Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

Palestinian-Israeli Conflict Begins

• EARLY CONLFICT:• Covenant with Abraham … Promised Land …Moses … Judah

(turned “Hebrews” into “Jews”) … David … Assyrians … Romans conquers the land, but kick Jews out of Empire ~400 C.E. … Jews move up into Europe (Germany, Poland, Russia, Latvia, Austria, etc)– ~500AD: Fall of Rome occurred, leaving Canaan EMPTY!– Nomadic tribe (called Phoenician Philistines - or “Palestinians”)

move into abandoned land, once called Canaan– Palestinians renamed the land Palestine.

• 1890’s: “Zionist” Movement: – 1st movement of Jews back to Palestine… Claimed Canaan was

their “Rightful Homeland” due to Ancient Covenant between God & Abraham

– Zionist movement was led by Theodor Herzl– The movement was a reaction to discrimination Jews were

experiencing in Europe in the late 19th/early 20th century

Dirty, Dirty BritainDirty, Dirty Britain• 1917: Balfour Declaration• Britain was an imperialistic empire. (If you don’t know what “Imperialism” means,

please look it up now!)• Britain played both Palestinian and Jews during WWI, not wanting to lose either

side’s support.• Palestine was owned by this point by the Ottoman Empire, a member of the

Central Powers.• Britain made a secret deal with the Palestinians, saying they (Britain) would

support their move towards independence against the Ottoman Empire, if Palestine would help fight the Central Powers in the Middle East in WWI. Palestine agreed.

• Secretly, Britain declared that a Jewish state should be carved out of Palestine in order to grant a home to Jews – because they were not welcome in Europe!

• Because Britain was on the winning “team” after WWI, and Palestine was technically part of the Ottoman Empire – thus the LOSING TEAM – Britain claimed they had the right to do with the land as they pleased, and what they “pleased” was to double cross the Palestinians. The encouraged the Zionist movement and simply told the Palestinians to “share.”

• 1938 Peel Commission: Britain’s grand plan to split the land

Post-WWII IsraelPost-WWII Israel• 1939 – 1945: WWII and Holocaust … 6+ million Jews died in

Europe and Asia.– During this time, 70,000+ Jews illegally immigrated to Palestine,

causing lots of economic hardships on Palestine– Leaders of Palestine supported and met w/ Hitler to design an

extension of the Holocaust for Jews in Palestine!• 1945: the United Nations was developed as a meeting group for

every country in the world. They were supposed to be mediators for all conflicts…but then …

• 1948: United Nations recommended two states to be created from Palestine – a Jewish state and an Arab state.

• Official UN Decision: – 55% of Palestinian land should be granted to Jews (even though

they only made up 34% of the population), leaving only 45% of the land for the Palestinians.

– No borders for a “Jewish State” or “Arab State” have ever been drawn.

Israeli Independence!• 1948: Independence for Israel results in a division between

Palestine/Israel – the border actually the divided the land a little more unevenly than earlier suggestion!

– 65% of Palestine went to the Jews to create a state called Israel

– 35% of the land would remain under Palestinian control• One day after independence was declared, four Middle

Eastern countries declare WAR on Israel!• Who came to Israel’s rescue? USA• WHY???• Americans identified more with Jews than Palestinians• Repercussions of the Holocaust

*Sidenote: Israel took over the land the UN had set aside for Palestine in 1948 … the Palestinian state never came to be! Repercussions???

Distribution of land:Distribution of land:*Today, the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and a very

small portion of the Golan Heights belong to

Palestinians. The rest belongs to Israeli’s.

*Where are the holy cities of Jerusalem, Jericho and

Bethlehem located?

During the 1960’s, there was also a side war between Egypt and Israel over water rights for the Suez Canal, causing more tensions between Jews

and Muslims in the Middle East.

1967: Six Day War• Causes:

– Rampant Arab nationalism was pumping through the Middle East– Cold War was in full swing, and the USA and USSR were always

looking for places to fight a HOT battle in a Cold War … Israel seemed like a good place!

– USSR funded Egypt and Palestinians, while Israel was funded by USA

• Results:– Israel – with the help of the USA - won BIG!– Egypt: lost 15,000 soldiers– Palestinians: lost war and most citizens became “stateless”

(didn’t belong anywhere)

P.L.O.P.L.O.• PLO (terrorist group that rose up in 1964…had to hide out in

Lebanon – north of Israel - because the USA had spies all over Israel) – P. alestinian– L. iberation– O. rganization

• PLO Goal: gain land/power back for the Palestinian people• 1972: Under their leader, Yasir Arafat, the PLO kidnapped and

murdered 11 Israeli Olympic Athletes at the Munich, Germany Olympic Games

• Israel’s Prime Minister, Golda Meir, response to Olympic attack:– Counter Attack against Palestine, Lebanon and Egypt

• October 1973: Egypt’s President, Anwar Sadat, planned a joint Arab attack on Jewish Holiday of Yom Kippur

• Result?– Palestine won some land back temporarily

Shocking interaction between Egypt and Israel

• November 1977: Shocking speech by Sadat to Israel• It is rumored that Sadat was pressured by the USA to

make a PEACE offer to Israel!• What did Sadat expect in return?

– Recognize rights of Palestinians to the land– Israeli’s had to withdraw from Egypt, Syria and Jordan

• US Reaction: President Jimmy Carter– 1978: Camp David Accords: First signed agreement between

Arab country and Israel. Ended 30 years of hostility between Egypt and Israel.

• Shocking Result for Sadat: Assassinated by a Muslim extremist who didn’t want peace with the Jews!

Where are they now?Where are they now?• As of September of 2000, at least 1,200

Israeli’s have died in this conflict, and 9,000+ Palestinians have died.

• View the following graphic:

• Israeli/Palestinian Death tolls since 2000

Wednesday’s Homework:Wednesday’s Homework:• View the following Youtube clip at home to help finalize your thoughts on

the true ownership of Israel:– Hip Hughes: View on Palestinian/Israeli Conflict

• MOMENT OF TRUTH: To whom do you think this land – once referred to as Canaan, Palestine, Israel, Judea, etc – belongs to?

• Find THREE news articles or books to help you build your argument. Make sure you take notes on these article and can SITE these sources as we debate the issues tomorrow (you may even want to print off the articles). You may NOT use any source beginning with the pre-fix “wiki”. Please make sure your site SOUNDS credible (meaning, it’s not listed as “Mary Johnson’s Global 9 reflection”) and attempt to find unbiased sites. For example, the official “PLO” webpage is not a good idea to search … for this assignment AND in life. You will get put on an FBI “most wanted” page, so try to stay away from obviously biased pages.