Israeli Palestinian Conflict

1
Israeli Palestinian Conflict
Creating Peace in The Middle East
2
Historical Ownership

• People have continuously inhabited the area now
  know as Israel for 10 000 years
• The Amorites, Canaanites and other Semitic
  peoples entered the area around 2000 BC, and the
  area became known as the Land of Canaan.
• between 1800 and 1500 BC the Hebrews left
  Mesopotamia and settled in Canaan
• The Israelites came from Egypt with Moses to the
  Land of Canaan
• in 1000BC King Davis conquered Jerusalem it was
  then divided into two Kingdoms, Judea in the
  South and Israel in the North. Jerusalem remained
  the center of the Kingdoms, and stayed this way
  until 133 AD
• The Assyrians then conquered Israel between 722
  and 721BC.
• Around 586BC the Babylonians conquered Judah.
  They destroyed Solomons Temple, and exiled many
  Jews.
• 50 years later the Persian King Cyrus conquered
  Babylonia. He allowed some Jews from Babylonia to
  rebuild and settle in Jerusalem.
• The Persians ruled from 530-331BC
• Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire,
  which was ruled by his generals after his death.
• General Seleucus founded a dynasty in 200BC, and
  gained control of much of Palestine. This dynasty
  allowed Judaism, and its leaders were called the
  Seleucids.

3

• When Antiochus IV tried to forbid Judaism in
  167AD the Jews, under the leadership of the
  Maccabeans drove the Seleucids out of Palestine
  and established a Kingdom with Jerusalem as its
  capital. This Kingdom had a large degree of
  autonomy and received Roman protection.
• In 61 BC the Romans got the area under their
  direct control. They then drove the Jews out and
  renamed the area Palestine. Most Jews living
  there either fled or were exiled directly.
• In 638 AD Jerusalem was conquered by the Caliph
  Omar, and he gave his protection to all its
  inhabitants. Muslims continued to hold power in
  the area up until the early 1900s. They allowed
  Jews and Christians to keep their religions, but
  most locals assimilated to Arab-Islamic culture
  anyway.
• During WW1 an Ottoman military government ruled
  Palestine. Many Jews were forced to leave
  Palestine during this time as they were Russians
  and the Turks wanted them out.
• The Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916 divided
  Palestine. Part was to go to the British, part to
  an Allied government, and Syria and Lebanon were
  to go to the French.
• The Arabs revolted against the Ottoman Empire,
  and they believed that the British would back
  their bid for independence. The Arabs then felt
  slighted because Syria and Lebanon were to be
  given to the French, they thought Palestine was
  part of the land that was promised to them, and
  they disliked the idea of a Jewish homeland in
  Palestine.
• After WWI Palestine became a British mandate
  (1920), and remained that way until 1948.

4
Importance of Jerusalem

• Jerusalem is the third most important city in the
  Islamic faith after Mecca and Medina.
• Jerusalem is the place where Mohammed, on his
  horse al-Baruq ascended to the heavens on his
  miraculous night journey. A huge mosque was built
  on this site with a gold dome, it is called
  Al-Aqsa.
• Jerusalem is also significant to Islam because of
  its strong associations with the prophets,
  particularly David and Solomon. Jerusalem was
  also the place every Muslim faced when praying
  before the Kaaba was built in Mecca.
• In Judaism Jerusalem is the holiest area of the
  world. Everything in Jerusalem is holy, down to
  the pebbles on the street.
• Jerusalem has been important in Judaism for
  thousands of years, ever since King Davids
  struggle for the city, and his desire to build a
  Jewish temple there.
• Jerusalem is mentioned hundreds of times in the
  Tanakh, the Jewish bible.
• Jerusalem was also known as the center of the
  world in Medieval Christian thought, and
  continues to be important as Jesus was crucified
  and resurrected in Golgotha near Jerusalem.
• Jerusalem is an important center for all three
  western religions, but the conflict over
  Jerusalem is between Judaism and Islam.

