Rizwan Qadir (PAS/PMS)
International Relations - 2
Lecture # 26
Topic:
PALESTINE ISSUE
Palestine Issue
• World Zionist Organization (WZO)
• Zionism was a reaction to the twin challenges to Jewish identity of assimilation by
the Christian European environment and persecution by the Christian European
environment.
Basel Program
• Zionism seeks to secure for the Jewish people a publicly recognized, legally assured homeland in Palestine.
• For the attainment of this purpose, the Congress considers the following means serviceable:
• 1. The promotion of the settlement of Jewish agriculturists, artisans, and tradesmen in Palestine.
• 2. The federation of all Jews into local or general groups, according to the laws of the various
countries.
• 3. The strengthening of the Jewish feeling and consciousness.
• 4. Preparatory steps for the attainment of those governmental grants which are necessary to the
achievement of the Zionist purpose
Basel Program
The premises of this strategy were that:
• (a) The Basle Program was to be implemented in spite of the presence and
opposition of the Palestinian population
• (b) Palestinian consent was not a necessary prerequisite
• (c) In the last analysis, force could be exerted through the powerful sponso
Phases of Zionist Colonization
• Zionist colonization has taken place in two major phases:
• the first was from 1918 to 1948;
• the second, after a hiatus of nearly twenty years, began in 1967 and is still going
today
Balfour Declaration
• The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British government
in 1917 during the First World War.
• It announced support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish
people" in Palestine, then an Ottoman region with a small minority Jewish
population.
UNGA Resolution 181
• UN resolution in November 1947 to partition the country into a Jewish and an
Arab state against unanimous Palestinian and Arab opposition.
• To the contemporaneous Palestinian and Arab leadership, partition was no
compromise.
• Palestine into three parts: an Arab State, a Jewish State and the City of Jerusalem,
linked by extraterritorial crossroads.
1948 Arab-Israeli War
• The 1948 Arab-Israeli War that ensued involved Israel and five Arab nations—
Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Lebanon.
• By the war's end in July 1949, Israel controlled more than two-thirds of the former
British Mandate.
• Jordan took control of the West Bank, Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
The PLO Is Born
• In 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was formed.
• The purpose of establishing a Palestinian Arab state on the land previously
administered under the British Mandate.
• The PLO considered Palestine as occupied illegitimately by the State of Israel.
The Six-Day War: Arab Israel Conflict
1967
• The Six-Day War was triggered during a volatile period of diplomatic friction and
skirmishes between Israel and its neighbors.
• In April 1967, the clashes worsened after Israel and Syria fought a ferocious air
and artillery engagement.
• Six Syrian fighter jets were destroyed.
The Six-Day War: Arab Israel Conflict
1967
Russian Miscalculation
• In the wake of the April air battle, the Soviet Union provided Egypt with
intelligence that Israel was moving troops to its northern border with Syria in
preparation for a full-scale invasion.
• Inaccurate Information
• The information was inaccurate, but it nevertheless stirred Egyptian President
Gamal Abdel Nasser.
The Six-Day War: Arab Israel Conflict
1967
• Expulsion of UN Peace Keeping Forces
• He ordered to advance forces into the Sinai Peninsula, where they expelled
a United Nations peacekeeping force that had been guarding the border with
Israel for over a decade.
The Six-Day War: Arab Israel Conflict
1967
• Israel Defense Forces then launched a preemptive aerial attack against Egypt on
June 5, 1967.
• By the end of the war, Israel had taken control of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank,
the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights.
Outcome: The Six-Day War
Outcome: The Six-Day War
Yom Kippur War 1973
• Egyptian and Syrian forces launched a coordinated attack against Israel on Yom
Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
• Egyptian troops swept deep into the Sinai Peninsula.
• Syria struggled to throw occupying Israeli troops out of the Golan Heights.
• Israel counterattacked and recaptured the Golan Heights.
Yom Kippur War 1973
• Iraqi forces soon joined the war, and Syria received support from Jordan.
• The Israel Defense Forces began beating back the Arab gains at a heavy cost to
soldiers and equipment.
• A cease-fire went into effect on October 25, 1973.
Yom Kippur War 1973
Peace Initiatives
Camp David Accord 1978
• The Camp David Accords were a series of agreements signed by Egyptian
President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.
• David, the historic country retreat of the president of the United States. President
Jimmy Carter brought the two sides together, and the accords were signed on
September 17, 1978.
• The landmark agreement stabilized the fractious relations between Israel and Egypt
Peace Initiatives
• The accords and resulting treaty called for Israel to withdraw its troops from the
Sinai Peninsula.
• The establishment of a self-governing authority in the Israeli “Occupied
Territories” of Gaza and the West Bank.
• Full implementation of provisions of U.N. Resolution 242
• Resolution 242 decried the “acquisition of territory by war”
• Recognition of the “legitimate rights of the Palestinian people”
Peace Initiatives
Peace Initiatives
Oslo Accord
• In September 1993, Israel and the PLO signed the Declaration of Principles on
Palestinian Self-Rule.
• The Oslo Accords were a landmark moment in the pursuit of peace in the Middle
East.
• The Oslo Accords were ratified in Washington, D.C., in 1993 (Oslo I) and in Taba,
Egypt, in 1995 (Oslo II).
• The negotiations between Israel and the PLO that ultimately led to the Oslo
Accords began, in secret, in Oslo, Norway, in 1993.
The Quartet Peace Plan
• The Quartet on the Middle East or Middle East Quartet, sometimes called
the Diplomatic Quartet or Madrid Quartet.
• The Quartet comprises the United Nations, the United States, the European Union,
and Russia.
• In 2002, the Quartet established the Office of the Quartet in East Jerusalem to take
"tangible steps on the ground to advance the Palestinian economy and preserve the
possibility of a two state solution.
Arab Peace Initiative- Saudi Peace Plan
• The Arab Peace Initiative is a 10 sentence proposal for an end to the Arab–
Israeli conflict.
• That was endorsed by the Arab League in 2002 at the Beirut Summit and re-
endorsed at the 2007 and at the 2017 Arab League summits.
• The initiative offers normalization of relations by the Arab world with Israel.
• Full withdrawal by Israel from the occupied territories
Arab Peace Initiative- Saudi Peace Plan
• Just settlement of the Palestinian refugee problem based on UN Resolution 194
• Establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital
• The Initiative was initially overshadowed by the Passover massacre, a major
Palestinian attack that took place on 27 March 2002, the day before the Initiative
was published.
Current Status
Abraham Accords
• This unprecedented rapprochement has left the Palestinians feeling abandoned by
traditional allies.
• The Palestinians has ceased to be a priority for the Gulf monarchies.
• Relations with Israel have simply become more urgent than the Palestinian question.
• There is no clear Palestinian strategy for dealing with the new regional constellation.
• Different Stance: Part of the deal includes Israel’s commitment to suspend
annexation of Palestinian lands in the occupied West Bank.
Readings
• https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/israel-palestine-peace-accord-signed
• https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-us-policy-israeli-palestinian-conflict
• https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-44124396
• https://www.e-ir.info/2020/11/01/the-abraham-accords-and-the-palestinian-issue/
