Israeli–Palestinian conflict

Israeli–Palestinian conflict

The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing struggle between Israelis and Palestinians that began in the early 20th century.
The conflict is wide-ranging. The violence resulting from the conflict has prompted international actions, as well as other security and human rights concerns, both within and between both sides, and internationally.
Many attempts have been made to broker a two-state solution, involving the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside an independent Jewish state or next to the State of Israel (after Israel's establishment in 1948).
In 2007 a majority of both Israelis and Palestinians, according to a number of polls, preferred the two-state solution over any other solution as a means of resolving the conflict.^[5] Moreover, a considerable majority of the Jewish public sees the Palestinians' demand for an independent state as just, and thinks Israel can agree to the establishment of such a state.^[6]
A majority of Palestinians and Israelis view the West Bank and Gaza Strip as an acceptable location of the hypothetical Palestinian state in a two-state solution.
A hallmark of the conflict has been the level of violence witnessed for virtually its entire duration. Fighting has been conducted by regular armies, paramilitary groups, terror cells and individuals. Casualties have not been restricted to the military, with a large number of fatalities in civilian population on both sides.
There are prominent international actors involved in the conflict. The two parties engaged in direct negotiation are the Israeli government, currently led by Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), currently headed by Mahmoud Abbas.
The official negotiations are mediated by an international contingent known as the Quartet on the Middle East (the Quartet) represented by a special envoy that consists of the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations. The Arab League is another important actor, which has proposed an alternative peace plan. Egypt, a founding member of the Arab League, has historically been a key participant.
Since 2003, the Palestinian side has been fractured by conflict between the two major factions: Fatah, the traditionally dominant party, and its later electoral challenger, Hamas.
Following Hamas' seizure of power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007, the territory controlled by the Palestinian National Authority (the Palestinian interim government) is split between Fatah in the West Bank, and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The division of governance between the parties has effectively resulted in the collapse of bipartisan governance of the Palestinian National Authority (PA).

History

Main article: History of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict

The Israeli–Palestinian conflict has its roots in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with the birth of major nationalist movements among the Jews and among the Arabs, both geared towards attaining sovereignty for their people in the Middle East.
The collision between those two forces in southern Levant and the emergence of the Palestinian nationalism in the 1920s, eventually escalated into the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in 1947, and expanded into the wider Arab-Israeli conflict later on.
With the outcome of the First World War, the relations between Zionism and the Arab national movement seemed to be potentially friendly,
However, with the defeat and dissolution of the Arab Kingdom of Syria in July 1920, following the Franco-Syrian War, a crisis fell upon the Damascus-based Arab national movement. Return of several hard-line Palestinian Arab nationalists, under the emerging leadership of Haj Amin al-Husseini, from Damascus to Mandatory Palestine marked the beginning of Palestinian Arab nationalist struggle towards establishment of national home for Arabs of Palestine.
Amin al-Husseini, the architect of the Palestinian Arab national movement, immediately marked Jewish national movement and Jewish immigration to Palestine as the sole enemy to his cause,^[10] initiating large-scale riots against the Jews as early as 1920 in Jerusalem and in 1921 in Jaffa.
Among the results of the violence was the establishment of Jewish paramilitary force of Haganah. In 1929, a series of violent anti-Jewish riots was initiated by the Arab leadership. The riots resulted in massive Jewish casualties in Hebron and Safed, and the evacuation of Jews from Hebron and Gaza.
In the early 1930s, the Arab national struggle in Palestine had drawn many Arab nationalist militants from across the Middle East, most notably Sheikh Izaddin al-Qassam from Syria, who established the Black Hand militant group and had prepared the grounds for the 1936 Arab revolt.
Following, the death of al-Qassam by the hands of the British in late 1935, the tensions erupted in 1936 into the Arab general strike and general boycott. The strike soon deteriorated into violence and the bloody revolt against the British and the Jews.
In the first wave of organized violence, lasting until early 1937, much of the Arab gangs were defeated by the British and a forced expulsion of much of the Arab leadership was performed.
The revolt led to the establishment of the Peel Commission towards partitioning of Palestine, though was subsequently rejected both by Palestinian Jews and Palestinian Arabs. The renewed violence, which had sporadically lasted until the beginning of WWII, ended with around 5,000 casualties, mostly from the Arab side.

