The War That Outlived Its Founders

By Cliff Potts, CSO, and Editor-in-Chief of WPS News

Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines — March 22, 2026

A Conflict Older Than Most of the People Arguing About It

The modern Israeli–Arab conflict effectively began in 1947–1948 with the collapse of the British Mandate and the creation of the State of Israel. Nearly eighty years later, the war is still being fought in one form or another.

That timeline matters.

Most of the people who made the original decisions are gone. The generation that fought the first Arab–Israeli war is largely gone as well. Entire generations have been born, lived their lives, and died while the conflict continued.

When a war lasts that long, it stops being a single conflict and becomes a historical condition.

Israel Exists

One of the more unusual features of modern debate about the conflict is that some activists still argue that Israel itself should not exist.

This argument appears regularly in campus protests and political demonstrations following the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023 and the subsequent war in Gaza. In some cases, protesters have argued that Israelis should simply “go back” to the countries from which their families came.

That idea collapses quickly when examined.

Israel has existed as a sovereign state since 1948. Several generations of Israelis have been born there. Their parents were born there. Their grandparents were often born there as well.

In other words, the country is not a temporary visitor. It is a state with a population that has lived in that territory for decades.

Whether one supports Israeli policy or opposes it, the reality of Israel’s existence is no longer a theoretical question.

A Region That Was Not Always at War

There is also a common assumption that the Middle East has always been in constant conflict.

Historically, that is not entirely accurate.

Before the twentieth century, much of the territory that later became Israel and Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire. Under Ottoman administration, Jewish and Arab communities often lived in the same cities and regions with varying degrees of tension but without the constant state-level warfare that would emerge later (Cleveland & Bunton, 2016).

The transformation of the region into a persistent geopolitical conflict zone occurred during the twentieth century as imperial systems collapsed and nationalist movements emerged.

In other words, the conflict was created by historical events, not by an eternal regional destiny.

The Failure of the International System

The international community attempted to resolve the situation in 1947 through a partition plan endorsed by the United Nations (United Nations General Assembly, 1947).

That plan envisioned separate Jewish and Arab states.

Instead, the region entered a series of wars that continue to shape Middle Eastern politics today.

The United Nations remains involved through diplomatic efforts, humanitarian programs, and legal institutions such as the International Court of Justice. However, the organization has limited enforcement authority.

The UN can issue rulings and resolutions, but it often lacks the power to compel compliance from sovereign states.

This limitation has left many international disputes unresolved for decades.

The Question of Accountability

The most recent phase of the Gaza conflict has produced renewed international legal scrutiny.

In 2024, the International Court of Justice began reviewing claims that Israeli military actions in Gaza could violate international law, including accusations related to genocide (International Court of Justice, 2024).

Such proceedings illustrate one of the major tensions in the current global system.

International courts can investigate and issue legal judgments. Yet enforcement ultimately depends on the willingness of states to comply with those rulings.

Without that cooperation, international law becomes more advisory than authoritative.

What Failed?

If the region was not always locked in conflict, then an obvious question emerges.

What went wrong?

The answer is complex.

Competing national movements, colonial borders, population displacement, Cold War rivalries, and religious identity have all played roles in shaping the conflict. Over time, cycles of violence hardened political attitudes on all sides.

After decades of war, mistrust has become deeply embedded in regional politics.

Once conflicts reach that stage, solutions become extraordinarily difficult.

The Limits of Simple Solutions

Many outside observers search for simple answers.

Some call for the elimination of Israel. Others argue that Palestinian aspirations should be ignored. Still others propose diplomatic formulas that assume political leaders can quickly reverse decades of conflict.

None of these approaches reflect the reality on the ground.

The Israeli–Palestinian conflict has lasted long enough that it has become part of the identity and historical memory of multiple populations.

Ending a conflict like that requires changes not only in political leadership but also in public attitudes, institutions, and regional relationships.

Those changes rarely occur quickly.

The Question That Remains

After nearly eighty years, the most important question may not be who wins the conflict.

It may be why the international system has been unable to resolve it.

Wars that last for generations are rarely sustained by military power alone. They persist because the political and diplomatic structures meant to resolve them fail repeatedly.

Until those structures change, the Middle East may remain trapped in a cycle of violence that began before most of today’s participants were born.

References

Cleveland, W. L., & Bunton, M. (2016). A history of the modern Middle East. Westview Press.

International Court of Justice. (2024). Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel).

United Nations General Assembly. (1947). Resolution 181: Future government of Palestine.