Arab–Israeli conflict: Difference between revisions

Browse history interactively ← Previous edit Next edit →Content deleted Content addedVisual WikitextInline

Revision as of 22:13, 22 March 2006 view sourceHumus sapiens (talk \| contribs)27,653 edits Sharing Lokiloki's concerns(see talk), I am adding the boilerplate "This article is being rewritten"← Previous edit		Revision as of 10:28, 23 March 2006 view source Viriditas (talk \| contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers169,111 edits Replace 22:13, 22 March 2006 Humus sapiens with Arab-Israeli conflict/temp, 02:42, 22 March 2006 Lokiloki . See talk.Next edit →
Line 1:		Line 1:
	{{rewrite\|Arab-Israeli conflict/temp}}
	{{rewrite\|History of the Arab-Israeli conflict}}
	{{rewrite\|Views of the Arab-Israeli conflict}}
	----

	] (in <font color=blue>blue</font> color) and the ] states (in <font color=green>green</font>, ] is not shown). Some members of the Arab League have never been militarily involved in the conflict.]]		] (in <font color=blue>blue</font> color) and the ] states (in <font color=green>green</font>, ] is not shown). Some members of the Arab League have never been militarily involved in the conflict.]]

	The '''Arab-Israeli conflict''' is a long-running conflict in the ] concerning ] and subsequent immigration of non-local ]s, joining the existing Jewish population in the ], their claim to ] in the ] and, after the establishment of the ], the country's relations with the Arab states and the Palestinian population (see ]). Some uses of the term ''Middle East conflict'' referring to this matter, but the region has been host to other disputes and wars not directly involving Israel (see ]).		The '''Arab-Israeli conflict''' is a long-running conflict in the ] concerning ] and subsequent immigration of non-local ]s, joining the existing Jewish population in the ], their claim to ] in the ] and, after the establishment of the ], the country's relations with the Arab states and the Palestinian population (see ]). Some uses of the term ''Middle East conflict'' referring to this matter, but the region has been host to other disputes and wars not directly involving Israel (see ]).

	Despite involving a relatively small land area and number of casualties, the conflict has been the focus of worldwide media and diplomatic attention for decades. Some groups consider the Arab-Israeli conflict as a part of (or precursor to) a wider ] between the ] and the Arab or ] world. Animosity emanating from this conflict has caused numerous attacks on supporters (or perceived supporters) of one side by supporters of the other side in many countries around the world. Many more people in other countries feel involvement in the conflict, for reasons such as cultural and religious ties with ] and/or ], ], ], or for ideological, ], or strategic reasons; these include countries such as ], the ], and the ].		Despite involving a relatively small land area and number of casualties, the conflict has been the focus of worldwide media and diplomatic attention for decades. Some groups consider the Arab-Israeli conflict as a part of (or precursor to) a wider ] between the ] and the Arab or ] world. Animosity emanating from this conflict has caused numerous attacks on supporters (or perceived supporters) of one side by supporters of the other side in many countries around the world. Many more people in other countries feel involvement in the conflict, for reasons such as cultural and religious ties with ] and/or ], ], ], or for ideological, ], or strategic reasons; these include countries such as the ] and the former ], the ], ] and the ].
	{{~~main~~\|History of the Middle East}}		{{seealso\|History of the Middle East}}
			]ish state; the future of the ], the ], and ]; and the viability of a ] are at the center of the Arab-Israeli conflict.]]

	==History==		==History==
			{{main\|History of the Arab-Israeli conflict}}
	The Arab-Israeli conflict is a modern phenomenon, which dates back to the end of the 19th century. The conflict became a major international issue after the collapse of the ] in 1917, and in various forms it continues to this day. The Arab-Israeli conflict has resulted in at least five major wars and a number of "minor conflicts". It has also been the source of two major Palestinian ]s (uprisings) and is cited by ], a largely Arab organization, as one of the reasons for its conflict with the Western world. The periods of conflict include:
			The Arab-Israeli conflict is a modern phenomenon, which dates back to the end of the 19th century. The conflict became a major international issue after the collapse of the ] in 1917, and in various forms it continues to this day. The conflict spans at least five major wars, a number of "minor conflicts", controversies over ], and refugees. It has also been the source of two major Palestinian ]s (uprisings) and is cited by ], a largely Arab organization, as one of the reasons for its conflict with the Western world.

	===Before 1947===
	Tensions between the Jews and Arabs started to emerge after the 1880s, when European Jews began to immigrate and augment Palestinian Jewish communities by buying up land from Ottoman and individual Arab landholders, and establishing agricultural settlements in the historic lands of Judea and Israel, which were then part of the Ottoman empire . By the 1920s, tension had given way to violence, such as the ], ] of 1921. To assuage the Arabs, and due to British inability to control Arab violence in the ] any other way, the semi-autonomous Arab Emirate of Transjordan was created in all Palestinian territory east of the Jordan river (roughly 80% of the mandate). The violence continued to mount, however, throughout the 1930s and 40s, resulting in loss of life on all sides, including the ], ], ], ], and the 1946 ].

	===War of 1948===
	] - ]]]
	The ], known as the "Israeli War of Independence" or ], 1948-1949, began after the British withdrawal and the declaration of the ] on ] ]. The Arabs had rejected the November ], which proposed the establishment of Arab and Jewish states in ]. Arab militias had begun campaigns to control territory inside and outside the designated borders. Joint Jordanian, Egyptian, Syrian, Lebanese and Iraqi troops invaded Palestine, which Israel, the ], the ], and ] called illegal aggression, while ] broadly backed the Arab claims. The Arab states proclaimed their aim of a "United State of Palestine"<ref> May 15, 1948, at Wikisource. Accessed March 22, 2006.</ref> in place of Israel and an Arab state. They considered the UN Plan to be invalid because it was opposed by Palestine's Arab majority, and claimed that the British withdrawal led to an absence of legal authority, making it necessary for them to protect Arab lives and property.<ref>[http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/d442111e70e417e3802564740045a309?OpenDocument The Origins and Evolution
	of the Palestine Problem: 1917-1988, PART II, 1947-1977], ] (UNISPAL), June 20, 1990, ST/SG/SER.F/1</ref> About two thirds of Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from the territories which came under Jewish control (see ]); practically all of the much smaller number of Jews in the territories captured by the Arabs, for example the Old City of Jerusalem, also fled or were expelled. The official United Nations estimate was that 711,000<ref>, published by the ], ], ]. (U.N. General Assembly Official Records, 5th Session, Supplement No. 18, Document A/1367/Rev. 1). The Committee believed the estimate to be "as accurate as circumstances permit", and attributed the higher number on relief to, among other things, "duplication of ration cards, addition of persons who have been displaced from area other than Israel-held areas and of persons who, although not displaced, are destitute."</ref>) Arabs became refugees during the fighting.

	The fighting ended with signing of the ], which formalized Israeli control of the area allotted to the Jewish state plus just over half of the ]. The ] and the ] until June 1967 when they were seized by Israel during the ].

	===Aftermath of the 1948 war===
	]

	The Palestinians who fled or were expelled from the areas that became Israel were not allowed to return to their homes, and took up residence in refugee camps in surrounding countries, including ], ], ], and the area that was later to be known as the ]. The ] was established to alleviate their condition.

	Over the next several decades after the 1948 war ended, between 700,000 and 900,000 (see ]) Jews fled the Arab countries they were living in, in many cases owing to anti-Jewish sentiment, expulsion (in the case of Egypt), or, in the case of Iraq, legal oppression; of this number, two thirds ended up in ] in Israel, while the remainder migrated to France, the United States and other Western or Latin American countries.