Land in the lighter shade represents territory within the borders of Israel at the conclusion of the 1948 war. This land is internationally recognized as belonging to Israel.

On 29 November 1947, the General Assembly adopted Resolution 181(II) recommending the adoption and implementation of a plan to partition Palestine into an Arab state, a Jewish state and the City of Jerusalem.
On the next day, Palestine was already swept by violence, with Arab and Jewish militias executing attacks.
Through the 1950s, Jordan and Egypt supported the Palestinian Fedayeen militants' cross-border attacks into Israel, while Israel carried out reprisal operations in the host countries.
The 1956 Suez Crisis resulted in short-term Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and exile of the All-Palestine Government, which was later restored with Israeli withdrawal.
In 1964, however, a new organization—the Palestine Liberation Organization—was established by Yasser Arafat. It immediately won the support of most Arab League governments and won a seat in the Arab League. The 1967 Six Day War was a major blow to Palestinian nationalism, as Israel took over the West Bank from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, practically removing any ability of the PLO to establish any control on the ground.
The PLO hence established its headquarters in Jordan, home to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, and supported the Jordanian army during the War of Attrition, most notably the Battle of Karameh. The Palestinian base in Jordan, however, collapsed with the Jordanian-Palestinian civil war in 1970.
In 1978, the Coastal Road massacre led to the Israeli full-scale invasion known as Operation Litani. Israeli forces, however, quickly withdrew from Lebanon, and the attacks against Israel resumed.
The initial results for the Israelis were successful. Most Palestinian militants were defeated within several weeks, Beirut was captured, and the PLO headquarters were evacuated to Tunisia in June by Yasser Arafat's decision.
The first Palestinian uprising began in 1987, as a response to regional stagnation. By the early 1990s, international efforts to settle the conflict had begun, in light of the success of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty of 1982.
Eventually, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process led to the Oslo Accords of 1993, allowing the PLO to relocate from Tunisia and take ground in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, establishing the Palestinian National Authority.
The peace process also had significant opposition among radical Islamic elements of Palestinian society, such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who immediately initiated a campaign of attacks targeting Israelis. Following hundreds of casualties and a wave of radical anti-government propaganda, Israeli Prime-Minister Rabin was assassinated by an Israeli fanatic who objected to the policy of the government. This struck a serious blow to the peace process, from which the newly elected government of Israel in 1996 backed off.
Following several years of unsuccessful negotiations, the conflict re-erupted as the Second Intifada on September 2000. The violence, escalating into an open conflict between the Palestinian Authority security forces and the IDF, lasted until 2004/2005 and led to nearly 6,000 fatalities.
Following the uprising, Israeli Prime-Minister Sharon decided upon the Gaza disengagement plan, implemented in 2005, removing Israeli settlers, though not releasing the territory from Israeli occupation.^[11] One year later the Hamas party took power in Palestinian elections, while Israel responded it would not continue any peace negotiations as long as Hamas is taking part in the Palestinian government.
Clashes between Israel and Hamas in 2006 led Israel to impose a naval blockade on the Gaza Strip, and cooperation with Egypt allowed a ground blockade of the Egyptian border.

International positions

United Nations

On 24 January 2008, the United Nations Human Rights Council released a statement calling for Israel to lift its siege on the Gaza Strip, allow the continued supply of food, fuel, and medicine, and reopen border crossings.
The proceedings were boycotted by Israel and the United States. Prior to this, U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes, described the blockade as "collective punishment", saying, "We all understand the security problems and the need to respond to that but collective punishment of the people of Gaza is not, we believe, the appropriate way to do that."
In August 2009, U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay criticised Israel for the blockade in a 34-page report, calling it a violation of the rules of war.^[164]
In March 2010, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon stated that the blockade of Gaza is causing "unacceptable suffering" and that families were living in "unacceptable, unsustainable conditions".
A UN Fact Finding mission in September 2009 led by South African Judge Richard Goldstone concluded that the blockade was possibly a crime against humanity, and recommended that the matter be referred to the International Criminal Court if the situation has not improved in six months.
In May 2010, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stated that the formal economy in Gaza has collapsed since the imposition of the blockade. They also stated that the "restrictions imposed on the civilian population by the continuing blockade of the Gaza Strip amount to collective punishment, a violation of international humanitarian law."

