DISARMAMENT & INTERNATIONAL SECURITY COMMITTEE (DISEC)
TOPIC: THE ISRAEL PALESTINE CONFLICT & ITS EXTENSION TO LEBANON, YEMEN
AND IRAN
RESEARCH DIRECTION DOCUMENT
The Israel Palestine Conflict & Its Extension to Lebanon, Yemen
and Iran
History of the Problem
The roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict lie already in the late 19th and early 20th century. The conflict
was caused by the birth of major nationalist movements among the Jewish as well as among the Arabs
whereby both aimed to create a sovereign state for their people in similar regions in the Middle East. At
that time, there was global nationalist movement going on as people from around the world began to
identify themselves as nations and strive to become independent. Furthermore, members of the Jewish
diaspora (this refers to the Jews that had been exiled from their kingdoms as far back as 733 BC) sought
to create their own state with real borders, rather than being a nation spread around the world. After the
Second World War, this new movement in which they tried to identify a place where Jews could come
together to form an independent nation grew stronger. The region of Palestine with important religious
sites such as the city of Jerusalem seemed, for many, to be the best location. The Jewish nationalist
movements, also known as Zionist movements, had already started in 1882 with the first mass
immigration of European Jews. Conflict started to boil up in 1947 with the emergence of Palestinian
nationalism which has its roots in the 1920s and escalated when other Arab states started to get involved.
The conflict developed into a crisis between Palestinian Arabs and Israelis in the region.
After having been under Ottoman rule for over 300 years, the area came under British rule during the
1st World War, as stated in the Sykes-Pikot Agreement between Britain and France in 1916. The British
planned to divide the territory into a made two parts – the Arab state Transjordan (as promised in the
McMahon-Hussein Correspondence in 1915) and the Jewish Palestinian state (as promised in the
Balfour Declaration of 1917). Although several attempts were made to reconcile both sides to implement
this decision such as the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, the London Conference (1920) and finally the
San Remo Conference (1920), no agreement was ever lastingly achieved. The Faisal-Weizmann
Agreement, which established the British Mandate and called for a demarcation of the borders for these
areas by a special commission therefore was signed by all parties in 1919 but never implemented. Under
arising conflicts and in the aftermath of World War II, the British government decided to terminate their
mandate in 1947 and referred to United Nations for all matters regarding the future of Palestine. In
reaction to this, the UN formed the United Nations Special Committee on the Status of Palestine
(UNSCOP). This committee deliberated during three months until finally proposing what became
known as the UN Partition Plan to the UN General Assembly. The proposal recommended a partition
with Economic Union of Mandatory Palestine to follow the termination of the British Mandate.
It is worth mentioning that, prior to the Balfour Declaration of 1917, a concerted effort began in earnest
in which the message of a possible homeland for the Jews was spread across the Middle East, North
Africa and Europe which translated into hundreds and thousands of Jewish settlers coming in from all
over the world to start settle in areas of Palestine. The Palestinians, were welcoming and did all that they
could to make these people feel welcome. Between 1904 and 1947, the Jewish population in Palestine
grew rapidly from below four percent to over thirty-six percent of the population of Palestine. And this
the preamble to the demand of a separate state. For the Jewish people to have a homeland of their own,
there needed to be enough Jewish people in Palestine to demand a separate state. And with the Mandate
DISEC Research Direction Document
of Palestine resting with the British after the 1st World War, it was only a matter of time that the Balfour
Declaration found its way into the halls of the British Parliament.
On 29 November 1947, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a
resolution recommending the adoption and implementation of the Plan
as Resolution 181(II). The recommendation in the resolution included
the creation of the independence of the two states, Israel and Palestine,
and an International Regime (Corpus Separatum) for the city of
Jerusalem.
