Palestine Issue
Table of Contents
Land of Palestine
1250 B.C. The Israelites (Jews or Hebrews) settle in Canaan (part of modern day Israel) after having fled slavery by the Egyptians.
1000 B.C. The Philistines battle the Israelites for control over Canaan. King David conquers the Philistine armies and makes Jerusalem the capital of the kingdom of Israel. His son, King Solomon, built the Holy Temple in Jerusalem which is later destroyed.
135 A.D. Roman Emperor Hadrian expels the Jews out of Jerusalem and renamed the area Palaestina after the Philistines. Most Jews fled Israel and settled in areas in Eastern Europe. By this time Christianity had begun and was spreading in the Middle East and into Europe.
600 A.D. The prophet Muhammad establishes the religion of Islam. Muslim armies move down from Arabia and conquer most of the Middle East including Palestine. The area becomes mostly Arab and Muslim.
1930’s Persecution by Nazi Germany drives many Jews to move to Palestine. This Zionist movement called for Jews to return to their homeland. Palestinians resist the return of Jews to the region.
1940’s Palestine is a mandate of Britain. British forces occupy the area and try to keep peace between Arab Palestinians and Jewish Israelis. Pressure rises for an Israeli state to be established and it goes before the United Nations for discussion.
1947 The United Nations created a plan to divide Palestine into two nations- one for the Jews, and one for the Arabs. This plan was rejected by Arab Palestinians.
Until 1948, Palestine typically referred to the geographic region located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. Arab people who call this territory home are known as Palestinians.
Scholars believe the name “Palestine” originally comes from the word “Philistia,” which refers to the Philistines who occupied part of the region in the 12th century B.C.
Throughout history, Palestine has been ruled by numerous groups, including the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Fatimids, Seljuk Turks, Crusaders, Egyptians, Mamelukes and Islamists.
From about 1517 to 1917, the Ottoman Empire ruled much of the region.
When World War I ended in 1918, the British took control of Palestine.
The League of Nations issued a British mandate for Palestine—a document that gave Britain the responsibility of establishing a Jewish national homeland in Palestine—which went into effect in 1923.
Zionism
Zionism is Israel’s national ideology. Zionists believe Judaism is a nationality as well as a religion, and that Jews deserve their own state in their ancestral homeland, Israel, in the same way the French people deserve France or the Chinese people should have China.
It’s what brought Jews back to Israel in the first place, and also at the heart of what concerns Arabs and Palestinians about the Israeli state.
Jews often trace their nationhood back to the biblical kingdoms of David and Solomon, circa 950 BC. Modern Zionism, building on the longstanding Jewish yearning for a “return to Zion,” began in the 19th century — right about the time that nationalism started to rise in Europe.
A secular Austrian-Jewish journalist, Theodor Herzl, was the first to turn rumblings of Jewish nationalism into an international movement around 1896.
Herzl witnessed brutal European anti-Semitism firsthand, and became convinced the Jewish people could never survive outside of a country of their own.
He wrote essays and organized meetings that spurred mass Jewish emigration from Europe to what’s now Israel/Palestine.
Before Herzl, about 20,000 Jews lived there; by the time Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, the number was about eight times that.
Though Zionists all agree that Israel should exist, they’ve long disagreed on what its government should look like.
In the most general terms, the Zionist left, which dominated the country’s politics until the late 1970s, is inclined to trade Israeli-controlled land for peace with Arab nations, wants more government intervention in the economy, and prefers a secular government over a religious one.
The Zionist right, which currently enjoys commanding positions in the Israeli government and popular opinion, tends to be more skeptical of “land-for-peace” deals, more libertarian on the economy, and more comfortable mixing religion and politics.
Arabs and Palestinians generally oppose Zionism, as the explicitly Jewish character of the Israeli state means that Jews have privileges that others don’t. For instance, any Jew anywhere in the world can become an Israeli citizen, a right not extended to any other class of person.
Arabs, then, often see Zionism as a species of colonialism and racism aimed at appropriating Palestinian land and systematically disenfranchising the Palestinians that remain. Arab states actually pushed through a UN General Assembly resolution labeling Zionism “a form of racism and racial discrimination” in 1975, though it was repealed 16 years later.
1799 – Napoleon offered Palestine as a homeland to the Jews.
1882 – Rishon Lezion, a major Zionist settlement, was established in Palestine.
1885 – The term ‘Zionism’ was first coined.
