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KCL Model United Nations Society

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"The Israeli-Palestinian

conflict and the Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza”

Today’s session

Committee: General Assembly

Topic: “The Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza”

An overview of the conflict

Key issues to be addressed

Overview of the conflict

At the end of World War I, British officials occupied the area that is present-day Israel. Pressured by "Zionist" leaders, the Britain announced that it would create a state in the Middle East region of Palestine, the biblical cradle of both Jewish and Arab civilizations. This state, Israel, would be a national home for the Jewish people.

In 1947, Britain gave control of most of the region over to the newly formed United Nations. Later that year, General Assembly Resolution 181 recommended that Palestine be divided into two separate states, one Jewish and the other Palestinian Arab.

An overview of the conflict

Several of these Arab states staged attacks to regain the land Israel had claimed as its own.

These attacks ended with armistices that, among other things, redrew the boundaries of Palestine.

In 1949, Israel signed separate Armistices with Egypt, Lebanon, Jordon and Syria. The Armistice Demarcation Lines afterwards known as the ‘Green Line’, as set by the agreements, saw the territory under Israeli control encompassing approximately three-quarters of Mandate Palestine.

This was about one-third more than was allocated to the Jewish State under the UN partition proposal. Egypt and Jordon occupied the Gaza Strip and West Bank respectively.

An overview of the conflict

Meanwhile, occasional fighting continued along many borders.

By 1967, Egypt and Jordan appeared to be mobilizing troops for an attack, and Israel launched a pre-emptive strike to defend its land and claim other disputed areas. The war, which lasted only six days, resulted in Israeli occupation of all Palestinian territory. Israel refused to acknowledge the Security Council’s calls for withdrawal.

The occupied territories are in two sections: the West Bank to the East, and the smaller Gaza strip, is along the Mediterranean Coast. The two areas are separated by Israel and Palestinians do not travel freely between them

An overview of the conflict

Palestinians in the area have retained small sections of land within the occupied territories.

Israelis continued to build new settlements in the regions they claim as their own, but many nations saw this as an effort to illegally expand Israel’s territory.

The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), under the leadership of Yasser Arafat, who is now dead, several times declared an intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation, to little success. Palestinian suicide bombers ravaged Israeli settlements while Israeli troops continued to invade Palestinian areas—both parties are responsible for many civilian deaths

Areas a Resolution Must Address

The committee must assess the legitimacy of Hamas as a government.

The potential for terrorism to rise in areas such as Gaza are high, and it is necessary to address how this can be stopped.

The blockade on Gaza

Previous attacks against Hamas in Gaza by Israel

What steps must be taken to initiate the peace process overall?