	For the nineteen years from the end of the Mandate until the ], ] and ]. In 1950, Jordan annexed the West Bank, but this annexation was recognized only by the ]. Both territories were conquered (but not ]) from Jordan and Egypt by Israel in the Six-Day War. Neither Jordan or Egypt allowed the creation of a Palestinian state in these territories.

	===War of 1956===
	The ] was a joint Israeli-British-French operation, in which Israel invaded the ] and British and French forces landed at the port of ], ostensibly to separate the warring parties, though the real motivation of the United Kingdom and ] was to protect the interests of investors in those countries who were affected by Egyptian President ]'s decision to ] the ]. Israel justified its invasion of Egypt as an attempt to stop attacks (see the ]) upon Israeli civilians, and to restore Israeli shipping rights through the ], which Egypt claimed was within its territorial waters. The invading forces agreed to withdraw under U.S. and international pressure, and Israel withdrew from the ] as well, in return for the installation of ] and guarantees of Israeli freedom of shipment. The canal was left in Egyptian (rather than British and French) hands.

	===Between 1956 and 1967===
	This period saw the rise of ]; the founding of the ] in 1958 and its collapse in 1961; disputes between Israel and Syria over water and border areas; continued ] raids, mostly from Syria and Jordan, and Israeli reprisals; and the increasing alignment of the Arab states with the ], who became their largest arms supplier

	In the early 1960s, the ] was established by Arab states. The Article 24 of the ] of 1964 stated: "This Organization does not exercise any territorial sovereignty over the ] in the ], on the ] or in the Himmah Area."

	===War of 1967===
	The ], 1967 began as a strike by Israel, which Israel and its supporters consider ], against Egypt and Syria following the Egyptian closure of the ] (a ], according to a possible interpretation of international law), a build up of troops along the Syrian border, expulsion of U.N. peacekeepers from the Sinai, stationing some 100,000 Egyptian troops at the peninsula, and a public announcement by Nasser that he intended to destroy Israel . (In fact Nasser had said this would be an objective only if Israel "embarks on an aggression against Syria or Egypt"). Surprise Israeli air strikes destroyed the entire Egyptian air force while still on the ground. A subsequent ground invasion into Egyptian territory led to Israel's conquest of the ] and the ]. In spite of Israel's request to Jordan to desist from attacking it, both Jordan and Syria began to shell Israeli targets; Israel responded by capturing the ] from Jordan on ], and the ] from Syria on ].

	===War of 1968-1970===
	The ] was a limited war fought between ] and ] from 1968 to 1970. It was initiated by Egypt as a way to recapture the ] from Israel which had occupied it since the ]. The war ended with a ] signed between the countries in 1970 with frontiers at the same place as when the war started.

	===War of 1973===
	]
	The 1973 ] began when ] and ] launched a surprise joint attack, on the Jewish day of fasting, in the ] and ]. The Egyptians and Syrians advanced during the first 24–48 hours, after which momentum began to swing in Israel's favor. By the second week of the war, the Syrians had been pushed entirely out of the Golan Heights. In the Sinai to the south, the Israelis had struck at the "hinge" between two invading Egyptian armies, crossed the ] (where the old ] line had been), and cut off an entire Egyptian army just as a ] cease-fire came into effect. Israeli troops eventually withdrew from the west of the Canal and the Egyptians kept their positions on a narrow strip on the east allowing them to re-open the Suez Canal and claim victory.

	===War of 1978===
	] was the official name of ]'s 1978 invasion of ] up to the ] river. The invasion was a military success, as ] forces were pushed north of the river. However, international outcry led to the creation of the ] peacekeeping force and a partial Israeli retreat.

	===War of 1982===
	The ] began when Israel attacked Lebanon in an attempt to remove the ] militants led by ] from Southern Lebanon (where they had established, during the country's civil war, a semi-independent enclave used to launch ] attacks on Israeli ]s). The invasion was widely criticized both in and outside Israel, especially after the Israeli-backed Christian militia's ] and ultimately led to the death of 20,000 Lebanese. Although the attack succeeded in exiling Arafat to ], Israel became entangled with various local Muslim militias (particularly ]), which fought to end the Israeli ]. By 1985 Israel retreated from all but a narrow stretch of Lebanese territory designated by Israel as the ]. The ] confirmed () that as of ] ], Israel had completely withdrawn its forces from Lebanon. Despite UN Security Council resolutions ] and ], ].

	===Intifada of 1987-1993===
	The ], 1987-1993, began as an uprising of Palestinians, particularly the young, against the Israeli military occupation of the ] and ]. The exiled PLO leadership in Tunisia quickly assumed a role, but the uprising also brought a rise in the importance of Palestinian national and Islamic movements. The intifada started by a group of young who started throwing rocks at the Israeli occupying forces in Jabalia (Gaza Strip) in December 1987. Children of Palestine were the leaders of this uprising and were called (Atfal Al-Hijara). The Intifada ended with the signing of the ] by Israel and the PLO.

	===Gulf War of 1990-1991===
	The ], 1990-1991, began with the Iraqi invasion and annexation of ] and did not initially involve direct military engagement with Israel. An international coalition led by the United States which included Arab forces was assembled to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. To draw Israel into the confrontation and fracture the multinational coalition, Iraq launched ] missiles on Israeli cities and on Israel's nuclear facilities at ]. However, under strong pressure from the U.S. which feared direct Israeli involvement would threaten the unity of the coalition, Israel did not retaliate against Iraq and the multinational coalition ousted Iraqi forces from Kuwait. During the war, the Palestinian leadership and King ] allied themselves with Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Kuwait and other Gulf Arab monarchies then expelled just under 400,000 Palestinian refugees () and withdrew their support from the Palestinian cause, which was one of the factors leading to the ] signing the ].

	===Intifada of 2000===
	The ] began in late September, 2000, around the time Israeli opposition leader ] and a large contingent of armed bodyguards visited the ]/] complex in ] and declared the area eternal Israeli territory. Widespread riots and attacks broke out in Jerusalem and many major Israeli cities, and spread throughout the ] and ]. In the months after the death of ] on ] ], the Intifada is largely thought to have come to an end. An Israeli Human Rights group, ], estimated the death toll to be 3,396 Palestinians and 994 Israelis , although this number is criticized for not showing the whole picture, and not differentiating between combatants and civilians .

	==Reasons for the conflict==		==Reasons for the conflict==
			{{main\|Views of the Arab-Israeli conflict}}
	The Arab-Israeli conflict is the result of numerous factors. Reasons cited for the conflict therefore vary from participant to participant and observer to observer. A powerful example of this divide can be found in opinion surveys of Palestinians and Israelis. In a March, 2005 poll 63% of the Israelis blamed the failure of the Oslo Peace Process on Palestinian violence, but only 5% of the Palestinians agreed. 54% of Palestinians put the blame on continuing Israeli settlement activity, but only 20% of the Israelis agreed . It is therefore difficult to develop a single, objective reason for the conflict, so this article will present some of the arguments made by each side, in turn.
			The Arab-Israeli conflict is the result of numerous factors. Reasons cited for the conflict therefore vary from participant to participant and observer to observer. A powerful example of this divide can be found in opinion surveys of Palestinians and Israelis. In a March, 2005 poll 63% of the Israelis blamed the failure of the Oslo Peace Process on Palestinian violence, but only 5% of the Palestinians agreed. 54% of Palestinians put the blame on continuing ] activity, but only 20% of the Israelis agreed . It is therefore difficult to develop a single, objective reason for the conflict, so this article will present some of the arguments made by each side, in turn.

