Israel

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Israel the Palestinians

• An intractable problem?

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Components of Lecture

• Perceptual issues
• Geographical and social contrasts
• What each side wants
• History of the participants and the region
• Why the US is involved

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Perceptual Issues
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What do you know about the Middle East conflict?

• How do you know what you know?
• What media do you use?
• What shapes your view aside from the media?

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The kind of images we see most often
Time.com, http//www.time.com/time/daily/special/p
hoto/mideast3/9.html
Ali Hashisho, Reuters, http//www.yesha.org.il/isl
am.htm
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Images we dont often see in the US media
Father carrying injured Palestinian
boy http//www.alkhilafah.info/massacres/palestine
/index11.htm
Mother with dead Palestinian girl http//www.worl
drevolution.org/Projects/PhotoArchive/PhotoThumbs.
asp?topicpalestine
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Different media perspectives

• Personal vs. impersonal stories
• Visual vs. textual accounts
• Judgmental vs. non-judgmental terminology
  (attacked/responded, seized/defended, brought
  chaos/reasserted control)
• Normal natural vs. abnormal unnatural

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Terms used in the media and US public debates

• Imbalance in economic power and military
  technology creates the basis for many differences
  in terminology

• What is a soldier?
• Are there Palestinian soldiers?
• What is a militant?
• Are there Israeli militants?
• What is a patriot?
• What is a terrorist?
• What is an extremist?

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How do we describe this encounter?
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Contrasts
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Geographical Contrasts
ISRAEL THE PALESTINIANS
What is it? A state A nation without a state
What do they fear? Loss of territory, violence, oppression Loss of territory, violence, oppression
GDP per capita 18,900 1,500 West Bank 1,000 Gaza Strip
Foreign aid, annual estimate (2000) 5 billion 121 million (2 of Israels aid total)
Infant mortality rate 7 per 1000 24 per 1000
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History of the Participants and the Region
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Judea and Samaria
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The Jewish diaspora
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Early History

• Canaanites Philistines until about 1020 BC
• Conquest of these groups by Israelites
• About 450 yrs. of Jewish control over Judea and
  Samaria ending in 587BC
• Beginning of diaspora
• Control by the Babylonians, Syrians, and Romans
  for the next 1000 yrs.
• Control by Muslims for the next 1,300 yrs.,
  although Christian crusaders gained control of a
  coastal strip from Gaza to Lebanon for about 100
  yrs.
• By 1900, about 11 of the total Palestinian
  population was Jewish

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Ethnic Homeland

• To your offspring I will give this land (Genesis
  127)
• All the land that you see I will give to you and
  your offspring forever (Genesis 1315)
• I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the
  Chaldeans to give you this land to take
  possession of it (Genesis 157)
• To your descendants I give this land (Genesis
  1518)
• The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an
  alien, I will give as an everlasting possession
  to you and your descendants after you (Genesis
  178)
• Your descendants will take possession of the
  cities of their enemies (Genesis 2217)

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Diaspora as judgment?

• I will lay waste the land, so that your enemies
  who live there will be appalled. I will scatter
  you among the nations and will draw out my sword
  and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and
  your cities will lie in ruins.  (Leviticus
  2632-33)
• But if your heart turns away and you are not
  obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down
  to other gods and worship them, I declare to you
  this day that you will certainly be destroyed.
  You will not live long in the land you are
  crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 
  (Deuteronomy 2836, 49  3016-18)

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Return to homeland as sign of piety

• The king of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria
  and settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor
  River and in towns of the Medes. This happened
  because they had not obeyed the LORD their God,
  but had violated his covenant all that Moses
  the servant of the LORD commanded. They neither
  listened to the commands nor carried them out. 
  (2 Kings 1811-12)

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1917 Balfour Declaration

• Arthur Balfour British Foreign Secretary
• His Majestys Government view with favour the
  establishment in Palestine of a national home for
  the Jewish people, and will use their best
  endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this
  object, it being clearly understood that nothing
  shall be done which may prejudice the civil and
  religious rights of existing non-Jewish
  communities in Palestine

