Israeli-Palestinian+conflict+page+2

History of the Conflict “Palestine is an area in the Middle East bounded to the west by the Mediterranean, to the north by Lebanon, to the south by the Sinai desert, and to the east by the Jordan River. It is occupied at present by two peoples or national groups, Israelis and Arabs. Israel is a democratic republic that identifies itself as a Jewish state, and was founded in 1948.” “Conflict between Arabs and Jews in Palestine arose in the early twentieth century, with Arab resistance to the European Zionist project of establishing a Jewish-majority homeland in Palestine, the site of an intermittent ancient Jewish kingdom until the extension of the Roman Empire to that area in 63 BC. The existence of a Palestinian people having a distinct national or ethnic identity has been disputed by some Israelis. According to this view, Palestinians, being Arabs, are at home in any Arab state and there is already a Palestinian state and homeland, namely Jordan, to the east of the Jordan River. For example, in 1969 Golda Meir (1898–1978), the prime minister of Israel from 1969 to 1974, stated that “there were no such thing [sic] as Palestinians” at the time of Israel's founding (//London Sunday Times//, 15 June 1969). She argued, “When was there an independent Palestinian people with a Palestinian state? It was either southern Syria before the First World War, and then it was a Palestine including Jordan. It was not as though there was a Palestinian people in Palestine considering itself as a Palestinian people and we came and threw them out and took their country away from them. They did not exist.” However, most scholars acknowledge the existence of an ethnically distinct population of Arabs living in Palestine that predates Israeli independence. Arabs living in Palestine began developing a distinct ethnic identity at least two centuries prior to the events of 1948, although until the founding of Israel, the term “Palestinian” was used by most of the world to denote all the inhabitants of Palestine, including Jews. Before World War I (1914–18), however, Arabs in Palestine began using the term to describe themselves as a distinct nation or people. During the 1920s and 1930s, while the Zionist movement was encouraging Jewish migration to Palestine with the goal of creating a Jewish-majority state there, Palestinian Arabs began to demand the establishment of their own state—Palestine From 1920 to 1948, Palestine was part of a large area of the Middle East ruled by the United Kingdom. This arrangement, known as the British Mandate or Palestine Mandate because it was mandated by the League of Nations (the predecessor of the United Nations), disintegrated after World War II (1939–45). In Palestine itself, the British faced a guerrilla war waged by Zionist independence fighters. The United Kingdom withdrew from the mandate in 1947, and Israel declared its independence on 14 May 1948. It was at once attacked by neighboring Arab states. Over 700,000 Arab Palestinians (mostly Sunni Muslims) fled the region that had been designated as the new state of Israel. In the fighting in 1948, and in further fighting in 1967, Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank of the Jordan River, and the Gaza strip, a coastal area south of Israel. It soon began a policy of systematic Jewish settlement in these areas, known as the “Occupied Territories.” Israel considers the territories “disputed,” not “occupied.” The term “occupied” is used here because the international consensus, which Israel is almost alone in disputing, is that the territories are occupied and that settlement of them by Israel is illegal. For example, in 1979, non-binding United Nations Security Council Resolution 452 (4 votes in favor, United States abstaining) called upon “the Government and people of Israel to cease, on an urgent basis, the establishment, construction and planning of settlements in the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem.” The illegality of the settlements arises from the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 49, which forbids the settlement and annexation of territory acquired in military conflict: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” In 1987, what began as a small uprising against Israeli rule grew into region-wide conflict in Gaza, Jerusalem, and the West Bank. Palestinian militants fought not only Israeli forces but also attacked rival Palestinian groups. The six-year conflict became known as the First Intifada, an Arabic word meaning “shaking off” that is often translated into English as “uprising” or “revolt.” The signing of the Oslo Peace Accords in 1993, the establishment of a Palestinian authority, and a plan for Israeli disengagement in heavily disputed territories ended the Intifada. However, incidence of terrorism and armed conflict continued. A Second Intifada began in 2000. In 2002, Israel commenced construction of a security barrier around the West Bank with the purpose of preventing suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks. While most Israelis refer to the project as a “security fence,” Palestinians refer to the barrier as “jidar al-fasl al-'unsuri,” or the “racial segregation wall.” The United Nations (UN) and the major European media sources refer to the wall as the “West Bank barrier” and also use the term “separation barrier.” On 9 July 9 2004, the International Court of Justice ruled that “the construction by Israel of a wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and its associated régime are contrary to international law.” Later that month, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution (150 in favor, 6 against, 10 abstaining) declaring that the barrier is illegal and should be removed. Votes in favor of the measure included all twenty-five members of the European Union. Israel and the United States maintain that the barrier is justified by Israel's right of self-defense and that it has been effective in decreasing the number of suicide bombings. Israel's construction of the “security barrier,” or West Bank wall, continues despite a 2006 ruling against its legality by the International Court of Justice. Despite strong support among both Israelis and Palestinians for a peaceful settlement, geopolitical conflict continues. As of 18 January 2009, over 1300 Palestinians, ten Israeli soldiers, three Israeli civilians, and four United Nations aid workers had been killed since the conflict in Gaza began in December 2008. International aid organizations, Hamas' Health Ministry, Israeli officials, and others have issued varying figures on Palestinian casualties in Gaza. International opinion and characterization of Israel's actions against Hamas is both passionate and opposing. Israel's allies assert that Israel has a right to defend itself (especially against Hamas, a group that historically has advocated Israel's destruction). When Benjamin Netanyahu became prime minister of Israel in February 2009, he found himself under intense international pressure to move toward a two-state solution with the Palestinians. This would grant the Palestinians their own country. Both U.S. President Barack Obama (1961–) and Pope Benedict (1927–), who led a mass in Bethlehem while on a visit to Israel, voiced their support for a two-state solution. In May 2009, Netanyahu met with Obama in Washington, D.C., and voiced his willingness to restart negotiations with the Palestinians. Frustrated by the lack of progress on the peace process, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas (1935–) announced on 5 November 2009 that he would not seek reelection in January 2010. He expressed his continuing commitment to peace and confirmed that he believed it was still achievable. Abbas may stay in his post past January because Hamas has so far refused to allow voting, and elections cannot proceed until the issue of Gaza's vote is resolved. Abbas' decision is seen as a serious blow to already faltering attempts by U.S. diplomats to make progress on peace in the Middle East."

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"In 2008 Israel had a population of 7.3 million (75.8 percent Jewish 19.7 percent Arab, and 5.4 percent other). "

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"The term "Palestinians" denotes Arabs whose place of personal or recent-ancestral origin is Palestine. Most Palestinians are Muslim, but about 1.5 percent is Christian."



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