Israeli–Palestinian conflict

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The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, both sides of which claim the land as an ancestral homeland. This conflict is a large element in a larger Arab-Israeli conflict, which, in turn, is a part of the greater Middle East conflicts.

Summary of article

The area which Israelis and Palestinians are in conflict about is within the original British Mandate of Palestine of the 1922 League of Nations Palestine Mandate , which today is defined by the borders of the State of Israel, the West Bank, Gaza and the Kingdom of Jordan also called Transjordan. This area was ruled by Turkey from 1517 until 1917. The Turks did not allow an independent Palestine at all, and both Jews and Arabs came to live there.In 1917 Britain's army took control of Palestine. The British government issued the Balfour Declaration, "viewing with favor" the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, but also stating that "nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine". Palestinians regard this as a "colonial" document with no legitimacy; they hold that "Europeans" had no right to give away any part of Palestine. However, all the borders of the Middle East were decided by the victorious Allies at the Treaty of Versailles , and as there were Jews in Palestine, they too were granted a future homeland equal to the Arabs. The Arab nations rejected a 1947 plan by the United Nations for the partition of Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Palestinian. In 1948 the British departed, the State of Israel was declared in most of Palestine, and a number of Arab nations declared war against Israel. Israel won this war. Another issue is the status of Jordan: In 1922 the British cut off the eastern three quarters of its League of Nations mandate of Palestine and Transjordan, creating the Kingdom of Jordan. To what extent that is related to a Palestinian homeland is contested; at the time it was populated by Bedouins, but later many Palestinian refugees came.Today Jordan has a Palestinian majority. Some Palestinians view Jordan as part of their land as well. Ironically some right wing Israelis view Jordan as part of "Greater Israel". From 1947 to 1967 Jordan ruled the West Bank, yet never granted the Palestinians the right to create a state of their own. In 1970 King Hussein of Jordan fought a war against the PLO and expelled them from his kingdom by force.

Civilian unrest and military conflict has intensified in recent years in two Palestinian uprisings, called intifadas (literally, the shaking off): the First Intifada in 1987-1991, and the "al-Aqsa Intifada" beginning in 2000, up to the present day. The first intifada was followed by a period of relative quiet and reconciliation from the early to mid-1990s, with hope for a settlement to all Israeli-Palestinian hostilities, culminating in the Oslo accords. After the failure of the summit between USA President Bill Clinton , PLO Chairman Yassir Arafat , and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in 2000, dubbed Camp David II , and in the wake of symbolic acts by Israeli and Arab conservatives, violence erupted resulting to date, in over 2,000 deaths. The Palestinians introduced a new tactic: suicide bombers, people who load themselves up with explosives and detonate themselves in crowds of Israeli civilains. The bombers' families receive financial rewards from Iraq for these actions. In response, the Israeli army has re-occupied the West Bank enforcing strict military law, and sealed off the Gaza strip, imposing economic restrictions on the Palestinians. The Israeli security forces instituted targeted assassinations of Palestinian militants, and destroys the homes of suicide bombers' families. It has placed Yassir Arafat in quarantine at his base in Ramalah.

Please note that these issues are controversial, and this controversy might affect the neutrality of these articles. If you plan on making any changes, please consult the Discuss this page section to see which issues are under debate.

History

World War I and the British Mandate of Palestine

The British were given a mandate, called the League of Nations Palestine Mandate by the new League of Nations in 1922 of the land then called Palestine and Transjordan, including all of what would later become the State of Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, a part of the Golan Heights, and the Kingdom of Jordan. The population of this area was mostly Arab, with a growing Jewish minority (approaching 10%) and Bedouin and Druze. Britain was given effective control over Iraq, while France received Lebanon and Syria as mandates.

In 1921 the geographic area of the British mandate was split up into several administrative units. The British made the area east of Jordan River into the Arab Kingdom of Jordan; this nation consisted of 78% of the British mandate of Palestine, including all of the Transjordan.

Arabs opposed the division of Arab populated areas into multiple territories under the control of various European nations. They also opposed the idea of turning part of Palestine into a Jewish state. This was the source of much of the Palestinian Arab and Arab resentment against British rule. It also extended to the growing number of Jews immigrating to former Arab lands in Palestine.

Jewish Immigration

Jews were allowed to immigrate only into the Mandate proper, and Arabs were allowed unlimited immigration into both the Jordanian part of Palestine, as well as the western quarter. Many Arabs also immigrated into the western quarter of Palestine as well. The majority of Arabs who consider themselves Palestinians today are descendents of Arab immigrants. (See the United Nations' definition of Palestinian refugee, which notes this implicitly.)