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Early 20th c. History

• Zionist movement grew from a hearth in
  Switzerland, claiming the right to Palestine as a
  Jewish homeland
• British officially support this movement (see
  Balfour Declaration)
• British defeat the Ottoman Empire in WWI and
  supervise the Palestinian Mandate, promoting
  Israeli resettlement after a 2,500 year hiatus
• 1930s Jewish population doubles causing Arab
  unrest, beginning of tension

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Loss of Palestinian Territory
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World War II
6 million Jews were killed under Hitlers
programs of forced confinement, relocation,
starvation, labor and extermination
This leaves a profound imprint on European and
American culture and society with regard to
attitudes regarding racism and anti-Semitism.
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Concentration camps
Gate of Auschwitz Work makes one free source
http//www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/holocaust/photoes
say.htm
Based on a map by Jen Rosenberg. Base map, U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency. http//history1900s.
about.com/library/holocaust/blmap.htm
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Warsaw Ghetto (jailing a community)
Children scaling the ghetto wall to get food for
their families http//www.historywiz.com/ghetto.h
tm
http//fcit.coedu.usf.edu/holocaust/MAPS/map007.ht
m
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Mid 20th c. History

• After WWII European anti-Semitism was not
  eliminated
• The only country willing to take very many Jewish
  refugees was the US
• most of the rest migrated to Israel
• 1947 UN takes control of Palestine and proposes
  partition plan rejected by Palestinian Arabs
• 1948 Conflict breaks out and Palestinian Arabs
  are aided by Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and
  Transjordan (Jordan) Jews fight back and gain
  about 33 more territory, proclaiming the
  founding of the new state of Israel
• 1948-1951 Jewish population in Palestine doubles
  again

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Late 20th c. History

• Some 800,000 Palestinian refugees pour into Gaza
  (under Egyptian control), West Bank (under
  Jordanian control), and elsewhere
• Israel gains control over Gaza, West Bank, Golan
  Heights, and Sinai (1967 Six Day War), then cedes
  Sinai to Egypt
• Israel agrees to grant Palestinian autonomy in
  Gaza and West Bank in 1978, but control is
  maintained in the name of defense
• Means of asserting territorial control
  construction of settlements and checkpoints,
  demolition of houses belonging to family members
  of known Palestinian combatants

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Loss of Palestinian Territory
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Likud party

• Took power in 1996 (under Ariel Sharon)
• Describes Zionism as the liberation movement of
  the Jewish people
• Supports continued construction of new
  settlements and the expansion of existing
  settlements
• Opposes the creation of an autonomous Palestinian
  state
• Supports the idea of a self-governing
  Palestinian people but only in the framework of
  Israeli control of transportation infrastructure,
  water, and other resources as well as Israeli
  military control

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Expansion of Jewish-controlled territory 1947-1992
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Palestinian refugee camps

• 59 camps throughout Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza
  and the West Bank
• 1.1 million Palestinians in camps
• Currently sustained by the UN
• Camps are packed with people, 100,000 in the ½
  sq. mi. Jabaliya camp
• ½ of the people in the camps are children
• Another 3.4 million refugees living outside of
  camps