1896 – Theodor herzl publishes Der Judenstaat, calling for the creation of a jewish state.
1897 – The first Zionist Congress was held in Switzerland and the first Zionist Organisation was founded,
1907 – Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann visited Palestine for the first time.
1908 – Palestinian writer Najib Nassar published Al-Karmel newspaper, opposing Zionist colonisation.
First World War 1914 – 1919
1915 – Zionist British cabinet member Herbert Samuel wrote the Future of Palestine, a secret memorandum calling on his cabinet colleagues to support Zionist Settlement in Palestine.
1916 – British control: Sykes-Picot – The Sykes-Picot agreement was a secret understanding concluded in 1916 between Great Britain and France, with the assent of Russia, for the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire.
The agreement was not implemented, but it established the principles for the division a few years later of the Turkish-held region into the French and British-administered areas of Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine.
Source: BBC
British control: Mandate Palestine – Palestine – comprising what are now Israel, the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jordan – was among several former Ottoman Arab territories placed under the administration of Great Britain by the League of Nations.
The mandate lasted from 1920 to 1948. In 1923 Britain granted limited autonomy to Transjordan, now known as Jordan.
Source: BBC
Balfour declaration 1917
1917 – Balfour Declaration was created wherein Britain promised a Jewish national home on Arab Land. The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British government in 1917 during World War I announcing support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, then an Ottoman region with a small minority Jewish population.
Source: Wikipedia
1919 – Washington’s King-Crane commission was conducted on the future of Palestine.
1922 – The League of Nations approved the British mandate for Palestine and its purpose of helping establish a Jewish homeland.
1929 – Al-buraq uprising took place, the first mass protests against increased Jewish immigration to Palestine.
1933 – Mass protests against Jewish immigration to Palestine.
1935 – Izz ad-din al-Qassam, a revolutionary leader in Palestine, was killed by British forces.
1936 – Six-month long general strike took place in Palestine, to protest Jewish immigration.
1937 – Peel Commission recommended the partition of Palestine and transfer of Palestinians from land allocated to a Jewish state.
1938 – Armed Zionist group, Irgun, launched a series of attacks against Palestinians.
Second World War 1939 – 1945
1939 – Britain smashed the three-year-long Arab revolt.
1942 – Zionist Conference was held at the Biltmore hotel in New York City, solidifying US-Zionist relations.
Partition of Palestine 1948
Nearly half the land of Palestine was owned by Arabs, nearly half was “Crown Lands”, and about 8% was owned by Jews.
1946 – Irgun bombed the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing 91 people.
In 1947 a UN Special Commission on Palestine recommended that this area be divided equally, with open borders, into an Arab state and a Jewish state. Jerusalem was to be ‘internationalized’. The UN General Assembly adopted this plan as UN Resolution 181.
Jewish leaders accepted the plan, but many Palestinian Arabs vehemently opposed it.
Arab groups argued that they represented the majority of the population in certain regions and should be granted more territory. They began to form volunteer armies throughout Palestine.
Over 80 percent of Palestinians in what became Israel were expelled and approximately 80 percent of Palestinian land was seized by Zionists.
Details of the UN Partition Plans were;
Partition (separate) the area into 2 countries – Israel (Jewish State) and Palestine (Arab State)
55% of land went to the Jews and 45% of land went to the Arabs.
Total Population: 1.8 million; 1.2 million Arabs and 600,00 Jews living in the area.
Jerusalem was to be declared “international city” controlled by UN.
The plan was accepted by the Jews and rejected by the Arabs.
Creation of Israel – 1948
1948 Jan – Armed Zionist group, Haganah, bombed the Semiramis hotel in Jerusalem killing more than 20 people.
1948 Feb – Zionist forces attacked the village of Qisarya near Haifa, an early example of ethnic cleansing.
1948 April – Stern gang and Irgun forced massacre Palestinians in the village of Dayr Yassin, near Jerusalem.
1948 May – The state of Israel was created, sparking a regional conflict. The US and the Soviet Union recognized Israel immediately.
Britain withdrew from Palestine and Israel became an independent state.
Estimates suggest between 700,000 and 900,000 Palestinians fled or were forced to leave their homes.