In 1923 Britain transferred a part of the Golan Heights to the French mandate of Syria, in exchange for the Metula region. Arab immigration was allowed; Jewish immigration was limited by a continually decreasing quota.

During the 1920s, 100,000 Jewish immigrants and 6,000 non-Jewish immigrants entered Palestine. Initially, the trickle of Jewish immigration emerging in the 1880s, met little opposition from the local Arabs. However, already by the late 1800s there was opposition and it was strong by the late 1920s. As anti-Semitism grew in Europe, Jewish emigration to Palestine began to markedly increase, causing Arab resentment of the British government's immigration policies to explode.

There was loud, and sometimes violent opposition from the Palestinian population at large. In an increasing new trend, land purchased by the Jewish agencies from absentee landlords led to the eviction of Palestinian tenants, who would be replaced by Jewish settlers. In addition, the influential Jewish trade union Histradut demanded that Jewish employers only hired Jews. As a result, Arabs argued that they were increasingly shut out of the labor market.

The Olive Tree

When immigrating Jews purchased land from the British both parties ignored long-established laws and customs that governed Palestinian ownership rights. These rights often did not extend to the land but to the trees they planted. The olive tree is particularly important here as it can remain productive for over a 1000 years and represents a long family history, lifestyle, and means for making a living. This extended into lands designated for Arabs as well, often for industrialization and to make use of increasing amount of Palestinian labor.

The British put severe limitations on the Jewish immigration to Palestine. Immigration was allowed but it was restricted by a quota. For their own reasons, both Arabs and Jews disliked this policy. The Palestinians would frequently riot and commit acts of violence against Jewish communities and two Jewish groups, the Irgun and the Stern gang carried out several acts of terrorism against British targets.

The Great Uprising

In 1936 the British proposed a partition between Jewish and Arab areas, which was rejected by both the Arabs and the Zionist Congress. [1]

During the years 1936-1939 there was an upsurge in militant Arab nationalism that later came to be known as the "Great Uprising". The uprising came as Palestinian Arabs saw they were being marginalized in their own country. In addition to non-violent strikes and protests, some began resorting to terrorism that would eventually leave hundreds of Jews dead. The uprising was put down by the British force, with the concerted forces of the Jewish self-defence organization, Haganah.

The British placed restrictions on Jewish land purchases in the remaining land to limit the socio-political damage already done. Jews alleged that this contradicted the provision of the League of Nations Mandate which said;

"...the Administration of Palestine ... shall encourage, in cooperation with the Jewish Agency ... close settlement by Jews on the land, including State lands and waste lands not acquired for public purposes."

Jews complained that the British had alloted over twice as much land to Arabs, relative to Jews; this violated the contract. Arabs held that the contract was disproportionately in favor of Jewish settlement when the relative size of the two populations at the time are considered.

World War II and its aftermath

The British appointed Haj Amin Al-Husseini as "mufti of Jerusalem", in order to have an official representative of the Palestinean people. This turned out to be a major mistake. The mufti soon emerged as an open supporter of Hitler and convened with Nazi leaders several times. Despite being no great friend of the Arab cause, Hitler accepted Palestinian support in the hope that they would rebel against his enemies, the British, in the region, thereby advancing Hitler's military interests. Though many prominent Arab intellectuals opposed the persecution of the Jews by the hands of the Nazis including Habib Bourguiba of Tunisia and Egyptians Tawfiq al-Hakim and Abbas Mahmoud al-Akkad, the British were eventually forced to imprison the Arabs who actively supported Hitler, such as the future President of Egypt Anwar Sadat .

During the war and after, the British forbade European Jews entry into Palestine. This was partly a calculated move to maximise support for their cause in World War II among Arabs. The Jewish support for the anti-semitic Axis was unlikely and the British seemed to consider it more important to sacrifice Jewish sentiment in favor of securing Arab support. The immigration policy was also in response to the fact that security in Palestine had begun to tie up troops much needed elsewhere.

The Jewish leadership decided to begin an illegal immigration (haa'pala) using small boats operating in secrecy. About 70,000 Jews were brought to Palestine in this way between 1946 and 1947, and a similar number were captured and imprisoned on Cyprus in camps by the British while sailing.

Details of the Holocaust(which resulted in the death of approximately 6 million European Jews by the Nazis) had a major effect on the situation in Palestine. Arabs contend this was unfair to them: Although the Holocaust was a great tragedy, the Arabs were not responsible, and so should not be punished by loosing their country. Seeing that the situation was quickly spiraling out of their control, the British announced their desire to terminate their mandate and to withdraw by May 1948. This decision threw Palestine into the middle of civil and ethnic unrest.

