ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT Cast of characters: Abdallah (1882-1951): was the second son of the Sharif of Mecca; Amir (commander in Arabic) of Transjordan (present day Heshemite Kingdom of Jordan); killed in 1951, as he was regarded to have been collaborating with the British and the Israelis to undermine the creation of the state of Palestine Abu Jihad (Khalil al-Wazir): was Palestinian guerrilla leader next to Arafat, and also the founder of Fatah Arafat Yasser (1929-2004): was a Palestinian guerrilla fighter and became a politician in 1956; a founding member of Fatah; commander in chief of the Palestinian guerrilla forces in 1970; first Palestinian president (1996) Al-Assad Hafez: was a Syrian officer and commander of the Syrian Air Force who led coup d’etat in 1966 and became president in 1971 (Al-Assad family ruling Syria since then) Begin Menachem: was a head of the militant underground organization called Irgun and the founder of the Herut Party; resigned after Sabra and Shatilla massacres Ben-Gurion David: was the chairman of the Zionist Executive and Jewish Agency in 1935,before the creation of the state of Israel; after creation of Israel he became the first prime minister; also declared the creation of the state of Israel Bernadotte, Count Folke: was the Un appointed mediator for Palestine who recommended merging of Palestine with the Kingdom of Jorda; assassinated in 1948 by (possibly) Irgun members Dayan Moshe: was an Israeli military leader who led the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) to victory in the Sinai campaign; held various ministerial position within the government until 1967 Dulles John Foster: was the US politician who wanted to create a Middle east defence organization and who played the decisive role in establishing the US foreign policy to the Middle East Farouk, the King of Egypt: deposed in July 1952 in the coup by the Free Officers Gemayel Bashir: : was a Lebanese politician and military leader who was in charge of the Lebanese military and its operations throughout the Israeli invasion of Lebanon; became the president of Lebanon, but assassinated before he could assume the position Herzl Theodor: was regarded as the founder of the modern Zionism (wrong, he was the founder of World Zionist Organization); famous for his work “The Jewish State” where he declared that the Jewish people ought to have a free independent state in Palestine Hussein, the King of Jordan: crowned in 1953; expelled the PLO from Jordan in 1970; signed peace treaty with Israel in 1994 Al-Husseini Hajj Amin: was a Palestinian religious leader who headed the anti-Jewish demonstrations in the 1920’s and became the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem in the following years; led Arab revolts in Palestine and later escaped to Germany where he worked as a Nazi propaganda officer; famous for his support of the Holocaust Meir Golda: prime minister of Israel, however held various ministerial position in the government; met secretly with King Abdallah in an attempt to establish peace with Jordan in 1947 Nasser Gamal Abdel: was an Egyptian politician who participated in the coup to overthrow king Farouk, and was elected president in 1956;’strong promoter of the Arab socialism doctrine Peres Shimon: was an Israeli defence minister for 4 terms, and was acting as a prime minister after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin; current Israeli president Pyrlin Evgeny: head of the Egyptian department in the Soviet Foreign ministry which was in charge of supplying Egypt with arms during the 1967 June war Sadat Anwar: succeeded Nasser after his death in 1970; signed peace with Israel in 1979 and assassinated by Islamists in 1981 Sir Samuel Herbert: was a British statesman who helped prepare the ground for the Balfour Declaration Sharett Moshe: was a chief Zionist spokesman to the British and the Arabs;Chariman of the Zionist and Jewish Agency executive Sharon Ariel: was an Israeli general, regarded as a really violent one and a promoter of violence to crush the Arab revolts throughout the occupied territories; strongly disliked by the Arabs and the majority of the Israeli general public Wazir Khalil: was the Fatah leader upon the establishment of the resistance movement in 1957 Weizmann Chaim: famous chemist and a Zionist leader; first president of Israel; supported the partition of Palestine on the grounds of parity Glossary: Aliyah: mass migration of Jewish people from all parts of the world, mainly Europe, to what then was Palestine and what now is Israel Arab Higher Committee: institution established under Hajj Husseini which was outlawed in 1936 Arab Revolt Arab League: united nations of the arab world, which were established by Egypt in 1945 and included Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Transjordan and Yemen in order