The Arab–Israeli conflict

The Arab–Israeli conflict (Arabic: الصراع العربي الإسرائيلي‎, Al-Sura'a Al'Arabi A'Israili; Hebrew: הסכסוך הישראלי-ערבי‎, Ha'Sikhsukh Ha'Yisraeli-Aravi) refers to political tensions and open hostilities between the Arab peoples and the Jewish community of the Middle East. Sony VAIO VGN-NS10E/S Battery

The roots of the modern Arab–Israeli conflict lie in the rise of Zionism and Arab Nationalism towards the end of the nineteenth century. The conflict between Palestinian Jews and Arabs emerged in the early 20th century, expanding to all Arab League countries with the creation of the modern State of Israel in 1948. Sony VAIO VGN-NS10J/S Battery

Territory regarded by the Jewish people as their historical homeland is also regarded by the Pan-Arab movement as historically and presently belonging to the Palestinian Arabs,^[2] and in thePan-Islamic context, in territory regarded as Muslim lands. Sony VAIO VGN-NS10L/S Battery

The conflict, which started as a political and nationalist conflict over competing territorial ambitions following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, has shifted over the years from the large scale regional Arab–Israeli conflict to a more local Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Peace agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt in 1979, and Israel and Jordan in 1994. Sony VAIO VGN-NS110E/L Battery

Nevertheless, the Arab world and Israel generally remain at odds with each other over specific territory.

Religious aspects of the conflict

Jewish, Muslim and Christian groups invoke religious arguments for their uncompromising positions.^[3] Sony VAIO VGN-NS110E/S Battery

Contemporary history of the Arab–Israeli conflict is very much affected by Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious beliefs and their interpretations of the idea of the chosen people in their policies with regard to the "Promised Land" and the "Chosen City" of Jerusalem.^[4] Sony VAIO VGN-NS110E/W Battery

The Land of Canaan or Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel) was, according to the Torah promised by God to the Children of Israel. According to biblical studies and archaeological evidence, the Israelites ruled that land from the 13th or 14th century BCE to the 1st century BCE (with short periods of foreign rule), remaining an ethnic majority of the population in the area until the 7th century CE. Sony VAIO VGN-NS115N/S Battery

In his 1896 manifesto, The Jewish State, Theodor Herzl repeatedly refers to the Biblical Promised land concept.^[5] The Likud is currently the most prominent Israeli political party to include the Biblical claim to the Land of Israel in its platform.^[6]

Muslims also claim rights to that land in accordance with the Quran.^[7] Sony VAIO VGN-NS11ER/S Battery

Contrary to the Jewish claim that this land was promised only to the descendants ofAbraham's younger son Isaac, they argue that the Land of Canaan was promised to all descendants of Abraham, including his elder son Ishmael, from whom Arabs claim descent.^[7] Sony VAIO VGN-NS11E/S Battery

Additionally, Muslims also revere many sites holy for Biblical Israelites, such as The Cave of the Patriarchs and the Temple Mount, and in the past 1,400 years have constructed Islamic landmarks on these ancient Israelite sites, such as the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Sony VAIO VGN-NS11J/S Battery

Muslims also believe that Muhammad passed through Jerusalem on his first journey to heaven. Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, claims that all of the land of Palestine (the current Israel and Palestinian territories) is an Islamic waqf that must be governed by Muslims.^[8] Sony VAIO VGN-NS11L/S Battery

Christian Zionists support Israel because they recognize an ancestral right of Jews to this land, as suggested, for instance, by Paul in Romans 11. Some also believe that the return of Jews in Israel is a prerequisite for the Second Coming of Christ.

End of 19th century – 1948

In the late 19th century, under Zionism, many European Jews purchased land from the Ottoman sultan and his agents. Sony VAIO VGN-NS11MR/S Battery

At that time, Jerusalem did not extend beyond the walled area and had a population of only a few tens of thousands. Collective farms, known as kibbutzim, were established, as was the first entirely Jewish city in modern times, Tel Aviv.

