Israeli-Palestinian conflict |
The neutrality of this article is disputed.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a part of the greater Arab-Israeli conflict, is an ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Today the
conflict is mainly over these issues:
The refugee issue arose as a result of the 1948
Arab-Israeli war. The issue of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem arose as a result of the Six-Day War in 1967.
Historian Bernard Wasserstein breaks down these main
conflicts into four fundamental ones:
- Borders
- Settlements
- Refugees
- East Jerusalem
History
The history of
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the account of events of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict beginning in
the 1880s and continuing to present day.
The Peace process
See Oslo Accords
In 1991, just after the First Gulf
War, a breakthrough occurred when US president George H.W. Bush
called a conference in Madrid, Spain, dubbed
the Madrid Peace Conference of 1991. It broke down but was replaced by a series of clandestine
meetings between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators hosted by Norway. These meetings
produced the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords between Palestinians and Israel, signed by
PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin with US President Bill Clinton on the White House lawn. Rabin, Arafat and
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres were awarded the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts.
Palestinian views of the peace process
See Palestinian
views of the peace process
Israeli views of the peace process
See Israeli views of the
peace process
Camp David 2000 Summit
See Camp David 2000 Summit
After the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, the peace process slowed to a grinding
halt. The Palestinians living in the occupied territories did not see their living conditions improve. Additionally the Israeli settlements, seen by the Palestinians as one of the largest
obstacles to peace, were not beginning to be dismantled. Instead their population almost doubled on the West Bank even if few new
settlements were constructed. This along with sporadic suicide
bombing attacks from Palestinian militant groups and the subsequent defensive actions from the Israelis made the situation
untenable.
In 2000, Clinton convened a peace summit between Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Barak. Stunning both the Israeli right and left, Barak offered the
Palestinians approximately 95% of the disputed territories, as well as Palestinian sovereignty over East Jerusalem and the
Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site (also called Haram Ash-Sharif). Unfortunately, Arafat did not only reject this
unprecedented offer, he did not make any counter offers. The talks ended without any agreement and, according to Israel, Arafat
returned to Ramallah intending to foment violence.
Al-Aqsa Intifada
See Al-Aqsa Intifada
On September 28, 2000 the Israeli
opposition leader Ariel Sharon made a visit to the holy site, the Temple Mount (also called Haram Ash-Sharif), one of the most contested religious sites in the world. This site holds extreme
significance for Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike. Sharon's trip caused outrage throughout much of the Palestinian community
as it was seen by many as an act of intentional provocation. Though the motivations on both sides are much disputed, what
followed is known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada.
According to the Middle East Policy Council,
as of May 18, 2004, over 3867 people have been
killed as a result of the conflict since September 29, 2000. 892 Israelis (non-combatant civilians and IDF troops) have been killed by Palestinian militants or suicide bombers, and 2975 Palestinians (all
Palestinians except suicide bombers and Israeli assassination targets) have been killed by Israeli military forces or
Israeli civilians.
Many Israelis claim that it is Arafat who is responsible for violence
on the part of Palestinians. Arafat continues to dispute this claim, and has on a number of occasions publically condemned
Palestinian suicide bombings.
"Road Map" for Peace
See Road map for peace
In July 2002, the "quartet" of the United States,
the European Union, the United Nations, and Russia outlined the principles of a "road map" for peace, including an independent Palestinian state. The road
map was released in April 2003 after the appointment of Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) as the first-ever Palestinian Authority Prime Minister. Both
the US and Israel called for a new Prime Minister position, as both refused to work with Arafat.
The plan called for independent actions by Israel and the Palestinian Authority, with disputed issues put off until a rapport can be established.
- In the first step, the Palestinian authority must "undertake visible efforts on the ground to arrest, disrupt, and
restrain individuals and groups conducting and planning violent attacks on Israelis anywhere" and a "rebuilt and
refocused Palestinian Authority security apparatus" must "begin sustained, targeted, and effective operations aimed at
confronting all those engaged in terror and dismantlement of terrorist capabilities and infrastructure".