to promote Arab unity and later Pan-Arabism Arab Liberation Army: part of a few Arab organized armies which fought in the 1947-48 war against Israel Bar Lev Line: name for Israeli fortresses build on the Egyptian border along the Suez canal during the War of Attrition Black September: conflict between the Jordanian Army and the PLO in which PLO was expelled from Jordan and went to Lebanon DFLP: Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine DOP: Declaration of Principles which is also known as the Oslo Accords Fatah: Palestinian political party founded in Kuwait and led by Arafat Fedayeen: Palestinian suicide bombers/guerrilla fighters Green Line: Armistice frontiers in 1949 (conflict on this as Israel bushed the boundaries after the 1967 war) Gush Emunim (Bloc of Believers in Hebrew): Zionist (religious) movement which prophesized the establishment of Israeli settlements in the territories won after the 1967 war Haganah: underground organization established in the 1920 after the British failed to protect Jews; it became the core of the IDF upon the establishment of the state of Israel Hamas (Islamic Resistance Movement): organization which was based on Islamic religious principles which calls for the destruction of Israel Hezbollah (Party of God in Arabic): Lebanese Islamic resistance movement which was established upon invasion of Israel in 1982; influenced strongly from the government of Iran Intifada (Shaking off in Arabic): given to the 1987 Palestinian uprising against Israel which lasted 6 years until the signing of the DOP Irgun (National Military Organization): jewish extremist underground organization which directed its actions against the British; famous for the King David Hotel killings Jewish Agency: established in 1929 to help Jewish immigrants settle in Palestine and to advance Hebrew language and Jewish Culture Kibbutz: collective agricultural settlements in Israel which are founded on the Marxist principles An-Nakba (the Disaster in Arabic): term for the Arab defeat in 1948 war and the establishment of the state of Israel PFLP: Popular front for the liberation of Palestine PLA: Palestine Liberation Army PLO: Palestine Liberation Organization PNA: Palestine National Authority PNC: Palestine National Council PNM: Palestine National Movement UNSCOP: United Nations Special Committee on Palestine Wailing Wall: also known as the Western Wall, place for religious worship of Jewish people Yishuv: the name for jewish settlements prior to the establishment of Israel Yom Kippur: jewish holiday which is marked by fasting and prayers; also name given to the 1967 war Zero sum: the belief that if one party, be it Israel or the PLO/Hamas, pursue their wants the other party loses which makes compromise difficult Background to the Arab-Israeli Conflict Background to the Arab-Israeli conflict remains unclear up to this point. It could be traced back to the Biblical times with the separation between Isaac and Ismael, it could be traced back to the Mohammad’s quarrel with the Jews of Medina, it could be traced with the first grand migration of Jewish people to the soil of Palestine in 1881, or it could be traced back to establishment of the state of Israel in May, 1948. These examples show how unclear the conflict is, and leave us only with assumptions. However, the Arab hatred towards Jewish people intensified with the First Aliyah of 1881 when large numbers of Jews escaped the prosecution, torture and discrimination they were experiencing in Europe. Historians have regarded this mass migration to the area of Palestine, which was under the control of the Ottoman Empire, in two ways: first being that the Jewish people were only returning to their homelands after being constantly exiled from it by the Romans, and other conquerors, and the second being that they were colonizing Palestine with the help of Western powers. The wave of Aliyah intensified with the publication of Theodor Herzl’s book/pamphlet called “Der Juden Staat” (The Jewish State). Jews were always living in Palestine, but were mainly Sephardic, the Aliyah brought in the Ashkenazim Jews who were well educated, and were full of ideas to develop the area. They settled in the Jewish yishuvs and quickly set up an agency which would aid the influx of Jews. Migrating Jews would have to buy land off of the Muslim Palestinian landlords for high price, and would therefore have the right to settle there. The land they bought was often very bad for irrigation and was filled with swamps, so therefore they had to unite with other Jewish migrants and collectively work on the land purchased. This laid the foundation for the creation of the Kibbutz. Upon realizing that the Jewish immigrants have flooded the Area of Palestine, they became rioting against the influx as they thought they were going to be colonized by the Jewish and they would lose their