Before World War I, the Middle East, including Palestine, had been under the control of the Ottoman Empire for nearly 500 years. Sony VAIO VGN-NS11M/S Battery

During the closing years of their empire the Ottomans began to espouse their Turkish ethnic identity, asserting the primacy of Turks within the empire, leading to discrimination against the Arabs.^[11] The promise of liberation from the Ottomans led many Jews and Arabs to support the allied powers during World War I, leading to the emergence of widespread Arab nationalism. Sony VAIO VGN-NS11SR/S Battery

During 1915–16, as World War I was underway, the British High Commissioner in Egypt, Sir Henry McMahon, secretly corresponded with Husayn ibn ‘Ali, the patriarch of the Hashemite family and Ottoman governor of Mecca and Medina. McMahon convinced Husayn to lead an Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire, which was aligned with Germany against Britain and France in the war. Sony VAIO VGN-NS11S/S Battery

McMahon promised that if the Arabs supported Britain in the war, the British government would support the establishment of an independent Arab state under Hashemite rule in the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire, including Palestine. The Arab revolt, led by T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") and Husayn's son Faysal, was successful in defeating the Ottomans, and Britain took control over much of this area. Sony VAIO VGN-NS11ZR/S Battery

In 1917, the British government issued the Balfour Declaration, which stated that the government viewed favourably "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" but "that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine". Sony VAIO VGN-NS11Z/S Battery

The Declaration was issued as a result of the belief of key members of the government, including Prime Minister David Lloyd George, that Jewish support was essential to winning the war; however, the declaration caused great disquiet in the Arab world.^[12] After the war, the area came under British rule as the British Mandate of Palestine. Sony VAIO VGN-NS12M/S Battery

The area mandated to the British included what is today Israel, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza.

It was at this point in time that Jewish immigration to Palestine increased. By 1931, 17 percent of the population of Palestine were Jews, an increase of six percent since 1922.^[13] Sony VAIO VGN-NS12M/W Battery

Jewish immigration increased soon after the Nazis came to power in Germany, causing the Jewish population in Palestine to double.^[14] Palestinian Arabs saw this rapid influx of Jewish immigrants as a threat to their homeland and their identity as a people. Moreover, Jewish policies of purchasing land and prohibiting the employment of Arabs in Jewish-owned industries and farms greatly angered the Palestinian Arab communities.^[15] Sony VAIO VGN-NS12S/S Battery

Demonstrations were held as early as 1920, protesting what the Arabs felt were unfair preferences for the Jewish immigrants set forth by the British mandate that governed Palestine at the time. This resentment led to outbreaks of violence. In March 1920, a first violent incident occurred in Tel Hai, and later that year riots broke out in Jerusalem. Sony VAIO VGN-NS21M/P Battery

Winston Churchill's 1922 White Paper tried to reassure the Arab population, denying that the creation of a Jewish state was the intention of the Balfour Declaration. In 1929, after a demonstration by Vladimir Jabotinsky's political group Betar at the Western Wall, riots started in Jerusalem and expanded throughout Palestine; Sony VAIO VGN-NS21M/W Battery

Arabs murdered 67 Jews in the city of Hebron, in what became known as the Hebron Massacre.

During the week of riots, at least 116 Arabs and 133 Jews^[16] were killed and 339 wounded.^[17]

In the 1930s Izz ad-Din al-Qassam organized and established the Black Hand, an anti-Zionist and anti-British militant organization. Sony VAIO VGN-NS21S/S Battery

He recruited and arranged military training for peasants and by 1935 he had enlisted between 200 and 800 men. The cells were equipped with bombs and firearms, which they used to kill Zionist settlers in the area, as well as engaging in a campaign of vandalism of Jewish settler plantations.^[18] By 1936, escalating tensions led to the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine.^[19] Sony VAIO VGN-NS21S/W Battery

In response to Arab pressure,^[20] the British Mandate authorities greatly reduced the number of Jewish immigrants to Palestine (see White Paper of 1939 and the Exodus ship). These restrictions remained in place until the end of the mandate, a period which coincided with the Nazi Holocaust and the flight of Jewish refugees from Europe. Sony VAIO VGN-NS21Z/S Battery

As a consequence, most Jewish entrants to Palestine were illegal (see Aliyah Bet), causing further tensions in the region. Following several failed attempts to solve the problem diplomatically, the British asked the newly formed United Nations for help. On May 15, 1947 the General Assembly appointed a committee, Sony VAIO VGN-NS31M/P Battery

the UNSCOP, composed of representatives from eleven states.^[21] To make the committee more neutral, none of the Great Powers were represented.^[22] After five weeks of in-country study, the Committee reported to the General Assembly on September 3, 1947.^[23] The Report contained a majority and a minority plan. Sony VAIO VGN-NS31M/W Battery

The majority proposed a Plan of Partition with Economic Union. The minority proposed The Independent State of Palestine. With only slight modifications, the Plan of Partition with Economic Union was the one the adoption and implementation of which was recommended in resolution 181(II) of November 29, 1947.^[24] Sony VAIO VGN-NS31S/S Battery

The Resolution was adopted by 33 votes to 13 with 10 abstentions. The Arab states, which constituted the Arab League, voted against. On the ground, Arab and Jewish Palestinians were fighting openly to control strategic positions in the region. Several major atrocities were committed by both sides. Sony VAIO VGN-NS31Z/P Battery