The Partition Plan, a four-part document attached to the resolution,
provided for the termination of the British Mandate, the progressive
withdrawal of British armed forces and the delineation of boundaries
between the two States and Jerusalem. Part I of the Plan stipulated that
the Mandate would be terminated as soon as possible, and the United
Kingdom would withdraw no later than 1 August 1948. The new states
would come into existence two months after the withdrawal, but no later
than 1 October 1948. The Plan sought to address the conflicting
objectives and claims of two competing movements: Arab nationalism
in Palestine and Jewish nationalism. The Plan also called for Economic
Union between the proposed states, and for the protection of religious
and minority rights. The Plan was accepted by the Jewish public, except
for its fringes, and by the Jewish Agency despite its perceived
limitations.
Land in the lighter shade represents
territory within the borders of Israel
at the conclusion of the 1948 war.
Arab leaders and governments rejected the plan of partition in the
resolution and indicated an unwillingness to accept any form of territorial division. Their reason was
that it violated the principles of national self-determination in the UN charter which granted people the
right to decide their own destiny. Immediately after adoption of the Resolution by the General Assembly,
the civil war broke out. The partition plan was not implemented.
In 1967, the Six-Day War broke out in which Israel took the West Bank, Gata Sinai, East Jerusalem and
the Golan. Regarding these threats and invasions, the Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution
242 sponsored by the United Kingdom. It stressed five different principles: withdrawal of Israeli forces,
peace within secure and recognised boundaries, freedom of navigation, a just settlement of the refugee
problem and security measures including demilitarised zones. The last Security Council action was in
1973 adopting Resolution 338 which called for a ceasefire in the Yom Kippur War, which broke out in
1973 and constituted an attempt by a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria against Israel from
October 6 to 25. With the exception of isolated attacks on Israeli territory on 6 and 9 October, the military
combat actions during the war took place on Arab territory, mostly in the Sinai and the Golan Heights.
Egypt's stated goal for the war was the expelling of the Israeli forces occupying Sinai. In 1974, the UN
General Assembly Resolution 3236 recognised the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination,
national independence and sovereignty in Palestine. This was another milestone in the international
realm that officially acknowledged the UN’s contact with the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO)
and made them the official representative of the Palestine people to the UN, as well as adding the
‘Question of Palestine’ to the UN agenda. Even though U.S. action is still preventing Palestine from
becoming an official member state, something the PLO is still fighting for, they were granted
Nonmember Observer Status on the 29th of November 2012 by the United Nations Member States. The
move was considered mostly symbolic, and although United States and Israeli Governments strongly
contested this measure, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed support for it.
DISEC Research Direction Document
The first key issue of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict is the territorial dispute according to
the establishment of the Palestinian State. The
Jewish population have continued to set up
settlements in the West Bank even though the
territory belongs to Palestine. Furthermore,
another key issue concerns the status of East
Jerusalem and whether or not it shall be a part
of Israel or become a part of Palestine.
Secondly, the status of Palestinian people has
been ignored several times and have hence
become another main problem in the conflict.
According to Article 13 of the UN Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has
the right to return to their home country of
origin. The Israeli however didn’t give
allowance to the Palestinian refugees to return
to their country of origin, as in doing so, they
would have lost the majority of their
population. A third issue is the political split in
Palestine which led to a division in Palestine
itself. The politics have remained divided
between the Hamas, who have control over the
Gaza Strip and the Fatah who are in control of
the West Bank. The Hamas are politically
inclined towards a peaceful solution whereas
the Fatah believe that Palestinian Arabs need
to be liberated by their own actions. Both
parties declared themselves as the legitimated
representatives of the Palestinian population.
As fourth and final key issue the lack of clean
drinking water in the region can be identified.
Israeli are only able to have a one third water
consumption compared to Palestine whereby
only 4% are seen as drinking water. 50% are
used as agricultural water and therefore cannot
be used as drinking water. The scarcity has
become worse over the last years.
DISEC Research Direction Document
The Israel-Palestine conflict, also called as the “Question of Palestine”, has concerned the UN since the
organisation’s foundation in 1947. It has remained in their agenda until today and remains highly controversial.