identity. They appealed to the Effendi of Damascus who briefly banned the Jewish migration to Palestine. With this act, the official first Aliyah ended. Although, the mass wave of migration stopped for a brief period of time, it continued in 1904-1914 where approximately 40000 Jews came to Palestine. However, the First World War came and the Ottoman Empire dissolved and the British came to administer the Area. Over the course of the First World War, in order to gain Arab sympathy to side with the Western powers in the attempt to defeat the Central Powers, Sir Henry McMahon promised the Arab leader Hussein bin-Ali that Britain would support the Arab independence in the Area if the Arabs agreed to fight alongside them against the Ottoman Empire. This exchange of promises came to be known as McMahon-Hussein correspondence*. Many Arabs claim that this promise included Palestine; however the British have ever since declined so. These waves of migration and the idea of creating a free independent Jewish state resulted in the rise of Jewish nationalism which can be called Zionism. The rise of Zionism encouraged the rise of Arab nationalism, and the conflict between the two camps was inevitable. The years which followed the end of the First World War resulted in mass killings of both Jews, and the Arabs. There were many attempts of peacefully resolving the conflict within the communities, but it was unsuccessful and it resulted in creation of Haganah, a paramilitary organization with its main aim of protecting the Jewish population. Jewish Settlements in Palestine, 1881-1914 The Jewish State was published in 1890 in Vienna, and was strongly influenced with Alfred Dreyfuss’s hearings in France Theodor Herzl, born in Pest, parents from Serbia, the author of “The Jewish State First Aliyah (1840’s) settlers in Palestine usually inhabited lands with swamps which they made arable by planting eucalyptus trees Kibbutz (settlement in Yiddish) was founded on Marxist principles of communal cooperation in production. Each member of the Kibbutz was given a job to do, some were farmers, some were teachers, some were in charge of taking care of the children and so on… Typical land bought from Arab land absentees in Palestine during the First Aliyah. *Hussein-McMahon Correspondence letter October 24, 1915. I have received your letter of the 29th Shawal, 1333, with much pleasure and your expression of friendliness and sincerity have given me the greatest satisfaction. I regret that you should have received from my last letter the impression that I regarded the question of limits and boundaries with coldness and hesitation; such was not the case, but it appeared to me that the time had not yet come when that question could be discussed in a conclusive manner. I have realised, however, from your last letter that you regard this question as one of vital and urgent importance. I have, therefore, lost no time in informing the Government of Great Britain of the contents of your letter, and it is with great pleasure that I communicate to you on their behalf the following statement, which I am confident you will receive with satisfaction. The two districts of Mersina and Alexandretta and portions of Syria lying to the west of the districts of Damascus, Homs, Hama.and Aleppo cannot be said to be purely Arab, and should be excluded from the limits demanded. With the above modification, and without prejudice to our existing treaties with Arab chiefs, we accept those limits. As for those regions lying within those frontiers wherein Great Britain is free to act without detriment to the interests of her ally, France, I am empowered in the name of the Government of Great Britain to give the following assurances and make the following assurances and make the following reply to your letter: (1) Subject to the above modifications, Great Britain is prepared to recognise and support the independence of the Arabs in all the regions within the limits demanded by the Sherif of Mecca. (2) Great Britain will guarantee the Holy Places against all external aggression and will recognise their inviolability. (3) When the situation admits, Great Britain will give to the Arabs her advice and will assist them to establish what may appear to be the most suitable forms of government those various territories. (4) On the other hand, it is understood that the Arabs have decided to seek the advice and guidance of Great Britain only, and that such European advisers and officials as may be required for the formation of a sound form of administration will be British. (5) With regard to the vilayets of Bagdad and Basra, the Arabs will recognise that the established position and interests of Great Britain necessitate special administrative arrangements in order to secure these territories from foreign aggression to promote the welfare of the local populations and