Palestine-Israel Conflict
Authored by: Dr Qaisar Rashid
Introduction/Background
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In 1993, the Oslo Accord signed in Washington between Israel and the PLO.
The accord outlined a plan to transfer power from Israel to an interim Palestinian
authority, to materialize the two-state solution formula. In the same year, Israel
also signed both a non-belligerency agreement and a peace treaty with Jordan.
In 1995, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the PLO Chairman Yasser
Arafat initiated a historic Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement to broaden
Palestinian self-government through a legislative council and provided for
relocation of Israeli population centres existing in the West Bank. In reaction to
that, right-wing Jewish radicals assassinated Rabin for giving concessions to the
Palestinians. Afterwards, Benjamin Netanyahu became the Prime Minister.
Netanyahu belonged to the conservative Likud Party. Inside Israel, attacks on
the Jews started by the militant Palestinians.
In 1998, Arafat and Netanyahu entered into an agreement called the Wye River
Accord to revive the peace process. The formula set was ‘land for peace’ that
is, to give land and power to the Palestinians to secure Israel from violence.
About 13% more land of the West Bank was offered to Palestine by Israel.
Consequently, the PLO revoked 26 anti-Israeli paragraphs from its charter. On
the other hand, Hamas denounced the accord and vowed to continue its attacks
against Israeli targets.
Current political situation
Israeli President: Isaac Herzog, since 7 July 2021.
Israeli Prime Minister: Naftali Bennett, since 13 June 2021.
Palestinian President: Mahmoud Abbas, since 15 January 2005
(i.e. He is the President of the State of Palestine and the Palestinian National Authority)
Palestinian Prime Minister: Mohammad Ibrahim Shtayyeh, since 14 April 2019.
(i.e. He is the PM of the Palestinian National Authority)
Note: Both the President and the PM are from Fatah, a branch of the PLO of late Yasser
Arafat.
Ultimate goal: Two-state solution
Intra-Palestinian conflict
In January 2006, Hamas won the elections for the Palestinian Legislative Authority and
nominated Ismail Haniyeh its Prime Minister. In this way, Hamas established a
Palestinian national unity government with Fatah. However, there appeared a conflict
between the two. After the takeover in Gaza by Hamas on 14 June 2007, Palestinian
Authority chairman Abbas dismissed the Hamas-led government and appointed Salam
Fayyad as Prime Minister. Though the new government's authority is claimed to extend
to all Palestinian territories, in effect it became limited to the West Bank, as Hamas
hasn't recognized the move and continued to rule the Gaza Strip. Both administrations
– the Fatah government in Ramallah and the Hamas government in Gaza– regard
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themselves as the sole legitimate government of the Palestinian National Authority. The
international community and Palestine Liberation Organization, however, recognize
the Ramallah administration as the legitimate government. Currently, the Palestinian
Authority administers about 39% of the West Bank whereas the remaining 61% of the
West Bank is under direct Israeli military and civilian control. Since 2007, through an
elected government, the Hamas governs Gaza.
The current demands of the Palestinians
1. Freeze further Israeli settlements in West Bank
2. Put an end to Israeli occupation of West Bank and Gaza strip
3. Declare an independent Palestine state
4. Make Jerusalem the capital of the independent Palestine state
Map
Proposed separation of Palestine
In May 1948, the British Mandate of Palestine ended and British forces withdrew from
the region. On 14 May 1948, Israel proclaimed independence. An Israeli Declaration
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of Independence was made for the territory partitioned by UNSCOP (United Nations
Special Committee on Palestine) and the Jewish state of Israel came into being. The
Arab League immediately declared its refusal to recognize both the UNSC Resolution
181 and the two-state solution, favouring a one-state solution run by an Arab majority,
and including Jewish and Arab territories. This led to the first 1948 Arab-Israeli War,
as the regular armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq invaded Israel. From
the war, Israel emerged victorious over the Arabs claiming land of its ancestors. In the
aftermath of the war, the failed peace talks combined with escalating border violence
between Israel and its immediate neighbours in the following years, helped to
perpetuate Arab-Israeli enmity.
