. Reports even suggested that Gaza’s population might be pressured toward relocation in Egypt’s Sinai desert — an idea widely condemned as both immoral and impractical.
Trump’s 20-Point Comprehensive Plan (2025)
In September 2025, former U.S. President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled a new “20-Point Plan” to end the Gaza war.
The proposal called for an immediate ceasefire, exchange of hostages and prisoners, and the establishment of a technocratic Palestinian administration to govern Gaza temporarily, without any role for Hamas. It also demanded demilitarization of Gaza under international supervision, while guaranteeing that Israel would not re-invade the enclave.
To many observers, this plan was another attempt to secure Israel’s security interests first, while relegating Palestinian political rights to a secondary concern.
Netanyahu’s Map Without Palestine
At the United Nations General Assembly in 2024, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu displayed two maps of the Middle East: one titled “The Curse” (showing countries like Iran, Iraq, and Yemen) and another titled “The Blessing” (highlighting nations that had normalized relations with Israel, including Egypt, India, and Saudi Arabia).
Conspicuously absent from both maps was Palestine. Gaza and the West Bank were depicted as part of Israel; a bold symbolic statement that many interpreted as a declaration of intent: the vision of a Middle East without a Palestinian state.
The Storm of al-Aqsa
The war that erupted on 7 October 2023, known as Taufan al-Aqsa or The Al-Aqsa Flood, did not emerge in isolation. Hamas had long been reading the regional temperature and saw what was unfolding before the world’s eyes.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had just unveiled his so-called “New Middle East” map at the United Nations; a map that conspicuously erased Palestine altogether. At the same time, Israel had been deepening ties with several Arab states through trade, technology, and security agreements. Across the region, the Palestinian question seemed to be fading and quietly pushed aside in favor of new alliances and economic partnerships.
Sensing that history itself was closing in; that the very identity and existence of Palestine were being written out of the regional future, Hamas made a deliberate and deeply calculated decision. With months of clandestine planning and coordination, they launched Taufan al-Aqsa, striking across fortified borders and shattering the illusion of Israeli invincibility.
Yes, Hamas fired the first shots of that battle. But the war itself had begun long before, when the Zionist movement, supported by British colonial policy, encouraged Jewish settlers from Europe to occupy Palestinian land more than a century ago. The Al-Aqsa Flood was not the start of a new war; it was a fierce reminder of an old one, a continuation of a struggle that has never truly ended.