Erupting in 1987, a revolt called the Infitada began in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. This revolt was initially started by local Palestinians residents and was soon characterized by rock throwing as their only means of opposing the Israeli military forces. As images began to circulate of civilians armed with rocks fighting for their rights against the heavily armed Israeli forces in a one-sided conflict they began to win a substantial amount of sympathy for their struggle in the neighboring Islamic communities. A few years later in 1991, the Infitada had all but ended. Instead the increased Israeli repression during this epoch seemed to be laying the initial groundwork for future violence in the region. This time period between the end of the first Infitada and the beginning of the second contain key events that help explain why the outbreak of the second Infitada transpired.
An important historical event thats marked the end of the fist Infitada and tried to combat the violence that came with it, was the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. The Oslo Accords was a formal agreement between Israel and the PLO, that allowed for the creation of a Palestinian Authority which would be responsible for administering the territory under the PLO’s control. This agreement also called for the gradual removal of Israeli forces it from the Gaza Strip and a small area around Jericho. It also marked the first time the PLO formally recognized Israel, expressed a desire to be at a peaceful coexistence with them and renounced all acts of violence. With this Israel intern formally gave the PLO the status of being the voice of the Palestinian people. While this was great for the members of the PLO it marginalized others by implicitly tel...
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...o the final status negotiations that were originally set to be completed in 1998 with the Oslo Accords; but this never happens. To make matters worse the territories ruled by the Palestinian Authority, in West Bank and Gaza Strip, largely get overrun by corrupt Palestinian rule, economic hardship, and the increased presence of the Israeli military. The areas they controlled included areas around Jericho, Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah, and Nablus in the north. The inadequate size of territory the Palestinian’s did have were, stricken with poverty controlled by corrupt authorities and had a increasing presence of the Israeli military. These factors all play a pivotal role into understanding why the events that occurred on September 28, 2000 when Ariel Sharon and a escort of Israeli police visited the Temple mount complex would lead to the start of the second Infitada.
Bob Hawke once said; “Unless and until something concrete is done about addressing the Israeli-Palestinian issue you won't get a real start on the war against terrorism.” Perhaps Hawke put into a few simple words one of the most complicated issues within our world today, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As Israel continues to strip the Palestinians of their land and fears it’s very existence because of the Palestinians terrorist acts, there seems to be no solution in sight. The world appears to be split and all over the place when it comes to this matter. According to The Middle East Institute for Understanding approximately 129 countries recognize Palestine as a state while many others do not. Over all the political matters within this issue not only affect Palestine and Israel but the world as a whole, as the Middle East and the West seem to disagree. This has had and will continue to have an enormous impact on many political affairs all over the world particularly in the current fight against terrorism. Personally I feel that the Israeli Palestinian conflict while being a very complicated matter has a simple solution. Within this issue I am a firm believer that the occupation of the West Bank by Israeli forces is extremely unjust and must come to an end. Once this is achieved a two state solution will be the most effective way to bring peace to the area. The occupation of the West Bank violates political and legal rights, human rights, and illegally forces Palestinians who have lived in the area for hundreds of years from their land. This conflict is at the height of its importance and a solution is of dire need as nuclear issues arise in the Middle East due to the tension between Israel and it’s surrounding neighbors, and the...
Lockman, Z., & Beinin, J. (1989). Intifada: The Palestinian Uprising Against Israeli Occupation. Cambridge, MA: South End Press.
This marked the beginning of the Palestine armed conflict, one of its kinds to be witnessed in centuries since the fall of the Ottoman Empire and World War 1. Characterized by a chronology of endless confrontations, this conflict has since affected not only the Middle East relations, but also the gl...
Since the inception of an Israeli nation-state in 1948, violence and conflict has played a major role in Israel’s brief history. In the Sixty-One year’s Israel has been a recognized nation-state, they have fought in 6 interstate wars, 2 civil wars, and over 144 dyadic militarized interstate disputes (MIDs) with some display of military force against other states (Maoz 5). Israel has been involved in constant conflict throughout the past half century. Israel’s tension against other states within the Middle East has spurred vast economic, social, and political unity that has fostered a sense of nationalism and unity in Israel not seen in most other states. Over the next several pages I will try and dissect the reasons for why the nation state of Israel has been emerged in constant conflict and how this conflict has helped foster national unity and identity among the people of Israel.
“There is no such thing as a Palestinian.” Stated former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir after three fourths of one million Palestinians had been made refugees, over five hundred towns and cities had been obliterated, and a new regional map was drawn. Every vestige of the Palestinian culture was to be erased. Resolution 181, adopted in 1947 by the United Nations declared the end of British rule over Palestine (the region between the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River) and it divided the area into two parts; a state for the Jewish and one for the Arab people, Palestine. While Israel was given statehood, Palestine was not. Since 1947, one of the most controversial issues in the Middle East, and of course the world, is the question of a Palestinian state. Because of what seems a simple question, there have been regional wars among Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, terrorist attacks that happen, sometimes daily, displacement of families from their homes, and growing numbers of people living in poverty. Granting Palestinian statehood would significantly reduce, or alleviate, tensions in the Middle East by defining, once and for all, the area that should be Palestine and eliminating the bloodshed and battles that has been going on for many years over this land.
