Israeli–Palestinian conflict

Since 1973, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a political and military dispute between Israel and Palestinians has become the main element of the larger Arab-Israeli conflict. This conflict, in turn, is part of larger series of Middle East conflicts, as the entire region has been and is host to many disputes and wars not involving Israel.

The military conflict has been highest in recent years during the two Palestinian intifadas, the First Intifada in 1987-1991, the al-Aqsa Intifada beginning in 2000, and still underway.

The first intifada was followed by the Oslo accords.

The current conflict has its political roots in the deep changes caused by the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the end of WWI, when the land now called Israel, and the land referred to as Palestinian settlements were placed under British control, by mandate of the new League of Nations, and subequently divided, displacing millions of Arabs.

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History of the Conflict

World War I and the British Mandate of Palestine

The current Israeli-Palestinian conflict has its root in the deep geopolitcial changes caused by the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the end of WWI, when the land now called Israel, Jordan, and the land referred to as Palestinian settlements, were placed under British control by mandate of the new League of Nations In 1920.

The Mandate territory in 1920 included 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 mostlyArab, although with a growing Jewish minority (approaching 10%), and Bedouin and Druze.

In 1921, due to political complications, the territory was split up into several administrative units. The British claim to have fulfilled their mandate promise by turning an area to the east of Jordan River, consisting of 78% of the whole Mandate of Palestine, into an independent Arab Kingdom of Jordan.

Arab opinion did not accept this arrangement as just: The British were not considerate in their reapportionment scheme, and did not fulfill their original promise to create a single unified Arab nation. This was the source of much of the Palestinian Arab and Arab resentment of British rule, and would soon extend to the growing number of Jews living on former Arab lands.

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. 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, increased Jewish immigration met little opposition from the local Arabs. However, as anti-Semitism grew in Europe, Jewish emigration to Palestine began to markedly increase, increasing the Arab resentment of the British governments immigration policies.

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.

The Olive Tree

When imigrating 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 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". Many believe that much of this militant activity was supported both financially and logistically by Zionist movement organizations in order to add fuel to the fire and to delegitimized Arab opposition and make it appear to be violent compared to Zionism. 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."

According to many Jews, the British had alloted over twice as much land to Arabs, relative to Jews, and this violated the letter of the contract. The Arab view is that this contract was disproportionately in favor of Jewish settlement when the relative size of the two poplulations at the time are considered.

World War II and its aftermath

The influential mufti Haj Amin El-Husseini supported Hitler openly 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-Arkad, the British were eventually forced to imprison Arabs who actively supported Hitler.

During the war and after, the British forbade European Jews entry into Palestine as 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 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 an imprisoned 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. 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

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, the headquarters of the British administration, killing 91 people, and injuring hundreds more. This was condemned by the Jewish leadership.

Divison of Palestine by the United Nations

The United Nations, the successor to the League of Nations, attempted to solve the dispute between the Jews and the 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 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, 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. Palestinian's, however, claim that Begin's view is secretly the real intentions of all 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. Today the Palestinian Authority publishes many books and pamplets "proving" that "the Jews" desire to take over all of the West Bank, Gaza, all of Jordan and parts of many other Arab nations. These proofs are widely considered by western historians to be propagdana.

End of British Rule

On the date of British withdrawal 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 consideed a statement by extremist Zionist 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.

The situation today

Over 800,000 Jews became refugees as a result of the conflict. Over 650,000 Palestinian Arabs became refugees as a result of the conflict. Palestinian refugees were virtually imprisoned in refugee camps in many nations, and to this day most have never been allowed to become full citizens of any Arabnation. Jewish refugees from any nation were embraced by the Israeli government, and allowed to become citizens. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian rabs 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 Israeli proposals to change the situation, but the peace process has not yet developed to the point where a peaceful solution is at hand.