Sunday Roundup - July 6, 2014

This is the third of four special editions of The Sunday Roundup.  Today we continue to look at the historical roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, covering the period from 1950 to 2000.

1950's

Tensions remained high after the armistice agreements that ended the Arab-Israeli War of 1948.

Conflict along the Jordanian border went through gradual stages, building up from small Israeli raids with Palestinian counter raids through major Israeli incursions.

Summer 1954 - Israeli false-flag operation to plant bombs inside civilian targets within Egypt and blame the resulting damage on radical Arab factions is uncovered and stopped. ("The Lavon Affair")

February 1955 - Israeli raid on an Egyptian military outpost in Gaza kills 37 Egyptian soldiers. The Egyptian government began to actively sponsor, train, and arm the Palestinian volunteers from Gaza as fedayeen units which committed raids into Israel.

July 1956 - Egypt's President Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal. The ensuing "Suez Crisis" was a diplomatic and military confrontation between Egypt on one side, and Britain, France and Israel on the other. The United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Nations playing major roles in forcing Britain, France and Israel to withdraw.

The Six-Day War

June 1967 - After years of tension because of Egyptian-aided fedayeen attacks, the "Six Day War" began on June 5 with Israel launching surprise strikes against Egyptian airfields in response to the mobilisation of Egyptian forces on the Israeli border.

• Israel took control of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt; the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, from Jordan; and the Golan Heights from Syria.
• An estimated 300,000 Palestinians left the West Bank and Gaza, most of whom settled in Jordan. Minority Jews living across the Arab world faced persecution and expulsion following the war.
• Israel having thus captured the rest of Mandate Palestine from Jordan and Egypt began a policy of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories.

September 1967 - The Khartoum Resolution issued at the Arab League Summit, commits Arab states to ensure the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the land seized in the Six Day War and to insist on the rights of the Palestinian people in their own country.

Fallout from the Six Day War

July 1968 - Armed, non-state actors such as Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine achieved the majority of the Palestinian National Council votes

February 3, 1969 - at the Palestinian National Council in Cairo, the leader of the Fatah, Yasser Arafat was elected as the chairman of the PLO.

1969 - PLO attempts to take control of the West Bank. Israeli Defense Forces force them into Jordan.

September 1970 - July 1971 A military struggle between Jordan and the Palestinian armed organizations results in the expulsion of the PLO to Lebanon.

1971 to 1981 - The center of PLO activity shifted to Lebanon, where they established bases to stage attacks on Israel and launch an international terror campaign, largely aimed at abducting airplanes.

1975 - Start of the Lebanon Civil War. The war continued until 1990.

1977 - The rise of the Likud Party to power in Israel leads to increased settlement-building in the Occupied Territories.

1978-9 - Camp David Accords Sep.17, 1978 lead to 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty.

1981 - Israel unilaterally annexes the Golan Hights, taken from Syria in the 1967 war.

1981-2 - One-year ceasefire brings a temporary halt to the fighting along the Lebanese-Israeli border.

1982 - Israel invades Lebanon (1982 Lebanon War). In June 1985, Israel withdrew most of its troops from Lebanon, leaving a residual Israeli force and an Israeli-supported militia in southern Lebanon as a "security zone" and buffer against attacks on its northern territory. The remaining Israeli troops were finally withdrawn in 2000.

1982 - Israel returns Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in accordance with terms of the 1979 peace treaty. The Gaza Strip remains occupied by Israel.

1987 - Start of the First Palestinian Intifada (uprising). Hamas is founded. The Intifada lasts until the Madrid Conference. of 1991.

1990 - 1991 - First Gulf War. PLO leader Arafat's support for Iraq leads to many Arab states cutting off funds to the PLO.

October 30 - Nov. 1, 1991 - Madrid Conference, cosponsored by US and USSR, was an attempt to re-initiate a Middle East peace process. It lead to a series of bilateral and multilateral negotiations between Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the Palestinians that lasted until January 1994. The Conference and the ensuing negotiations had few concrete accomplishments but did establish a basis for dialogue.

1993-2000 - The Oslo Peace Process

The Oslo peace process continued throughout the 1990s with both sides obligated to work towards a two-state solution. The Declaration of Principles signed by Yassar Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin in September 1993 was a major breakthrough achieved outside of the Madrid framework, which specifically barred foreign-residing PLO leaders from the negotiation process.