In the months prior to the end of the Mandate the Haganah launched a number of offensives in which they gained control over all the territory allocated by the UN to the Jewish State, creating a large number of refugees and capturing the towns of Tiberias, Haifa,Safad, Beisan and, in effect, Jaffa. Sony VAIO VGN-NS31Z/S Battery

Early in 1948, the United Kingdom announced its firm intention to terminate its mandate in Palestine on May 14.^[26] In response, U.S. President Harry S. Truman made a statement on March 25 proposing UN trusteeship rather than partition, stating that "unfortunately, it has become clear that the partition plan cannot be carried out at this time by peaceful means. ... Sony VAIO VGN-NS31Z/W Battery

unless emergency action is taken, there will be no public authority in Palestine on that date capable of preserving law and order. Violence and bloodshed will descend upon the Holy Land. Large-scale fighting among the people of that country will be the inevitable result."^[27]

On May 14, 1948, on the day in which the British Mandate over a Palestine expired, Sony VAIO VGN-NS38M/P Battery

the Jewish People's Council gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum, and approved a proclamation which declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as theState of Israel.^[28] There were no mention of the borders of the new state other than that it was in Eretz Israel. Sony VAIO VGN-NS38M/W Battery

In an officialcablegram from the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States to the UN Secretary-General on May 15, 1948, the Arab states publicly that Arab Governments found themselves compelled to intervene for the sole purpose of restoring peace and security and establishing law and order in Palestine., (Clause 10(e) ). Sony VAIO VGN-NS130E/L Battery

Further in Clause 10(e) - The Governments of the Arab States hereby confirm at this stage the view that had been repeatedly declared by them on previous occasions, such as the London Conference and before the United Nations mainly, the only fair and just solution to the problem of Palestine is the creation of United State of Palestine based upon the democratic principles... Sony VAIO VGN-NS130E/S Battery

That day, the armies of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq invaded/intervened in the territory partitioned for the Arab state, marking the beginning of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The nascent Israeli Defense Force repulsed the Arab League nations from part of the occupied territories, thus extending its borders beyond the original UNSCOP partition.^[29] Sony VAIO VGN-NS130E/W Battery

By December 1948, Israel controlled most of the portion of Mandate Palestine west of the Jordan River. The remainder of the Mandate consisted of Jordan, the area that came to be called the West Bank (controlled by Jordan), and the Gaza Strip(controlled by Egypt). Prior to and during this conflict, 713,000^[30] Sony VAIO VGN-NS140E/L Battery

Palestinian Arabs fled their original lands to becomePalestinian refugees, in part, due to an alleged promise from Arab leaders that they would be able to return when the war had been won. Many Palestinians fled from the areas that are now present-day Israel as a response to alleged massacres of Arab towns by militant Jewish organizations like the Irgun and the Stern Gang (See Deir Yassin massacre). Sony VAIO VGN-NS140E/S Battery

The War came to an end with the signing of the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and each of its Arab neighbours.

1949–1967

Before the adoption by the United Nations of Resolution 181 in November 1947 and the declaration of the State of Israel in May 1948, Sony VAIO VGN-NS140E/W Battery

several Arab countries adopted discriminatory measures against their local Jewish populations. The status of Jewish citizens in Arab states worsened dramatically during the 1948 Israeli-Arab conflict. Major anti-Jewish riots erupted throughout the Arab World in December 1947, and Jewish communities were hit particularly hard in Syria and Aden, Sony VAIO VGN-NS190J/L Battery

with hundreds of dead and injured. By mid-1948, almost all Jewish communities in Arab states had suffered attacks and their status deteriorated. Jews under Islamic regimes were uprooted from their longtime residency or became political hostages of the Arab–Israeli conflict. Sony VAIO VGN-NS190J/S Battery

As a result, a large number of Jews fled or were forced to emigrate from Arab countries and other Muslim countries as well. Anti-Jewish violence and persecution initiated the first waves of exodus, with many following. In Libya, Jews were deprived of citizenship, and in Iraq, their property was seized.^[31] Sony VAIO VGN-NS190J/W Battery

Egypt expelled most of its Jewish community in 1956, while Algeria denied its Jews of citizenship, upon its independence in 1962. The majority were fleeing due to worsening political conditions, although some emigrated for ideological reasons.^[32]

Over 700,000 Jews emigrated to Israel between 1948 and 1952, with approximately 285,000 of them from Arab countries.^[33][32] Sony VAIO VGN-NS235J/L Battery