1948 August – Stern gang assassinated Folke Bernadotte, a Swedish diplomat and the US-appointed mediator in Palestine.
1948 Dec – UN General Assembly passed Resolution 194, affirming the right of return of Palestinian refugees.
Arab Israel War – 1948
War broke out in 1948 when Britain withdrew, the Jews declared the state of Israel and troops from neighbouring Arab nations moved in. After eight months of fighting an armistice line was agreed, establishing the West Bank and Gaza Strip as distinct geographical units.
1949 Feb to July – Armistice agreements were signed between Israel and its neighbouring Arab countries: Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt.
Source: BBC
1949 Dec- UN established UNRWA, an agency for Palestinian refugees.
After the tumultuous events of 1948, 150,000 Palestinians remained in Israel and were eventually granted citizenship. However, they were subjected to military rule until 1966.
After the conquest of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967, Israel began its military control over Palestinians living in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
1950 – Jordan assumed administrative control of the West Bank.
1956 – Israel massacred Palestinians in the villages of Qalqilya, Kufr Qassem, and Khan Younis.
Suez Canal Crisis 1956
Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956 and closed the Straits of Tiran to Israel, which blocked Israeli access to the Red Sea.
Israel attacked Egypt with later reinforcements from France and the United Kingdom
Ceasefire agreement and withdrawal of Israeli troops
United Nations Peacekeepers sent to maintain peace in the area
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) – 1964
In 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was formed to create a platform for establishing a plan for a Palestinian state within Israel.
The PLO also emerged as a response to Zionism, an organized movement to reestablish a Jewish homeland in Israel. In the years after its inception, the PLO became associated with extremism and violence.
In 1969, the well-known Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat became the Chairman of the PLO and held that title until he died in 2004.
Arab Israel War – 1967
Six-Day War: Before the war From 1948 to 1967, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was ruled by Jordan. During this period, the Gaza Strip was under Egyptian military administration. Israeli troops captured Egypt’s Sinai peninsula during the 1956 British, French and Israeli military campaign in response to the nationalization of the Suez Canal. The Israelis subsequently withdrew and were replaced with a UN force. In 1967, Egypt ordered the UN troops out and blocked Israeli shipping routes – adding to already high levels of tension between Israel and its neighbors.
Source: BBC
Six-Day War: After the war In a pre-emptive attack on Egypt that drew Syria and Jordan into a regional war in 1967, Israel made massive territorial gains capturing the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula up to the Suez Canal. The principle of land-for-peace that has formed the basis of Arab-Israeli negotiations is based on Israel giving up land won in the 1967 war in return for peace deals recognizing Israeli borders and its right to security. The Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt as part of the 1979 peace deal with Israel.
Source: BBC
Jerusalem: Before 1967 The armistice line drawn at the end of the 1948 war divided Jerusalem into two. Between 1949 and 1967, Israel controlled the western part of Jerusalem, while Jordan took the eastern part, including the old walled city containing important Jewish, Muslim and Christian religious sites.
Source: BBC
Jerusalem: After 1967 Israel captured the whole of Jerusalem in 1967 and extended the city’s municipal boundaries, putting both East and West Jerusalem under its sovereignty and civil law. In 1980 Israel passed a law making its annexation of East Jerusalem explicit. The city’s status remains disputed, with Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem considered illegal under international law. Israel is determined that Jerusalem be its undivided capital, while Palestinians are seeking to establish their capital in East Jerusalem.
Source: BBC
The UN Security Council passed Resolution 242 calling on Israel to withdraw from territories it occupied in 1967.
Arab Israel War – 1973
1970 – Israel attacked Palestinian fighters during “Black September” in Jordan.
Syria and Egypt launched a surprise attack against Israel.
The Soviet Union supplied the Arabs and the U.S. supplied the Israeli allies.
The seven Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) imposed a boycott of oil sales to countries seen as friendly to Israel. (October 1973 to March 1974)
1974 – The UN Security Council passed Resolution 338 following the October War, calling for a ceasefire and, once again, for Israel to withdraw from territories it occupied in 1967.
1974 – The Arab League recognized the PLO as the sole, legitimate representative body of the Palestinian people.
1976 – Israel confiscated thousands of hectares of land from Palestinian citizens. Mass protests organized in response were brutally put down; now “land day” is commemorated every year.
Camp David Accord 1978
1978 – Egypt and Israel signed the Camp David Accords. Israel and Egypt (Anwar Sadat) signed a peace treaty in 1979 with U.S. Pres. Jimmy Carter mediating the Camp David Accords. Israel returned the Sinai to Egypt in exchange for recognition.