Questions posed by the conflict concern the development of modern statehood, the necessity of international
recognition, the security of state borders as Palestine remains occupied territory. Moreover, the availability of
drinking water is limited in many areas and therefore further increases tensions between the local populations.
The most important resolutions which have been passed by the UN are the following:
•
•
•
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Resolution 181 (Future government of Palestine)
Resolution 242 (aftermath of the Six-Day War)
Resolution 338 (the Yom Kippur War)
Resolution 3236 (Palestinian people's right to self-determination)
Situationer: Hamas’ October Surprise
Hamas launched a massive three-pronged offensive on the 7th
of October 2023, ironically exactly fifty years and one day
after the Yom-Kippur war of 1973. This offensive caught
Israeli security and intelligence forces off-guard in one of the
most fundamental intelligence coups in recent memory.
Hamas launched attacks from the air, firing over 5,000
rockets deep into Israeli territory, exhausting Israel’s IronDome defence system, a system made developed by Israel
with the assistance of the US, that is used to intercept
incoming projectiles and eliminate them before they hit
Israeli populated areas. Hamas also launched massive ground
assaults, breaching the electric fences that separate Israeli
territory from the Gaza Strip. An estimated 1,000 Hamas
militants also breached the security barrier at several
positions. Gaza has seven border crossings with only three
operational.
Hamas reportedly breached the borders initially by sending
elite troops in via hang gliders, and those soldiers then began
to dismantle the electric fences and walls using explosives.
Bulldozers were reportedly then used to create space for
more fighters to enter Israel in several places.
Following the entry attack, militants attacked the Israeli
Defense Forces (IDF) southern Gaza headquarters and
overran multiple military and police facilities. Hamas caught the IDF off guard, and its troops were able to move
quickly through the border area, reaching up to 14 miles from the border. Other militants attacked towns,
kibbutzim, and roads, killing and abducting hundreds of Israeli officers and civilians. Israeli authorities
recovered at least 260 bodies at the site of a music festival near Re’im, close to where Hamas militants breached
the security fence. An estimated 130 hostages were moved into Gaza.
Israel has declared all-out war against Hamas and has been preparing a ground invasion into the Gaza Strip. The
IDF announced Operation Iron Swords to retake territory from Hamas. Fighting broke out at multiple locations
stretching along the border between Gaza and Israel, including in the border town of Sderot, where Hamas
militants seized the local police station. Clashes between the IDF and Hamas continued through Monday, 9
October, as militants holed up in several locations east of Gaza engaged in gun battles with Israeli forces.
DISEC Research Direction Document
The IDF began to strike compounds believed to house Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip, as well as civilian
areas. Israeli fighter jets are reported to have hit over 1,000 targets, including the headquarters of a radio station,
residential buildings, and mosques. BBC, Gaza hospital deluged as Israel retaliation kills and wounds hundreds,
9 October 2023. Airstrikes leveled most of the town of Beit Hanoun, situated in Gaza’s northeast corner. An
airstrike on a market area in the Jabalia refugee camp, which lies just north of Gaza city, reportedly killed over
50 people on 9 October.
Crimson as far as the Eye can See – A year of Blood
Israel’s response has been swift as much as it has been devastating. Israel’s tactics of collective punishment have
plunged the entire region into further chaos, killing over 44,500 civilians and injuring over 101,340 over the
course of this past year alone. Israel has been systemically driving Palestinians towards zones that Israel itself
states will be safe from bombings, and then bombs those locations anyway. UN safe zones, UN run schools,
shelters and food factories have not been spared either. In fact, Israel decimated the Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest
medical complex operating in the Gaza Strip, because it suspected the organization of harbouring Hamas
fighters and storing their weapons. It was under this guise that the Israeli forces entered and completely
annihilated any form of life in the compound.
