Before Oct. 7 There Was 1948
Updated: 10 hours ago
By: Raghad Motan | Published on: October 27, 2026
Oct. 7, 2023, was a major turning point in the current state of violence and occupation in Palestine. However, it is not the beginning of the Palestinian struggle under Israeli occupation that has led many human rights organizations and activists to use the language of genocide and international war crimes.
The violence that intensified in Palestine after Oct. 7, 2023, did not appear out of thin air. While Oct. 7 marked an escalation in the apartheid, understanding the events that followed requires looking decades before, to the establishment of the Zionist movement, Britain's involvement, the 1948 Nakba, the Six Day War and the gradual occupation of Palestinian land.
An important starting point in the establishment of Israel is the birth of Zionism in the late 19th century. Zionism developed in Europe as a result of antisemitism and the mistreatment of Jewish people. In 1897, Theodor Herzl founded the movement of Zionism, which called for establishing a recognized and secure homeland for the Jewish people in the land of Israel, then part of the Ottoman Empire and later the State of Palestine.
Following this was the British involvement in Palestine. In 1917, the Balfour Declaration expressed the British government's support for the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. During this time, political tension grew as Jewish immigration to Palestine increased and Palestinian Arabs were greatly against the changes occurring in their homeland without their consent.
In 1947, the United Nations attempted to address the conflict through the UN Partition Plan. This plan proposed dividing Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states while placing Jerusalem under international control. The plan was passed with 33 in favor, 13 against and 10 abstained.
At this point, violence between Jewish and Palestinian communities had already begun and the situation escalated in 1948 as Israel officially declared its independence and was officially established.
The year 1948 represents one of the most catastrophic years in Palestinian history. During 1947 and 1948, about 700,000 to 800,000 Palestinians were displaced from their homes according to UN official documentation. The newly established colonial state of Israel controlled about 77% of Palestinian territory.
As a result, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians became refugees in neighboring countries and somewhere from 400 to 500 Palestinian towns and villages were destroyed and occupied.
The Nakba reshaped the geography of Palestine. It is at this point that Palestine became divided between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Strip is a small, densely populated territory on the Mediterranean coast, administered by Egypt, the country that borders it. The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was under Jordanian control. These territories were on the outside borders of the newly established colonial state of Israel, which would soon change.
From June 5 to June 10, 1967, Israel fought Egypt, Jordan and Syria in what is now known as the Six-Day War. During the war, Israel captured the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, which led to these Palestinian territories being known internationally as the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The war displaced approximately half a million Palestinians. The occupation led to the Israeli military controlling Palestinian’s daily livelihoods while Israeli settlements were becoming more established in the occupied Palestinian territory.
In 2005, Israel permanently removed military forces and settlements from inside Gaza, however, Israel controlled its borders, movement of people and goods in the areas.
In 2006, Hamas won an electoral victory in Gaza and completely took over in 2007, while Gaza still experienced displacement, destruction and especially a humanitarian crisis. Hamas was formed as an armed resistance against the active genocide and apartheid in the Gaza Strip.
The killing of any civilian is never justified. However, it is important to understand and reference the decades of displacement, occupation, illegal settlement expansion, and violence against the Palestinian people to understand Oct. 7 and the events that followed.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas led an attack on Israeli civilians and took hostages, which violated international humanitarian law. This attack is neither the beginning nor the end of the current events.
For Palestinians, the significance of Oct. 7 cannot be separated from the Nakba, the continuing displacement of Palestinians and the occupation that began in 1948. For Israelis, Oct. 7 is a traumatic attack on civilians that is a result of the history of the colonial state of Israel being established.
To understand the present, you must look back at the history of what prompted what we are seeing in real time. By highlighting that history, you can understand how the violence of the present is shaped by generations of displacement, occupation, resistance and attempts to reclaim sovereignty and self-determination.
Comments