to safeguard our mutual economic interests. I am convinced that this declaration will assure you beyond all possible doubt of the sympathy of Great Britain towards the aspirations of her friends the Arabs and will result in a firm and lasting alliance, the immediate results of which will be the expulsion of the Turks from the Arab countries and the freeing of the Arab peoples from the Turkish yoke, which for so many years has pressed heavily upon them. I have confined myself in this letter to the more vital and important questions, and if there are any other matters dealt with in your letters which I have omitted to mention, we may discuss them at some convenient date in the future. It was with very great relief and satisfaction that I heard of the safe arrival of the Holy Carpet and the accompanying offerings which, thanks to the clearness of your directions and the excellence of your arrangements, were landed without trouble or mishap in spite of the dangers and difficulties occasioned by the present sad war. May God soon bring a lasting peace and freedom of all peoples. I am sending this letter by the hand of your trusted and excellent messenger, Sheikh Mohammed ibn Arif ibn Uraifan, and he will inform you of the various matters of interest, but of less vital importance, which I have not mentioned in this letter. (Compliments). (Signed): A. HENRY MCMAHON. 1948 War of Independence The debate surrounding the events of 1948, the creation of the state of Israel, the Arab defeat and the Palestinian refugee problem, becomes apparent with the way the war is referred to in Israeli and Arab historiography. For Israelis it was the War of Independence, as they proclaimed statehood afterwards in May,1948, and for Palestinians it became known as “the disaster” or Al-Nakba. In 1937, the British set up what was known as the Peel Commission or the Royal Palestine Commission which was headed by Earl Peel, which attempted to solve the issue of the British Mandate of Palestine following the 1936-37 outbreak of Arab revolt led by Hajj Husseini. The Commission came up with the conclusion of partitioning the area into two separate states, but the idea was immediately rejected by the Arabs who thought the British were being sympathetic to the Jews and allotted them with more territory. Up until the end of the Second World War, Palestine was controlled by the British who administered the area. They have trained both Jewish and Arab population to fight alongside them against the Fascists. After the Second World War, the British gave up Palestine to the United Nations who were going to do the voting whether or not to establish the state of Israel. World community, being sympathetic to the Jews after they suffered the holocaust voted in favour of the creation of Israel. First nation to accept Israel as a legitimate state was the United States, followed by a 15 minute delay of the USSR. Immediately following the General Assembly vote, both Jews and Arabs started to arm themselves. The Arab Higher Committee called a strike for 2-4 December which sparked off the first inter-communal clashes. The British mandate authorities were biding their time until the complete withdrawal as they were unable and unwilling to curb the ensuing civil war or implement the partition which was attempted by the UNSCOP which failed like the 1937 Peel Commission in their attempts to solve the conflict by listening to both Arabs and the Jews. The months before complete end of the mandate saw bitter fighting on both sides- like Deir Yassin massacre by the Irgun (Newly set up underground organization by Jewish extremists), the Arab Ambush on a Jewish medical convoy and the Arab siege of Jerusalem, ultimately resulting in a mass exodus of Palestine’s Arabs which fled homes thinking they would come back to them once the fighting was over. On 14th of May 1948* the Jewish Agency declared the territory allotted to the Jews as the new state of Israel. The next day Egyptian, Lebanese, Jordanian, Syrian and Iraqi troops attacked the fledgling Jewish state to, as they called it, “Liberate Palestine”. The contest for Palestine and conflicting communal aspirations had turned into what is now known as the Arab Israeli conflict. An estimated 6000-7000 Arab volunteer constituting the Arab Liberation Army achieved a number of early successes. Up until June 1948 Israel was fighting for survival. They had massive issues with the arms supply, difficulties of coordinating an army consisting of local and migrant Jews, and above all the numeric inferiority. The Arabs controlled the major roads and therefore prevented the supply of distanced Israeli armies. It was due to this that the Haganah came up with the infamous Plan Daled (D in Hebrew) which said that if they were going to defeat the foreign invading troops they had to defeat the local and foreign irregulars . This meant