			==Comparative statistics==
	]ish state and the future of the ], ], and ] are at the center of the Arab-Israeli conflict.]]

	===Israeli views===
	''There is not a single "Israeli view"; there are many different Israeli views, which differ widely.''

	====Israeli peace offers====
	When Israel met Arab leaders who spoke the language of peace to their own people and were willing to take concrete steps for peace, such as President Sadat of Egypt and King Hussein of Jordan, Israel made sacrifices for the sake of peace and reached peace agreements with them.
	Peacemaking requires concessions and confidence-building measures on both sides. Just as Israel is willing to address the rights and interests of other parties in the conflict, Israelis insist that their rights and interests must be addressed as well.

	In 2000, at ], the Palestinians were offered a nominally independent state composed of discontiguous parts of most of Gaza and the West Bank, with Israeli control over its airspace, borders and trade. Led by Arafat, the Palestinians rejected this offer, claiming that this state would be a "]" (a state divided in many pieces) without sovereignty. President Clinton and the Israelis asked the Palestinians to offer a counter-proposal, but Arafat declined and returned to the West Bank. Later, further negotiations did take place, but they were terminated by the Israeli side. In his book ''The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace'', ], the American ambassador and facilitator, asserts that the idea the Palestinian state would be a "Bantustan" was a myth, and provides maps showing an offer that included contiguous territory.

	====Arab hostility====
	Many if not most Israelis believe that the conflict is largely a result of Arab attempts to destroy Israel, and that only Israeli military power stands between them and annihilation.

	They characterize the ], the ] and the ] as attempts to destroy Israel. As evidence of this intent, pro-Israeli literature often places a heavy emphasis on statements made by Arab leaders during and preceding the wars. The following quotes are mainstays of pro-Israeli arguments:

	*"If Israel embarks on an aggression against Syria or Egypt...The battle will be a general one and our basic objective will be to destroy Israel." (]'s speech to Arab Trade Unionists (] ]) )
	*On ] ], Nasser proclaimed: "The armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are poised on the borders of Israel...to face the challenge, while standing behind us are the armies of Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan and the whole Arab nation. This act will astound the world. Today they will know that the Arabs are arranged for battle, the critical hour has arrived. We have reached the stage of serious action and not declarations." (Isi Leibler, ''The Case For Israel'', 1972, p.60.) After Iraq joined the Arab military alliance in ], its president Abdur Rahman Aref announced: "The existence of Israel is an error which must be rectified. This is our opportunity to wipe out the ignominy which has been with us since 1948. Our goal is clear - to wipe Israel off the map." (Leibler, p.18)

	=====Israel is forced to fight in self-defense=====
	]is generally claim that, when nations declare war against Israel, Israel by definition is then at war with them. Israel claims that they have always preferred peace to war.

	], the ] formula, was adopted on ], ] in the aftermath of the ] and the ]. It called for withdrawal from occupied territories and for "termination of all claims or states of belligerency" and mutual "acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence" by Israel and the other states in the area, and recognized the right of "every state in the area" (in particular, Israel) to live "free from threats or acts of force" within "secure and recognized boundaries".

	Immediately after the ], Israel maintains that it offered to return the ] to ] and the ] (including the ]) to ] in exchange for peace treaties and various concessions, but that Syria and Egypt refused the offer and this offer was very soon withdrawn. ], the Egyptian President at the time, proposed negotiations towards peace with Israel in the early 1970s but Israel refused the offer, claiming that it held unreasonable preconditions. Later Israel signed the ] with Egypt and subsequently withdrew from all Egyptian territory it occupied.

	Many, including the original framers of the resolution, have noted that the English language version of SC 242 did not state '''all''' territories occupied during the conflict, recognizing that some territorial adjustments were likely and rejected previous drafts with the word '''all''' (see ]). The French language translation of the text did include the definite article. Israel considers it has complied with this sense of the resolution when it returned the ] to Egypt in 1982.<ref>Black, Eric. , ] ] website. Accessed March 22, 2006.</ref>

	=====Israel has no partner for peace=====
	] claims that it has demonstrated flexibility and understanding by bringing about the initiation of the ], agreeing to painful concessions, and partially implementing them. As opposed to this, many Israelis consider that the predominant ] views of the peace process do not recognize Israel's right to exist, and believe that the only real long-term ] goal is the complete destruction of the ].

	=====Non-recognition of Israel's right to exist or existence=====
	Many ]is and supporters of Israel, and some ]s and supporters of Palestine, take the view that the very existence of the state of Israel is at stake. Most of the other parties to the dispute maintain formally that Israel should be recognized as a state, although some consider that it should be abolished. Some opponents of Israel do not even acknowledge its existence, refusing any contact with or mention of it, and instead describing it as "The Zionist Entity" with outdated land claims.

	Israelis argue that the continued Jewish presence in the area throughout the past three millennia, and the deep religious ties maintained by Judaism with the Land of Israel, give Jews a continuing and valid claim. Although the 1800 years preceding the establishment of Israel saw very limited Jewish presence, they emphasize that the destruction of the ] and ] were due to foreign conquests. They also point out that since antiquity, Jewish beliefs were frequently branded as "obsolete" (see ], ]). It may also be noted that historical grounds are not the only reasons given for the establishment of a Jewish state.

	Israelis regard many of the ] criticisms against the state of Israel as threats to the state's existence, and say that against the multitude and power of the Arab states, there is only one Jewish state, which, they feel, should behave vigilantly, and assert its power in both a defensive and preemptive manner as deemed necessary.

	====Issues of democracy and fairness====
	====Treatment of Jews in Arab-ruled societies and vice-versa====
	Some Israelis point to issues of unfair and prejudicial treatment of Jews in Arab-ruled societies historically and currently. Israelis claim that Arab countries such as ] and ] do not give full rights and freedoms to Jews, and others (such as ]) do not even allow Jews to be citizens. The United Nations Human Development Reports and human rights groups report that many Arab countries do not allow political opposition and other freedoms and lack ] and ].

	They also argue that within Israel, Israeli Arabs are not subject to this type of discrimination. They point to Israel's democratic system which protects the rights Jewish and Arab Israelis alike. Within the ], Arab and other minorities are given freedom of religion, culture and political organization. Several Arab political parties have elected parliament members in the ]. Arabs are typically not conscripted into the Israeli military (though they are accepted as volunteers), so they will generally never have to fight their peoples. However, it is recognized that this can affect later job opportunities, as some jobs in Israel require previous military service.

	Many ], however, claim that they are discriminated against, and that Israeli government agencies treat them worse than non-Arab Israelis . In 2004, the US State Department's Country Report on Human Rights Practices indicates that Israel "did little to reduce institutional, legal, and societal discrimination against the country's Arab citizens" .

	=====Islamic vs. other views of Land ownership=====
	Some pro-]i views focus on differences in concepts of land ownership as a root source of conflict. '']'' (Islamic law) contains the concept of Waqf, revenue-generating property as religious endowment that, once established, is permanent in nature.

	Under some traditional interpretations, ] territory encompass all land that was ever under Muslim control. The Hamas charter embraces this view of land ownership: "The Islamic Resistance Movement maintains that the land of Palestine is Waqf land given as endowment for all generations of Muslims until the Day of Resurrection. One should not neglect it or a part of it, nor should one relinquish it or a part of it. No Arab state, or all of the Arab states , have to do this; no king or president has this right nor all the kings and presidents together; no organization, or all the organizations together - be they Palestinian or Arab - because Palestine is Islamic Waqf land given to all generations of Muslims until the Day of Resurrection. This is the legal status of the land of Palestine according to Islamic law. In this respect, it is like any other land that the Muslims have conquered by force, because the Muslims consecrated it at the time of the conquest as religious endowment for all generations of Muslims until the Day of Resurrection."