Fast forward nearly thirteen months and the body count has been adding up, with no end in site. Israel has
engaged in constant attacks in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and now Iran. Although there is no incontrovertible proof
of Israel’s involvement, the killing of Iran’s top nuclear scientist, the assassination of Iran’s top lieutenant of the
Iran Revolutionary Guard Corp. (IRGC) in Syria, the assassination of the leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, in
Tehran through a remote detonated bomb, and lastly the deadly attack on Beirut which murdered Hezbollah’s
commander was what it took to push Iran over the brink. And so, on 1st October 2024 Iran launched 200 ballistic
missiles on military targets in Israel, which overwhelmed its missile defence systems and showed Israel that it
was not beyond Iran’s reach.
Israel has since responded in kind, through an aerial attack on Iran’s military installations, using Iraq and Syria’s
airspace, at the cost of much protest by both parties. This has broken a forty year taboo that Iran might live to
regret. Both adversaries had spent decades avoiding direct confrontation, instead choosing to do battle in the
shadows. Israel used clandestine operations to assassinate key Iranian figures and execute cyberattacks on vital
facilities as Iran continued activating its Arab proxy militias to attack the Jewish state from Syria, Lebanon,
Iraq, Yemen and from within the Gaza Strip.
Key Issues at Stake
Permanent Settlement & the Two-State Solution
The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (the Committee) has
consistently supported all international efforts aimed at pursuing peace negotiations as a way of ending the
occupation and resolving the question of Palestine in all its aspects on the basis of international law and United
Nations resolutions. The Committee welcomed the 1991 Madrid peace process, as well as the 1993 Declaration
of Principles and subsequent agreements reached by Israel and the PLO. In 2002, the Committee welcomed the
affirmation of a vision of a region where two States, Israel and Palestine, would live side by side within secure
and recognized borders, as set out in Security Council resolution 1397 (2002). The Committee urged the swift
realization of that objective, through a concrete step-by-step mechanism covering the political, economic and
security fields within a specified time frame. In this respect, the Committee also welcomed the peace
initiative adopted by the Arab States at their summit in Beirut on 28 March 2002 and asked Israel to reciprocate
in good faith.
The Committee supports the continuing efforts of the diplomatic Quartet, consisting of the United States of
America, the Russian Federation, the European Union and the United Nations, particularly for promoting a
peace plan entitled “A performance-based road map to a permanent two-State solution to the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict”, which was endorsed by the Security Council in its resolution 1515 (2003). The Committee urged the
Quartet and the international community to help the parties implement their obligations under the plan, relating
notably to questions of security and the freezing of settlement activity.
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The Right of Return
According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA),
Palestinian refugees are defined as “persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1
June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict.”
As a consequence of the violence which accompanied the inception of the Israeli state in historic Palestine
between 1947 and 1949, over 700,000 Palestinians became refugees.
The number of registered Palestinian refugees, as of the beginning of 2017, are 5,340,433.1 Palestinian refugees
include Palestinians who have made temporary homes of camps (sometimes in war zones), those within Israel,
the occupied territories, around the Middle East and across the world.
Fundamental to the issue of refugees is the idea of return. The Palestinian right of return is one of the most
significant issues which are said to form the pillars of a political settlement for Palestinian rights and justice. It
refers to the position and principle that Palestinian refugees, both first-generation refugees and their
descendants, have a right to return to the property that they themselves or their forebears were forced to leave
in what is now Israel and the Palestinian territories. The right of return is embedded in four bodies of
international law: the law of nationality, humanitarian law, human rights law and refugee law. UN resolution
194 (which has been affirmed 135 times between 1948-2000 by the UN General Assembly) itself is clear in
indicating the right of Palestinian refugees to return and their rights of restitution and compensation. Under
international law, refugees who choose not to return must be resettled and compensated.
DISEC Research Direction Document
Territory
The current arrangement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in terms of territory is shameful.