By the late 1960s, more than 850,000 Jews had left their birthplaces and their homes in some 10 Arab countries. Today, fewer than 7,000 Jews remain in these same countries. Individual and communal properties were confiscated without compensation. Today, these displaced Jews and their descendants represent 41% of the total population of Israel. Sony VAIO VGN-NS235J/P Battery

As a result of Israel's victory in its 1948 War of Independence, any Arabs caught on the wrong side of the ceasefire line were unable to return to their homes in what became Israel. Likewise, any Jews on the West Bank or in Gaza were exiled from their property and homes to Israel. 
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Today's Palestinian refugees are the descendants of those who left, the responsibility for their exodus being a matter of dispute between the Israeli and the Palestinian side (see Causes of the 1948 Palestinian exodus).^[38][39] Sony VAIO VGN-NS235J/W Battery

In 1956, Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, and blockaded the Gulf of Aqaba, in contravention of the Constantinople Convention of 1888. Many argued that this was also a violation of the 1949 Armistice Agreements.^[40][41] On July 26, 1956, Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal Company, and closed the canal to Israeli shipping.^[42] Sony VAIO VGN-NS240E/L Battery

Israel responded on October 29, 1956, by invading the Sinai Peninsula with British and French support. During the Suez Canal Crisis, Israel captured the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula. The United States and the United Nations soon pressured it into a ceasefire.^[42][43] Israel agreed to withdraw from Egyptian territory. Sony VAIO VGN-NS290J/L Battery

Egypt agreed to freedom of navigation in the region and the demilitarization of the Sinai. The United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) was created and deployed to oversee the demilitarization.^[44] The UNEF was only deployed on the Egyptian side of the border, as Israel refused to allow them on its territory.^[45] Sony VAIO VGN-NS290J/S Battery

The PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) was first established in 1964, under a charter including a commitment to "[t]he liberation of Palestine [which] will destroy the Zionist and imperialist presence..." (PLO Charter, Article 22, 1968).

On May 19, 1967, Egypt expelled UNEF observers,^[46] and deployed 100,000 soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula.^[47] Sony VAIO VGN-NS50B/L Battery

 It again closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping,^[48][49] returning the region to the way it was in 1956 when Israel was blockaded.

On May 30, 1967, Jordan signed a mutual defense pact with Egypt. Egypt mobilized Sinai units, Sony VAIO VGN-NS50B/W Battery

crossing UN lines (after having expelled the UN border monitors) and mobilized and massed on Israel's southern border. On June 5, Israel launched an attack on Egypt. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) destroyed most of the Egyptian Air Force in a surprise attack, then turned east to destroy the Jordanian, Syrian and Iraqi air forces.^[50] Sony VAIO VGN-NS51B/L Battery

This strike was the crucial element in Israel's victory in the Six-Day War.^[47][49] At the war's end, Israel had gained control of the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem, Shebaa farms, and the Golan Heights. The results of the war affect the geopolitics of the region to this day. Sony VAIO VGN-NS51B/P Battery

1967–1973

At the end of August 1967, Arab leaders met in Khartoum in response to the war, to discuss the Arab position toward Israel. They reached consensus that there should be no recognition, no peace, and no negotiations with the State of Israel, the so-called "three no's".^[51] Sony VAIO VGN-NS51B/W Battery

In 1969, Egypt initiated the War of Attrition, with the goal of exhausting Israel into surrendering the Sinai Peninsula.^[52] The war ended following Gamal Abdel Nasser's death in 1970.

On October 6, 1973, Syria and Egypt staged a surprise attack on Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. Sony VAIO VGN-NS52JB/L Battery

The Israeli military were caught off guard and unprepared, and took about three days to fully mobilize.^[53][54] This led other Arab states to send troops to reinforce the Egyptians and Syrians. In addition, these Arab countries agreed to enforce an oil embargo on industrial nations including the U.S, Japan and Western European Countries. Sony VAIO VGN-NS52JB/P Battery

These OPEC countries increased the price of oil fourfold, and used it as a political weapon to gain support against Israel.^[55] The Yom Kippur War accommodated indirect confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union. When Israel had turned the tide of war, the USSR threatened military intervention. Sony VAIO VGN-NS52JB/W Battery

The United States, wary of nuclear war, secured a ceasefire on October 25.^[53][54]

Egypt

Following the Camp David Accords of the late 1970s, Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in March, 1979. Under its terms, the Sinai Peninsula returned to Egyptian hands, and the Gaza Strip remained under Israeli control, to be included in a futurePalestinian state. Sony VAIO VGN-NS70B/W Battery

The agreement also provided for the free passage of Israeli ships through the Suez Canal and recognition of the Strait of Tiran and the Gulf of Aqaba as international waterways.