	This concept of a permanent Waqf, while strongly held under Sharia law, is not agreed to internationally.

	=====Characterizations of Zionism as Racism and Colonialism=====
	Most ]is see ] as merely the desire of ]ish people to live as free people in the ]. This opinion would argue that Zionism does not imply the superiority of Jews over any other nationality or ethnicity, and thus the characterization of Zionism as Racism is unfair.

	People of all races, colors and ethnic backgrounds live in Israel. It is pointed out that Israeli Jews come from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds. In the 1930s, ideas of a 'population exchange' of Arabs and Jews between Arab states and Israel were actually popular among Zionists. In practice, most Jews living in Arab Nations in 1948 have currently left Arab countries: 2/3 have moved to Israel. Zionism does not prohibit ]s, ], ] and other non-Jews from living in Israel as well, although by most interpretations it requires a Jewish majority to be established.

	While some extremist Israelis (particularly supporters of ]) believe in the forced transfer of Arabs from Israel, this is not a widely held view.

	Zionists hold that Zionism is not colonialism, since they claim it does not wish to enslave any other peoples or take over any lands other than the one in question, nor to exploit them, but rather is about allowing the Jewish people to have a state in one small area. They also point out that they are not representing an outsider colonial force but full-fledged movement of self-determination.

	====Refugee issues====
	=====Jewish refugees=====
	After the establishment of the State of ] in 1948, most of the ] fled, were expelled, were coerced by Arab governments, or voluntarily left their homes in an increasing climate of hostility, with nearly 66% absorbed by ]. The State of Israel reacted by encouraging and facilitating emigration of non-local Jews to Israel. In a few Arab countries, this population change occured over several decades and was accelerated by the promise of prosperity and acceptence in Israel. Many Jews lost much of their property and continue to claim compensation. There has since been various invitations from Arab states although these are mostly dismissed as politically motivated attempts to discredit Israel, and virtually no resettled Jews have shown interest in returning to their former homes, as they have integrated in their new homes or fear persecution in Arab states.

	According to ], "n the early years of statehood, Israeli leaders like ] and ] viewed the ] and the ] as simply a 'population exchange,' akin to those between ] or ]." ]i ] ] and other Arab leaders viewed it the same way. Many continue to view it this way. Some Palestinian refugees never accepted that a "population exchange" had occured, though others do accept that an irrevocable population exchange has occured.

	Furthermore, Israel has charged that ] were neglected by most Arab nations, whereas Jewish refugees were integrated into Israeli society, and that this neglect is a contributing cause to the poverty and misery experienced by the residents of those camps.

	=====Palestinian refugees=====
	] does not recognize a Palestinian ]. Property that belonged to Arabs who left or fled Israel before, during and after the ] is confiscated under the ''Absentee Property Act''.

	Israel maintains that the General Assembly resolutions establishing the Right of Return are merely recommendations under International law, and in any event doubt that the refugees wish to "live in peace with their neighbors".

	Jewish Israelis fear that if ]s were allowed to return to ], the Jews would become a minority and ] would no longer be a ]. Many believe that if surrounding Arab states integrate the Palestinian refugees hostilities could be diffused, and that the harsh treatment of refugees in Arab states is done deliberately by those states in order to keep the conflict alive.

	Israel has stated that it is willing to allow a limited number of Arabs to immigrate on a humanitarian basis (such as the unification of families) and limited compensation for others in the framework of a comprehensive peace plan. Although serious discussion of how this would be implemented between both sides have yet to take place.

	The text of UN Resolution 194 refer to a "just settlement of the refugee problem" and does not specifically mention either the ]s or the ] . However, in 2004, in Resolution 59/117, the UN General Assembly "otes with regret that repatriation or compensation of the refugees, as provided for in paragraph 11 of General Assembly resolution 194 (III), has not yet been effected and that, therefore, the situation of the Palestine refugees continues to be a matter of grave concern" . <!--Israel's refusal to consider large-scale resettlement of Palestinian refugees is also based on the continued refusal of Arab nations to compensate Israeli Jews of Arab origin, many of whom were driven out of their home countries after facing the expropriation of their property. (please provide citation to this dubious claim. -->

	====Settlements====
	Israelis typically of the political right, particularly in the ] party, strongly support settlements in the ]. The platform of the Likud party states that "settlement of the land is a clear expression of the unassailable right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel and constitutes an important asset in the defense of the vital interests of the State of Israel."

	Israelis typically of the political left oppose settlements, believing they are illegal under the ] and/or thwart peace efforts. However, most Israelis do not view the building of houses and stores in ]s as an act of war, and believe that disputes over land do not justify violent resistance or terrorism, but that there should be politically negotiated solutions. This view is rejected by Palestinians and many outside Israel, as Israel's leadership continues to build settlements on land they contend to be Palestinian, an activity that is roundly condemned by much of the world except Israel and usually the ].

	Israel's settlement supporters argue that the Fourth Geneva Convention does not technically apply to the territories, since they have no "High Contracting Party", and claim that the Convention in any event only applied to forcible transfers of populations into or out of captured territories. However, a conference of High Contracting Parties in 2001 "reaffirmed the applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem" and "they reiterated the need for full respect for the provisions of the said Convention in that Territory."

	===Palestinian and other Arab views===
	''There is not a single "Arab view"; there are many different Arab views, which differ widely.''

	====Illegitimacy or illegality of Israel====

	:''See also ]''.

	Palestinians claim they have ] on their side.

	] orders that "Independent Arab and Jewish States...shall come into existence in Palestine". Israeli founding father and author of Resolution 181 ] claimed that Israel "tear up its own birth certificate" when it ignores UN resolutions.

	Palestinians hold that Israel disregards the following UN resolutions/International Law provisions:

	*] calls for "the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property" not naming either ] or ]. Palestinians hold that this resolution should allow for the ] to return to their homes in Israel. Israel has blocked the return of these refugees and confiscated their land as "absentee".

	*], adopted after the ], emphasizes "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war and the need to work for a just and lasting peace in which every State in the area can live in security," and calls for "withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict" and for the recognition 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". These territories occupied included the ], ], ] and the ]. The ] intends eventually to establish a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israel maintains control of the West Bank and maritime/aerospace control of the Gaza Strip.

	*The ] forbids an occupying power from confiscating occupied land and transferring its own population to that territory.<!--Over 88% of Israel proper is composed of land confiscated from Palestinian land owners.
	:''Of the entire area of the state of Israel only about 300,000-400,000 dunums ... are state domain which the Israeli government took over from the mandatory regime . The JNF and private Jewish owners possess under two million dunum . Almost all the rest belongs at law to Arab owners, many of whom have left the country. (Jewish National Fund, Jewish Villages in Israel, p.xxi, quoted in Lehn and Davis, The Jewish National Fund)--><!--That's not found in the Fourth Geneva Convention, nor is it an argument made by Palestinians. It's a claim apparently made in a JNF document. Furthermore, it is a dubious claim, since other statistics and sources explicitly contradict it.-->

	*] declares that the ]s in the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal.