that Haganah had to either destroy the Arab villages or depopulate them. It is argued that Plan Daled was a blue print for the expulsion of the Arabs from Palestine and the beginning of Israeli imperialism. The official aim of the intervention by the Arab troops was to liberate Palestine, but at a closer look it seems as if each of the Arab states was pursuing its own political agenda and territorial claims. The Arab armies were uncoordinated and were badly equipped and poorly trained which led to low morale and only a month after the invasion the Arab liberation campaign had lost its momentum. The turning point of the war came in June, 1948 with the first truce ordered by the UN. The truce basically saved Israel as it was clearly losing the war for its existence. Before the truce IDF had 65000 troops, and by the end of December they managed to mobilize 96441 troops and import significant amount of rifles, machine guns, tanks, armoured cars and ammunition despite the UN embargo. This was the turning point of the war as when the fighting continued in July, and up until the second truce, Israeli forces seized Nazareth. During the second truce, both sides violated the terms. By December of 1948, Israel managed to seize most of the Galilee in the north-east, and break the Negev blockade, and to cross into southern Lebanon. It was by now clear that the Arab states have lost the war and the armistice negotiations began in January 1949. The post 1948 war regional changes were drastic. Israel increased in size and made its borders defensible; it increased 21 per cent in its size. The war of 1948 had demographic changes as well, as 150000 Palestinian Arabs came under Israeli control and became Israeli, 450000 came under Jordanian control, and 200000 came under Egyptian control. The total number of Palestinian refugees was estimated between 550000-850000 by the end of the war. The refugee problem was created at the beginning of the war as middle and upper class Palestinian families decided to leave their homes and avoid the fighting, however they could not return back to their original homes as they were being occupied with Jews or they were simply not allowed back into, what became Israel. Thus ended the 1948 war with Israel being established as a state, and Arab defeat which became known as Al-Nakba. The results of the war were momentous for the creation of the various Arab na Transition of the state of Israel between 1946 and 1999. The map of 1947 is prior to the war. At the beginning of the war, the Arabs had better equipment and they had an advantage of being well armed, whereas the Jews had virtually no arms and were left to either die or flee *The Declaration of the Israeli Statehood ERETZ-ISRAEL [(Hebrew) - the Land of Israel, Palestine] was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books. After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom. Impelled by this historic and traditional attachment, Jews strove in every successive generation to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland. In recent decades they returned in their masses. Pioneers, ma'pilim [(Hebrew) - immigrants coming to Eretz-Israel in defiance of restrictive legislation] and defenders, they made deserts bloom, revived the Hebrew language, built villages and towns, and created a thriving community controlling its own economy and culture, loving peace but knowing how to defend itself, bringing the blessings of progress to all the country's inhabitants, and aspiring towards independent nationhood. In the year 5657 (1897), at the summons of the spiritual father of the Jewish State, Theodore Herzl, the First Zionist Congress convened and proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national rebirth in its own country. This right was recognized in the Balfour Declaration of the 2nd November, 1917, and re-affirmed in the Mandate of the League of Nations which, in particular, gave international sanction to the historic connection between the Jewish people and Eretz-Israel and to the right of the Jewish people to rebuild its National Home. The catastrophe which recently befell the Jewish people - the massacre of millions of Jews in Europe - was another clear demonstration of the urgency of solving the problem of its homelessness by reestablishing in Eretz-Israel the Jewish State, which would open the gates of the homeland wide to every Jew and confer upon the Jewish people the status of a fully privileged member of the comity of nations. Survivors of the Nazi holocaust in Europe, as well as Jews from other parts of the world, continued to migrate to Eretz-Israel, undaunted by difficulties, restrictions and dangers, and never ceased to assert their right to a life of dignity, freedom and honest toil in their national homeland. In the Second World War, the Jewish community of this country contributed its full