Israel vs. Palestine: The Conflict

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Israel vs. PalestineThe Conflict
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Introduction

• Two conflicting sides over land, resources,
  sovereignty, religion, and culture.
• Jerusalem/Temple Mount
• Jordan River
• Israelis Judaism, claim rights to Israel a
  recognized state of the UN
• Palestinians Islam, claim the same land as
  Palestine, are not recognized by the UN, but
  have a central PNA
• Both sides have contributed considerably to
  violence.

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The Issues

• Palestinian Refugees and the Right of Return
• Status of Jerusalem
• Borders and the Occupied Territories
• Israeli Security Concerns in relation to
  sovereignty
• Settlements in the West Bank

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Ancient History

• Cultural Conflict goes back several thousand
  years mainly religious
• Old Canaan conquered by Israeli tribes out of
  Egypt (according to Torah) 1200 BCE
• Hebrew settlements/conquests of present-day
  Jerusalem under Solomon
• First Temple Built in Jerusalem on Temple Mount
• Later split into two kingdoms Israel and Judea
  (both later fall to Assyrians) after Solomons
  death
• Land referred to as Palestine by ancient
  Egyptians and Israel by the Jewish tribes
• Same place, different language

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Ancient History cont

• Control continuously changes from app. 530 BCE
  61 BCE ending with control from Roman Empire
• Christianity is founded around 4 BCE 35 CE,
  followed by Islam in 622 CE
• Non Jewish inhabitants of Israel/Palestine
  convert begin to practice Islam/Christianity
• Roman Empire Collapses after schism,
  Israel/Palestine is conquered by Persians in 614
  CE
• Then, conquered by Arab Islamic armies Al-Aqsa
  Mosque is built in 715 CE on Temple Mount
  (considered Third Holiest site in Islam)

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Ancient History cont

• European Christian crusaders begin their attacks
  on The Holy Land occupied by Saladin and his
  Kurds
• Crusaders briefly occupy Jerusalem in 1229 CE,
  retaken by Mameluke Muslims, later defeated at
  acre and evicted from Palestine
• Ottoman/Turk conquest of area in 1517, part of
  official Ottoman Empire until 1917
• Demographics in Jerusalem under Ottoman Rule
  7120 Jews, 5760 Muslims, 3390 Christians

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Modern History

• World War I breaks out Turkey (Ottoman Empire)
  fights against Allies
• Balfour Declaration by the UK in Nov 1917
• His Majesty's government view with favour the
  establishment in Palestine of a national home for
  the Jewish people, and will use their best
  endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this
  object - British Foreign Policy during wartime
• British control of Egypt extends itself to the
  Israel/Palestine area under pressure from the
  Zionist Movement Dec 1917

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Modern History cont

• Faisal-Weizmann Agreement Jan 3, 1919 part of
  the Paris Peace Conference
• Leader of the Zionist Commission (Chaim Weizmann)
  met with Emir Faisal (Kingdom of Hedjaz)
• Encourage mass Zionist/Jewish settlements in
  Palestine, in exchange for an Arab nation
  encompassing present-day Iraq, Syria, and the
  Fertile Crescent
• Became irrelevant Kingdom of Hedjaz was
  conquered in 1923 and incorporated under the
  Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

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Modern History cont

• European Zionists continue to settle in Palestine
  Britain begins to decolonize grants
  independence to nearby Egypt and Transjordan
• League of Nations France and Britain divide the
  Middle East into Mandates
• Churchill White Paper (June 3, 1922) clarifies
  Balfour Declaration in response to anti-semetic
  riots in Palestine
• Main Point Europe dividing new nations for
  self-determination deconstruction of
  imperialism

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Modern History cont

• Britain caught in the middle of appealing to
  Palestine and Israel violence escalates
• Racial profiling, religious desecration,
  segregation, power struggle within Palestine
• Zionist immigration continues
• British policy continually changes with pressure
  from both sides
• Progress in Middle East halts somewhat as WWII
  begins in Europe
• Britain is distracted, situation becomes even
  more unclear, violence continues to escalate

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Modern History cont

• WWII large portion of Jewish population flees
  Nazism for Palestine, many join Zionist movement,
  seek new life
• Wounded Britain pulls out of Palestine completely
  by 1948
• Organized fighting with armies and weapons
  begins, bombings, massacres, spontaneous fighting
  from both sides
• State of Israel declares independence May 14,
  1948
• Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Saudi
  Arabia all declare war on Israel
• United States immediately recognizes new state,
  followed by USSR
• Israeli War of Independence 1948 - 1949