	====Issues of democracy and fairness====
	=====Historical treatment of Jews in the Arab world=====
	Many ]s and contemporary western historians assert that ]s were treated ] by Muslims than by other rulers who ] them. One pertinent example is the mass expulsion of Jews from ] after the fall of their last refuge there, the Muslim kingdom of ] in 1492. This resulted in the ] of Jews (especially those fleeing the ]) to the , including the present-day region of Israel and surrounding areas. Authoritative works summarizing Jewish treatment within Muslim lands written by Jews have concluded that although occasional violent persecution did occur, it was not systemic nor continuous and substantially better than treatment by Christians in the pre-modern era. (Lewis, 1984)

	=====The creation of Israel as a cause of conflict=====
	Supporters of this viewpoint regard historically good relations with much of the Middle East as having been shattered by the creation of Israel. They cite the example of ], who had long been living in large measure peacefully among Arabs and Muslims, but who left after the establishment of the state of Israel for a variety of reasons (depending on the country), including Muslim hostility because of the new state. Some point out as well that during the times of the ], Muslim countries were prominent in accepting Jewish refugees.

	Opponents of this viewpoint, including some Mizrahi Jews themselves, see this as one-sided at best. They point to the persecutions of the Jews of North Africa in the 12th century under the ], the slaughter of thousands of Jews in ] in 1465 (after the Jewish deputy vizier Harun (Aaron), who had imposed heavy taxes on the population on behalf of the vizier, was accused of treating a Muslim woman "offensively"), and to similar massacres in ], ], and ] in the 18th and 19th centuries (Morris, 2001). They also point to waves of synagogue destructions and forced conversions throughout the Arab world from the 11th to 19th centuries, and to the fact that, by the 19th century, most Jews of North Africa were forced to live in '']s'' or ], and were subject to a number of restrictions and humiliations.

	=====Jewish immigration as a cause of conflict=====
	Some Arabs maintain that there is nothing wrong with Jewish immigration into Palestine, in itself, any more than there is with Jewish immigration into any other part of the world. But in their view the ] immigrants arriving in Palestine from the late 1800s on did so in course of a plan to take it over and establish a Jewish majority state, in some cases by force; they consider this to be colonization of Palestinians' land, made possible not by Palestinian ], or even consent, but by British (and to a lesser extent Turkish) fiat. This process led to what they regard as an expulsion by Zionists of the majority of the indigenous Palestinian population in 1948, and continues today with Israel's ongoing expansion of settlements. Palestinians also decry what they see as the inherent inequity of long-standing Israeli laws on immigration where, according to Israel's Law of Return, a Jew born in, say Stockholm, may immigrate to Israel and gain automatic citizenship and elect to live anywhere he chooses, including ], whereas a Palestinian born and raised in Jerusalem and forced to leave as a refugee of war may not return to his home.

	The detractors of this argument regard the existence of a Jewish minority in the ] throughout the past two millennia, and the ], as giving Jews a right to go there that trumps Palestinians' objections. They also claim international approval for their immigration, noting that both the ]'s 1922 ] and the 1947 ] supported the establishment of a ] in the region, and view the Arab leadership's former rejection of any partition as an attempt to deny the Jews their right of ]. They claim that a national homeland for Jews would have protected them from persecution. ] have argued that the land could support a greater population density without major population displacement.

	=====Israeli treatment of minorities=====
	Palestinians feel that the Jewish state of Israel was established under conditions that were deeply unfair to them. Some Palestinians do not oppose a Jewish state as such, but all Palestinians feel that it should not have been established at their expense. They argue that after World War II - and, indeed, after World War I - the world allowed a state for Jewish people in Palestine to be established without much concern for the existing indigenous Arab population. According to this view, Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes by Jewish militias before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war (see ].) Those who remained in Israel face various forms of discrimination, such as housing and employment discrimination. Many job opportunities in Israel are open only to those with previous military service, typically non-'']'' Jews, ], ] and ]. Those who do not serve in the IDF (typically ]s and ''haredi''-Jews) are denied those opportunities.

	Some Palestinian Christians are of the opinion that the ] has led to the diminishment of their population. Others, like ] are of the opinion that American ] have "turned their backs" on them by supporting Israel . Some Palestinian Christians have alleged that Israel does not give them permission to visit holy places in Jerusalem.

	====Legitimacy of war against Israel====
	As the refugees' exile continued, some Palestinian groups chose war, considering it as a necessary way to regain what they saw as their rights over the land they came from. The failure of these efforts to improve the Palestinians' condition fueled increased hostility.

	Many Palestinians distinguish between violent resistance against Israeli military occupation, and violent acts against Israeli civilians. They hold that the former is legitimate resistance under the ], while the latter comprise illegitimate acts of terrorism.{{fact}}<!-- However, opinion polls consistently show these Palestinians to be in the minority. --> Other Palestinian voices reject violence altogether and look to exclusively non-violent resistance as a solution.{{fact}} Palestinians making the case for purely non-violent resistance, or for armed resistance against only military targets but not Israeli civilians, invoke both practical arguments that such tactics are counterproductive, as well as moral and legal arguments against the use of violence, especially against civilians. Most Palestinians claim that Israel's occupation engenders routine violence against Palestinian civilians that is institutionalized and carried out on a much larger scale than anything Israelis experience. They often question what they see as the media's one-sided use of the word "terror" in cases where Palestinians are perpetrators and Israelis are victims, while ignoring what they view as state terrorism carried out by Israel against the Palestinian population.

	Some Palestinian and Arab leaders believe that Palestinians are justified in using violence against any Israeli, seeing all Israelis as illegal occupants, and arguing that Israel's universal conscription renders almost all Israelis potential combatants. They see these illegal occupants as the source of tens of thousands of deaths, and millions of refugees. Some claim that trusting the international community to help them to get their rights back is useless, suggesting that, in recent history, as long as Palestinians were peaceful no state made any serious efforts to solve their problem. In their opinion, only when other countries see Palestinian problems as causing problems to themselves do they help Palestine.

	They also argue that the civilian deaths caused by their operations are dwarfed by those dismissed as "]" caused by the full scale military campaigns done by various world powers. Some see the innocent deaths caused by such operations as regrettable, but as an only option to solve the problems of millions of Palestinians. Furthermore, they point to the use of violence against non-combatants by most other independence struggles, including, they say, the ].

	Despite having underlying grievances in common, the relationships between the ] and other Palestinian factions is rife with philosophical and tactical differences, as well as frequent power struggles, all of which tend to work to Israel's advantage and weaken Palestinians' ability to influence the outcome of the conflict.

	====Treatment of Palestinians====
	Restrictions on Palestinian movements were introduced to increase levels of security within Israel and Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. They have been of variable severity over time. The international community often views these as punishments of the masses because of the actions of a few. This perception of unjust persecution provides a continuing rationale for hostility toward Israel.

	Bulldozing of houses and destruction of infrastructure within Palestinian residential areas in the name of Israeli security add to the perceived poor conditions and lack of opportunities for the Palestinians. This is a frequently-used point of indignation against Israel by Palestinian sympathizers.

	Arab publications and others have compared ] to German ] and other historical examples of oppression and ethnic cleansing. Many Arabs, and others, believe Israel practices a form of "]" against the Palestinian people, as bad as, or worse than, that practised by ], and that Zionism is a form of "]" and has been carried out through extensive "ethnic cleansing". Pro-Israel advocates reply that these claims are non-factual and the comparisons are specious, or with assertions that such claims are hypocritical, since Arabs have created twenty-two Arab states, in some of which the remaining Jews are discriminated against. Palestinians hold that the existence of other Arab nations is irrelevant; they want to have the land they owned back, rather than being forced to throw themselves on others' charity in foreign countries.

	Israel's Family Reunification Law allowed the Interior Minister to grant permanent resident status to West Bank Palestinians who have family members in Israel. A recent revision to this Law required that the Interior Minister "shall not grant" citizenship except in exceptional cases ; recent additional modifications allow some citizenships, but limit based on age . In his comment to the Knesset Interior Affairs committee on ] ], ] Chief Yuval Diskin stated that "11% of those involved in terror attacks are Palestinians who entered Israel via the Family Reunification Law."

