The Israeli- Palestinian Conflict

The Ottoman Empire Lost in WWI From the Palestinian perspective: The Ottomans were Turks but at least they were Muslims. As a result of WWI, the empire was broken up.

British Mandate A mandate means that you are controlling a region temporarily. You are preparing the region for independence.

Balfour Declaration The Palestinians did not trust the British. In 1917, the Jewish British Foreign Secretary, Arthur James Balfour, called for the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

The Holocaust Jews who were fortunate enough to survive the holocaust immigrated to Palestine in mass.

1947 UN Partition Plan The British turned over this problem to the United Nations. The 1947 partition plan called for 2 nations with Jerusalem under UN control. The Palestinians totally rejected this plan.

1948 War of Independence The Jews not only fought the Palestinians, but the surrounding Arab nations attacked. Miraculously, the Jews won and Israel was born.

Arab Neighbors Why would Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia care? This was, and is, seen as an insult to Islam. Furthermore, Jerusalem is a significant city to all Muslims.

Wars between Israel and Arab Neighbors (**Remember War for Independence during 1948**) Suez Crisis Six-Day War Yom Kippur War Short Conflicts Israel won each war Each ended without a peace agreement

1967 Six-Day War The Arab neighbors tried to gang up on Israel again. The Israelis prevailed and occupied 3 important territories: West Bank from Jordan Gaza Strip from Egypt Golan Heights from Syria

Camp David Accords 1978 In 1978, Israel and Egypt signed the only peace treaty between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Anwar Sadat the Egyptian president was assassinated for this act in 1981.

The Palestinian Liberation Organization The goal is to destroy Israel. Recognize they cannot defeat Israel conventionally (with the use of their military) Hence, they resort to terrorism or targeting civilians. The PLO has evolved today into Hamas.

Intifada 1987 to 1993 Arab word that means to shake off. Israel is about 20% Palestinian. A general violent Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule in Israel and the occupied territories.

Oslo Accords 1993 Yasser Arafat the leader of the PLO shaking hands with Yitzhak Rabin the leader of Israel. The PLO accepted Israel’s existence. Israel accepted the creation of a future Palestinian state in the occupied territories

The Situation Today There still is no Palestinian state. The Israelis are not willing to leave the occupied territories until the Palestinian Authority demonstrates it can prevent future acts of terrorism. In the meantime, many Israelis want to permanently annex the occupied territories and are creating settlements in them.

Palestinian Terrorism

West Bank Settlements

Borders of Israel History ael_hist_1973.jpg ael_hist_1973.jpg