PalestinianIsraeli Conflict

1
Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

• By Mr. Eisenman

2
Table of Contents

• Introduction to the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
• Geography
• Israel
• Palestine
• Christian
• Ancient timeline
• UN Partition Plan
• 1967 War
• 1973 War
• Camp David Accords
• Rise of the PLO
• First Intifadah
• Oslo Accords
• Second Intifadah
• The Issues
• Links

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Palestinian-Israeli Conflict Introduction

• The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians
  is one that is
• Extremely dangerous
• Long-lasting
• Complicated
• Animated by religious fervor

4
US Interests Why should we care?

• This conflict is destabilizing and could lead to
  a major world war. Many wars have already been
  fought
• Israel possesses nuclear weapons and its enemies
  would like to develop such weapons to gain a
  military advantage
• Many in the Middle East perceive the
  Palestinian-Israeli conflict as the most
  important issue which makes progress in other
  areas impossible. Unless peace is reached, the
  US is perceived as biased, and it is difficult to
  get cooperation from other countries in the
  region
• America has oil interests in the region
• The War on terrorism
• The Iraq War
• Promote Democracy Israel is a democratic,
  capitalistic state
• US citizens have close ties to Israel and Arabs.

5
The Geography

• Israel is at the crossroads between Asia, Africa,
  and Europe.
• Today, it is in the heart of the Arab Middle East
• The areas small size limits its capacity to be a
  homeland for all the people who want to live
  there.

6
Israel Land for Jews

• Israel is a modern, democratic nation created in
  1948.
• It was conceived as a homeland for Jews who had
  experienced discrimination worldwide.
• Israel includes Jews and Arabs, who have rights
  of citizenship.
• Israel was the historic homeland of the Jews
  first promised by God to Abraham around 2000 BCE.
• Israel was the site of several kingdoms and
  independent states until the Romans finally
  exiled the Jews in 135 AD.
• During the Diaspora, Jews remembered their
  homeland and dreamed of returning to it.

7
Israel The Western Wall

• Jerusalem is the site of the holiest site in
  Judaism, remains of the earliest Temples.
• The Western Wall is part of the retaining wall
  supporting the temple mount built by Herod in 20
  B.C. After the destruction of the Second Temple
  in 70 A.D., Jews were not allowed to come to
  Jerusalem until the Byzantine period, when they
  could visit once a year on the anniversary of the
  destruction of the Temple and weep over the ruins
  of the Holy Temple. Because of this, the wall
  became known as the Wailing Wall.
  (http//www.levitt.com/slideshow/s01p05.html)

8
Palestine Homeland for Palestinians

• Palestinians are the Arabic speaking people that
  live in Palestine.
• Most Palestinians practice Islam which came to
  Palestine around 638 AD, although some are
  Christian.
• Jerusalem is one of the most holy cities for
  Islam because Moslems believe that Muhammad
  ascended to heaven here

9
The Holy Land for Christians

• Israel and Palestine has been a major site for
  Christian pilgrimage and crusades
• Jesus is said to have been born in Bethlehem and
  raised in Nazareth.
• He is said to have been crucified and resurrected
  in Jerusalem

10
Timeline of Events A short history which doesnt
mention all 28 nations that occupied Palestine

• 1250 BC Israelites began to conquer and settle
  the land of Canaan
• 961-922 BC Reign of King Solomon and
  construction of the first Temple in Jerusalem.
  Solomon's reign was followed by the division of
  the land into two kingdoms.
• 586 BC The southern kingdom, Judah, was
  conquered by the Babylonians, who drove its
  people, the Jews, into exile and destroyed
  Solomon's Temple. After 70 years the Jews began
  to return and Jerusalem and the temple were
  gradually rebuilt.
• 333 BC Alexander the Great's conquest brought
  the area under Greek rule.
• 165 BC A revolt in Judea established the last
  independent Jewish state of ancient times.
• 63 BC The Jewish state, Judea, was incorporated
  into the Roman province of Palestine. It remains
  under Roman rule until 638 A.D.
• 70 AD A revolt against Roman rule was put down
  by the Emperor Titus and the Second Temple was
  destroyed. This marks the beginning of the Jewish
  Diaspora, or dispersion.
• 118-138 AD During the Roman Emperor Hadrian's
  rule, Jews were initially allowed to return to
  Jerusalem, but - after another Jewish revolt in
  133 - the city was completely destroyed and its
  people banished and sold into slavery.
• 313-638 AD The Byzantine Christian Era.
  Palestine was ruled by the Byzantine Emperors in
  Byzantium.
• 638 AD Conquest by Arab Muslims ended Byzantine
  rule (the successor to Roman rule in the East).
  The second caliph of Islam, Omar, built a mosque
  at the site of what is now the al-Aqsa Mosque in
  Jerusalem in the early years of the 8th Century.
  Apart from the age of the Crusaders (1099-1187),
  the region remained under Muslim rule until the
  fall of the Ottoman Empire in the 20th Century.
• 1897 First Zionist Conference agreed to work
  toward establishing a Jewish homeland in
  Palestine. Jewish immigration to Palestine picks
  up pace.
• 1920-1947 British Mandate period. Britain
  administered the area and promised a homeland to
  both Jews and Palestinians
• 1947-48 United Nations controlled
• 1948 Israel is given its independence. Arab
  nations attack. At the end of the war, territory
  that would have gone to Palestinians is claimed
  by Egypt and Jordan.