	====Refugee issues====
	] calls for "the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property". Israel has blocked the return of these refugees and confiscated their land as "absentee".

	The supporters of Israel argue that the return of Palestinian refugees and millions of their descendents would mean the end of Jewish ] and assert the historical necessity for Jews to have a ]. See also ].

	Furthermore, some argue that palestinians, if allowed to return, would not live in peace with their neighboors.

	====Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip====
	]

	There are currently 246,000 Jewish settlers living in ] in the West Bank, not including 200,000 Israeli Jews who live in annexed East Jerusalem . Ongoing settlement development and growth are major reasons Palestinians claim the peace process has failed , and the issue figures prominently in the larger narrative of the Arab-Israeli conflict among non-Palestinian Arabs .

	These settlements are off-limits to Palestinians and other Arabs, while any Jewish citizen of Israel can at any time choose to settle there. To monitor and control Palestinian movement, Israel has established 50+ checkpoints in and around the West Bank . As well, recently, Israel has begun construction of a controversial ] (see map ). Palestinians complain that these measures greatly restrict their movement and are often humiliating, while Israel asserts that they are necessary for security. Palestinians also point out that Israel accelerated the expansion of ] in the West Bank and Gaza Strip throughout the Oslo peace process.

	During Fateh Central Committee meeting on ] ], "eferring to the lands Israel would evacuate in Gaza Strip, President Abbas said that 97.5 % of these lands were state-owned lands".

	In 2005, approximately 9,000 settlers were evicted by Israel from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

	====Arab Peace Offer====
	In ], ] offered a ] in ] and at a summit meeting of the ] in ]. The plan is based on, but goes beyond ] and ]. It essentially calls for full withdrawal, solution of the ], and a ] with its capital in ] in return for fully normalized relations with the whole Arab world. This proposal received the unanimous backing of the ] for the first time.

	In response, Israeli Foreign Minister ] said: "... the details of every peace plan must be discussed directly between Israel and the Palestinians, and to make this possible, the Palestinian Authority must put an end to terror, the horrifying expression of which we witnessed just ]."

	In November ], the Bush administration acknowledged that Saudi Arabia has renewed funding to Hamas and other Palestinian insurgency groups.

	====Palestinians as victims of extremism====
	Some Palestinians believe that their cause may be damaged by extremists within their own ranks; an issue that is mirrored in the Israeli camp. Some view the conflict as essentially extremist vs. moderate, as opposed to Israeli vs. Palestinian. Pro-Israel advocates often assert that two sets of views exist from the same speaker, with a tolerant view usually expressed in English, and an anti-peace view usually expressed in Arabic, with pro-Arab advocates making similar charges about Israeli speakers. Most if not all Palestinian spokespeople declare that they wish Israel had never come into being, regarding its creation as a historic injustice. However, some accept its existence today and call merely for a state of their own. Still others envisage a one-state solution in all of historic Palestine. Within this one-state view, there are both secular and Islamist visions for the future. The secular view holds that a just and lasting peace is most likely if there exists a fully democratic government for all citizens, where legal status and civil rights are not based on ethnic and religious identity. The Islamist view aspires to an Islamic government in Palestine. In both views, Jews currently living in Israel might be allowed to remain there unmolested as free and equal citizens of a future state of Palestine (in the secular Arab view) or as ]s along with Druze and Christians, in the Islamist Arab view. Some Jews view it as extremely unlikely that they would be allowed to live unmolested in any sort of one-state Palestine.

	Today, many Palestinians think that an equitable arrangement for all involved parties requires dialogue with Israelis and the international community. The PLO has officially accepted the right of Israel to exist within the ]. However, some PLO representatives, including Yasser Arafat, have also declared at times that they saw these statements as politically necessary steps. Some observers interpret this to mean that they view the two-state solution as a stepping stone to a more integrated long-term solution. Others, particularly some Israelis, claim that these statements betray a hidden agenda and worldview where the peace process with Israel is only a temporary measure in support of the ultimate Palestinian goal, which is the destruction of the state of Israel, and presumably the eviction of its Jewish citizens. They point to the fact that the PLO never updated its formal statement of policy, the ] to reflect their recognition of the State of Israel and that it still calls for the destruction of Israel; however the U.S. Embassy in Israel is on record confirming that "On April 24, 1996, the Palestinian National Council (PNC) amended the charter by canceling the articles inconsistent with its commitments to Israel" . Still, belief in an existential threat from the PLO causes alarm among much of the Israeli public.

	===Mutual claims===
	====Biased text books====
	Many Palestinian school textbooks, including those distributed and sponsored by the Palestinian Authority since 1994, have historically minimized or ignored Jewish history of the land prior to the twentieth century. Similar statements are made in the Palestinian media. Palestinians claim the newer batch of the textbooks, released in 2000, rectify any omissions. Palestinians also claim that Israeli textbooks and school curriculum fully ignore Palestinian history and propagate myths about the founding of Israel such as claims that Palestine was virtually uninhabited prior to the arrival of Zionist immigrants in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Palestinians further claim that Israeli textbooks and media neglect and minimize the Arab Palestinian past and, according to Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace (CMIP), stereotype Arabs negatively. However, Israelis counter that their history program does include medieval Islamic history including topics such as the Arab ], as well as some history of both Arab and Jewish elements of Palestine. CMIP regularly issues reports on the contents of Arab and Israeli school textbooks .

	====The role of the superpowers====
	Palestinians cite many reasons for the perceived lack of support of their cause in the United States, despite the perception that it is more broadly supported in Europe. One such reason is postulated to be ethnic bigotry in the U.S.; while stereotyping of many other groups is no longer rampant, many people believe that Muslims and Arabs, in particular, continue to be vilified and victimized by crude attacks. There is also strong influence by Christian ] organizations on elected officials in the U.S. political system (see ] as one such example). It has also been argued that the U.S. continues to support Israel in order to have a strong foot hold in the region for their own national interests, politically and economically. Many also cite the political nature of the Cold War that aligned the U.S. with Israel against the USSR and its allies in the region.

	The ] traditionally used Arabs as a proxy in the ] against the ] (and the West's proxy in the Middle East, Israel). Some of today's ] rhetoric still reflects the position of Soviet ].

	===Peace and reconciliation===
	Despite the long history of conflict between Israelis and Arabs, there are many people working on peaceful solutions that respect the rights of peoples on all sides. See ].
	*Currently active ] include:
	**]
	**]
	**]