Gaza–Israel conflict

The Gaza–Israel conflict is an ongoing dispute within the frame of the long-term Israeli–Palestinian conflict in the territory of the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian active resistance to military occupation in Gaza was escalated in the Gaza territory, following the overwhelming election to government of the Islamic political party Hamas in 2005^[5] and 2006.
The conflict in its current form is ongoing since the split of the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas Government in Gaza in 2006 and the ousting of Fatah. Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel^[7] and Israel's blockade of Gaza have exacerbated the conflict.
Under its disengagement plan, Israel retained exclusive control over Gaza's airspace, continued to patrol and monitor the external land perimeter of the Gaza Strip, with the exception of its southernmost border (where Egypt retained control of the border and border crossings were supervised by European monitors), and continued to monitor and blockade Gaza's coastline. Israel largely provides for and controls Gaza's water supply, electricity and communications infrastructure.
The United Nations has stated that under resolutions of both the General Assembly and the Security Council it regards Gaza to be part of the "Occupied Palestinian Territories"

2006 events

Large-scale conventional warfare beyond the peripheries of the Gaza Strip began when Israel launched "Operation Summer Rains" in the Gaza Strip that began on 28 June 2006, in response to the Palestinian militants abduction of Corporal Gilad Shalit.
The Gaza beach blast was an event on 9 June 2006 in which eight Palestinians were killed — including nearly the entire family of seven-year-old Huda Ghaliya — and at least thirty others were injured in an explosion on a beach near the municipality of Beit Lahia in the Gaza Strip.
It is estimated that between 7,000 and 9,000 Israeli artillery shells were fired into Gaza between September 2005 and June 2006, killing 80 Palestinians in 6 months.

2007–2008 Escalation

A series of battles between Palestinian militants in the Hamas Governed Gaza and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that began in mid-May 2007. Palestinians fired more than 220 Qassam rocket attacks on Israel in more than a week. The Israeli Air Force fired missiles and bombs into Gaza. The fighting came amid serious Palestinian factional violence and reports of growing level of humanitarian crisis in the region. Hamas said they will continue to retaliate against Israeli strikes.
In September 2007, citing an intensification of Qassam rocket attacks, Israel declared Gaza "hostile territory." The declaration allowed Israel to prevent the transfer of electricity, fuel, and other supplies into Gaza.
By January 2008, the economic effects of Israel's blockade on Gaza reached a critical threshold, according to a United Nations study. Finally, on 17 January 2008, Israel sealed the border completely following a rise in rocket attacks.
The United Nations estimates that as many as half the 1.5 million population of the Gaza Strip crossed the border into Egypt seeking food and supplies.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also issued a condemnation of what he termed Israel's "excessive and disproportionate" response, and called on Israel "to cease such attacks",
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Muslims to rise up and their leaders to hit Israel "in the face with their nations' anger." In Lebanon, hundreds of Hezbollah supporters gathered at the Fatima Gate at the border between Lebanon and Israel, shouting "Death to Israel" and waving Lebanese and Palestinian flags.
In Egypt, thousands of students held protests at universities across the country calling on Arab leaders to stop Israeli aggression and support the Palestinians. Some protesters burned Israeli and American flags.
On 29 February 2008, the Israeli military launced Operation Hot Winter, also called "Operation Warm Winter", in response to Qassam rockets fired from the Strip by Hamas. The Israeli army killed 112 Palestinians, and Palestinian militants killed three Israelis. More than 150 Palestinians and seven Israelis have been injured.

2012 Events

Main articles: March 2012 Gaza–Israel clashes and Operation Pillar of Defense

On 9-14 March 2010, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) initiated operation 'Operation Returning Echo'. It was the worst outbreak of violence covered by the media in the region since the 2008–2009 Operation Cast Lead(Gaza War).