January 1993 - Israeli and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) negotiators began secret negotiations in Oslo, Norway.

September 9, 1993- Yasser Arafat sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, stating that the PLO officially recognized Israel's right to exist and officially renouncing terrorism.

September 13, 1993 - Arafat and Rabin signed a Declaration of Principles in Washington, D.C. The stated goals of the Oslo I Accord were a Palestinian interim Self-Government and a permanent settlement of unresolved issues within five years.

1994 - Establishment of the autonomous governmental authority, the Palestinian Authority and its associated governing institutions to administer Palestinian communities in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

1994 - Jordan signs peace treaty with Israel. The West Bank and East Jerusalem remain occupied by Israel.

February, 1994 - Israeli extremist, a follower of the Kach Party, murdered 29 Palestinians and wounded 125 in Hebron (Cave of the Patriarchs massacre).

April, 1994 - As an act of revenge to the massacre, Hamas launched suicide attacks targeting the Israeli civilian population in many locations throughout Israel.

September 28, 1995 - Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat signed the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in Washington.

• The agreement allowed the PLO leadership to relocate to the occupied territories and granted autonomy to the Palestinians with talks to follow regarding final status.
• In return the Palestinians recognized Israel's right to exist and promised to abstain from use of terror. The agreement was opposed by the Hamas and other Palestinian factions, whom at this point were committing suicide bomber attacks throughout Israel.

November 4, 1995 - Right-wing Jewish radical assassinates Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

1996 - The right-wing Likud Party candidate, Benjamin Netanyahu, is elected Prime Minister

November 17, 1998 - With the peace process faltering, Netanyahu and Arafat sign the Wye River Memorandum. The Memorandum detailed the steps to be taken by the Israeli government and Palestinian Authority to implement the earlier Interim Agreement of 1995.

July 2000 - Camp David 2000 Summit was held, aimed at reaching a "final status" agreement. The summit collapsed after Yasser Arafat would not accept a proposal drafted by American and Israeli negotiators. Israeli Prime Minister Barak was prepared to offer the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian capital in a part of East Jerusalem, 73% of the West Bank (excluding eastern Jerusalem) raising to 90–94% after 10–25 years, and financial reparations for Palestinian refugees in return for peace. Arafat turned down the offer without making a counter-offer.

Palestinian Territory 1949 vs. 1993-Present (Oslo 2)

During the civil war and the First Arab-Israeli War of 1948, Israel had captured nearly 60% of the land proposed for the new Palestinian State by UN Resolution 181, leaving Israelis in control of 78% of the former Mandate Palestine.  Jordan controlled the West Bank and Egypt controlled the Gaza Strip (map on the left).  In the Six Day War of 1967, Israel captured both areas and began a policy of Jewish settlement building that has continued to the present day.  Shown in green on the map on the right is the area administered by the Palestinian National Authority per "Oslo 2".
                                     

References
Wikipedia articles on the topics related to Israeli-Palestinian conflict are the major source for these posts. The articles on Palestine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were particularly helpful.

Sunday Round-Up - November 10, 2013

This is the weekly selection of news and opinion from sources outside the US mainstream media.  Today we look at the deteriorating Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Sources include Le Monde Diplomatique, Al Jazeera, boston.com, and Haaretz.

Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, considered illegal by international organizations and by most countries, continue to be approved and Palestinian anger over the continued settlement building is rising.  John Kerry is in the Middle East trying to save the peace talks.

January 2011 map from Peace Now. Blue areas are Israeli settlements
in the West Bank; the brown areas are Palestinian localities.  Peace Now
is "Israel's most veteran and diverse peace movement with over 10,000
members from the Middle East and around the world." 

The Background
An article in the November Le Monde Diplomatique describes the significance of the settlements. Laurence Bernard writes that the settlements, are "jeopardising the two-state solution.  The West Bank has...been reduced to an archipelago of little urban islands by the Separation Barrier, the line of which annexes nearly 10% of Palestine’s territory.... 60% of all Palestinian territory ...
remains under complete Israeli control. This [controlled area] already has 350,000 Israeli settlers living in 35 settlements, compared with 180,000 Palestinian residents. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is concerned at the growth of violence by settlers, the denial of construction permit applications to Palestinians by the Israeli civil administration..., and the systematic demolition of buildings erected 'without a permit'."  Bernard also discusses other key issues.