5
The Zionist Movement

• The emancipation of European Jewry dates back as
  far as the French Revolution, when Jews were no
  longer confined to the ghettos of European
  cities, they were given citizenship and were
  treated like everyone else.
• After the French revolution, a spiritual bond of
  the Jewish people to Israel began to be
  expressed. Around 1808 Lithuanian Jews began
  immigrating to Israel, purchasing Palestinian
  land and beginning an agricultural settlement.
• In 1835 Rabbi Zyi Hirsch Kalischer petitioned
  Rothschild to buy the temple mount in Jerusalem
  for the Jews.
• The emancipation of Jews was taken further with
  the introduction of the Zionist movement, an
  ideology that states that the Jews were a people
  like any other, however they were a people
  without a country and would remain politically
  powerless as long as they did not have a national
  home. According to Zionist ideology this
  homelessness was the cause of the Jewish
  problem
• The Zionist movement was founded in 1897 by
  Theodor Herzl and was seen as the Jewish national
  liberation movement. By this point Judaism was
  seen as more than just a religion and the
  struggle became political and was spurred on by
  the rise of nationalism in the 19th century.

6
Balfour Declaration

• November 2nd 1917, in the after math of the
  division of the Ottoman Empire after World War I.
  It stated that the British government supported
  the Zionist plans for a Jewish national home in
  Palestine, as long as the preset citizens of the
  region were not prejudiced against.
• Text of the declaration
• Foreign Office,November 2nd, 1917.Dear Lord
  Rothschild,I have much pleasure in conveying to
  you, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, the
  following declaration of sympathy with Jewish
  Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to,
  and approved by, the Cabinet"His Majesty's
  Government view with favour the establishment in
  Palestine of a national home for the Jewish
  people, and will use their best endeavours to
  facilitate the achievement of this object, it
  being clearly understood that nothing shall be
  done which may prejudice the civil and religious
  rights of existing non-Jewish communities in
  Palestine, or the rights and political status
  enjoyed by Jews in any other country".I should
  be grateful if you would bring this declaration
  to the knowledge of the Zionist
  Federation.Yours sincerelyArthur James Balfour
• This declaration has been very controversial in
  how people decipher the text.
• In his November, 2002 interview with the New
  Statesman magazine, the UK Foreign Secretary,
  Jack Straw blamed Britain's imperial past for
  many of the modern political problems, including
  the Arab-Israeli conflict.
• "The Balfour declaration and the contradictory
  assurances which were being given to Palestinians
  in private at the same time as they were being
  given to the Israelisagain, an interesting
  history for us, but not an honorable one," he
  said.

7
League of Nations

• The mandate area of Palestine after World War I
  consisted of present day Israel and Jordan it was
  in affect from 1920 to 1948.
• British victories in World War I had left the
  bulk of this land under British military rule. In
  1929 Britain placed the Palestine area under
  civil rule, in anticipation of the formal League
  of Nations mandate to the United Kingdom that
  came into affect in September 1923. The League
  explicitly tasked the British with recognizing
  "the historical connection of the Jewish people
  with Palestine and to the grounds for
  reconstituting their national home in that
  country" and securing the establishment of the
  Jewish national home while simultaneously
  safeguarding "the civil and religious rights of
  all the inhabitants of Palestine.
• The territory west of t he river Jordan, the area
  which was under British civil rule stayed under
  British power until 1948 when the united nations
  succeeded the league of nations and Britain
  decided to terminate their mandate. The United
  Nations special committee on Palestine
  recommended a creation of independent Arab and
  Jewish states, with Jerusalem placed under
  international administration. The plan was
  rejected immediately by the Palestinian and the
  Arab league, but supported by the Jewish
  population. The British refused to implement a
  policy not supported by both sides, and withdrew.
  The day before the British withdrew the Jews
  declared the independent state of Israel,
  resulting in the 1948 Arab- Israeli war.

8
Biltmore Declaration

• Despite the need to find a haven for refugees,
  the doors of Palestine remained closed to Jewish
  immigration.
• The Zionist leadership met in the Biltmore hotel
  in New York City in 1942.
• At the Biltmore conference the Zionist leadership
  declared that it supported the establishment of
  Palestine as a Jewish Commonwealth.
• The Biltmore declaration was a restatement of
  Zionist aims that went beyond the Balfour
  declaration and determined that the British were
  in principle an enemy to the movement.