share to the struggle of the freedom- and peace-loving nations against the forces of Nazi wickedness and, by the blood of its soldiers and its war effort, gained the right to be reckoned among the peoples who founded the United Nations. On the 29th November, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz-Israel; the General Assembly required the inhabitants of Eretz-Israel to take such steps as were necessary on their part for the implementation of that resolution. This recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to establish their State is irrevocable. This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State. ACCORDINGLY WE, MEMBERS OF THE PEOPLE'S COUNCIL, REPRESENTATIVES OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF ERETZ-ISRAEL AND OF THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT, ARE HERE ASSEMBLED ON THE DAY OF THE TERMINATION OF THE BRITISH MANDATE OVER ERETZ-ISRAEL AND, BY VIRTUE OF OUR NATURAL AND HISTORIC RIGHT AND ON THE STRENGTH OF THE RESOLUTION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, HEREBY DECLARE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE IN ERETZISRAEL, TO BE KNOWN AS THE STATE OF ISRAEL. WE DECLARE that, with effect from the moment of the termination of the Mandate being tonight, the eve of Sabbath, the 6th Iyar, 5708 (15th May, 1948), until the establishment of the elected, regular authorities of the State in accordance with the Constitution which shall be adopted by the Elected Constituent Assembly not later than the 1st October 1948, the People's Council shall act as a Provisional Council of State, and its executive organ, the People's Administration, shall be the Provisional Government of the Jewish State, to be called "Israel". THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations. THE STATE OF ISRAEL is prepared to cooperate with the agencies and representatives of the United Nations in implementing the resolution of the General Assembly of the 29th November, 1947, and will take steps to bring about the economic union of the whole of Eretz-Israel. WE APPEAL to the United Nations to assist the Jewish people in the building-up of its State and to receive the State of Israel into the comity of nations. WE APPEAL - in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months - to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions. WE EXTEND our hand to all neighbouring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighbourliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East. WE APPEAL to the Jewish people throughout the Diaspora to rally round the Jews of Eretz-Israel in the tasks of immigration and upbuilding and to stand by them in the great struggle for the realization of the age-old dream - the redemption of Israel. PLACING OUR TRUST IN THE "ROCK OF ISRAEL", WE AFFIX OUR SIGNATURES TO THIS PROCLAMATION AT THIS SESSION OF THE PROVISIONAL COUNCIL OF STATE, ON THE SOIL OF THE HOMELAND, IN THE CITY OF TEL-AVIV, ON THIS SABBATH EVE, THE 5TH DAY OF IYAR, 5708 (14TH MAY,1948). The Declaration of Independence was read by David Ben-Gurion who became the first prime minister of Israel on the 14th of May 1948. * 1937 Peel Commission Report “…The advantages of Partition to the Jews may be summarized as follows:-(i) Partition secures the establishment of the Jewish National Home and relieves it from the possibility of its being subjected in the future to Arab rule. (ii) Partition enables the Jews in the fullest sense to call their National Home their own; for it converts it into a Jewish State. Its citizens will be able to admit as many Jews into it as they themselves believe can be absorbed. They will attain the primary objective of Zionism--a Jewish nation, planted in Palestine, giving its nationals the same status in the world as other nations give theirs. They will cease at last to live a minority life. To both Arabs and Jews Partition offers a prospect--and there is none in any other policy--of obtaining the inestimable boon of peace. It is surely worth some sacrifice on both sides if the quarrel which the Mandate started could he ended with its termination. It is not a natural or old-standing feud. The Arabs throughout their history have not only been free from anti-Jewish sentiment but have also shown that the spirit of compromise is deeply rooted in their life. Considering what the possibility of finding a refuge in Palestine means to man thousands of suffering Jews, is the loss occasioned by Partition, great as it would be, more than Arab generosity can bear? In this, as in so much else connected with Palestine, it is not only the peoples of that country who have to be considered. The Jewish Problem is not the least of the many problems which are disturbing international relations at this critical time and obstructing the path to peace and prosperity. If the Arabs at some sacrifice