Final Status Peace Issues
The Situation of Jerusalem: Israeli Importance • Israelis refuse to leave the city. • They believe that the city should be united under all three religions. • They want to destroy Mosque Al-Aqsa to build a third temple. • For Jews all over the world, Jerusalem serves as the capital city for the nation of Israel where King Solomon built the temple of YHWH (The House of Yahweh). • Site of the Western Wall. • Western Wall remains the one of the last temples of David.
Muslims want Jerusalem • • • •
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Inhabited the land for thousands of years following the disperal of Jews. “ Muslims feel no need to repay Jews for their genocide during the holocaust.” (President of Iran). For Muslims, there is the Dome of Rock, where Muhammad, their prophet, made a nighttime journey to the heavens. It is the site where Muslims believe their prophet ascended into Heaven. Also there is Masjid Al Aqsa, the Quibla where Muslims used to pray to before they had the order to pray to Kabah. Moreover, it is the place where most of the prophets existed and it is inhabited by Arabs long time ago, since the years of Prophet Moses It is where Muhammad rose to Paradise.
Israeli Settlements • Turkey has stepped up recently in foreign affairs. • Unlike their American counterparts, they will retaliate by sanctions and embargo on their ally Israel, unless the forbidding of Jewish Settlements in the region. • One issue is the rapid increase in population over the settlements. • There were none at all on the West Bank at the time of the 1967 war; 10 years later, when Meacham Begin was elected prime minister, there were more than 4,000. • By 1993, when the Oslo peace process began, that number had grown to 116,000.
Israeli Borders •
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Borders have changed from time to time with developments in Israel's military and diplomatic situation. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan and the West Bank in the east, the Gaza Strip and Egypt on the southwest. Israel hopes to capture eastern Jerusalem and the Green Line, which has most of its majority settlers. The connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel has lasted for more than 3,500 years. The documents focus on two different types of borders; those that coincided with the British Mandate for Palestine, and the lines that resulted from the war-won divisions of land following the 1949 cease-fire and the final location of the opposing armies. Complications arose, in part, because of the vagueness of the original definitions of the mandatory boundaries, and from the slipshod way in which the armistice lines were depicted cartographically by the negotiators in 1949. These lines were determined by senior military staff from each side and United Nations mediators, often without regard to significant geographical considerations or the distribution and interest of local populations.
Refugees • • •
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If the Arabs accepted the 1947 UN Resolution, not a single Palestinian would have become a refugee and an independent Arab state would now exist beside Israel. First to leave were roughly 30,000 wealthy Arabs who anticipated the upcoming war and fled to neighboring Arab countries to await its end. First Flight: May 15 Invasion of the Arab regular armies, large-scale military engagements, incessant sniping, robberies and bombings took place. In view of the thousands of casualties that resulted from the pre-invasion violence, it is not surprising that many Arabs would have fled out of fear for their lives. second phase of the Arab flight began after the Jewish forces started to register military victories against Arab irregulars. Among the victories were the battles for Tiberias and Haifa, which were accompanied by the evacuation of the Arab inhabitants.
Water • The concept of water plays a huge role in this conflict. • If Israel gained water possession as well, 1000s of misplaced Palestinian, peasant farmers will result. • Water as used by other countries, serves a source of protection for military defense purposes. • Serves as a vital role to the functioning of their economies as well. • Israelis and Palestinians economy depends in part on fishing and seafood.
Documents
Balfour Declaration • Statement issued by the British government in 1917 which leads to creation of Israel. • Motivations for Zionist Cause as well as British interests. • British needed to protect Suez Canal, which their economy mainly depended upon. • Zionist Cause would influence British influe
Khartom Resolutions • Resolution of September 1, 1967 was issued at the conclusion of a meeting between the leaders of eight Arab countries in the wake of the SixDay War. • The resolution, which formed a basis of the policies of these governments toward Israel until the Yom Kippur War of 1973, called for: • No peace with Israel • No recognition of Israel • No negotiations with Israel
Oslo Accords •
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In 1993, the government of the state of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) began a series of secret discussions on relations between the two groups called the Oslo Accords in hopes of resolving the deep-seated tensions between them. The January 1993 conversations, which focused on water rights, refugees, security matters, and other topics, were held in Oslo, Norway, under the cover of a conference hosted by Fafo, a Norwegian social research institute. The meetings were secret, and Johan Jorgen Holst, the Norwegian Foreign Minister, aided the two groups in the negotiations and acted as an intermediary. Result: partial autonomy in the occupied territories. This so-called "Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements“.