- Israel was required to dismantle settlements established after March 2001, freeze all settlement activity, remove its army from Palestinian areas occupied after
September 28, 2000, end curfews and
ease restrictions on movement of persons and goods.[1]
After gaining office, Abbas stated that he could not act against Hamas without causing
a civil war. It also became clear that Abbas only had control of a fraction of
the Palestinian security apparatus, with the bulk remaining under Arafat's control. On June 29, 2003, Hamas and Islamic Jihad agreed to a 3-month "hudna" (temporary ceasefire),
conditional on Israel ceasing its assassinations of Palestinian leaders and a mass release of Palestinians in Israeli
administrative detention. Israel promised to withdraw some forces from Palestinian areas but would not promise to discontinue its
practice of assassinations.
For about 6 weeks there was a substantial decrease in violence, with exceptions on both sides. After that the hudna unravelled
rapidly. On August 12, Israel killed two Hamas militants and two others in
Nablus. The next day a Hamas bomber and an Islamic Jihad bomber from Nablus each killed
one Israeli and injured several. On August 14, Israel assassinated Muhammad Seeder, the Islamic Jihad
chief of military operations in Hebron. On August 19 a Hamas suicide bomber killed 34 religious Jews who were returning by bus from prayer at the Wailing Wall. Two days later Israeli helicopters killed the 4th ranking leader of
Hamas, Ismail Abu
Shanab. Hamas and Islamic Jihad renounced the hudna at this stage, though it was clearly already dead. Over the following
days, Israel continued helicopter missile strikes against Hamas heads in the Gaza strip. Israeli commandos also targeted Hamas
heads in Hebron (Abbedalla Quwassama, Ahmed Bader) and Nablus (Mohammed Hanabli). Many of these
actions resulted in casualties among (innocent) bystanders.
Armed Fatah activists publicly threatened Abbas's life. Abbas was not given any power
from Arafat to carry out any of the aspects of the road map to peace, and Abbas eventually resigned due to lack of political
support both from the Palestinian Authority and the public in general. In his resignation speech, Abbas sited the lack of support
both from Arafat and Israel as the cause of his failure.
Alternative peace proposals
With the road map in difficulties, pressure has grown to find an alternative way forward. On December 7, 2003, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert proposed a unilateral withdrawal from large parts of the West Bank and Gaza strip,
abandoning some Jewish settlements while annexing some territory. This was interpreted by many as a trial balloon on behalf of
Ariel Sharon, who followed it up with a speech on December 18 giving the
Palestinian Authority "a few months" to comply with the road map before Israel took "unilateral steps". The speech was strongly
criticised by the United States government, which warned against pre-empting the road map's outcome, and by many on the Israeli
right, who cite security concerns and the need for achieving reciprocal concessions in return for the withdrawal.
Another approach was taken by a team of negotiators led by former Israeli Justice Minister Yossi Beilin and former Palestinian
Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo following two and a half years of secret negotiations. On December 1, the two parties signed an unofficial blueprint for peace in Geneva (dubbed the Geneva Accord) which set out a basic framework for the resolution of the
conflict. In terms of its end goals, it was not too dissimilar from those of the road map, but it adopted a "big bang" approach
of settling all the big issues at once rather than taking a step-by-step approach. It was met with bitter denunciation by the
Israeli government and many Palestinians, with the Palestinian Authority staying non-committal, but it was warmly welcomed by
many European governments and some significant elements of the Bush Administration including Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Yet another approach was proposed by a number of parties inside and outside Israel: a "binational solution" whereby Israel would formally annex the Palestinian territories but would
make the Palestinian Arabs citizens in a unitary secular state. Championed by New York Professor Tony Judt, the suggestion aroused both interest
and condemnation. It was not actually a new idea, dating back as far as the 1920s, but it
was given extra prominence by the growing demographic issues raised by a
rapidly expanding Arab population in Israel and the territories. Somewhat surprisingly, some Israeli settler groups supported it,
seeing it as a way by which Israel could permanently legitimise its hold on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Considering the huge
political and demographic issues that it would raise, however, it seems a highly improbable solution to the problem.
List of Peace Proposals
see List of Middle East
peace proposals
Peace and reconciliation
See projects working for peace among Israelis and
Palestinians
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 both sides.
Related articles
Ethnicity
Religion
Geography
Places
History
- Israeli-Palestinian
conflict timeline
Until 1949
1949-1967
1967-1993
1993-present
Ideology and ideas
Media coverage
- New Historians
- Beirut Summit
- Promises, an Oscar-nominated
documentary
- Media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Elements of the conflict
Organizations and armed forces
People
Israeli
Palestinian
Others
Related conflicts
External links
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