Israeli terrorism and Palestinian terrorism

Opposing the British policy to disallow new emigrants from Europe, even until after the war was over, an underground group, the Irgun, in 1946 blew up the King David Hotel in Jerusalem after issuing several warnings, the headquarters of the British administration, killing 91 people,almost all military personal, and injuring hundreds more. This was condemned by the Jewish leadership. The Irgun also bombed the British embassy in Rome. (Add summary of Palestinian terrorism here, with links to relevant articles.)

Division of Palestine by the United Nations

The United Nations, the successor to the League of Nations, attempted to solve the dispute between Jews and Palestinians. The UN appointed a committee, the UNSCOP, and considered two main proposals. The first called for the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states in Palestine, with Jerusalem to be placed under international administration. The second called for the creation of a single federal state containing both Jewish and Arab constituent states. A majority of UNSCOP adopted the first option.

The 1947 partition plan was rejected by most Palestinians but was accepted by most Jews, including the Jewish Agency, which would become the new Jewish government. Several prominent Jews, however declined the proposal. Menachem Begin, Irgun's leader and later Prime Minister of Israel, declared: "The partition of the homeland is illegal. It will never be recognized. The signature by institutions and individuals of the partition agreement is invalid. It will not bind the Jewish people. Jerusalem was and will for ever be our capital. The Land of Israel will be restored to the people of Israel. All of it. And for ever."

Begin's views were rejected by the majority of Jews, both then, and now. Palestinians, however, claim that Begin's view is secretly the real intention of most Jews. Some Palestinian Arabs claimed that Israel's public and internal acceptance of the UN proposal was orchestrated propaganda for the ears of powerful Western nations, and was part of a conspiracy to take over all of the British Mandate of Palestine.

Following the establishment of Israel, Menachem Begin criticised David Ben-Gurion for not conquering all of Palestine and driving out all Palestinians. Today the Palestinian Authority publishes many books and pamplets "proving" that "the Jews" desire to take over all of the West Bank and Gaza, by establishnig a network of settlements that increasingly encroach on the Palestinians. These proofs are widely considered by Jew, many western historians, and moderare Arabs to be propaganda.

End of British Rule

On the date of British withdrawal, 15 May 1948, the Jewish provisional government declared the formation of the State of Israel. The then created provisional government said that it would grant full civil rights to all peoples within its borders, whether Arab , Jew , Bedouin or Druze.

"We appeal ... to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions."

Palestinians did not accept this at face value and claimed that despite the assurances of equal rights for all, the State of Israel would be complicit in discriminating in numerous ways in favor of Jews. They point to the Israeli Right of return, which gives automatic citizenship to Jewish immigrants as a preferential treatment to Jews. Such a policy, they claimed, was indicative of a Jewish theocracy, not a democracy. Palestinians considered a statement by one of the Zionist leaders, Chaim Weizmann, to be a more accurate a statement of the intention of the founders of Israel: "(Our intention is to) finally establish such a society in Palestine that Palestine shall be as Jewish as England is English, or America is American." Israelis respond that it is ludricrous to use the quote of one man as "proof" of the feelings of most Israelis.

Wars between Arab nations and Israel

A separate entry exists with more details on other aspects of the Arab-Israeli conflict. This entry describes a number of topics, including the 1956 Suez War, the Six-Day War, the Yom Kippur War and the Lebanon War.

Arab nations such as Egypt established the Fedayeen group, which sent armed Arabs across the border to kill Israeli civilians on farms and kibutzim or ambushing buses of civilians on open roads. The fedayeen were lead by Ahmed Shukeiri until 1967. With Egypt's defeat during the Six Day War , the Fedayeen were replaced by a new group sponsored by Egypt called the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) called Al Fatah and headed by the young Yassir Arafat. Other groups were the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) of Dr.George Habash backed by Syria , and the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) , all these groups viewed themselves as national liberation movements fighting colonialism and imperialism and accordinly received vast amounts of munitions, training, and help with tactics and strategy from those countries dominated by Communism devoted to the cause of national liberation of occupied people. Israel, in turn , received major support from the capitalist nations such as the USA , Great Britain , France and West Germany .


The Arab and Jewish refugee situation

Over 650,000 Palestinian Arabs became refugees as a result of the conflict. Over 800,000 Jews were forced to leave their homes in the surrounding Arab countries as a result of the conflict. Palestinian refugees were virtually imprisoned in refugee camps in a number of Arab nations; to this day most have never been allowed to become full citizens of any Arab nation (with Jordan as a partial exception). Jewish refugees from any nation were embraced by the Israeli government, and allowed to become citizens. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs today still live as refugees in unsuitable conditions. Many Arabs under Israeli rule in the West Bank and Gaza also live in refugee camps; there have been many proposals to change the situation, but the peace process has not yet developed to the point where a peaceful solution is at hand.