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Casualties of the conflict
Israeli casualties 1987-1997 Palestinian casualties 1987-1997
total 383 1,479
DEATHS Israeli September 29, 2000- September, 2004 Palestinian September 29, 2000- September, 2004
total 1,001 (incl. approx. 295 soldiers) 2,417 2,700 (incl. approx. 1,100 soldiers)
Under 18 yrs. of age Approx. 13 Approx. 19
Palestinian suicide bombings 1992-2000 198 (2/mo.)
Percent that did not kill anyone but the bomber 31
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The autonomous West Bank A collection of
islands separated by Israeli settlements and
checkpoints
Sources http//www.mideastweb.org/map_israel_sett
lements.htm http//electronicintifada.net/v2/artic
le1634.shtml
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Checkpoints in Palestinian-controlled
territories
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Impact of Checkpoints
Impact of Checkpoints in Terms of Time and Cost Impact of Checkpoints in Terms of Time and Cost Impact of Checkpoints in Terms of Time and Cost Impact of Checkpoints in Terms of Time and Cost Impact of Checkpoints in Terms of Time and Cost
From Ramallah to Travel time (hours) Travel time (hours) Cost (NIS) Cost (NIS)
From Ramallah to Before After Before After
Bethlehem 045 2-5 8 17.5
Hebron 150 6-10 20 60
Jenin 200 5-6 20 60
Jerusalem 020 1 3.5 5.5
Nablus 045 3-6 9 30
1 New Israeli Shekel (NIS) 0.23 US Before and After refer to presence of checkpoints After reflects range of travel time, including time spent waiting to pass checkpoints, and does not include instances such as closures in which it is impossible to reach a particular city 1 New Israeli Shekel (NIS) 0.23 US Before and After refer to presence of checkpoints After reflects range of travel time, including time spent waiting to pass checkpoints, and does not include instances such as closures in which it is impossible to reach a particular city 1 New Israeli Shekel (NIS) 0.23 US Before and After refer to presence of checkpoints After reflects range of travel time, including time spent waiting to pass checkpoints, and does not include instances such as closures in which it is impossible to reach a particular city 1 New Israeli Shekel (NIS) 0.23 US Before and After refer to presence of checkpoints After reflects range of travel time, including time spent waiting to pass checkpoints, and does not include instances such as closures in which it is impossible to reach a particular city 1 New Israeli Shekel (NIS) 0.23 US Before and After refer to presence of checkpoints After reflects range of travel time, including time spent waiting to pass checkpoints, and does not include instances such as closures in which it is impossible to reach a particular city
Source International Checkpoint Watch,
http//www.canadazone.com/icw/impact.htm
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Loss of territorial control
Sources http//snapshots.palestinechronicle.com/
snapshots.php?gid40page1aid644 http//www.gus
h-shalom.org/thewall/
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What Each Side Wants
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What the Israelis want

• A complete end to all attacks in Israel and on
  settlers and soldiers in the occupied territories
• -or-
• International acceptance of Israels right to
  maintain and expand existing settlements in Judea
  and Samaria (Israel plus the West Bank and Gaza)
• Ability to construct roadblocks, walls, and
  fences in the occupied territories to protect
  Jewish settlers
• Control over all of Jerusalem including the
  temple mount and Al-Aqsa Mosque
• Control over water resources in Judea and
  Samaria, as well as in the Golan Heights

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What the Palestinians (under PLO/Arafat) want

• An independent state on 22 of the territory of
  the original Palestinian Mandate
• Borders that would correspond to the pre-1967
  alignment
• Removal of settlements and roadblocks in the
  occupied territories
• Shared control of Jerusalem
• Ideally Right of return for the refugees of
  the 1948 Arab-Israeli war and their descendents

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US involvement
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US involvement

• As the de facto head of the UN, the US has taken
  the lead in protecting Israel against Arab
  Soviet aggression
• The US took a stand opposing the description of
  zionism as a form of racism at the World
  Conference on Racism in 2001 (a similar
  declaration was passed as a UN General Assembly
  Resolution in 1975 but repealed in 1991)
• Some 5 million Americans are Jewish many Jews
  and non-Jews have sympathy for the Jewish side of
  the conflict
• More Americans are Muslim than Jewish, but these
  persons currently have less political and
  economic influence in US society

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Not all American Jews support Israels military
strategies
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Fiscal dimension of US involvement

• Israel has been the largest recipient of US
  foreign assistance in post-WWII period
• In the late 1990s Israel was receiving about 3
  billion annually from the US govt. in the form of
  economic assistance
• In the late 1990s Israel was receiving another 2
  billion annually from other US sources
  (philanthropy and private loans)
• Israel receives further US assistance in the form
  of military support in Israel and throughout the
  Middle East, and loans with repayment waived

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Vocabulary

• Judea Samaria
• Zionism
• Balfour Declaration
• Homeland (ethnic homeland)
• Palestinian Mandate
• Partition Plan

• Occupied Territories
• West Bank
• Gaza Strip
• Golan Heights
• Checkpoints