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Modern History cont

• Result app. 800,000 Palestinians are displaced
  (PALESTINIAN REFUGEES)
• Yasser Arafat founds the Palestinian Liberation
  Organization (PLO) 1964
• Six-Day War (Jun 511, 1967)
• Israel aquires West Bank, Gaza Strip, and the
  Golan Heights OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
• Fighting causes many Palestinians to flee into
  neighboring Arab countries, especially from the
  Golan Heights
• OCs under martial law not represented by MPs
• First Intifada 1987-1993 Violence moves from
  organized to massive civil warfare
• Triggered by Palestinian students boycotting
  Israeli goods, strikes, graffiti, barricades,
  planned terrorism, resistance of authorities

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Modern History cont

• Oslo Accords (Declaration of Principles on
  Interim Self-Government Arrangements)
• GOI and PLO meet, sign accords on September 13,
  1993)
• Sets up the Palestinian National Authority
• Mutual recognition between PNA/State of Israel
• Government over the Occupied Territories
  gradually phased over in a period of 5 years to
  PNA
• IDF (Israeli Defense Force) to withdraw from the
  areas, eventual sovereignty given to PNA
• Failed
• Only addressed borders no status of Jerusalem,
  refugees
• No provisions for a permanent Palestinian state
• OCT still under Israeli military control
• Cultural violence continues (Israeli anger at
  Palestinians/vice versa)

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Yasser Arafat
Yitzhak Rabin
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Modern History cont

• Second Intifada (Al-aqsa Intifada) response to
  failed Oslo Accords suspended all-out civil war
  returns
• Triggered by a MP visiting temple mount with over
  a thousand police guards, leading to violence
• Response International inquiry
• Mitchell Report of 2001 by UN, EU, US, Egypt, and
  Jordan
• Camp David Negotiations US President Clinton
  facilitates talks with Israeli PM Ehud Barak and
  PA Chairman Yasser Arafat
• Tried to negotiate final status of Israel and
  Palestine
• Israel agreed to a partial two-state solution,
  rejected by Palestinians
• Ultimately failed neither side reached an
  agreement
• Israel uses the complete Palestinian rejection of
  this plan as an example of unwillingness to seek
  peace on the part of the Palestinians
• Palestine uses the unfair compromises presented
  by Israel as an example of Israeli greed
  especially disliked the Israeli Security
  provision

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Modern History cont (final I promise!)

• League of Arab States conference in Beruit
  Saudi Arabia pushes movement to normalize
  Arab-Israeli relations
• Arab Peace Initiative March 28, 2002
• Israel would withdraw from the Golan Heights,
  Gaza Strip, and West Bank completely
• Israel would finance the return of the
  Palestinian refugees to Palestine, or give them
  compensation
• Israel basically ignores the Initiatives
  existence, no formal mention of it or response.

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Right Now

• Palestinians live in OCTs under Israeli military
  occupation
• Human Rights Violations
• Access to education, healthcare, even basic
  necessities is sporadic
• Some representation under PNA - Parliament
• App. 4.5 million Palestinian refugees today
• Original number 800,000 in 1947

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UN Involvement
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Israel and the UN

• Israel is a nation with special status in the
  UN
• They are active members in the Western European
  and Others Group (WEOG) in NY
• Are not part of UN operations in Geneva barred
  from standing in elections, participating in
  Geneva committee debates, etc.
• Many accusations of Anti-Semitism in the UN by
  Israel and US
• Israel tends not to trust the UN resolutions,
  does not always comply with peacekeeping forces
  based in Israel/Palestine Territories
• Government of Israel says that it must have equal
  rights to equally honor the wishes of the General
  Assembly

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Palestine and the UN

• Palestine is not a recognized state of the UN,
  but representatives from the PNA speak as guests
• Observer status in the UN Palestinian
  National Authority is responsible for providing
  representation for the Palestinian peoples
• Given because there is no legitimate national
  government for Palestine

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Previous UN Action

• Britain refers issue to the UN May, 1947
• UNSCOP (UN Special Committee on Palestine)
  Resolution GA 181
• Two State Arab and Israeli
• Establishes 47 Borders
• Jerusalem would be internationally administered
  part of neither state, temporarily run by UN
• Never fully implemented
• Geographic puzzle made navigation difficult for
  the still-fighting populations
• Neither side would accept compromise, Israelis
  wanted all of it, Palestinians wanted all of it
• Furious at Jerusalem plan

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Previous UN Action cont

• General Assembly Resolutions calls for violence
  to end, continued relief to aid Palestinian
  refugees
• 1949 - UNRWA provides food, education, aid, and
  temporary shelter continues
• Security Council Resolutions
• 1967 UNSC242 - Israeli withdrawal from OCs,
  peace
• 1973 UNSC338 Demand for peace, continuted
  conflict negotiation
• All bark, no bite.