Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

Palestinian and Israeli propaganda maps

Palestinian Mapwithout Israel

Israeli map lumping together Arab states;depicting tiny defenseless Israel

Israel

Zionism:Jewish (religious) territoriality

Israelis are multiethnicEuropean, Middle Eastern,Newer Russian, Ethiopian immigrants

Arab Israeli minority

Palestinians (in West Bank and Gaza Strip)

Arab (ethnic) territoriality

Palestinians are multireligiousMuslims and Christians

Ethnic nationalist movement, but some newer Muslim groups

Zionism - Theodore Herzl, 1896

British Palestine 1917- 48 Arab ethnic initial majority (90%)1917, Balfour Declarationsupports Zionism; immigration begins

1936-39 The “Great Uprising” - first Arab protests as Jews increasingly

Jewish religious minority grew rapidly in 1920-40s, especially during rise of Anti-semitism.

British did not allow European Jewish immigration during WWII.

UN Partition Plan, 1948• Jewish State (Israel)• Arab State (Palestine)• International Zone (Jerusalem)- never implemented

The day after the state of Israel was declared in 1848 five Arab armies from Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq invaded but were repulsed and Israel took all of the U.N. designated lands plus much of Palestinian territory (see next slide).

Jewish militia massacred scores of Palestinians. Moreover hundreds of thousands were displaced and have been refugees ever since.

Jerusalem

West (Israeli);East (Arab)with Israeli settlements

Jerusalem: Holy City to Jews, Muslims, and Christians

Israeli Settlementsand Palestinian

towns in theWest Bank, 2000

Israeli settlers see ashistoric Jewish homeland

Palestinians compareillegal settlements to

Apartheid

PalestinianAutonomy, 2000

Gradual turnover of Israeli-Occupied areas to Palestinians

for “Two-State Solution”

Plan collapsing askillings increase

Second Intifada since Sept. 2000

Israeli Defense Force reoccupies West Bank and Gaza

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)

1970s Unable to win support in U.N.; Palestinians turned to terrrorism.

1972 Munich Olympics, 11 Israeli athletes killed by PLO operatives

1974 Yasser Arafat speaks to U.N. "Today I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom

fighter's gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand."

Financial support for many years came from surrounding Arab nations and the U.S.S.R.

1992 PLO (Arafat) and Israel (Yitzhak Rabin) formally acknowledge one another as part of the Oslo Accord talks with Clinton.

Splinter Groups: Hamas, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Hezbollah

2005 Arafat dies.

2006 Hamas wins substantial portion of Palestinian vote.

Key Israeli Figures

David Ben Gurion - Zionist founder/victor in 1948

Yitzhak Rabin (74-77; 92-95) - recognized PLO; killed by Israeli radical after making peace overtures.

Menachem Begin (78-83) - Camp David Accord; peace with Egypt. Sadat killed by extremists in 1981.

Ehud Barak - aggressive Labor party peacemaker; lost power to right wing Sharon during violence of Second Intifada

Ariel Sharon - current prime minister; Likud Party right winger considered war criminal by many for his role is slaughter in Lebannon; in coma after stroke of early 2006. (Ehud Olmert takes over role.)

Main IssuesPalestinian

• Land• Right of Return• End to Settlements• Water Rights• Economics• Self-determination• End of Occupation• Access to Jerusalem

Israeli• Land• Security• Access to Jerusalem• Right to exist

Demographic DataPalestinian

• Pop: 3,500,000

• Migration: 2.1/1000

• Infant mortality: 26/1000

• Fertility rate: 6.55

• Life expectancy: 70.8

• GDP per capita: $625

• GDP growth rate: - 35%

• Religions: Muslim (predominantly Sunni) 98.7%, Christian 0.7%, Jewish

0.6%

Israeli• Pop: 6,000,000

• Migration: 1/1000

• Infant Mortality: 6.55/1000

• Fertility rate: 2.54

• Life Expectancy: 78.8

• GDP per capita: $19,000

• GDP growth rate: -1%• Religions: Jewish 80.1%, Muslim

14.6% (mostly Sunni Muslim), Christian 2.1%, other 3.2% (1996 est.)