Jordan

In October 1994, Israel and Jordan signed a peace agreement, which stipulated mutual cooperation, an end of hostilities, and a resolution of other issues. Sony VAIO VGN-NS71B/W Battery

The conflict between them had cost roughly 18.3 billion dollars. Its signing is also closely linked with the efforts to create peace between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) representing thePalestinian National Authority (PNA). Sony VAIO VGN-NS72JB/W Battery

It was signed at the southern border crossing of Arabah on October 26, 1994 and made Jordan only the second Arab country (after Egypt) to normalize relations with Israel.

Iraq

Israel and Iraq have been implacable foes since 1948. Sony VAIO VGN-NS90HS Battery

Iraq sent its troops to participate in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and later backed Egypt and Syria in theSix Day War in 1967 and in the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

In June 1981, Israel attacked and destroyed newly built Iraqi nuclear facilities in Operation Opera. Sony VAIO VGN-NS92JS Battery

During the Gulf War in 1991, Iraq fired 39 Scud missiles into Israel, in the hopes of uniting the Arab world against the coalition which sought to liberateKuwait. At the behest of the United States, Israel did not respond to this attack in order to prevent a greater outbreak of war. Sony VAIO VGN-NS92XS Battery

Lebanon

In 1970, following an extended civil war, King Hussein expelled the Palestine Liberation Organization from Jordan. September 1970 is known as the Black September in Arab history and sometimes is referred to as the "era of regrettable events". Sony VAIO VGN-NW11S/S Battery

It was a month when Hashemite King Hussein of Jordan moved to quash the autonomy of Palestinian organisations and restore his monarchy's rule over the country.^[56] The violence resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people, the vast majority Palestinians.^[57] Sony VAIO VGN-NW11S/T Battery

Armed conflict lasted until July 1971 with the expulsion of the PLO and thousands of Palestinian fighters to Lebanon. The PLO resettled in Lebanon, from which it staged raids into Israel. In 1981, Syria, allied with the PLO, positioned missiles in Lebanon. In June 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon. Within two months the PLO agreed to withdraw thence. Sony VAIO VGN-NW11Z/S Battery

In March 1983, Israel and Lebanon signed a ceasefire agreement. However, Syria pressured President Amin Gemayel into nullifying the truce in March 1984. By 1985, Israeli forces withdrew to a 15 km wide southern strip of Lebanon, following which the conflict continued on a lower scale, with relatively low casualties on both sides. Sony VAIO VGN-NW11Z/T Battery

In 1993 and 1996, Israel launched major operations against the Shiite militia of Hezbollah, which had become an emergent threat. In 2000, as part of a greater plan for a peace agreement with Syria, Israel abandoned the security zone in Southern Lebanon.

In 2006, as a response to a Hezbollah cross-border raid, Sony VAIO VGN-NW21EF/S Battery

Israel launched air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Southern Lebanon, starting the 2006 Lebanon War. The war lasted for 34 days, and resulted in the creation of a buffer zone in Southern Lebanon and the deployment of Lebanese troops south of the Litani river for the first time since the 1960s. Sony VAIO VGN-NW21JF Battery

Hezbollah withdrew its fighters from the border areas, and Israel eventually turned over its occupied areas in Lebanon to UN peacekeepers. Both sides declared victory in the conflict.^[60][61]

Palestinians

The 1970s were marked by a large number of major, international terrorist attacks, Sony VAIO VGN-NW21MF Battery

including the Lod Airport Massacre and the Munich Olympics Massacre in 1972, and the Entebbe Hostage Taking in 1976, with over 100 Jewish hostages of different nationalities kidnapped and held in Uganda.

In December 1987, the First Intifada began. The First Intifada was a mass Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule in the Palestinian Territories.^[62] Sony VAIO VGN-NW21MF/W Battery

The rebellion began in the Jabalia refugee camp and quickly spread throughout Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Palestinian actions ranged from civil disobedience to violence. In addition to general strikes, boycotts on Israeli products, graffiti and barricades, Sony VAIO VGN-NW21ZF Battery

Palestinian demonstrations that included stone-throwing by youths against the Israel Defense Forces brought the Intifada international attention. The Israeli army's heavy handed response to the demonstrations, with live ammunition, beatings and mass arrests, brought international condemnation. Sony VAIO VGN-NW31EF/W Battery

The PLO, which until then had never been recognised as the leaders of the Palestinian people by Israel, was invited to peace negotiations the following year, after it recognized Israel and renounced terrorism.

In mid-1993, Israeli and Palestinian representatives engaged in peace talks in Oslo, Norway. Sony VAIO VGN-NW31JF Battery

As a result, in September 1993, Israel and the PLO signed the Oslo Accords, known as the Declaration of Principles or Oslo I; in side letters, Israel recognized the PLO as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people while the PLO recognized the right of the state of Israel to exist and renounced terrorism, Sony VAIO VGN-NW320F/B Battery

violence and its desire for the destruction of Israel.

