Historical Background
to the Palestine-Israel
Conflict
Prepared for the Forum on the Palestine-Israel Conflict
09 May 2002 at the UP PCED Hostel
By Rey Claro Casambre
of the PHILIPPINE PEACE CENTER
and the
INTERNATONAL LEAGUE OF PEOPLES’ STRUGGLE
Study Commission on Peace
1
Introduction

This paper aims to provide a brief
historical background on the war
currently raging in the Occupied
Territories, especially at the West
Bank, between the Palestinians
and the Israelis
2
The history of the
Palestine-Israel conflict may
be discussed in four periods
From ancient times to the end of World War I
The British Mandate of Palestine – 1917-1948
The establishment of the state of Israel and
the Israel-Arab Wars (1948-1982)
Peace talks and the First Intefada
3
Ancient Times to the End of World War I





1250 BC - Israelites conquer Canaan; King David,
Solomon (965-928)and other Hebrew rulers
586BC - Jews driven out by Assyrian conqueror
Nebuchadnezzer
Succession of Assyrian, Persian (539BC), Greek
(333BC), Egyptian, Syrian, Roman Byzantine (63
BC), and Arab rulers from Damascus (661-750), Iraq
(750-1258), and Cairo (969-1099, 1187-1516), and
the Crusaders (1099-1187) .
Palestine incorporated into the Ottoman Empire from
1516-1917
Zionism – the movement to establish a separate
Jewish state in Palestine – was born in the end of
the 19th century
4
The Middle East in 1917

Middle East in 1917
5
6
The British Mandate (1917-48)

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 pledged
Britain’s support for “the establishment
in Palestine of a national home for the
Jewish people” and paid lip service to
safeguarding the civil and political rights
of the non-Jewish communities in
Palestine

Successive waves of migrations
increased Jewish population in Palestine
from less than 6% in 1903 to 31% in 1945
7
UN RESOLUTION 181 PAVES WAY TO THE
ESTABLISHMENT OF ISRAEL IN PALESTINE



29 Nov 1947 - UN Resolution 181 – partitioning
Palestine into a Jewish state (56.5% of Palestine)
and a Palestinian state (43%); rejected by the
Palestinians and Arab states.
14 May 1948 - State of Israel proclaimed in Tel
Aviv at 4:00 P.M. , recognized by US President
Truman
15 May 1948 - British Mandate ends.
Declaration of State of Israel comes into effect.
8
9
The Arab-Israeli Wars

1949 – First Arab-Israeli War

1956 – Suez Campaign (Oct 29-Nov 5)

1967 - Six-Day War (June 5-10)

Israel occupies: Sinai Peninsula,
Golan Heights, Gaza Strip, & the
West Bank

1973 - October War (Yom Kippur)

1982 - Israeli invasion of Lebanon
10
11
12
Six-Day War
1967
June 5-10
13
October 1973 War
(Yom Kippur)
14
Peace Talks
and the Intefada

1978 Camp David Accords between Israel and
Egypt; Israel turns over Sinai to Egypt in exchange for
recognition of right to exist

1987 - the outbreak of the first Palestinian intefada
in December 1987 triggered by death of Palestinian youths
run over by Israeli lorry (military personnel carrier)

1988 - Yasser Arafat's condemnation of
terrorism and recognition of the state of Israel in
December 1988.

1991 October - The Madrid peace conference
15

1992 - secret Israeli-Palestinian talks in Oslo, Norway

1993 Declaration of Principles (DoP), signed by Yasser
Arafat and Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin:
o
set up the Palestinian Authority, but
o
failed to resolve the issues of :
§
return of Palestinian refugees
§
the status of Jerusalem
§
Israeli settlements
§
final Palestine-Israel borders

1994 – Arafat returned to Gaza Strip and West bank to
head the Palestinian Authority
16
However, Israel
wielded full authority
and control by
frequently sealing off
the Palestiniangoverned areas from
the rest of the
Occupied Territories
and from Israel.
17


July 2000 – Camp David Summit
called by US President Bill Clinton.
After two weeks of intensive
negotiation with Arafat and Barak, the
talks end without a deal. Barak resigns
shortly after and Ariel Sharon elected
Prime Minister
27 September 2000- Second
Intefada erupts
18
Since 2002 – additions by
Joe Naumann

Hamas wins elections in Gaza

Hamas fires missiles into Israel

2009 - Israel bombs and invades
Gaza
19