Israel had to negotiate a resolution of the Palestinian refugee dilemma which never happened.
This agreement made an all-out war between Israel and the Arab world less likely as Egypt was the main Arab power.
1982 – Israel invaded Lebanon. UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people was observed.
First Intifada (Uprising) 1987 – 1993
1987 – The first Intifada was launched in the Palestinian territories.
The Palestinian uprising included violent attacks, suicide bombings, civil disobedience, and stone throwing. Violence was directed at both Israeli military forces and civilians. Israel responded with military force.
Hamas – 1987
Hamas is a Palestinian Islamist political organization and militant group that has waged war on Israel since the group’s 1987 founding, most notably through suicide bombings and rocket attacks. It seeks to replace Israel with a Palestinian state. It also governs Gaza independently of the Palestinian Authority.
Hamas’s charter long called for the destruction of Israel. It was revised in 2017 to allow for acceptance of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip rather than the entire territory, though Hams still refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the Israeli state.
Hamas led the charge in using suicide bombings against Israel in the 1990s and 2000s, though in recent years it has shifted to rockets and mortars as its weapons of choice. The organization also offers Palestinians a robust network of social services, which it developed as an alternative to deeply corrupt PA institutions.
In 2006, Hamas won a slight majority of the seats in the Palestinian Authority legislative elections. This would have put Hamas in a commanding position for both the West Bank and Gaza, but there was a problem: Hamas refused to accept previous deals that the PA had made with Israel. That lead Western powers to freeze out aid, which the PA depends on, to any Hamas-led PA. Tensions between the PLO and Hamas eventually escalated to outright war between the two factions, which ended up with Hamas governing Gaza independently from the West Bank–based PLO.
Unity talks between Hamas and the PLO have broken down repeatedly, which means there is no unified Palestinian authority, complicating peace talks significantly. In late 2017, the two sides reached a preliminary unity agreement, but it’s still unclear whether this will lead to an actual united government of any kind.
Oslo Peace Accord – 1993
1988 – The PLO accepted UN Resolutions 242 and 338, recognizing the state of Israel.
1991 – The Madrid Peace Conference ended without a breakthrough.
1992 – More multilateral talks took place but the Palestinians were no closer to the statehood.
In the 1990s several advances towards peace were made with several meetings taking place in places such as Egypt, Spain, the United States, and Norway.
1993 – The secret negotiations between the PLO and Israel that concluded in 1993 heralded a new chapter of modern Palestinian history.
Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat and Israel’s Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin met to begin to work out a peace deal that included each side recognizing the right of the other to exist. Arafat and Rabin received the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts.
For some, the Oslo Accords raised hopes for peace. For others, it dashed them entirely. The PLO and Israel signed the Declaration of Principles of Interim self-government Arrangements (Oslo I).
In 1994, Israel and Jordan signed a peace agreement.
1995 – Rabin assassinated by a Jewish extremist in November of 1995.
1995 -PLO and Israel signed an interim Agreement granting the Palestinians some autonomy in certain parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip (Oslo II).
1997 – The PLO and Israel signed an agreement that required Israeli forces to partially withdraw from Hebron.
Camp David – 2001
2000 – The PLO and Israel renewed final status negotiations at the Camp David II summit.
In 2000, President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat met at Camp David to negotiate a final peace agreement.
Prime Minister Barak agreed to pull out from the majority of the West Bank but President Arafat refused.
The two sides were not able to bridge their differences to reach an agreement.
Though the negotiations were conducted secretly, some say that President Arafat refused to compromise and made no proposals.
Second Intifada (Uprising) – 2000
By 2000, the peace process has faded.
In 2000, Israeli political figure Ariel Sharon visits Temple Mount (Western Wall area and Al Aqsa Mosque area) in Jerusalem.
Palestinian violence erupted beginning the Second Intifada.
Buses, discos, hotels, fast food restaurants, etc in Israel blown up by Palestinian suicide bombers. Israel responded militarily.
From 2000-June 2008 Over 4500 Palestinians killed and Over 1000 Israelis killed.
In 2002, Israel began building a security barrier in the West Bank, to protect Israelis from ‘terrorists’.
2002 – Israel reoccupied Palestinian cities in the West Bank in the wake of second Intifada.
2004 – Yasir Arafat died.
Israeli withdrawal from Gaza – 2005
2005 – Israel conducted its ‘disengagement’ from Gaza.