The Oslo II agreement was signed in 1995 and detailed the division of the West Bank into Areas A, B, and C. Area A was land under full Palestinian civilian control. In Area A, Palestinians were also responsible for internal security. The Oslo agreements remain important documents in Israeli-Palestinian relations. Sony VAIO VGN-NW320F/TC Battery

2000–2009

The Second Intifada forced Israel to rethink its relationship and policies towards the Palestinians. Following a series of suicide bombings and attacks, the Israeli army launchedOperation Defensive Shield. It was the largest military operation conducted by Israel since the Six Day War.^[63] Sony VAIO VGN-NW35E Battery

As violence between the Israeli army and Palestinian militants intensified, Israel expanded its security apparatus around the West Bank by re-taking many parts of land in Area A. Israel established a complicated system of roadblocks and checkpointsaround major Palestinian areas to deter violence and protect Israeli settlements. Sony VAIO VGN-NW380F/S Battery

However, since 2008, the IDF has slowly transferred authority to Palestinian security forces.^[64][65][66]

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon began a policy of unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2003. This policy was fully implemented in August 2005.^[67] Sony VAIO VGN-NW380F/T Battery

Sharon's announcement to disengage from Gaza came as a tremendous shock to his critics both on the left and on the right. A year previously, he had commented that the fate of the most far-flung settlements in Gaza, Netzararem and Kfar Darom, was regarded in the same light as that of Tel Aviv.^[68] Sony VAIO VGN-NW50JB Battery

The formal announcements to evacuate seventeen Gaza settlements and another four in the West Bank in February 2004 represented the first reversal for the settler movement since 1968. It divided his party. It was strongly supported by Trade and Industry Minister Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni, Sony VAIO VGN-NW51FB/N Battery

the Minister for Immigration and Absorption, but Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly condemned it. It was also uncertain whether this was simply the beginning of further evacuation.^[69]

In June 2006, Hamas militants infiltrated an army post near the Israeli side of the Gaza Strip and abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Sony VAIO VGN-NW51FB/W Battery

Two IDF soldiers were killed in the attack, while Shalit was wounded after his tank was hit with an RPG. 3 days later Israel launched Operation Summer Rains to secure the release of Shalit. ^[70] He was held hostage by Hamas, who barred the International Red Cross from seeing him, until October 18, 2011, Sony VAIO VGN-NW70JB Battery

when he was exchanged for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.^[71][72]

In July 2006, Hezbollah fighters crossed the border from Lebanon into Israel, attacked and killed eight Israeli soldiers, and abducted two others as hostages, setting off the 2006 Lebanon War which caused much destruction in Lebanon.^[73] Sony VAIO VGN-NW71FB/N Battery

A UN-sponsored ceasefire went into effect on August 14, 2006, officially ending the conflict.^[74] The conflict killed over a thousand people, mostly Lebanese civilians, severely damaged Lebanese civil infrastructure, and displaced approximately one million Lebaneseand 300,000–500,000 Israelis, although most were able to return to their homes. Sony VAIO VGN-NW71FB/W Battery

After the ceasefire, some parts of Southern Lebanon remained uninhabitable due to Israeli unexploded cluster bomblets.^[84]

In the aftermath of the Battle of Gaza, where Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in a violent civil war with rival Fatah, Sony VAIO VGN-NW91FS Battery

Israel placed restrictions on its border with Gaza borders and ended economic cooperation with the Palestinian leadership based there. Israel and Egypt have imposed a blockade on the Gaza Stripsince 2007. Israel maintains the blockade is necessary to limit Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza and to prevent Hamas from smuggling advanced rockets and weapons capable of hitting its cities.^[85] Sony VAIO VGN-NW91GS Battery

On September 6, 2007, in Operation Orchard, Israel bombed an eastern Syrian complex which was allegedly a nuclear reactor being built with assistance from North Korea.^[86] Israel had also bombed Syria in 2003.

