The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

How Did it Start?

When Will it End?

What Role does the U.S. play?

Some Dates Regarding “Palestine”- Empire of David and Solomon (1000-925 BC)

- Kingdoms of Judah and Israel (10th century BC – 6th century BC)

-Babylonian Exile (586 BC) (1st Jewish Diaspora)

- Babylonia overthrown by Cyrus the Great in 537 BC

- Alexander the Great in 331 BC

- Roman Emperor Pompey in 63 BC

- destruction of second temple in 70 AD (2nd Jewish Diaspora)

- Islam arrives in the 7th century AD

- Starting with the 2nd Jewish Diaspora, Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews disperse throughout Mediterranean and Europe; small number remained in Middle East (< 8%)

- Experience of anti-Semitism throughout Christian Europe

- Anti-Semitism and pogroms of 19th century led to foundation of the Zionist movement (e.g. Theodor Herzl)

- First World Zionist Congress in 1897

-“Right of Self-Determination” claimed by Zionists- Zionism as outgrowth of European “nationalism”

- Zionism: Creation of a Jewish State for “a people without a land for a land without people” … but is it?

Myth 1: Palestine was a wasteland before the Jews started immigrating there.

Fact: Palestine was an inhabited, cultivated land:"Britain's high commissioner for Palestine, John Chancellor [in 1930], recommended total suspension of Jewish immigration and land purchase to protect Arab agriculture. He said ‘all cultivable land was occupied; that no cultivable land now in possession of the indigenous population could be sold to Jews without creating a class of landless Arab cultivators'...The Colonial Office rejected the recommendation.“

(Palestine and Israel: A Challenge to Justice, John Quigley)

Fact: Zionism existed before the Nazism

“I have already gone exhaustively into the reason for our being here, reasons that I as a pioneer of 1906 can affirm have nothing to do with the Nazis…. Nazism and our history of martyrdom abroad do not concern our presence in Israel directly.”

(David Ben-Gurion, First Israeli Prime-Minister, Memoirs, 1970)

Myth 2: Zionism is about refuge from Nazis

Myth 3: Zionism is about Judaism

Fact: Orthodox Jewish communities, such as the Neturei Karta and Satmar, and many other practicing Jews are anti-Zionists.

"...Zionism is diametrically opposed to Judaism. Zionism wishes to define the Jewish people as a nationalistic entity. The Zionists say, in effect, 'look here, God. We do not like exile. Take us back, and if you don't, we'll just roll up our sleeves and take ourselves back…. This, of course, equals heresy. The Jewish people are charged by Divine oath not to force themselves back to the Holy Land against the wishes of those residing there....“

(Rabbi Hirsch, Jerusalem, Washington Post, October 3, 1978 )

Demographics and Politics:

- In the late 19th century less than 8% of the people in the Middle East were Jewish

- Inspired by the idea of Zionism, a steady flow of Jewish immigrants (both legal and illegal) leads to first tensions at the turn of the century

- During WW I, the Allied Forces (i.e. British) seek help amongst Arabs in their fight against Ottoman Turks in exchange for promises of independence

- Simultaneously the Allied Forces seek the help of Zionists in their fight for control of the Middle East

- French and British have their own ideas too!

- Sykes-Picot Agreement in 1916

- Balfour Declaration in 1917:

“Balfour Declaration: His Majesty’s Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious right of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status by Jews in any other country.”

- As Europe slips into heightened anti-Semitism, continued flow of Jewish immigrants increases existing tensions in Palestine, leading to acts of violence on both sides. Arabs plea for intervention by the British falls on deaf ears

- Churchill “White Paper” of 1922 tries to further clarify Balfour Declaration: it does not contemplate that Palestine as a whole should be converted into a Jewish National Home.

- Still, by 1945 one third of the population have become Jewish

- 1946: radical Jews blow up King David Hotel, killing 91

- 1947: King Abdullah “As the Arabs see the Jews”

- 1948: ethnic cleansing of “Dayr Yasin” and many other communities by terror Jewish groups of “Irgun Zvai Leumi” and “Stern Gang”

Anyone you recognize?> 500 villages!

- When the new state of Israel was created in 1948, the U.S. was the first to recognize it. Why?