2006 – War broke out between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
2008 – Israel attacked the Gaza Strip in what it called ‘Operation Cast Lead’. Peace activists on two boats dropped anchor in Gaza, breaking the Israeli blockade.
Hamas victory in Elections – 2006
West Bank
West Bank: Palestinian-controlled areas Since the 1993 Declaration of Principles resulting from the Oslo peace process, there have been several handovers of land to differing degrees of Palestinian control. Currently 59% of the West Bank is officially under Israeli civil and security control. Another 23% of it is under Palestinian civil control, but Israeli security control. The remainder of the territory is governed by the Palestinian National Authority – although such areas have been subject to Israeli incursions during the recent intifada.
Source: BBC
West Bank: Population centres The areas of Palestinian Authority control are mainly located in Palestinian urban areas – the population centres where much of the fast-growing population lives. These take up about 8.5% of the West Bank. About 2.3 million Palestinians live in the West Bank, together with about 400,000 Israeli settlers – including those who live in East Jerusalem. About 6.7 million people live in Israel, of whom about 1.3 million are Israeli Arabs.
Source: BBC
West Bank: Israeli settlements Since 1967, Israel has pursued a policy of building settlements on the West Bank. These cover about 2% of the area of the West Bank and are linked by Israeli-controlled roads. There are also large tracts of Israeli-controlled land designated as military areas or nature reserves.
Source: BBC
West Bank: Israeli checkpoints Military checkpoints on West Bank roads allow Israel to monitor and control travel in much of the West Bank. During the recent Palestinian intifada, Israeli troops have also encircled and staged incursions into population centres and severely restricted the movement of Palestinian civilians. In 2002, Israel began building a security barrier near the north-western edge of the West Bank.
Source: BBC
Violence in Gaza
Gaza Strip: Population Gaza, one of the most densely populated tracts of land in the world, is home to about 1.3m Palestinians, about 33% of whom live in United Nations-funded refugee camps. About 8,000 Jewish settlers also lived in the Gaza Strip until September 2005 when they and the troops that protected them were withdrawn. Before the withdrawal, travel in and out of Gaza was severely restricted for long periods.
Source: BBC
Gaza Strip: Access and security Israel controls Gaza’s airspace, coast and most of its borders. In November 2005 Israel agreed to allow the Palestinians and Egypt to control the Rafah crossing point (with video surveillance by an EU-Palestinian team), and to increase traffic through Erez and Karni crossing points. The construction of a sea port was also given the go-ahead. The future of Gaza’s destroyed airport is yet to be agreed.
Source: BBC
Though the Palestinians don’t have an army, rockets are regularly fired from Gaza into Israel. Israelis living in border towns are used to having to take shelter and adapting their lives to deal with the rockets.
In the years since Israel withdrew its troops in 2005, Gaza has seen several Israeli offensives. Israel says these were aimed at putting a stop to rocket fire.
In 2008, Israel sent soldiers into Gaza. An estimated 1,300 people, many of them civilians, were killed in Gaza before a ceasefire was declared; 13 Israeli soldiers also died.
2012 – Israel attacked Gaza once more, in what it called ‘Operation Pillar of Defense’. At least 167 Palestinians and six Israelis were killed during the operation. After eight days a ceasefire was declared with both sides promising to stop attacks.
2014 – Israel launched the biggest assault on Gaza since 1967, ‘Operation Protective Edge’. Authorities said over 2,200 people were killed – most of them Palestinians – and many more injured, during 50 days of violence. A ceasefire was agreed between Israel and Hamas on 26 August.
Status of Jerusalem
Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Armenians all share the holy city of Jerusalem.
Source: BBC
Possible Solutions for Palestine Israel Conflict
Two-states Solution Many Palestinians and Israelis feel both nations could exist together and share the land. However, there are many remaining issues that need to be addressed by both groups:
Mutual recognition
Placement of borders
Security
Water rights
Control of Jerusalem
Land rights
Legalities concerning refugees
Infographics
West Bank and Gaza
Source: Wikipedia
Palestinian Loss of Land
Source: Aljazeera
Terminologies
Gaza, Golan Heights, Intifada, Israel, Nakba, Palestine, Sabira, Shatilla, West Bank, Zion, Zionism
Personalities
Yasser Arafat, Theodor Herzl, Itzik Robin, Shimon Perez,