• Water - "Palestinians only have 20% of the West Bank’s water resources...[and] use only 25% as much water per person per day."
• East Jerusalem - "250,000 settlers living in Palestinian areas"
• the blockade of Gaza, "already one of the most densely populated territories in the world", - "[the] Israeli...buffer zone along the barrier denies residents access to 17% of the territory (and 33% of the farmable land)...the outer limit of the fishing zone, set at 20 nautical miles under the Oslo accord, is now reduced to between 3 and 6 miles."
• Palestinian refugees  - "nearly five million expelled from their villages in 1948 and 1967.  A third still live in 'temporary' camps in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria; 3.5 million rely on the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for basic health and education."  

So what can the EU do to make "credible its official support for an 'independent, democratic, contiguous and viable' Palestinian state" ?  Bernard recommends that the EU build on its recent directive that will make Israeli entities operating on Palestinian land "ineligible for grants, prizes and financial instruments" from the EU.  The EU, Israel's largest trading partner, could "threaten reprisals under the EU-Israel Association Agreement, ... freeze specific accords,... and suspend negotiations on strengthening the Association Agreement.  It could also stop importing goods manufactured or assembled in Israeli settlements in the West Bank." Finally, the EU could take action on the arms trade with Israel, the world's fourth leading arms exporter.  The arms trade "continues to grow in spite of the EU code of conduct that prohibits sales of military equipment that  might be used for internal repression or international aggression, or contribute to regional instability." 

Kerry's Trip to the Middle East

Al Jazeera reported on Wednesday on Kerry's efforts:  "Acknowledging that the negotiations had run into difficulties, Kerry spoke of a need for 'real compromises and hard decisions' from both sides...  Palestinians...have said an Israeli plan announced last week for 3,500 more settler homes in the occupied West Bank was a major obstacle to the success of the negotiations....'The Israeli side is determined to continue its settlement and we cannot continue negotiations under these unprecedented settlement attacks,' [a senior Palestinian official] said after a meeting of Israeli and Palestinian negotiators....  The settlements that Israel has built in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories it captured in the 1967 Middle East war, are considered illegal by most countries."

AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee's story on Kerry's trip to Jordan was reported on Thursday on boston.com.  Kerry went to Jordan to gain support from this close US Arab ally for the stalled peace process.  Kerry "issued a stark warning to Israel on Thursday, saying it faces international isolation and a possible explosion of violence if it does not make progress in peace efforts with the Palestinians.  Kerry issued the blunt remarks in a joint interview with Israeli and Palestinian television channels, ensuring the message would reach its intended audience.  'The alternative to getting back to the talks is the potential of chaos. I mean does Israel want a third intifada?' Kerry said, using the term for past Palestinian uprisings against Israeli occupation....'If we do not find a way to find peace, there will be an increasing isolation of Israel. There will be an increasing campaign of de-legitimization of Israel (that) has been taking place in an international basis,' he said...'What is the alternative to peace?' Kerry asked at a joint news conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh. 'Prolonged continued conflict.'

Haaretz provided additional details of Kerry's comments on "Israel’s decision to build roughly 5,000 new housing units in East Jerusalem and other settlements, alongside the release of a group of Palestinian prisoners. Kerry said settlement expansion sends a message that 'perhaps you’re not really serious,' during an interview which aired on Israel’s Channel 2, as well as in Palestinian media.  The lengthy interview ...focused on the struggling peace negotiations and Kerry’s efforts to prevent a total collapse in talks between Israel and the Palestinians.   Kerry denied the claims made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that there had been an agreement between the two sides stipulating that each wave of Palestinian prisoners released would be accompanied by settlement expansion. According to Kerry, the deal was that Israel would release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a halt of unilateral Palestinian actions at the United Nations during the nine months of negotiating.   'Palestinian leadership made it absolutely clear they believe the settlements are illegal, they object to the settlements and they are in no way condoning the settlements, but they knew Israel would make some announcements,' said Kerry."