- As a result of this new state, about

750,000 Palestinians were forcefully uprooted from their land. (Al-Nakabah)

- Below images of that “catastrophe”

Borders and Colonial Powers

In order to appreciate the geography and scale of Palestine, one needs to realize how small it is!

Israel is about 14% (1/7) the size of Georgia

West Bank is four times larger than Lowndes Co.

Gaza is about 27% (1/4) the size of Lowndes Co.

• Based on U.N. Partition Plan, Jewish State would control 56% of Palestine

• Jerusalem was meant to become an internationally administered city with access to all religions

• At that time, Jews made up about one third of the population, but only owned 7% of the land

• Zionists accepted the proposal, Arabs did not. Why?• Result is Arab-Israeli War of 1948-49

• Israel wins and further expands its territory, now 78%• Jerusalem is declared national capitol in 1950• [In 1980 Knesset will declare Jerusalem as its eternal

capitol, never to be surrendered or divided]

• Suez Canal War in 1956• Over Egyptian control over Suez Canal under Nasser• Israeli-British-French challenge control, temporarily occupy

Sinai Peninsula

• Six-Day-War of 1967 as pre-emptive strike by Israel• Role of Cold War and USSR

• Occupation of Sinai, Gaza Strip, West Bank, Golan Heights

• Reunification of Jerusalem

• U.N. Resolution 242

• PLO, which emerged in 1964, becomes more organized

• Ever heard of the USS Liberty? Why not?

• Yom-Kippur War of 1973• Attack by Egypt and Syria to regain Sinai and Golan Heights

• Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon in 1978-82• Massacres at Sabra and Shatilla / radical Hizballah surfaces in this context

• Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel in 1979

• Intifadas of 1987 and 2000

Excluding the Palestinian Diaspora of about 4 million, in the combined territories of Israel, West Bank and Gaza , Palestinians constitute about 50% of the total population

- Natural increase rates for Palestinians is 3.5% and for Israelis 1.5%- Impact on the question of a one-state solution versus a two-state solution ?

• The Oslo agreements in 1993 brings some progress• Increasing control of occupied territories by

Palestinians; vision of a Palestinian state after a transitional period; stop of economic sanctions

• PLO (under Arafat) recognizes Israel !

• But in 1995 the assassination of the Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by a radical Jew *

• For the coming years stagnation and increasing frustration in the peace process

• Under Clinton renewed efforts and talk at Camp David lead to “Barak’s Generous Offer” in 2000

* What happened to Anwar El Sadat in 1981 ... or Mahatma Gandhi in 1948?

• Beginning the construction of a “Security Fence in 2002

A “Security Fence”?

One State Solution vs. the Two_State Solution

• Yassir Arafat, who lead the PLO since the 1960s, dies in 2004

• Radical group of Hamas gains control of many seats in parliamentary election in 2006, particularly in the Gaza Strip [Hamas came out of the 1987 intifada!]

• 2005 withdrawal of Israeli troops and 8,000 Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip

• Gaza Strip (139 square miles small) is inhabited by 1.4 million Palestinians

[Lowndes County is almost four times larger!]

• US financial support to Israel: >118 billion since 1949

• Palestinians: available water per capita per day 16-18 gallons

[Israelis: available water per capita per day about 86 gallons]

Palestinians youth from Kofor Qaddoum, a village east of the West Bank city of Qalqilia, take water from a reservoir after being cut by the Israeli company (August 2006).

[The average water consumption in the US is about 350 gallons per day!]

A Jew Child and a Jew Woman publicly harassing aMuslim Women in the presence of Israeli Soldiers.

Let’s make no mistake, there are victims on both sides! The ratio, however, is about 1:6

(i.e. for every Israeli killed, about 6 Palestinians die)

• Importance of the Jewish vote in the United States / Israeli lobby• other lobbying groups (e.g. AIPAC)

What IS the Truth?Is There a Solution to This Conflict?

• Carefully Examine the Historical Role of the United States in this Conflict

• Compare Media coverage of the issue in European newspapers versus newspapers in the U.S.. What do you observe?

• Can the U.S. ever be an honest broker?

• How do YOU think can we resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

By the way, do you know who Rachel Corrie is?

Rachel Corrie? 23-year old American peace activist, crushed to death by a bulldozer in 2003 as she tried to prevent the Israeli army from destroying homes in the Gaza Strip. (But you might remember Jessica Lynch. Why?)