9
UN Partitioning

• UN Resolution 181 was adopted by the UN General
  Assembly on 29 November, 1947, and called for the
  division of Palestine into two states, Israel for
  the Jewish population, and Palestine for the Arab
  population. This Resolution had many flaws that
  could not be reconciled, leading to escalated
  conflict between the two factions.
• Resolution 181, proposed by the United Nations
  Special Commission On Palestine (UNSCOP),
  attempted to divide the country so that each
  nation shared equal land. Complex borders were
  created so that the displacement of peoples could
  be limited. Having their state divided, seeing
  the Israeli land claims grow from 8 to
  approximately 50, unequal amounts of fertile
  land, as well as being allotted land that was not
  connected annoyed the Arab population. Inciting
  Hatred and sparking conflict.
• According to the terms of Resolution 181,
  Jerusalem was to become an international city.
  Under the control of an international
  administration, the UN hoped for a peaceful city
  allowing for the religious doings of any
  Religion. Both the Israelis and the Palestinians
  were unhappy that Jerusalem could not be their
  capital city because it was the religious and
  economic center of their nations.

10
The War of Independence - 1948

• Violence broke out immediately following the UN
  partition and swept throughout the country. Two
  armies of Arab irregular volunteers began the
  violence in retaliation of Resolution 181, and
  clashed with the Zionist underground army
  Haganah, and other dissident factions. Riots,
  ambushes, and other tragedies occurred, such as
  the massacres at Gush Etzion and Deir Yassin, by
  the Palestinians and Israelis respectively. Towns
  and villages were deserted because of citizens
  fleeing the fighting.
• The Palestinians began a siege on Jewish
  Jerusalem, stopping food, water, and fuel from
  reaching that sector of the city. Meant to
  maintain mutual relations of peace while
  protecting and preserving the unique spiritual
  and religious interests within the city,
  Jerusalem became a war zone and a major component
  of the war. Lasting nearly 6 months, Jewish
  forces broke the siege and built the Burma Road,
  which allowed for resources to reach the city
  without crossing main Arab territories and roads.
  It was now evident that the religious claims for
  Jerusalem overruled and political action to
  divide the city.
• On 14 May, 1948, The Jews proclaimed the
  Independent State of Israel and the British left
  Palestine. Calls for action from the Palestinians
  were answered by the neighboring countries of
  Egypt and Syria. Although greatly outnumbered,
  and with a disadvantage of arms, Israel overcame
  the invasion and even pushed the invaders back
  into their own countries. Israel also attempted
  to break through Jordanian positions, but failed,
  leading to the long, winding path of the Burma
  Road. The lack of unification and organization of
  the Arab armies brought about their defeat. Egypt
  held the Gaza Strip and Jordan held the West
  Bank. About 726 000 Arabs fled or were forced out
  of Israel into neighboring Arab countries and
  became refugees.
• The War of Independence ended on 20 July, 1949,
  with Israel in control of more land than was
  given in the UN partition. Although a cease fire
  had been reached, peace was not in sight for the
  Arab-Israeli conflict.