Palestinians have the Gaza Strip, a small enclave that abuts the Mediterranean Sea and Egypt to the southwest.
It is one of the most densely populated areas on the planet, which resembles an open-air prison. Israel’s blockade
means that nothing can come into the Gaza Strip without Israel’s sole approval. Often times food, water, medical
aid and other essentials are held up at the checkpoints and the economic condition in the Gaza Strip is so bad
that there are six to seven refugee camps within the Gaza Strip. It is one of the most densely populated areas in
the world, with close to 1 million people. Poverty and unemployment are rampant. The Islamic Palestinian
party, Hamas, is very strong in Gaza. There are only a few Jewish settlements in Gaza, and they are guarded by
thousands of Israeli soldiers.
The West Bank is situated west of the Jordan River and Dead Sea, and east of most of Israel. Israel has occupied
the land since its victory in 1967. It is now home to 2.1 million people, over 200,000 of whom are Jewish
settlers. Of the 1.9 million Palestinians, over 500,000 are refugees, many still living in refugee camps. The
economy is largely agricultural. Until the past two years, both Palestinian and Jewish residents who live in the
West Bank crossed the border into Israel each day to work. Now only Jews can do so.
Israel’s population is about 6.6 million. 5.3 million are Jews and 1.3 million are Arabs and others (such as
Druze). If Israel were to absorb the territories it currently occupies, its population would be about 9.7 million,
with 4.2 million non-Jews.
Security
Israel says that it cannot accept Palestinian authority over the occupied territories if the security of Israeli citizens
is not guaranteed. Thus, the Israeli government continues to hold Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority
responsible for the attacks on civilians in Israel. In addition, even if the borders of Israel were more secure,
Israel does not trust the Palestinians to ensure the security of Jewish settlements. On the other hand, Palestinians
do not believe that Israel will ever allow true self-determination. Even as Israel withdrew troops from some
major cities in the West Bank, soldiers continued to protect Jewish settlements. In fact, most Palestinians claim
that there was never any Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories, merely redeployment. For the past two
years, to ensure security, the occupied territories have been under a near total “lock-down.” Palestinians, who
depend on work in Israel, cannot travel there anymore. Often, Palestinians cannot travel from town to town.
Israeli military checkpoints are omnipresent. Military curfews are often imposed, and schools shut down
frequently. The economic consequences for Palestinians have been devastating. The average income of a
Palestinian in the occupied territories is now 10% of that of an Israeli.
More Israeli citizens have been killed by terrorist attacks under Prime Minister Sharon’s term than under any
other period of an Israeli prime minister. This is second only to the current barrage of attacks that started on
October 7th 2023 in which over 2,000 Israelis have been killed. And the retaliation for such attacks has usually
been very strong, including the use of tanks and airpower in the West Bank and Gaza. While some of the major
figures in radical Palestinian groups have been killed or captured, most of the victims have been Palestinian
civilians. Israel continues to demand that the Palestinian Authority be responsible for preventing terrorist
attacks, yet the Israeli military has destroyed most of the infrastructure and the capacity of the Palestinians to
act as a functioning government authority.
Settlements
The first settlements in the occupied territories sprang up shortly after the 1967 war and were intended
essentially as security outposts. A few religious groups set up Jewish settlements to stake a claim to what they
thought were ancient biblical lands. By 1980, there were 12,000 settlers, most of whom were religious Jews
who saw the land of the West Bank as the sacred biblical lands of Judea and Samaria. These settlers were
encouraged to settle in the Palestinian territories by the Likud government in the late 1970s. In the 1980s,
economic incentives were utilised by the government to entice new settlers to the land and the government itself
was building many of the new Jewish communities in the West Bank.
DISEC Research Direction Document
The first settlements in the occupied territories sprang up shortly after the 1967 war and were intended
essentially as security outposts. A few religious groups set up Jewish settlements to stake a claim to what they
thought were ancient biblical lands.