... attacks that have shocked the international community. The main targets have been Israelis and PLO officials, also westerners were targets until late 1980’s. Abu Nidal strongly resisted against peace negotiations between Arab and Israeli. This resistance was throughout the United States, PLO; moderate Arab regimes in Jordan, Egypt and Persian Gulf states. They were trained by many countries such as Iraq, Syria and Libya which helped the organization get funding and logistical support. Abul Nidal didn’t always have successful terror operations but there were always some casualties in the terror events. Abu Nidal was looking at the plans and would go the other way of the PLO and this would create a high tension between the groups and some countries. Abu Nidal wanted to eliminate the state of Israel as a Jewish state and make the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Palestinians are restricted by the Israeli soldiers as they hinder them at checkpoints between cities. Therefore, Palestinians must get approval each day to finish everyday tasks. However since Palestinians use terrorism to revolt the Israeli soldiers ab...
The Israeli-Palestine conflict is an event that has been well documented throughout the course of Middle-Eastern history. The conflict dates back as far as the nineteenth century where Palestine and Zionist, will later be known as Israel, are two communities each with different ideologies had the same overwhelming desire to acquire land. However, what makes this clash what it is, is the fact that both of these up and coming communities are after the same piece of land. The lengths that both sides went to in order obtain they believed was theirs has shaped the current relationship between the two nations today.
Bourke, Dale Hanson. The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Tough Questions, Direct Answers. Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity, 2013. N. pag. Print.
Palestine (PFLP) formed in 1967 after the Arab States defeat in the Six Day War and is classified as a Marxist-Leninist group lead by George Habash. The group formed originally started under the authority of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) (State, US Department of). The PLO was established three short years before the PFLP due to rising conflicts of the Arab nations in regards to politics and Israel (Robinson). The Popular Front
John F. Kennedy once said, “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable (Good Reads, 2014).” This wise quote sums up the Libyan conflict perfectly. The people of Libya peacefully protested against the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi who violently retaliated and this led to what the world now refers to as the Libyan conflict. This conflict was one of the many that were apart of the chain of uprisings that spread across the Middle East by civilians trying to gain freedom from their governments. These uprisings were known as the Arab Spring. The Arab Spring started in Tunisia when a man set himself on fire in front of a government building in protest to the actions of a policewoman toward him . Egypt, Syria, Yemen, and other nations such as Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco and Oman all had uprisings and protests related to the Arab Spring. The Libyan conflict started in February of 2011 as a result of the brutal rule of Gaddafi toward his people. The violence that the Gaddafi government was committing toward the Libyan people made the world turn against the government. Due to the fact that the rebels were out-gunned and unorganized, the support of the UN Security Council greatly helped them. After eight months of fighting and approximately 25,000 lives lost, Gaddafi was captured and killed and Libya was officially liberated from the absolute dictatorship of Muammar Gaddafi.
In mid-November of last year amidst rising tensions in the Middle East, Israel launched a major offensive against Palestinian militants in Gaza on Wednesday, killing the military commander, Ahmed Al-Jabari of Hamas in an air strike. This strike on a car carrying the commander stemmed the beginning to what is known by the Israeli’s as operation “Pillar of Defense”. Following this “surgical” assassination, the Israeli air force struck over 20 underground rocket launch sites belonging to Hamas (governing terrorist organization in Gaza) and the Islamic Jihad. According to Palestinian sources these strikes killed an additional six Palestinians.
Ben-Gurion, David. “Status-Quo Agreement.” In Israel in the Middle East: Second Edition, edited by Itamar Rabinovich and Jehude Reinharz, 58-59. Waltham: Brandeis University Press, 2008.
For many centuries, Judaic and Arabian societies have engaged in one of the most complicated and lengthy conflicts known to mankind, the makings of a highly difficult peace process. Unfortunately for all the world’s peacemakers the Arab-Israeli conflict, particularly the war between Israel and the Palestinian Territories, is rooted in far more then ethnic tensions. Instead of drawing attention towards high-ranking officials of the Israeli government and Hamas, focus needs to be diverted towards the more suspect and subtle international relations theory of realism which, has imposed more problems than solutions.
The revolution was similar thematically to the Yom Kippur War in that Israel was surprised and slow to respond to the attacks. However, this time the attacks came from a grassroots group of Palestinians, rather than the Egyptian army. It’s easy to romanticize the intifada in the same way Americans view the Summer of Love. The songs and poems of protest were prevalent, and the original attackers were mainly women and children. This fact made it hard for the Israelis to strike back whilst maintaining a good moral conscience. The attitude of the Israelis became one of guilt, and the intifada “damaged the sense of superiority many Israelis had harbored toward the Palestinians” (282). The Israeli side characterizes the intifada as directly causal of the Oslo Accords, citing a newly level playing field and a need for resolution. In the Palestinian side, the Oslo Accords seem as though they will only hold back the fighters briefly, and that they do not represent a long term