11
Conflicts Since 1949

• The Sinai CampaignFollowing the Lavon Affair
  in 1954, where an Israeli spy ring was caught
  attempting to blow up foreign institutions in
  Egypt, tensions quickly began to rise between the
  two nations. Egypt attempted to buy arms from the
  West, but when rejected, he turned to the Eastern
  Bloc, and shut down the Suez Canal to Israeli
  shipping. Israel then made an agreement with
  France to purchase arms to counter Egypt. Several
  border incursions occurred, but the conflict did
  not escalate until Israel joined Britain and
  France in 1956 in an attempt to reverse the
  nationalism of the Suez Canal. Israel took the
  Sinai, but returned it under pressure of the UN,
  but received guarantees that international
  waterways would remain open to Israeli shipping.
• The 1967 6-Day War When tensions rose again in
  1967, Israel went to war with Egypt, Jordan, and
  Syria, and was successful at claiming the Sinai
  Peninsula, Gaza, the West Bank, the Golan
  Heights, and Jerusalem. The UN called for a cease
  fire, which was reached on 10 June, 1967, as well
  as the return of the lands acquired during the
  war. Israel eventually followed these orders for
  the Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights, but
  maintained control over the West Bank, Gaza
  Strip, and Jerusalem. The balance of power had
  now changed in the Middle East, with Israel being
  more powerful than ever before.
• The Yom Kippur WarOn 6 October, 1973, Egyptian
  troops crossed the Suez Canal and entered Israel.
  Israeli troops were caught by surprise, both by
  this being the most holy day in the Jewish
  religious calendar, and by lack of training and
  maintenance of equipment. Israel eventually
  regained their positions, signed a cease fire,
  and reached a peace settlement with Egypt in
  1979. Israel withdrew control of the Sinai
  Peninsula in 1982.
• Several other minor conflicts have occurred since
  this time, including Israeli clashes with
  Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine under the Palestine
  Liberation Organization (PLO). None helped to
  find peace in the region, but all of these wars
  made it obvious that fighting is not the way to
  solve this conflict.

12
Oslo Accords

• On September 13th 1993 representatives of the PLO
  and the state of Israel signed the Declaration
  of Principles on Interim Self-Government
  Arrangements. It contained a set of general
  principles regarding a 5 year interim period of
  palestinian self rule. The so called permanent
  Status Issues were deferred to a later
  negotiations that were intended to take place in
  the third year of the interim period but never
  actually occurred.
• The main points of the Oslo Accords were
• -The transfer of power to Palestinians in the
  West Bank and Gaza, including Israeli military
  withdrawal.
• -Permanent status issues such as Jerusalem,
  Refugees, security arrangements and borders were
  to be settled at a later date.
• -Security remains an Israeli responsibility
• - A palestinian government was to be elected and
  the palestinian council will have a strong police
  force in order to guarantee public order and
  internal security
• - two economic annexes were also agreed upon
  which outlined economic cooperation between
  Israel and Palestine.

13
The Wall

• The building of the wall first started in 2002,
  it consists of both fully concrete wall and fence
  and runs 670 kilometres along the edge of the
  west bank. The construction started under Ariel
  Shannon and has caused a huge amount of conflict.
  Critics call it the apartheid wall.
• Israel built the wall in order to protect Jewish
  citizens from Palestinian aggression, such a
  suicide bombing, car theft and other forms of
  violence. However, the wall does not run along
  the green line, a line that is the official
  boarder of the west bank and Israel, it runs
  inside the Palestinian side of the boarder,
  cutting off many Palestinians from the west bank
  and causing outcry from the Palestinians.
  Palestinians say it is a move by Ariel Shannon to
  take away Palestinian land. Palestinians say that
  had the wall been built along the green line it
  would have shown that Israel was serious about
  ending their occupation.
• Both the UN and America condemn the wall, saying
  it is cutting off Palestinians in Israeli land
  from services such as health care and voting.

14
Refugees and Citizenship

• The number of Palestinian people recorded to have
  been displaced from their homes due to the UN
  partitioning of Israel in 1947 ranges from 726000
  to 957000
• Approximately one third of these refugees fled to
  the west bank, another third to the Gaza strip
  and the remainder to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
• In 1967 another 300,000 Palestinians fled from
  the West Bank and Gaza. In 2004 there were
  approximately 4,186,7111 refugees located in
  Jordan, the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon and Syria.
• In the West Bank and Gaza strip refugees are
  stateless and controlled partially by limited
  Palestinian authority and partially by Israeli
  military occupation. Sharp declines in the
  success of the economy of these areas, due to
  political violence and Israeli imposed mobility
  restrictions such a the wall has led to dramatic
  increases in unemployment and poverty rates.
• In Jordan most Palestinians are full citizens and
  have equal quality of life to other Jordanians,
  fewer than one in eight Palestinian refugees in
  Jordan live in camps, and most camps have become
  urban neighborhoods.
• On the contrary palestinian refugees in Lebanon
  face numerous employment restrictions and are
  barred from owning property, refugees therefore
  often live in poor overcrowded refugee camps
• The citizenship of the palestinian people living
  within Israeli land is complicated by the fact
  that in order to become a full citizen with
  rights that equal those of the Jewish Israeli
  people they would have to recognize the fact that
  they are governed and controlled by the Israeli
  government. The majority of the palestinian
  people are therefore practicing mass abstention.
• The palestinian people living within the West
  Bank and the Gaza strip are on the other hand
  considered to be palestinian citizens and are
  able to vote for the palestinian government but
  not the Israeli government. For these reasons the
  citizenships of the palestinian people are
  compromised.