Camp David Accords • Two agreements reached between Menachem Begin of Israel and Anwar el-Sadat of Egypt with the help of U.S. President Jimmy Carter at Camp David, Md., U.S. • Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (No progress). • One agreement created a framework for negotiations to arrive at a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, formally ending some 30 years of being in a state of war. • Outcome: Resulted in assassination of Anwar elSadat.
UNSCR 181 •
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When the war-exhausted British decided to abandon the Mandate in 1947, the UN General Assembly voted for a plan that would partition the 22% of the Mandate for Palestine that was west of the Jordan River into a Palestinian Jewish state and a Palestinian Arab state, each in a shape that attempted to encompass most of their respective populations. Jerusalem was left out, to be a separate internationally-administered area.
UNSCR 181 •Arab Leadership rejected the plan solely on the basis that they wanted no Jewish state at all. •Not a dispute about the details of borders or any other issue. •They rejected any Jewish presence in the region and went to war immediately to destroy Israel. •The Arab actions were in defiance of the UN partition plan and all other international laws against aggression.
UN Resolution 194 • November 12, 1948 dealt with the issues of the then-in-progress War of Independence. • It set up an international Conciliation Commission to mediate between the parties and made provisions for the return or resettlement of refugees. • The resolution says nothing solely about "Arab refugees" and clearly applies to both Arab and Jewish refugees of the Arabinstigated war.
UNSCR 242
• Known as “Land for Peace Resolution.” • Since there are no "secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force", Israel is under no obligation to withdraw. • Famous phrase from the Resolution. • "Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force;" • UNSCR 242 is a Chapter VI resolution which was calling for a negotiated settlement, not immediate action by Israel alone, but other Arab nations as well.
UNSCR 338 • Passed on October 22, 1973. • America and Soviet Union demands a ceasefire on the Yom Kippur War. • Demands that upon all parties to present fighting to cease all firing and terminate all military activity immediately, no later than 12 hours after the moment of the adoption of this decision. • Often responded with UNSCR 242 when relating Arab-Israeli Conflict.
UNSCR 1397 • • • • • • •
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Created on March 12, 2002. Primary purpose: to provide safety following events of September 11, 2001. – Main goals of Resolution: Stressing the need for all concerned to ensure the safety of civilians, Stressing also the need to respect the universally accepted norms of international humanitarian law. Saudi Prince Abdullah welcomes his goals: Demands immediate cessation of all acts of violence, including all acts of terror, provocation, incitement and destruction; Calls upon the Israeli and Palestinian sides and their leaders to cooperate in the implementation of the Tenet Work Plan and Mitchell Report Recommendations with the aim of resuming negotiations on a political settlement; Expresses support for the efforts of the Secretary-General and others to assist the parties to halt the violence and to resume the peace process; Decides to remain seized of the matter.
Arab Peace Initiative •
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Peace initiative first proposed in 2002 at the Beirut Summit of the Arab League by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, and re-endorsed at the Riyadh Summit in 2000. Saudi Crown prince Abdullah floated an Arab peace plan that was discussed and modified at am Arab League summit conference in Beirut in March of 2002. The plan as adopted calls for Israeli withdrawal from all territories occupied since 1967 and return of the Palestine refugees to Israel in return for recognition of Israel and normal relations. The difference is that much more emphasis was placed on the refugee issue. A similar plan was offered by Arab states at the armistice negotiations in 1949. The number of refugees to be returned is not specified.
Arab Peace Initiative Cont. • Prince Abdullah states: – I- Consider the Arab-Israeli conflict ended, and enter into a peace agreement with Israel, and provide security for all the states of the region – II- Establish normal relations with Israel in the context of this comprehensive peace.
Annapolis Conference •A Middle East Peace Conference held on November 27, 2007, at the U.S Naval Academy, in Annapolis, Maryland. •Purpose: President Bush’s Road Map for Peace-creation of Palestine homeland. The conference marked the first time a two-state solution was articulated as the mutually agreed-upon outline for addressing the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Outcome: Ended in a joint stalemate.