Today, the Palestinians have agreed to have two-state solution to the Palestine-Israel
conflict. So, the nature of solution is the same but boundaries are different. The
unresolved issue is ownership of Jerusalem and at the core of the issue is the issue of
the al-Aqsa mosque.
Strategy of the international players towards Israel-Palestine question
Settle the peripheral issues first and the core issues later. That is, the issues which are
less sensitive should be dealt first. For instance, the Palestinians are dependent on the
industries of Israel to earn their bread. Similarly, the Israeli industry requires cheap
labour to run itself, besides a market to sell its products. So let economic
interdependence play its role. Similarly, people-to-people contact is also important to
let the people understand one another first and talk about settlement of the thorny issues
later.
Borders/territory
The US secretary of state, John Kerry, says negotiations on borders should be based in
the pre-1967 "green line" – the armistice line drawn in 1949 at the end of the war that
followed Israel’s declaration of a state – with agreed land swaps to compensate for
Jewish settlements in the West Bank that would be incorporated into Israeli territory.
For Israel, this would mean giving up settlements deep inside the West Bank. The right
wing Jewish Home party, a key member of the coalition, has declared this a “red line”.
The 1967 line is broadly acceptable to Palestinian negotiators, but the actual route of
the border and land swap details are crucial.
Jerusalem
Both Israel and the future state of Palestine want Jerusalem as their capital. Israel, which
annexed East Jerusalem after the 1967 war, rejects any division of the city. The
international consensus is that Jerusalem would have to be the shared capital of both
states. But recent speculation suggests that the framework agreement may refer to the
Palestinian capital in “greater Jerusalem” - which could mean areas cut off from the
city centre and holy sites by the separation wall. This would be unacceptable to the
Palestinians.
Security
Israel wants to maintain a long-term military presence in the Jordan Valley, a corridor
of land in the West Bank adjacent to the Jordan border, which is under its control. It
says this is vital for its security. The Palestinians say they will not accept the continued
presence of Israeli forces within their state, and they must control their own borders.
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The US has suggested that Israel maintains a military presence in the Jordan Valley for
a limited period of time.
Refugees
The Palestinians insist that those people – and their descendants – who were forced to
flee in 1948, when Israel declared its state amid a bloody war, must have the right to
return to their former homeland. Around 5 million Palestinians are registered as
refugees. Israel refuses to countenance the return of any refugees, saying an influx
would endanger the Jewish character of the state. Previous negotiations have suggested
allowing a symbolic number of refugees to return, plus compensation for others.
The Jewish state
Israel insists that the Palestinians must recognise it as a Jewish state ahead of
negotiating the details of a deal. The Palestinians reject this, saying the nature of the
state of Israel is not their business, and no other country has been required to recognise
it as a Jewish state. Such a move would disregard Israel & infuriates Arab population,
effectively relinquish the right of return for Palestinian refugees and erase the
Palestinian historical narrative. Kerry may propose that the Palestinians recognise the
Jewish state at the final stages of a deal.
Critical Analysis:
1. According to the Oslo Accord (1993), Arafat was to announce the creating of a
Palestinian state in 1999. Arafat could do that unilaterally but Israel was going
through the process of elections in May 1999 so no party could afford to honour
the Oslo accord. Arafat was pressurized by the US and the EU to postpone that
announcement till December 1999. Later on, Arafat was pressurized to drop the
idea of unilateral announcement of the boundaries of Palestine. In violation of
the Wye River Accord, neither did Israel freeze settlements in the West Bank
nor did Israel hand over 13% of the West Bank to Palestinian Authority.
2. In November 2004, Arafat died. Hamas became stronger on the ensuring
conflict between Israel and Palestinians.
3. To date, three questions are unresolved:
 What would be the final and permanent boundaries of the state of Palestine
(under the two-state solution)?
 Who will control what part of Jerusalem? (that is, what would be the final
status of Jerusalem?)
 Whether the Palestinian refugees will resettle in the areas they used to
inhabit or be given monetary compensation for being the refugees?
Unless these three questions are resolved, the Palestinians are in a difficult position to
declare an independent Palestinian state.
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