15
Todays Government System- Palestine

• The PNA/ PA is the Palestinian government which
  is recognised by the Israeli government. The
  leader of which is Mohammed Abbas, the leader of
  Fatah and the prime minister is Ismail Haniya,
  the leader of Hamas, the radical Palestinian
  party. The January 2006 elections for the
  legislative council resulted in Hamas winning 74
  seats and fatah winning 45 seats. The result of
  this election was the international community
  refusing to give aid to Palestine for their
  support of a terrorist group whose policies are
  to never give concessions to Israel
• The PLO ( Palestinian Liberation Organisation) is
  the internationally recognised organisation in
  Palestine. In numerous negotiations by the
  General assembly the PLO has been called the
  sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian
  people. The PLO have held an observatory seat in
  the United Nations since 1974. After the
  Palestinian declaration of independence the seat
  was renamed Palestine.

16
Todays Government System- Israel

• The president of the Israel government is Moshe
  Katsav, and the prime minister is Ehud Olmart.
  The government is voted in by proportional
  representation. Presently the Kadima party holds
  29 seats, the Labour party holds 19 seats and the
  Likud party holds 12 seats.
• Since Israel was created in 1948, they have had a
  seat in the UN and have had large support from
  the United States and initially most of the
  international community. However this support is
  gradually being lost due to their treatment of
  the Palestinians.
• Israel has granted the Palestinians their own
  government however this government is
  subordinate to the Israeli government and has
  very limited power.

17
Tactics of War

• Israel
• Israel has a very well equipped army, which has
  huge amounts of money filtered into it by the
  government. Their main manoeuvres are to protect
  the Golan Heights, prevent aggression by
  surrounding Arab nations, usually doing the acts
  of aggression themselves. With regards to the
  West Bank and Gaza Strip Israel is as violent as
  the Palestinians, if not more, because every
  Israeli death is revenged by seven Palestinian
  deaths. Israel now uses arial bombing as a way to
  attack the leaders of Hamas and the resistance
  cells that target the Jewish population. Israels
  army has traditionally been financed by The
  United states, and therefore is well equipped.
• Palestine
• Palestine has no army, only militant groups that
  join to fight against the Israeli occupation.
  Brought up to hate Israel, they use terrorist
  tactics, such as suicide bombing, car bombs and
  other small scale terrorist acts in attempts to
  destroy Israel. It is even seen as honourable to
  die for your religion. Palestine is not organized
  and controlled by strong, non-radical leaders, is
  severely limited by the Israeli government, and
  is therefore is not able to create an army of any
  great capabilities, or a government that could
  create a Palestine that did not need radical
  leaders

18
Current News

• The two main Palestinian political factions are
  supposed to be working together in a unity
  government. But gunmen loyal to the two factions,
  Hamas and Fatah, have instead been fighting
  fierce battles on the streets of Gaza.
• Aleem Magbool, BBC news, Ramallah, West Bank
• This situation means that there is no stable
  government currently in power in Palestine and
  therefore no one to make settlements with Israel,
  peace will never be created if there are battles
  being fought within the palestinian government as
  well as with the Israeli government.
• Israeli troops have detained a member of the
  Palestinian parliament said to have close ties
  with a militant offshoot of the mainstream Fatah
  party.
• http//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6700555.stm
  
• This situation proves that although the
  palestinian government has been granted
  sovereignty over the Gaza strip and The West
  Bank, The israeli government remains in control
  both politically and militarily.

