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The israel palestine conflict overview
This document provides a historical overview of the Israel-Palestine conflict from the 19th century to present day. It describes how Jewish immigration to Palestine increased in the late 1800s due to antisemitism in Europe. After World War 1, Britain agreed to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine, contradicting the wishes of the indigenous Palestinian population. Violence increased throughout the 1920s-1940s as Palestinians resisted Zionist settlement and control over their land. The UN partition of 1947 led to war and the mass displacement of Palestinians known as the Nakba. Ongoing issues include illegal Israeli settlements, the blockade of Gaza, and denial of Palestinian rights and self-determination.
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The israel palestine conflict overview
- 1. The Israel PalestineConflict A Historical Overview
- 2. Roots • 19th Century Palestinewas a province of the Ottoman Empire. In 1850 the population was around 4% Jewish, 8% Christian and the rest Muslim. There was no conflict between the communities. • In Europe Jews faced anti- Semitism and pogroms. In the 1880s over 200,000 Jews were murdered in state organised Russian pogroms.
- 3. “A land withouta people for a people without a land” • Theodor Herzl was the founder of modern Zionism. He advocated mass Jewish immigration to Palestine. • Herzl initially did not consider the indigenous people, when he realised they existed he advocated transferring them.
- 4. The Balfour Declaration •In 1917 Britain, at the height of World War One, agreed for its own imperial reasons agreed to sponsor the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. • It provides for the establishment of the Jewish state on the land of Palestine
- 5. Redeeming the Land •After Britain took control of Palestine in 1918 a whole new wave of Zionist immigration began. • These new immigrants sought to have as little to do as possible with the Palestinian population – boycotting their produce, culture and economy. • Instead these immigrants with British support set up their own exclusive institutions, used their own language and generally ignored the fact that another people was already living in Palestine.
- 6. Violence • Palestinians demanded representativeself- government but Britain ignored their calls. • Tensions between the Palestinians and the new immigrants rose throughout the 1920s and 30s as Palestinians feared for their future. • Violence broke out in 1920, 1921 and 1929. The worst single incident was the murder of 67 Jews in Hebron in 1929.
- 7. Terrorism • In PalestineJewish paramilitaries waged a war to drive the British out. • Notorious incidents were the blowing up of the King David Hotel and the hanging of two British soldiers. • Britain unable to crush the revolt chose to hand over the problem of Palestine to the UN.
- 8. The UN PartitionPlan • In November 1947 the UN voted to partition Palestine. • The Jewish State was to have 54% of the land, including the best land, even though: • the Jewish Agency only owned between 6 -8% of the land; • the Jewish population of Palestine was only just a third of the total population; • the proposed Jewish State would only just have a bare majority of 15,000 over its non-Jewish inhabitants. • The Zionist Agency again accepted the principle of partition, though not its borders. The Palestinians rejected it outright. Violence between the communities began the next day.
- 9. Deir Yassin andPlan Dalet • In April 1948 Zionist/Israeli forces unleashed Plan Dalet to remove ‘hostile’ populations from around their communication routes. • On the 9 April the peaceful village of Deir Yassin was overrun and its population massacred. News of the massacre led to panic and widespread flight amongst the Palestinian community. • In other areas where the community refused to flee they were forced out; in Jaffa, Haifa and Acre literally pushed into the sea.
- 10. Nakba (The Catastrophe) •As Plan Dalet continued more and more of Palestine was ethnically cleansed. Over half of the Palestinian refugees had already been forced out before Israel declared its independence. • Even after this, despite promises of equal citizenship, Palestinians continued to be expelled.
- 11. Divergent Narratives: Nakbaand Redemption • For Israelis the creation of the Jewish State and the successful conclusion of the first Arab-Israeli War meant redemption and a country free of persecution for Jews world wide. • Chaim Weizmann called the Palestinian expulsion: “A miraculous clearing of the land.” • David Ben Gurion said of the refugees: “The old will die the young will forget.” • For Palestinians it meant dispersion, dispossession and homelessness.
- 12. Nakba • As Palestiniansbegan life in refugee camps UN General Assembly Resolution 194 affirmed their right of return. A right also affirmed in Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his own country.” • Today there are 7.2 million Palestinian refugees, 4.7 million of them still living as registered refugees in camps.
- 13. The Right ofReturn • The Right of Return remains the central demand of the Palestinian people. A right Israel absolutely refuses to acknowledge.
- 14. Fedayeen • In theearly 1950s many Palestinians attempted to return to their homes. Israel classified all these people as infiltrators/terrorists; up to 1956 between 2,700 and 5,000 were killed - the vast majority civilians. • In addition small groups of Palestinian fighters entered Israel to attack military and civilian targets. Israel’s response was to stage massively disproportionate raids into the countries where the refugees lived. One such raid against Egypt in1955 set in train the events that led to the 1956 Suez War.
- 15. The Six DayWar • In 1967, after a month of escalating tension Israel attacked Syria and Egypt. In six days both Arab armies were crushed as was the army of Jordan which attempted to come to their aid. • At the war’s end Israel occupied all of Palestine, the Syrian Golan Heights and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsular.
- 16. The Intifada • InDecember 1987 the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza rose in revolt. • The uprising was unarmed and took the form of civil disobedience, tax strikes, boycotts and non co-operation with collaborators. • Israel responded with a policy of “might, force and beatings.” • Up to mid 1991 Israel had exiled 69 Palestinian leaders, shot and killed over 600 demonstrators and by 1990 imprisoned 40,000 Palestinians including many children.
- 17. The Second Intifada •In September 2000 after a provocative visit by Ariel Sharon to the tunnels under the Al- Asqa Mosque serious rioting broke out that soon turned into another uprising. • Israel again responded with massive and overpowering force. • In the first few days of the Intifada the IDF fired about 700,000 bullets and other projectiles in the West Bank and around 300,000 in Gaza. One Israeli wit in central command made the quip – “A bullet for every child.” • In the first five days of the uprising 47 Palestinians had been shot dead and 1885 injured. • From September 2000 to the end of the year 91 Palestinian children were killed – no Israeli children died during the same period.
- 18. The Second Intifada •In the west the dominant image of the Second Intifada is of suicide bombings. • The first lethal suicide bombing came in March 2001, six months after the Intifada had begun. • In total there were 140 suicide bombings which killed 542 people.
- 19. The second intifada Israelsoldiers raping young Picture of Ariel Sharon
- 20. Ongoing Occupation Issues •The Right to Self-Determination; • The Illegal Settlements; • The Siege of Gaza; • The Right to Water; • The Right of Return; • The Cleansing of East Jerusalem; • The Prisoners; • The Right to Freedom of Movement; • The Right to Health; • The Wall; • House Demolition; • The Confiscation of Land.