The ongoing Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel grew intense late in October 2012, and so Israel's government decided to resort to a military response in force.

according to Palestinian Centre for Human Rights 158 Palestinians had been killed, of which: 102 were civilians, 55 militants and one was policeman. 30 children and 13 women were among the killed, ^[98]

Most of the fighting was by bombs, aerial attacks, artillery, and rockets; the rockets being primarily used by the Palestinians and air strikes primarily by the Israelis.

The United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and other Western countries expressed support for Israel's right to defend itself, and/or condemned the Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel. Iran, Egypt, Turkey and several other Arab and Muslim countries condemned the Israeli operation.

Suffocating Gaza - the Israeli blockade's effects on Palestinians

Israel's military blockade of Gaza has left more than 1.4 million Palestinian men, women and children trapped in the Gaza Strip, an area of land just 40 kilometres long and 9.5 kilometres wide.

Mass unemployment, extreme poverty and food price rises caused by shortages have left four in five Gazans dependent on humanitarian aid. As a form of collective punishment, Israel’s continuing blockade of Gaza is a flagrant violation of international law.
Conclusion:
m.ali gaza

“If I die now, at least I'll die with hope."

This morning, I heard people chanting outside, I wondered what it was, and then, the lights came on - the electricity had come back on; hurrah!

I immediately turned on the television, charged my phone, checked emails. For a moment, I felt somewhat liberated. These things that we often take for granted have become so precious of late.

Solidarity and trust

We have no clean water left. Our water tank is empty. My father could not turn away the increasing amount of people knocking at our door with empty jerry cans in hand. He did not realise how much water he had given out until it was too late.

Shops are running out of clean water; we were not able to find any in our neighbourhood. We can use the untreated water but we should really boil it first to avoid getting sick, but we face another obstacle; we have very little gas left.

We will just have to drink the unsterilised water so that we can save the rest of the gas for cooking food. But, if you have never cooked with a gas burner, it makes the food taste of gasoline, the coffee taste of gasoline, we now even smell of gasoline.

I received a call from a good friend in Jabaliya, he was telling me how awful life has become for his family; sonic booms from F-16 fighter planes constantly shake his home - there is no chance any of his six children and wife are getting any sleep.

His sister's home has already been evacuated and he wants to leave as soon as he can. He has a small bag packed and ready to go.

I told him to bring his family and to stay with us - I am expecting him to arrive at any moment.

The news is getting more and more horrific as the situation here deteriorates. The latest report, I saw, was of a child clutching on to her dead parent's bodies for four days before anyone was able to come to her rescue, dogs are starting to eat the corpses that no one has been able to bury.

This reality does not seem to be reaching some parts of the world. Is it censored because people cannot cope with the truth of what is happening to us? If the truth did get out, would it make a difference?

Fortunately, we have a lot of solidarity and trust in our community, we share what we have - I guess this is why we have just about managed to feed ourselves.

Some shopkeepers are allowing people to buy food on credit; people's debts are quickly mounting up. But solidarity and trust will not feed us now that food - and everything else it seems - is running out.

Keeping hope alive

I applied for a scholarship in the UK several months ago. I was expecting to find out in early January whether or not my application was successful.

I have been waiting impatiently for days. I could not wait any longer so I finally called the British Council; I wanted to know the outcome to put my mind at rest.

They told me that they would call back in two minutes. During those two minutes I almost stopped breathing - this scholarship is the only hope I have at the moment for a better life.

The lady called back and said: "I am afraid we do not have an answer yet for you." To which I responded: "Please be honest with me; is it that you really do not have an answer or that you do not want to give me bad news at this point in time?"

The possibility of going to the UK is giving me the hope I need to live. My wife thinks I am crazy, as I talk to her as if we are definitely going; I describe the friends we will have, the restaurants we will go to, the walks around the parks.

At least if I die, I will die with a little hope, the hope that I will have the chance to live a better life, even if for now it is but a dream.

 Another person in gaza:

Imagine F16s roaring over your head while you try to sleep at night. Imagine hearing the bombs drop down in the neighbourhood next to where you live. Now imagine a 10 year old child going through this. Maybe your child, or your niece or nephew, or younger sibling.

How would you feel if you saw your parents being humiliated in front of your eyes and not knowing if tonight will be the last time you see them, due to the Zionist soldiers raiding your home? It could be at any minute. This is the reality for many of the children of Gaza.