In April 2008, Syrian President Bashar Al Assad told a Qatari newspaper that Syria and Israel had been discussing a peace treaty for a year, with Turkey as a go-between. Sony VAIO VGN-NW91VS Battery

This was confirmed in May 2008 by a spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. As well as a peace treaty, the future of the Golan Heights is being discussed. President Assad said "there would be no direct negotiations with Israel until a new US president takes office." ^[87] Sony VAIO VGN-SR11M Battery

Speaking in Jerusalem on August 26, 2008, then United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice criticized Israel's increased settlement construction in the West Bank as detrimental to the peace process. Rice's comments came amid reports that Israeli construction in the disputed territory had increased by a factor of 1.8 over 2007 levels.^[88] Sony VAIO VGN-SR11MR Battery

A fragile six-month truce between Hamas and Israel expired on December 19, 2008;^[89] attempts at extending the truce failed amid accusations of breaches from both sides. Following the expiration, Israel launched a raid on a tunnel suspected of being used to kidnap Israeli soldiers which killed several Hamas fighters.^[94] Sony VAIO VGN-SR140D Battery

Following this, Hamas resumed rocket and mortar attacks on Israeli cities, most notably firing over 60 rockets on December 24. On December 27, 2008, Israel launched Operation Cast Lead against Hamas. Numerous human rights organizations accused Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes.^[95] Sony VAIO VGN-SR140D/B Battery

In 2009 Israel placed a 10-month settlement freeze on the West Bank. Hillary Clinton praised the freeze as an "unprecedented" gesture that could "help revive Middle East talks."^[96][97]

A raid was carried out by Israeli naval forces on six ships of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in May 2010.^[98] Sony VAIO VGN-SR140D/P Battery

after the ships refused to dock at Port Ashdod. On theMV Mavi Marmara, activists clashed with the Israeli boarding party. During the fighting, nine activists were killed by Israeli special forces. Several dozen other passengers and seven Israeli soldiers were injured, with some of the commandos suffering from gunshot wounds. Sony VAIO VGN-SR140D/S Battery

2010–present

Following the latest round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, 13 Palestinian militant movements led by Hamas initiated a terror campaign designed to derail and disrupt the negotiations.^[105] Sony VAIO VGN-SR140E Battery

Attacks on Israelis have increased since August 2010, after 4 Israeli civilians were killed by Hamas militants. Palestinian militants have increased the frequency of rocket attacks aimed at Israelis. On August 2, Hamas militants launched seven Katyusha rockets at Eilat and Aqaba, killing one Jordanian civilian and wounding 4 others. Sony VAIO VGN-SR140E/B Battery

Israel–Lebanon relations have never existed under normal economic or diplomatic conditions, but Lebanon was the first Arab league nation to signal a desire for an armistice treaty with Israel in 1949. Lebanon did not participate in the 1967or 1973 wars in any significant way, Sony VAIO VGN-SR140E/P Battery

and until the early 1970s Lebanon's border with Israel was the calmest frontier between Israel and any of the other adjacent Arab League states.

The armistice agreement between Lebanon and Israel^[1] was relatively straightforward. Unlike the other armistice agreements, Sony VAIO VGN-SR140E/S Battery

there was no clause disclaiming theBlue Line as the international border between Lebanon and the former Palestine; it continued to be treated as the de jure international border. As a result, Israeli forces withdrew from 13 Lebanese villages it had seized during offensive operations in October 1948.^[2] Sony VAIO VGN-SR140N/S Battery

Unlike other Arab states, the Jewish population of Lebanon grew after the 1948 founding of the State of Israel.

Lebanese Civil War

Some right-wing militias were Israel's allies in the Lebanese Civil War. After the PLO was ejected from Beirut in the summer of 1982, Sony VAIO VGN-SR165E/B Battery

Bashir Gemayel flew to the Israeli coastal town of Nahariya to talk with Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon. Begin and Sharon proposed that Israel and Lebanon establish full diplomatic relations, but Gemayel proposed a kind of formal non-aggression pact. Sony VAIO VGN-SR165E/P Battery

When Sharon reminded Gemayel that Israel controlled most of Lebanon at that time and that it would be wise to follow Israel's instructions Gemayel held out his hands and replied "Put the handcuffs on.... I am not your vassal."^[3] Gemayel left Israel without making any formal agreement and he was assassinated two weeks later by Syrian nationalists. Sony VAIO VGN-SR165E/S Battery

After the assassination of Gemayel, Israel and Lebanon signed an agreement on May 17, 1983 which was a peace treaty in all but name.^[4] Lebanon signed the agreement under American and Israeli pressure, but it was opposed by Syria. The agreement was conditional on Syrian withdrawal, which did not occur until April 2005. Sony VAIO VGN-SR190EBJ Battery

Much of the content of the treaty was contained in secret protocols and memoranda, and it did not win expected Jordanian and Saudi endorsement. The Lebanese legislature ratified the treaty by a margin of 80 votes, but in a very weak and unstable domestic position President Amin Gemayel abrogated the peace treaty on March 5, 1984. Sony VAIO VGN-SR190EBQ Battery

under unrelenting Syrian pressure, after the US Marines withdrew and after Israel had begun withdrawing from Lebanon.

