The Arab-Israeli Situation
This page attempts to provide a brief but clear overview of the complex history and the different stages of the situation surrounding Palestine/Israel.
The First Zionist Congress and Early 20th Century
It is difficult to pinpoint an exact starting point for the Arab-Israeli situation, and there are a wide range of opinions regarding what events were most important in setting in motion the current situation. Nevertheless, we will begin with the rise of Zionist movement in the late 19th century for the sake of giving a broad overview.
The World Zionist Organization was founded in 1897 at the first ever Zionist congress led by Theodore Herzl, known as the father of modern Zionism. After being elected president, Herzl presented the Basel Program for the first time, which was adopted as the first Zionist manifesto. The Basel program set out the goals of the Zionist movement, which meant, first and foremost, the establishment of a publicly and legally assured home in Palestine for all Jewish people. Palestine, which was under control of the Ottoman Empire at the time, started to receive large amounts of Jewish immigrants who were “returning” from Europe and other parts of the world to what they would call their home. Zionist organizations began buying plots of land in Palestine with the goal of (re)claiming land on which Jews could live and work. At the same time, a strong sense of Arab nationalism was growing among the Ottoman-ruled Arabs.
World War I and the British Mandate of Palestine
Following the decline of the Ottoman Empire and World War I, the Middle East became subject to dramatic geopolitical shifts. After the British asked for help from the Sharif of Mecca, Hussein bin Ali, in their war against the Ottomans, the Sharif organized an army that was victorious in challenging their former rulers; an event known as The Great Arab Revolt. Hussein bin Ali agreed to assist the British under the condition that Hussein and his sons would succeed under Ottoman rule, with territory stretching from Syria in the north to Yemen in the south.
Despite British promises to Hussein bin Ali, in 1916 Britain and France agreed to partition the territories of the Middle East according to the Sykes-Picot agreement, dividing the region into French and British spheres of influence. Moreover, in 1917 the British foreign secretary Arthur James Balfour wrote a letter to Lionel Walter Rothschild supporting the establishment of a Jewish national homeland in Palestine, known as the Balfour Declaration. Ali received only part of the lands he expected to rule.
During the British Mandate in Palestine, Jewish immigration increased due to programs in Eastern Europe and Russia. At the same time, tensions between Arabs and Jews rose as Arabs witnessed further land purchases allocated to Jews to meet the demand of the growing Jewish population. Interspersed conflict during the 1920s and 1930s eventually turned into another Arab Revolt in which violence increased drastically. The British eventually acceded to Arab demands and restricted Jewish immigration and land sales in the White Paper of 1939. Nevertheless, internal Palestinian conflicts resulted in a lack of strong Palestinian leadership.
World War II and the end of the British Mandate
During the years leading up to World War II and during the war itself, British opposition kept growing and Jewish paramilitary forces started working together in organizing attacks and assassinations on British government buildings and officials. As the popularity of the mandate drastically dropped, doubt rose in the British Kingdom about whether all ties should be cut to get rid of the worsening situation in Palestine.
In 1947 a partition plan was announced, a civil war broke out which would gradually worsen, starting with small incidents which would eventually turn into quasimilitary operations against the other side, with support and troops coming in from abroad. On May 15th 1948, the Mandate officially ended, and the British no longer had control over Palestine. the Jews immediately declared a new Jewish state named “the State of Israel” and the surrounding Arab states saw this new state as a threat to Palestinian autonomy, causing them their armies to its borders. This was the official start of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
The 1948 War and 1956 Suez Crisis
After the declaration of the independence of the State of Israel, the neighbouring Arab states invaded the country, starting the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The war, which would go on for 10 months, took place mostly in the area of the former British mandate of Palestine, but also in Lebanon and Egypt. The war caused drastic changes in the region in terms of division of territory, displacement of people, and ideologies.
The new State of Israel would keep the land allocated to them by the 1947 UN partition plan in addition to 60% of the land they conquered from the Palestinian-allocated land. Transjordan would take control over East Jerusalem and the remaining former British mandate, except for the Gaza Strip, which would be controlled by Egypt. Already set in motion before 1948, but reaching its climax in during and after the war was what is more well-known as the “Nakba”. As large parts of the land allocated to Palestine were annexed by Israel, more than 700,000 Palestinians were displaced from their homes and sent into refuge, more than 500 Palestinian villages were destroyed or depopulated, and Arab-Israeli relations would not take a turn for the better.