19
Demands - Palestine

• The Palestinians want to have their own state,
  they believe Israel needs to give them complete
  control of the Gaza strip, The West bank and the
  whole of Jerusalem. Some groups, such as Hamas
  who are unfortunately in power, believe that not
  only should Palestine be given the Gaza strip,
  the west bank and Jerusalem but also all of the
  pre 1967 land Israel had. The Palestinians also
  believe that they must be given complete control
  of their government and economics. However,
  Israel fears that giving Palestine autonomy would
  be a huge security risk, since giving Palestine
  the Gaza strip, there are been a larger number
  of rockets fired into Israel from inside the Gaza
  strip than ever before. Furthermore, Palestine
  insists that Palestinian refugees need to be
  returned to the land they once owned, a
  concession that Israel cannot grant, mostly
  because if they are returned, there will a
  majority of Palestine in the country and thus
  they would have the ability to dissolve the
  Jewish state.
• Lastly, the Palestinians require that they are
  given enough natural resources in order to make
  them a viable country, a topic of hot debate
  because water is crucial to the existence of both
  countries.

20
Demands - Israel

• Having control over the entire state of Israel,
  and the Palestinians surrounded in two small
  regions, Israel has very few demands remaining to
  be addressed. Historical demands that remain to
  be fulfilled are exclusively owning East
  Jerusalem and the Old City, as well as
  recognition as a state by the Palestinians and
  other Arab peoples. Of Hamas, the current
  political leaders of Palestine, Israel demands
  protection of Israeli citizens in illegal cities
  built on land taken from Palestine, that they
  renounce violence, and that they abide by all
  previous agreements made during this conflict.

21
Our Solution

• Through our research of the historically
  attempted solutions and the demands of the
  Palestinian and Israeli people we have come to
  the conclusion that in order to create peace in
  this area, two separate, independent states will
  have to be created with their own identity,
  national language, religion and flag. Each nation
  would have its own seat in the UN, its own
  government and government system and its own
  individual economy.
• In order to divide the land, a border will be
  created, dividing the country equally in half.
  The border will run east, west and will provide
  the Israelis and Palestinians with equal amounts
  of fertile/ arable land, as well as equal amounts
  of desert or arid land. They will also have equal
  access to fresh water as well as Ocean access to
  allow for trade.
• Jerusalem will be created as an international
  Free city, which is open for religious doings and
  will recognize Jewish, Islamic and Christian
  Holidays. There will be no residential areas
  within old Jerusalem to prevent either religion/
  nationality from holding a stronger civilian
  presence around the significant historical or
  religious areas and buildings.

22
Solution continued...

• Both of the newly established nations will
  partake in a slow demilitarization to a defensive
  level, they will also partake in
  denuclearization.
• The international community will be prevented
  from providing military aid to either country,
  but will react to any aggression against either
  country or by any other international country
  against either of the newly created states. The
  international reaction will come in the form of
  sanctions or intervention by UN and international
  armies.
• The UN will oversee and moderate the governments
  and economies of the two nations for a period of
  5 years and if the nations keep the peace they
  will be provided with international aid and
  loans.
• Unlimited funds will be provided to create this
  division and money will be given to both nations
  to build new towns and cities and homes for the
  citizens of the new states. Money will also be
  provided to return refugees to their new nations
  and to help them settle.
• A school board will be created for both countries
  to teach the children peace and teach both
  religions equally, in order that the hatred will
  not be passed on to future generations.

23
Bibliography

• www.mideastweb.org/briefhistory.htm
• www.bbc.co.uk
• http//www.mideastweb.org/zionism.htm
• http//www.zionism-israel.com/zionism_history.htm
• http//www.mideastweb.org/briefhistory.htmThe20B
  ritish20Mandate
• http//www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1991to_now_oslo_a
  ccords.php