	==Comparative statistics==
	{\| class="wikitable"		{\| class="wikitable"
	\|+'''Comparative statistics Israel and Arab countries, Netherlands as comparable index.'''		\|+'''Comparative statistics Israel and Arab countries, Netherlands as comparable index.'''
Line 276:		Line 28:
	! ]<sup>(2)</sup>		! ]<sup>(2)</sup>
	! Mili-<br/>tary expen-<br/>ditures, $ Billions (FY03)		! Mili-<br/>tary expen-<br/>ditures, $ Billions (FY03)
	! ~~Pales-~~<~~br/~~>~~tinian~~ refugees<sup>(3)</sup> (2005)		! Palestinian<BR> refugees<sup>(3)</sup> (2005)
	! Jews ~~expelled or who fled from~~ Arab lands<sup>(4)</sup> <br/>(1948 / 2001)		! Jews in Arab lands<sup>(4)</sup> <br/>(1948 / 2001)
	\|- align="right"		\|- align="right"
	\| style="background:#cfc;" align="left" \| ''{{NLD}}''		\| style="background:#cfc;" align="left" \| ''{{NLD}}''
Line 360:		Line 112:
	\|18.45		\|18.45
	\|$3,100		\|$3,100
	\|33.8		\|33.80
	\|3.95		\|3.95
	\|0.70		\|0.70
Line 420:		Line 172:
	\|2.30		\|2.30
	\|N/A		\|N/A
	\|250,000 <br/>/ ~~500~~		\|250,000 <br/>/ 5,230
	\|- align="right"		\|- align="right"
	\| style="background:#ffc;" align="left" \| {{KWT}}		\| style="background:#ffc;" align="left" \| {{KWT}}
Line 427:		Line 179:
	\|$15,500		\|$15,500
	\|11.18		\|11.18
	\|3.2		\|3.20
	\|0.82		\|0.82
	\|2.58		\|2.58
Line 438:		Line 190:
	\|$13,000		\|$13,000
	\|19.18		\|19.18
	\|3		\|3.00
	\|0.83		\|0.83
	\|0.63		\|0.63
Line 460:		Line 212:
	\|$1,400		\|$1,400
	\|99.79		\|99.79
	\|6		\|6.00
	\|N/A		\|N/A
	\|0.03		\|0.03
Line 471:		Line 223:
	\|$1,800		\|$1,800
	\|75.25		\|75.25
	\|6		\|6.00
	\|0.44		\|0.44
	\|0.02		\|0.02
Line 482:		Line 234:
	\|$8,200		\|$8,200
	\|21.77		\|21.77
	\|6		\|6.00
	\|0.75		\|0.75
	\|0.25		\|0.25
Line 493:		Line 245:
	\|$21,200		\|$21,200
	\|20.73		\|20.73
	\|3		\|3.00
	\|0.80		\|0.80
	\|0.72		\|0.72
Line 504:		Line 256:
	\|$550		\|$550
	\|122.15		\|122.15
	\|7		\|7.00
	\|N/A		\|N/A
	\|0.02		\|0.02
Line 515:		Line 267:
	\|$21,100		\|$21,100
	\|16.12		\|16.12
	\|3		\|3.00
	\|0.81		\|0.81
	\|1.60		\|1.60
Line 526:		Line 278:
	\|$1,360		\|$1,360
	\|67.14		\|67.14
	\|5		\|5.00
	\|0.50		\|0.50
	\|0.59		\|0.59
Line 556:		Line 308:

	;Notes		;Notes
	# Freedom House rating: <font ~~color~~="#cfc">~~█~~</font>~~Free~~, <font ~~color~~="#ffc">~~█~~</font>~~Partly Free~~, <font ~~color~~="#fcc">~~█~~</font>~~Not Free~~		# Freedom House rating: <font style="background:#cfc;"> Free </font>, <font style="background:#ffc;"> Partly Free </font>, <font style="background:#fcc;"> Not Free </font>.
	# The ] defines ] as a person "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 ]" and includes their descendants in the male line, as well as persons in need of support who first became refugees as a result of the 1967 conflict. According to the ], the number of Palestinian refugees in 1949 was 711,000 (see also ]). As of 31 March 2005, there were 4,255,120 Palestinian refugees registered with the UNRWA.		# The ] defines ] as a person "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 ]" and includes their descendants in the male line, as well as persons in need of support who first became refugees as a result of the 1967 conflict. According to the ], the number of Palestinian refugees in 1949 was 711,000 (see also ]). As of 31 March 2005, there were 4,255,120 Palestinian refugees registered with the UNRWA.
	# Approximately two-thirds of 758,000—866,000 of the ] after 1948 were absorbed and naturalized by the State of Israel.		# Approximately two-thirds of 758,000—866,000 of the ] after 1948 were absorbed and naturalized by the State of Israel.
			# After the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, most of the Jewish population in Arab countries fled, were expelled, were coerced by Arab governments, or voluntarily left their homes because of an increasing climate of hostility, with nearly 66% absorbed by Israel (within 1949 armistice lines).
	# Israel within 1949 armistice lines.
	# Internally Displaced Persons: "Arab villagers displaced from homes in northern Israel" .		# Internally Displaced Persons: "Arab villagers displaced from homes in northern Israel" .
	# Kuwait expelled most of its 400,000 Palestinian refugees after the ].		# Kuwait expelled most of its 400,000 Palestinian refugees after the ].
Line 579:		Line 331:
	*]		*]
	*]		*]
	*]
	*]
	*]
	*]		*]
	*]		*]
	*]		*]
	*]
	*]
	*]
	*]
	*] (game)

	===Abbreviated timeline===
	*]
	*]
	*]
	*]
	*], 1921
	*]
	*]
	*], 1936-1939
	*]
	*]
	*]
	*]
	*]
	*]
	*]
	*]
	*], 1956
	*]
	*]
	*]
	*]
	*]
	*]
	*]
	*]
	*]
	*]
	*]

	==References==		==References==
	<references/>
	*] ''Elusive Peace: How the Holy Land Defeated America''.		*] ''Elusive Peace: How the Holy Land Defeated America''.
	*] ''Israel's Wars: A History since 1947''.		*] ''Israel's Wars: A History since 1947''.
Line 678:		Line 391:
	''See main article: ]''		''See main article: ]''
	*		*

	===Views of the Conflict: Pro-Israeli===
	* , extensive collection of questions and answers with maps and documents published by the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise
	* from the Israeli Science and Technology Homepage

	===Views of the Conflict: Pro-Arab===
	* , published by the American Educational Trust, Inc.
	* on the Arab-Israeli conflict
	* , an American activist organization
	* , the Bloc of the Peaceful, an Israeli peace organization founded by Uri Avnery

	===Historical Sources===
	*
	*
	* from Mt. Holyoke College
	* records from 1916-1999

	===Maps===		===Maps===

Revision as of 10:28, 23 March 2006

The Arab-Israeli conflict is a long-running conflict in the Middle East concerning Zionist and subsequent immigration of non-local Jews, joining the existing Jewish population in the British Mandate of Palestine, their claim to self-determination in the Land of Israel and, after the establishment of the State of Israel, the country's relations with the Arab states and the Palestinian population (see Israeli-Palestinian conflict). Some uses of the term Middle East conflict referring to this matter, but the region has been host to other disputes and wars not directly involving Israel (see List of conflicts in the Middle East).

Despite involving a relatively small land area and number of casualties, the conflict has been the focus of worldwide media and diplomatic attention for decades. Some groups consider the Arab-Israeli conflict as a part of (or precursor to) a wider clash of civilizations between the Western World and the Arab or Muslim world. Animosity emanating from this conflict has caused numerous attacks on supporters (or perceived supporters) of one side by supporters of the other side in many countries around the world. Many more people in other countries feel involvement in the conflict, for reasons such as cultural and religious ties with Islam and/or Arab culture, Christianity, Judaism, or for ideological, human rights, or strategic reasons; these include countries such as the Russian Federation and the former Soviet Union, the European Union, Iran and the United States.

History

Main article: History of the Arab-Israeli conflict

The Arab-Israeli conflict is a modern phenomenon, which dates back to the end of the 19th century. The conflict became a major international issue after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1917, and in various forms it continues to this day. The conflict spans at least five major wars, a number of "minor conflicts", controversies over Israeli settlements, and refugees. It has also been the source of two major Palestinian intifadas (uprisings) and is cited by al-Qaeda, a largely Arab organization, as one of the reasons for its conflict with the Western world.