By 1980, there were 12,000 settlers, most of whom were religious Jews who saw the land of the West Bank as
the sacred biblical lands of Judea and Samaria. These settlers were encouraged to settle in the Palestinian
territories by the Likud government in the late 1970s. In the 1980s, economic incentives were utilised by the
government to entice new settlers to the land and the government itself was building many of the new Jewish
communities in the West Bank.The number of settlers by 1990 was 76,000 and by 1995 was 146,000. Today,
the figure is close to 210,000 settlers, almost all of whom are in the West Bank. Most of the settlements close
to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv house Israelis who moved there because the housing was cheaper and the commutes
to jobs easier. Many of those who live in more remote settlements strongly believe that Israel has a right to this
land and have worked very hard to undermine any peace agreement that would cede territory to Palestinians.
Jerusalem
In the original UN partition plan, Jerusalem was to remain under international authority because of its prime
status for the religions of Judaism, Islam and Christianity. In 1948 the state of Israel controlled the western part
of Jerusalem while Jordan controlled the eastern part, including the old city, home to the most important holy
sites of the three religions. Israel wants to maintain sovereignty and control over all of Jerusalem while the
Palestinians want sovereignty over East Jerusalem and to establish it as the capital of a Palestinian state. East
Jerusalem is majority Arab but new Jewish settlements have been built to help solidify the Israeli claim to the
whole city.
International Involvement
In looking at the subject of international involvement it is important to look at the issue from three group
perspectives. These groups are the EU/US, League of Arab States, and the Organization of the Islamic
Conference. The EU/US looks at the situation between Israel and Palestine with a “two pillar” approach. On
one pillar, this group sees co-existing Israeli and Palestinian states as a key to peace and stability in the region.
On the second pillar, this group sees human rights standards, dismantling terrorism, and standards of good
democratic governance as another key to long lasting peace and stability in the region.
While the EU/US look at the issue from a more top down perspective, the League of Arab States and the
Organization of the Islamic Conference approach the issue from a bottom up, human rights perspective. These
groups have taken the issues of housing, decreasing the use of military force on civilians, water, food, building
infrastructure and refugees to the forefront of debate.
Besides the EU/US, other western countries have also thrown their support squarely behind Israel, with Canada,
Australia, New Zealand and India.
With a handful of Muslim countries that now recognise Israel and have initiated trade with it, UAE being at the
forefront of that list, Muslim unity on the subject of Israel’s unilateral genocide of Palestinians seems an
anachronistic concept. UAE gave a statement on the 8th of October 2023 wherein it called the Hamas attack on
Israel a serious and grave escalation, condemning the appalling act of 150 citizens taken hostage. However, its
comments on Israel’s disproportionate collective punishment being meted out to the Palestinians have been
lukewarm at best.
The efforts of international aid organisations, NGOs, the UN and its various organs and those of the international
community in getting aid to the Gaza Strip and West Bank following this massive assault on civilians are
ongoing, but with Israel controlling the border crossings, the movement of this aid into Gaza is slow and tedious.
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Questions a Resolution Must Answer
1. How should the current ramp up in hostilities be dealt with?
2. With the consistent veto of the US on any resolutions in the UNGA or UNSC, what should the UN and
member countries do to put pressure on Israel?
3. What kind of immediate and short-term measures can be taken to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian
people?
4. What measures can be taken to safely free the hostages and not convert Gaza into a complete and barren
wasteland in the process?
5. What can the global community do besides just condemning the situation?
6. What bold steps are needed by the Muslim countries in the region and around the world?
7. With the fundamental issues that are at the center of this crisis still unaddressed, how will the conflict be
alleviated and concrete steps be taken to address the issues?
8. What can citizens, as consumers and stakeholders in the global economy, do to have their voices heard?
9. Now that Iran and Israel have directly engaged militarily, how can they be brought back from the brink
from an all-out war?
10. How can the international community prevent Lebanon from becoming the next Palestine?