11
1947 UN Partition Plan

• In 1947, the UN proposed a partition plan for
  Palestine which would create an Arab and an
  Israeli state.
• Under the plan, Jews (who accounted for 33 of
  the population) would receive 55 of the land.
• This plan was rejected by the Arab states and 5
  nations attacked Israel when it declared
  independence according to the UN plan on May 14,
  1948.
• Israel won the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and expanded
  its boundaries from the UN partition plan.
• War created Jewish and Palestinian refugees
• Egypt took control of the Gaza Strip and Jordan
  annexed the West Bank.

12
1967 War The Six Day War

• Fearing attack by Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Jordan,
  Israel launched a preemptive strike
• Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Sinai
  Peninsula and the Golan Heights.

13
1973 War

• Iraq, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan attacked Israel to
  regain lands lost in the 6 day war.
• The Arab nations were initially successful as the
  Israelis were celebrating Yom Kippur and had not
  anticipated an attack.
• After several weeks, Israel recovered its
  occupied lands and a cease fire was reached.
• Both Arabs and Jews gained confidence as a result
  of the war

14
1978 Camp David Accords

• The first peace treaty between Israel and an Arab
  state
• This historic agreement led to Israel returning
  the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in return for
  diplomatic relations
• An agreement was signed for negotiating a
  settlement of the Palestinian claims, but this
  was not successful.
• Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat was assassinated in
  1981 by the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization,
  pursuant to a religious decree by Sheik Omar
  Abdel-Rahman, who was convicted of the 1993 World
  Trade Center bombing

15
Rise of the PLO

• The Palestine Liberation Organization is an
  umbrella organization for many groups which
  represent the Palestinian people. Currently, its
  officials control many positions in the
  Palestinian Authority which governs Palestinian
  territory.
• Its most famous leader was Yassir Arafat, who
  died last year.
• This organization was founded in 1964.
• In 1974, the PLO was recognized by the United
  Nations as the representative of the Palestinian
  people.
• The PLO has also fought militarily against
  Israeli occupation of its land and has been
  involved in numerous terrorist acts against
  Israeli citizens.

16
First Intifadah, 1987-1993

• In 1987, Palestinians became frustrated with
  their living conditions and lack of progress.
• They maintain that the Intifada was a protest of
  Israel's brutal repression which included
  extra-judicial killings, mass detentions, house
  demolitions, indiscriminate torture,
  deportations, and so on. (http//en.wikipedia.or
  g/wiki/First_Intifada)
• Often Palestinians fought the Israelis with low
  tech weapons like rocks, but over time, they
  gained access to guns and other explosives.
• By 1993, 1,162 Palestinians and 160 Israelis had
  died.

17
Oslo Accords

• In 1993, the PLO and Israel signed a peace
  agreement to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian
  conflict.
• The agreement included the following
• Withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip
  and the West Bank
• Palestinian right to self-government through the
  creation of the Palestinian Authority.
• The parties agreed to negotiate a final and
  permanent peace settlement in the near future.
  Permanent issues such as Jerusalem, refugees,
  Israeli settlements in the area, security and
  borders were deliberately excluded from the
  Accords and determined as not prejudged.
• The Israeli government recognized the PLO as the
  legitimate representative of the Palestinian
  people
• The PLO recognized the right of the state of
  Israel to exist and renounced terrorism, violence
  and its desire for the destruction of Israel.

18
2nd Intifadah, 2000-Present

• The Oslo Peace Accord failed to achieve a final
  settlement despite great efforts by Bill Clinton
  in the last months of his presidency. Israel and
  the US claimed that Israel made historic offers
  for peace which Yassir Arafat rejected.
  Palestinians claimed that they could never sign
  an agreement that didnt give complete
  Palestinian control over the Temple Mount and
  holy sites in Jerusalem.
• The Second Intifadah, or uprising, began in
  September 2000 following the visit of Israeli
  politician Ariel Sharon to the Temple Mount.
• The second Intifadah has been far bloodier than
  the first as suicide bombing has become a common
  tactic. Israel has responded by assassinating
  leaders that order the suicide attacks and
  entering Palestinian towns with tanks and strong
  force to search for terrorists. Death tolls are
  estimated at 4,000
• Israel believes that Yassir Arafat was not a true
  partner for peace as it has gathered evidence
  that he has been involved in terrorist activity.
  His forces have refused to arrest Islamist
  militants like Hamas members.
• Palestinians have grown frustrated by the lack of
  progress and continuing brutal occupation.

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The Issues

• The right of Israel to exist as a nation on land
  previously occupied by Moslems
• Refugees and the right of return
• The building of settlements in the West Bank and
  Gaza Strip
• Status of Jerusalem
• Terrorism
• Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights and the
  West Bank.
• Water rights
• Defensible and safe borders.
• Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails
• International and Arab recognition of Israel and
  normalized relations

20
Links

• An excellent site on the Arab Israeli conflict. 
  This contains primary documents and a wealth of
  excellent resources and links.  A diversity of
  perspectives is represented. http//www.historytea
  cher.net/Arab-Israeli_Conflict.htmDocs 
• http//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/middle_east/20
  01/israel_and_the_palestinians/default.stm BBC
  site
• http//www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/conflic
  t/index.html PBS special
• http//www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/israel_h
  ist_1973.jpg
• http//www.teacheroz.com/Non_Western.htm
• http//www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1896herzl.html
• http//www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1896herzl-b.htm
  l
• http//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/events/israel_at_50/int
  ernet_links/82045.stm
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zionism
• http//www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/zion.h
  tml
• http//www.mideastweb.org/timeline.htm
• http//news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/w
  orld/2001/israel_and_palestinians/timeline/1947.st
  m
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab-Israeli_conflict