After the Egyptian king was overthrown by Nasser they tried to get full independence from Britain; their biggest obstacle was the Suez Canal. Egypt managed to nationalize the canal, but by doing that, it blocked Israel’s ports to the Red Sea, which boded badly with Israel. Growing animosity among Arabs towards Israel, increasing amounts of conflict and the blocking of Israeli ports prompted Israel to attack Egypt. Egypt gained full control over the Suez Canal and Israeli ports were opened up again after the crisis.
The 1967 and 1973 wars, and the PLO
In 1964 an organization with the goal of liberating and defending Palestinians and the Palestinian homeland was founded with the name PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization). The PLO would go on to become the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people in international diplomatic relations. In its early years, the group mostly tried to reach their goal of liberating Palestine through military action and attacks, before choosing more diplomatic routes. Pan-Arabism kept growing and resentment towards Israel was reaching new heights, which would result in the Arab states mobilizing their troops near Israeli borders; Israel saw this as enough of a reason to start a war. The Six Day War would earn its name from the extremely rapid offensives and conquering of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip, Syria’s Golan Heights and Jordan’s West Bank. Around 400,000 Syrians and Palestinians fled the Golan Heights, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The Arab League would adopt the “Three nos” which would stand for “no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel and no negotiations with it”, deteriorating Arab-Israeli relations further. After the enormous losses of the 1967 War, Egypt and Syria were planning on taking their former land back, starting another war if they had to. The war began on the 6th of October 1973, as it came as a surprise for Israel, the Arab coalition successfully fought back the Israeli army in the Sinai and the Golan Heights. After three days, however, Israeli forces managed to first stop Arab forces and later push them back. An UN-initiated ceasefire eventually stopped the fighting and this fourth war between the State of Israel and various Arab states became the starting point of the first recognition of Israel by an Arab country. The Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty was signed in 1979 following the Camp David Accords in which relations between Egypt and Israel would be normalized and the Sinai Peninsula would be demilitarized.
1982 Lebanon the War and First Intifada
The PLO, which moved its headquarters to Lebanon in 1969, had been in continuous conflict with the IDF until it escalated even further into the 1982 Lebanon war. The immediate cause of the invasion of Lebanon by Israel was the assassination attempt on an Israeli ambassador by an organization that was actually ostracized from the PLO. The IDF got as far as a siege of Beirut during their campaign, allowing certain Lebanese militias to carry out attacks on Palestinian civilians in Lebanon. In an agreement with Europe and the US, a safe exile to Tunis was guaranteed for Arafat and his Fatah party. The IDF withdrew most of their troops in 1985, leaving a buffer zone of supported militias near the border.
In 1987 the deteriorating circumstances in which Palestinians were living due to the ongoing building of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, high birth rates, a scarcity of jobs and the general heightened tensions between the Israeli government and Palestinians resulted in uprisings and protests, known as the First Intifada. Soon after the initial protests started, the PLO took control of the Intifada by organizing attacks against Israelis. At the time of the Intifada a new Palestinian organization, Hamas was created and joined the Intifada by fighting Israeli forces. Hamas would later go on to be the de-facto authority in the Gaza Strip. In 1988 the PLO declared the establishment of the Palestinian state
Oslo Accords, Second Intifada, and Current Situation
In 1993, the PLO and Israel started a series of secret negotiations, in which the PLO would recognize Israel’s right to exist and denounce terrorism. In return, the Palestinian Authority would be established as a recognised governmental authority in Palestinian territories. The PLO returned to Palestinian territory, butHamas didn’t agree with decisions made by the PLO, starting their own offensive against the Israeli state by organizing attacks against civilians. Jordan became the second Arab country to officially recognize Israel and to openly relations with it in 1994. What’s most important about the Oslo Accords is that they didn’t succeed in creating a Palestinian state. After the negotiations at Camp David in 2000 failed to come to an agreement, tensions kept increasing, resulting in a second Intifada when Sharon visited the Temple Mount.
The Intifada was met with a lot of violence from both sides. the cause of its end is disputed, and Arafat’s death played a big role in the growing tensions among Palestinian factions. In 2006, Palestinian elections were held in which Hamas became the biggest party; but Hamas doesn’t recognize Israel, and Israel doesn’t want to negotiate with Hamas. The election would drive Fatah and Hamas even further from each other to the extent that Hamas would rule the Gaza Strip, and Fatah the West Bank.
The Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations is the official title that Palestine holds in the UN since 2012, which is seen as a de-facto recognition of the state of Palestine