A Peace Process

In 1981 a breakthrough occurred when President George H. Bush called a conference in Madrid Spain dubbed the Madrid Peace Conference of 1991

PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israel Prime Minister Yitschak Rabin signed the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords between Palestinians and Israel with USA President Bill Clinton on the White House lawn. Israeli Prime Minister Yitschak Rabin , Foreign Minister Shimon Peres , and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat were susequently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts.

Camp David 2000 Summit between Palestinians and Israel

In 2000 USA President Bill Clinton convened a peace summit beween PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israel Prime Minister Ehud Barak , but these talks failed to produce peace. Soon after the collapse of this stage of the "Peace Process", the 2000 Intifada began, with suicide bombers blowing themselves up in the midst of Israeli civilian crowds, and the Israel Defence Force re-occupying the West Bank and closing off Gaza continuing into 2003.


Peace and reconciliation

Despite the long history of conflict between Israelis and Arabs, there are many people working on peaceful solutions that respect the rights of peoples on all sides. This section discusses the many successful projects that work to create a peaceful and productive co-existence between Israelis and Arabs.

Neve Shalom Humanitarian Aid Project

The Israeli Jewish-Arab Village of Neve Shalom-Wahat al Salam provides a remarkable model of coexistence. They organize humanitarian projects, including providing medical assistance for Palestinians in need of help.

Hamidrasha Jewish-Arab Beit Midrash

Hamidrasha, a center for study and fellowship, works to address alienation, estrangement, and mutual ignorance between Jews and Arabs. Hamidrasha is establishing an inter-cultural Beit Midrash (Hebrew, "House of study"), which will serve as a basis for mutual personal and communal encounters, and for the study of cultural narratives and modern texts of both peoples. Jewish, Muslim and Christian men and women will engage in a true inter-cultural learning experience, with the goal of making a significant contribution to the ongoing dialogue between Jews and Arabs, and strengthening their reciprocal ties.

Ir Shalem co-existence program

In many ways the city of Jerusalem has been at the center of the conflict. The Israeli political movement Peace Now in [1994]] has created an initiative called Ir Shalem, the goal of which is to build a peaceful equitable and inspiring future for this city, with Jewish and Arab citizens working together to find solutions based on equity and justice. This program brings together volunteer architects, planners, lawyers and other professionals to analyze problems, and offer solutions. Among other efforst, Ir Shalem is developing the first-ever planning model for East Jerusalem that will equitably meet the needs of the Palestinian community.

Ir Shalem

Seeds of Peace

Seeds of Peace was founded in 1993 by John Wallach after the first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. He created the Seeds of Peace International Camp in Otisfield, Maine, USA, and brought togther several dozen Israelis, Palestinian and Egyptian teens. The goal of his organization was to create a new generation of leadership in the middle-east, one in which both Arabs and Israelies would no longer accept outdated and harmful sterotypes about each other; this would occur by bringing together people to literally put a human face on those who were previously perceived as an enemy. Since that time Arab children from Morocco, Jordan and Tunisia have joined. Seeds of Peace camps now operate programs in the Middle East as well. Seeds of Peace has also branched out into bringing teenagers together to help solve the Balkans conflict, the Greek and Turkish dispute over Cyprus, and the Indian-Pakistani dispute.

Seeds of Peace

The American Jewish Committee

While forcefully speaking out against Islamic anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli rhetoric, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) has worked since 1985 to enhancing relations between Jews and Muslims. The AJC encourages and engages in dialogue on many levels with like-minded groups committed to fostering tolerance and cooperation. The AJC has issued many public statements over the years condemning those who scapegoat all Arabs for the sins of a few; the AJC has repeatedly issued warnings about the potential breaching of civil liberties of Arab-Americans, and speaks against attacks on Muslims within the U.S. The AJC worked to lobby America to intervene on behalf on Muslims in Bosnia. In 1993 the AJC sponsored the first national conference on "Muslims and Jews in North America: Past, Present and Future" with the Institute for Islamic-Judaic Studies at the University of Denver in October. In 1999 the AJC helped aid Muslims in Kosovo. In 2001 the AJC initiated a new project designed to advance understanding between Muslims and Jews by publishing two books:

Children of Abraham: An Introduction to Judaism for Muslims, by Professor Reuven Firestone, a scholar of Islam at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles, was written to describe Judaism to Muslims; Children of Abraham: An Introduction to Islam for Jews, by professor Khalid Duran, was written to describe Islam for Jews.

AJC Jewish Muslim relations


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Background

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