Reasons for the conflict

Main article: Views of the Arab-Israeli conflict

The Arab-Israeli conflict is the result of numerous factors. Reasons cited for the conflict therefore vary from participant to participant and observer to observer. A powerful example of this divide can be found in opinion surveys of Palestinians and Israelis. In a March, 2005 poll 63% of the Israelis blamed the failure of the Oslo Peace Process on Palestinian violence, but only 5% of the Palestinians agreed. 54% of Palestinians put the blame on continuing Israeli settlement activity, but only 20% of the Israelis agreed . It is therefore difficult to develop a single, objective reason for the conflict, so this article will present some of the arguments made by each side, in turn.

Comparative statistics

**Comparative statistics Israel and Arab countries, Netherlands as comparable index.**
Country, Freedom House rating (2006)	Area, 1000s km²	Popula- tion, Millions (2005 est.)	GDP per capita	Infant mor- tality rate	Ferti- lity rate	HDI	Mili- tary expen- ditures, $ Billions (FY03)	Palestinian refugees (2005)	Jews in Arab lands (1948 / 2001)
Netherlands	41.53	16.32	$24,400	4.37	1.65	0.93	9.41	N/A	N/A
Israel	20.77	7.01	$22,200	7.03	2.57	0.89	9.11	276,000	N/A
West Bank	?	2.80	$1,500	21.78	4.90	N/A	N/A	665,000	N/A
Gaza Strip	0.36	1.38	$1,000	25.37	6.42	N/A	N/A	923,000	N/A
Jordan	92.30	5.73	$3,500	20.36	3.29	0.71	1.46	2,540,000	N/A
Lebanon	10.45	3.83	$5,000	28.35	2.05	0.76	0.54	695,000	5,000 / 100
Egypt	1,001.45	77.51	$3,600	60.46	3.07	0.64	2.44	70,000	75,000 / 100
Syria	185.18	18.45	$3,100	33.80	3.95	0.70	0.86	584,000	15-30,000 / 100
Iraq	437.07	26.08	$2,500	60.05	4.75	N/A	N/A	N/A	135,000 / 200
Yemen	527.97	20.73	$820	68.53	6.97	0.47	0.89	N/A	53,000 / 200
Libya	1,759.54	5.77	$8,900	28.99	3.64	0.77	1.30	N/A	35,000 / 0
Algeria	2,381.74	32.53	$5,500	40.56	2.72	0.69	2.48	N/A	140,000 / 0
Morocco	446.55	32.73	$3,500	48.11	3.05	0.60	2.30	N/A	250,000 / 5,230
Kuwait	17.82	2.87	$15,500	11.18	3.20	0.82	2.58	N/A	N/A
Bahrain	0.67	0.69	$13,000	19.18	3.00	0.83	0.63	N/A	N/A
Comoros	2.17	0.60	$710	81.79	5.26	0.51	0.01	N/A	N/A
Djibouti	23.00	0.48	$1,400	99.79	6.00	N/A	0.03	N/A	N/A
Mauritania	1,030.70	3.09	$1,800	75.25	6.00	0.44	0.02	N/A	N/A
Oman	212.46	3.00	$8,200	21.77	6.00	0.75	0.25	N/A	N/A
Qatar	10.36	0.86	$21,200	20.73	3.00	0.80	0.72	N/A	N/A
Somalia	637.66	8.59	$550	122.15	7.00	N/A	0.02	N/A	N/A
United Arab Emirates	83.60	4.30	$21,100	16.12	3.00	0.81	1.60	N/A	N/A
Sudan	2,505.81	40.19	$1,360	67.14	5.00	0.50	0.59	N/A	N/A
Tunisia	163.61	10.08	$6,500	29.04	1.99	0.71	0.36	N/A	50-105,000 / 1,000
Saudi Arabia	1,960.60	26.42	$10,500	51.25	6.25	0.75	18.00	240,000	N/A

Notes

Freedom House rating: Free , Partly Free , Not Free .
The UNRWA defines Palestinian refugee as a person "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" and includes their descendants in the male line, as well as persons in need of support who first became refugees as a result of the 1967 conflict. According to the UN Conciliation Commission, the number of Palestinian refugees in 1949 was 711,000 (see also Estimates of the Palestinian Refugee flight of 1948). As of 31 March 2005, there were 4,255,120 Palestinian refugees registered with the UNRWA.
Approximately two-thirds of 758,000—866,000 of the Jews expelled or who fled from Arab lands after 1948 were absorbed and naturalized by the State of Israel.
After the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, most of the Jewish population in Arab countries fled, were expelled, were coerced by Arab governments, or voluntarily left their homes because of an increasing climate of hostility, with nearly 66% absorbed by Israel (within 1949 armistice lines).
Internally Displaced Persons: "Arab villagers displaced from homes in northern Israel" .
Kuwait expelled most of its 400,000 Palestinian refugees after the 1991 Gulf War.
2003 est.

Sources

CIA World Factbook
Freedom House
UNRWA ,
Human Development Index - available statistics in 2002
Avneri, Arieh (1984). Claim of Dispossession: Jewish Land-Settlement and the Arabs, 1878-1948. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 0878559647 (p. 276)
Stearns, Peter N. (2001). The Encyclopedia of World History. Houghton Mifflin Books. ISBN 0395652375 (p. 966)

References

Bregman, Ahron Elusive Peace: How the Holy Land Defeated America.
Bregman, Ahron Israel's Wars: A History since 1947.
Cramer, Richard Ben How Israel Lost: The Four Questions, Simon and Schuster, May, 2004, hardcover, 288 pages, ISBN 0743250281
Gold, Dore, Tower Of Babble: How The United Nations Has Fueled Global Chaos, Random House (November, 2004), hardcover, 304 pages, ISBN 1400054753
Hamidullah, M. (1986), "Relations of Muslims with non-Muslims," Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, vol. 7, no. 1, January 1986
Khouri, Fred (1985). The Arab-Israeli Dilemma (3rd edition). Syracuse University Press. ISBN 0815623402.
Lewis, Bernard. "The Jews of Islam," Princeton University Press, 1984, ISBN 0691008078
Morris, B. (2001), Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001, 1st ed. 1999; 2nd ed. Vintage Books, 2001, ISBN 0679744754

External links

General Sources

Israel and the Palestinians
Encarta Encyclopedia on the Arab-Israeli Conflict
Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict, includes links to historical sources, as well as sources representing the Arab and Israeli sides of the conflict.
The Guardian (UK) A Brief History of Arab-Israeli Conflict (flash)
Mideast: Land of Conflict from CNN
Open Directory Project - Israel-Palestine Conflict
University of Texas Center for Mideast Studies extensive collection of updated links

Government and Official Sources

Regional Media

Israeli

Yedioth Aharonoth Israel's largest newspaper, centrist (English) (Hebrew)
IsraelInsider Israel's Daily Online News Magazine (English)
Jerusalem Post, Israel's oldest English newspaper, conservative (English)
Ha'aretz Israeli newspaper, liberal (English)

Arab

Lebanon Daily Star, largest English-circulation newspaper in the Arab world (English)
Al Jazeera, pan-Arab news station (English)
Al Ahram, Egypt's largest newspaper (English)
Palestine Chronicle, weekly electronic paper (English)

Arab: Translations into English and other languages

Middle East Media Research Institute, explores the Middle East through the region's media

Think Tanks and Strategic Analysis

Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, influential centrist Israeli think tank specializing in military and strategic analysis
Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs (PASSIA), Palestinian research organization
Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information Joint Israeli-Palestinian think tank
Brookings Institute (US), analyses on the Middle East
Washington Institute for Near East Policy Influential American think-tank
Middle East Media Research Institute Original analysis of current developments in the peace-process

Peace Proposals

See main article: List of Middle East peace proposals

An historical summary of Middle East Peace Plans and Proposals

Maps

Category:

Arab-Israeli conflict