could help to solve that problem, they would earn the gratitude not of the Jews alone but of all the Western World. There was a time when Arab statesmen were willing to concede little Palestine to the Jews, provided that the rest of Arab Asia were free. That condition was not fulfilled then, but it is on the eve of fulfilment now. In less than three years' time all the wide Arab area outside Palestine between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean will be independent, and, if Partition is adopted, the greater part of Palestine will be independent too. As to the British people, they are bound to honour to the utmost of their power the obligations they undertook in the exigencies of war towards the Arabs and the Jews. When those obligations were incorporated in the Mandate, they did not fully realize the difficulties of the task it laid on them. They have tried to overcome them, not always with success. The difficulties have steadily become greater till now they seem almost insuperable. Partition offers a possibility of finding a way through them, a possibility of obtaining a final solution of the problem which does justice to the rights and aspirations of both the Arabs and the Jews and discharges the obligations undertaken towards them twenty years ago to the fullest extent that is practicable in the circumstances of the present time.” The Peel Commission Report was rejected by all sides as regarded for being too biased and sympathetic to either Jews or the Arabs David Ben Gurion reading out the declaration of Independence before the members of the Knesset People celebrating on the streets as the state of Israel is being born Arab-Israeli Conflict in Scholarly work and the press: Syrian columnist Khayri Hama: "... the conflict with the Zionist enemy has never been a border issue, nor an interstate conflict but rather a total confrontation concerning the survival of our [Arab] nationalism . . . against threats posed by the Israeli entity." From Syrian daily Al-Ba'th, July 26, 1994 Bias in the press regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict is commonplace on both sides of the conflict. They almost always use: Diction: using killed as compared to died, using occupied territories as opposed to the disputed territories, using security fence versus the apartheid wall, and so on… Concerning the Security fence built by Israel to prevent terrorist attacks Egypt's gonna get one, too Just to use on you know who So Israel's getting tense Wants one in "self defense"... -Tom Lehrer on the state of the conflict as of the early 60s, Who's Next?. Pro Palestinian cartoon showing the capture of general Gilad Shalit DryBones cartoon portraying the reaction to the kidnapping of the BBC reporter Alan Johnston in Gaza and the boycott of Israeli goods Graph claiming that Reuters news company is being too sympathetic to the Palestinians Photo seems to portray the brutality of the Israeli police when in fact the policeman was saving the person from being lynched Bibliography: http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Letters_between_Hussein_Ibn_Ali_and_Sir_Henry_Mcmahon http://www.corbisimages.com/images/HU052682.jpg?size=67&uid=27b809fa-1c49-49d3-a1fb476258b9b2af http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-gk4kcIO8-M/RcIbyME1MHI/AAAAAAAAAH4/xPBYSI--k3I/s320/house.jpg http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace+Process/Guide+to+the+Peace+Process/Declaration+of+Establish ment+of+State+of+Israel.htm http://www.neve-ilan.co.il/images/old_kibbutz_cows.jpg http://www.passia.org/images/pal_facts_MAPS/jewish_Yishuv_settlement_1881_1914.gif http://israelvets.com/picts/nation_reborn/full_size_images/HerzlFPO.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/First_aliyah_BILU_in_kuffiyeh.jpg http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/images/10007784-p.jpg http://www.letstalkisrael.com/images/democracy/farm2.jpg http://www.science.co.il/arab-israeli-conflict-2.asp http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/peel.html http://www.gregfelton.com/middle/2007_11_05_Palestinemap.gif http://blog.camera.org/arabs%20invade.jpg http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/peel1.html http://radioislam.org/eng/What-Is-This-Carnage-About_fichiers/ben-gurion.jpg http://www.wittenburgdoor.com/files/images2/israel1948.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9b/MediaCoverageOfTheArabIsraeliConflict_wallorfen ce.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/80/MediaCoverageArabIsraeliConflictSelectivityGiladSh alit.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grossmanattack.jpg http://www.google.com.sg/search?q=arab+israeli+conflict&um=1&ie=UTF8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1366&bih=667 http://www.globalresearch.ca/articlePictures/The%20Project%20for%20the%20New%20Middle%20 East.jpg