Officially both sides, Hamas and the Zionist leaders of the occupied state, agreed to a ceasefire. Unofficially the terror committed by Israel continues, whilst the world leaders turn a blind eye. The terror witnessed by the most vulnerable in the Gaza strip continues.

More than half of the 1.7 million people in Gaza are children. The recent atrocities committed by the racist Zionist state led to many children suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

16 year old, Saad Hasanat lost six of his cousins. He stated that the memory of seeing their dead bodies still haunt him. Many people in the UK were complaining that some people on social media were putting up pictures of deceased children because they were unable to stomach it. Saad had no choice. To him they were children he knew and spent time with.

He will never forget.

He said “When I remember that scene I feel my body shudder. Deep inside I imagine being in their place and people looking at my dead body. It's too much to bear, it was so terrible”.

Another 16 year old, Mazen Rayyan, whose family home was destroyed said “All my life has changed. All, all, all, my life has changed from good things to bad things. You can say from one hundred to zero. It has been destroyed. I don’t know what I will do now. Really, I don’t know”.

34 children were killed in the recent 8 day war. They have now returned to their Creator, but what about those who remain and are still living with the nightmare?

The question that I ask is how our Ummah, one of the fastest growing religions in the world is allowing this to happen?

Where is the voice of the great Islamic Institutions?

How can they be so silent when it comes to the suffering of our children?

Do they have no shame?

When a child in Israel is merely rushed to a bunker, the whole world knows. So why is it that it seems that no one truly cares about the children dying and suffering in Gaza?

The children of Gaza are crying out. When will you wake up and help them?

Ahamd story

The war on Gaza was on its final stages, Ahmed was 20 years old, He and some of his companions walked through the streets of Gaza and suddenly, a missile falls from an aircraft, four from his friends were injured.

Ahmed said "we heard big noise and all sudden everything turned around me to black and I flew a distance from the blast site. for this moment I did not realize what happened, and after a few moments smoke fade away, and I began to see around me and I found myself lying on the ground and noticed one of my friends lying in front of me on the ground.

I tried to get up But I was not able to move and reach him. I looked at myself to find that I am covered in blood… I realized that  we were bombed by a  missile from the aircraft.

Ahmed remained in the place of shelling for 45 minutes the ambulance was not able to reach to Ahmad and his colleagues fearing of being bombed too.

During these long minutes, a lot of thought crossed Ahmed's mind He sees blood everywhere and can not move and the idea of death had seized him as he waits for his death either from another missile or continuous bleeding from his wounds without any medical help.

After 45 minutes, Ahmed saw a light from far a way, the hope began to raise again, feel energy and thinking that his suffering will come to an end, these light was for an ambulance coming to get Ahmed and his friends to the nearest hospital.

Ahmed thought that reaching the hospital could end their suffering and that he was out of danger, and everything will return to normal in a short period.

Ahmed didn't know what's happen in the hospital and that the hospital; was full of patient and there were no rooms left for any other patients and the medical stuff was struggling to continue there work with the minimal amount of medical material and medicine, so, first aid has given to Ahmed when he first arrived to the hospital and he was in an urgent need for surgery, but because of due to overcrowding of the hospital, his operation was delayed for 3 days

During these days he was in a lot of pain and Prohibited from eating and drinking because he can get to the operation room any time.

During this time of waiting, he was in a room filled with wounded people, a lot of pain and groans filled the room, Ahmed was in the worst state of pain and he was under a lot of pain killers that didn't give the effect of killing pain.

A medical delegation was at the hospital, a doctor from Denmark was with the delegation, he saw Ahmed and decided that he needs urgent operation, but the operation room was occupied the hole time and It was impossible to operate Ahmed at this time. So. Ahmed was transferred to another nearby hospital and operated directly with internal fixation to the left leg.

Ahmed  remained in the hospital for a week until recovered, and went out to the world with a new thought  and fresh look of life, this experience has changed the concepts of life for him.

This was Ahmed's trip during the days of the war on Gaza, This is the story of the thousands of stories that reveals the suffering of the Palestinian people who are still suffering from the effects of war and blockade.

To this day some of the wounded people still suffering and still going under treatment hoping to heal and return to their normal life.