Two State Idea:
Israel – Palestine
Shaul Arieli
2014
Balfour Declaration (2-11-1917)
“opening shot”
Arab-Palestinian
Jewish-Zionist
• The Balfour Declaration and the • British government offered its
Mandate do not mention the
support to the Zionist
collective rights of the
Organization and promised to
Palestinian Arabs in terms of selfestablish a national home for the
definition or any other political
Jewish people in the Land of
Israel
definition, despite the fact that
they constituted the vast
majority (94 percent) of the
population of Palestine at the
time.
• The Partition Report published by
the UNSCOP committee in 1947
stated: “The principle of selfdetermination was not applied to
Palestine when the Mandate
was created in 1922 due to the
aspiration to establish the Jewish
national home.”
The Mandate for Palestine
(24-7-1922)
Arab-Palestinian
Jewish-Zionist
• These two documents related to • “Whereas recognition has
the Palestinian Arabs as “nonthereby been given to the
Jewish communities” which, in
historical context of the Jewish
the framework of the Jewish
people with Palestine and to the
national home, would enjoy the
grounds for reconstituting their
“…safeguarding [of] the civil and
national home in that country”
religious rights of all the
• Noted that Britain would “be
inhabitants of Palestine,
responsible for placing the
irrespective of race and
country under such political,
religion.”
administrative and economic
conditions as will secure the
establishment of the Jewish
national home…”
Two national narratives which contradict
each other. But every one of them has
political, legal and moral valid.
The commission’s principal proposal
was that Palestine should be divided
between Jews and Arabs, since this
was “a struggle between two national
movements with valid claims that
cannot be reconciled in any manner….
other than partition…”
ArabPalestinian
JewishZionist
• The area
• Independent
intended for
Jewish
state(17%)
Arabs should be
annexed to
Transjordan under
the rule of King
Abdullah from
the Hashemite
dynasty
: “…only by means of partition can
these two opposing national
aspirations be manifested in concrete
terms, and the two peoples allowed to
take their place as independent
nations in the international community
and in the United Nations…” (Partition
Report).
Jewish-Zionist
Arab-Palestinian
• For the first time, this resolution
also recognized the right of the
Palestinian people to selfdetermination, and proposed
that this be realized through the
establishment of an
independent Arab state on 45
percent of the territory of
Palestine
•
This decision established the
legal and practical basis for the
establishment of The State of
Israel on May 14, 1948.
War of Independence (November 30, 1947 –
July 20, 1949),
Arab-Palestinian
Jewish-Zionist
• This war began on the initiative
of the Palestinians after they
rejected the Partition Resolution.
• On April 16, 1948, Jamal Hussein
told the Security Council: “The
representative of the Jewish
Agency informed us yesterday
that they are not the aggressive
side. That it was the Arabs who
began the fighting…Actually we
do not deny this fight… We told
the world… that we do not
agree that tiny Palestine be
partitioned… and we intend to
fight against this.”
• David Ben Gurion’s declaration
of independence emphasized
that the state was established
“…by virtue of our natural and
historic right and on the strength
of the resolution of the United
Nations General Assembly.”
ArabPalestinian
• Nakba
JewishZionist
• Independence
In the war Israel secured territorial gains
within the borders of Mandatory
Palestine – the West Bank and Gaza
Strip – and beyond these borders – the
Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights.
UN Security Council Resolution 242,
adopted on November 22, 1967.
This resolution provided the legal foundation and
framework for the peace process between Israel
and its neighbors on the basis of the “land for
peace” formula. On this basis, peace agreements
were signed between Israel and Egypt in 1979 and
between Jordan and Israel in 1994.
In November 1988, the PLO recognized UN
Resolution 181, and a month later it recognized
Resolution 242.
Mutual recognition between Israel
and the PLO
September 1993
In exchanges of letter between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak
Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, it was stated:
“… the PLO recognizes Israel’s right to exist in peace and
security, recognizes Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338,
undertakes to resolve the conflict by peaceful means and
negotiations, condemns terror, and sees this signing as the
beginning of an era of coexistence…” and in return: “the
Government of Israel recognizes the PLO as the
representative of the Palestinian people.”
• The process continued with the signing of the
Declaration of Principles (“The Oslo
Accords”) on September 13, 1993 between
Israel and the PLO,
• followed by the signing of the Interim
Agreement on September 28, 1995, which in
turn led to the establishment of the
Palestinian Authority in 1996.
• By 1998, Israel transferred 40 percent of the
territory of the West Bank to the jurisdiction of
the Palestinian Authority
• Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip and
evacuated its settlements in the area in the
summer of 2005;
• since 2007, the Gaza Strip has been under
the control of Hamas.
Division of Responsibilities
in the West Bank
Distribution of the Total Population
in the West Bank
Area B
74,756
Area C
886,011
Area A
1,173,697
Total population of West Bank: 2,134,464
% of Area of the West Bank
Area A
18%
Area C
60%
Area B
22%
West Bank – Israeli Settlement
9%
Type of settlement
3%
10%
Neighborhoods
Cities
Local councils
78%
Regional
councils
Regional
councils
23%
Population
Neighborh
oods
36%
Local
councils
14%
Cities
27%
530,000 Israelis
135 Settelments
Negotiations for a permanent status
agreement:
Camp David-2000
Taba-2001
Annapolis-2007-8
Kerry's mission-2013-
November 29, 2012:
The resolution of the UN General
Assembly recognizing the State of
Palestine within the 1967 borders
as a non-member state.
Conditions for end of claims
 Two states, a national home for the Jewish
people and a national home for the
Palestinian people
 ’67 borders as a basis and territorial
exchange on a 1:1 ratio
 Division of east Jerusalem between the two
capitals
 Solution to the refugee problem not by
returning to Israel
 Cessation of terrorism and violence
 The Palestinian state will be demilitarized
Regional security:
From a
conventional
Eastern front to
the threat of
surface-tosurface missiles
and terror
Bilateral security: From control on the
ground to disarmament and security
arrangements
The
Jerusalem
Issue
“We won’t be asked to
divide something that
is already divided”
(Teddy Kollek)
Jerusalem: Division of
Neighborhoods on
Demographic Basis
Refugees
Israel: 1,000 a year for 5
years.
Palestinians: 10,000 a year
for 10 years.
!‫תודה‬
shaul@orsha.co.il
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ARIELI SHAUL