The 1990s

The success of the First Persian Gulf War created new opportunities for Middle East peacemaking. Sony VAIO VGN-SR190EEJ/C Battery

In October 1991, under the sponsorship of the United States and the then Soviet Union, Middle East peace talks were held in Madrid, Spain, where Israel and a majority of its Arab neighbors conducted direct bilateral negotiations to seek a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace based on UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 (and 425 on Lebanon) and the concept of "land for peace." Sony VAIO VGN-SR190NAB Battery

Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and representatives of the Palestinians continued negotiating until the Oslo interim peace accords were concluded between Israel and the Palestinians in September 1993 and Jordan and Israel signed an agreement in October 1994. In March 1996, Syria and Israel held another round of Madrid talks; the Lebanon track did not reconvene. Sony VAIO VGN-SR190NBB Battery

In early April 1996, Israel conducted its military operation "Grapes of Wrath" in response to Hezbollah's actions on Israeli military bases in south Lebanon. The 16-day operation caused hundreds of thousands of civilians in south Lebanon to flee their homes. On April 18, several Israeli shells struck refugee compounds, killing 102 civilians sheltered there. Sony VAIO VGN-SR190NDB Battery

Throughout the 1990s discontent had been growing in Israel about the occupation of parts of Lebanon. Discontent increased as a result of a 1997 helicopter crashthat killed 73 Israeli soldiers bound for Lebanon. Ehud Barak campaigned for prime minister on a platform of withdrawing from Lebanon. Sony VAIO VGN-SR190NEB Battery

On June 28, 1999 Farid Abboud, the Lebanese ambassador to the USA, addressed the Los Angeles World Affairs Council^[5] to give an update on the peace process.^[6] Finally, on May 23, 2000, the Israeli military carried out a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the south and the Bekaa valley, effectively ending 22 years of occupation. Sony VAIO VGN-SR190NGB Battery

The SLAcollapsed and about 6,000 SLA members and their families fled the country, although more than 2,200 had returned by December 2001. With the withdrawal of Israeli forces, many in Lebanon began calling for a review of the continued presence of Syrian troops, estimated in late 2001 at approximately 25,000. Sony VAIO VGN-SR190PAB Battery

Post-withdrawal period

On June 16, 2000, the UN Security Council adopted the report of the Secretary General verifying Israeli compliance with UNSCR 425 and the withdrawal of Israeli troops to their side of the demarcated Lebanese-Israeli line of separation (the "Blue Line") mapped out by UN cartographers. Sony VAIO VGN-SR190PCB Battery

(The international border between Lebanon and Israel is still to be determined in the framework of a peace agreement.) In August, the Government of Lebanon deployed over 1,000 police and soldiers to the former security zone, but Hezbollah also maintained observation posts and conducted patrols along the Blue Line. Sony VAIO VGN-SR190PFB Battery

While Lebanon and Syria agreed to respect the Blue Line, both have registered objections and continue to argue that Israel has not fully withdrawn from Lebanese soil. As regional tension escalated with the Palestinian intifada in September 2000, Hezbollah cited Blue Line discrepancies when it reengaged Israel on October 7, Sony VAIO VGN-SR19VN Battery

taking three Israeli soldiers captive in an area known as Shebaa Farms. This largely unpopulated Israeli controlled territory along the border between Lebanon and Syria is claimed by Lebanon, although the United Nations and most of the world community, including Israel, agree that Shebaa Farms is part of Syria.^[7] Sony VAIO VGN-SR19VN Battery

Hezbollah sought to use the captives for leverage to release Lebanese prisoners.

Since the beginning of the Cedar Revolution, hopes had increased of an Israel-Lebanon peace treaty. In a May 2005 Newsweek interview Saad Hariri said "We would like to have peace with Israel. We don't want wars. Sony VAIO VGN-SR19VRN Battery

We hope that the peace process moves ahead with us, with the Syrians, with all the Arab countries," but he added that Lebanon would not sign a separate peace treaty as Jordan and Egypt have done. Other Lebanese leaders draw an even harder line. Sony VAIO VGN-SR19XN Battery

2006 Lebanon War

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said in August 2006 that Lebanon would be the "last Arab country to make peace with Israel" because of the large number of civilians that were killed in the 2006 Lebanon War.^[8] Sony VAIO VGN-SR19XN Battery

Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hizbullah, proclaims "Death to Israel" and promises the "liberation" of Jerusalem. It is highly unlikely that Lebanon will sign a peace treaty with Israel before Syria, as Syria's influence on Lebanese politics is still strong.

It was uncovered in the cache of diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks that in 2008, Sony VAIO VGN-SR210J/S Battery

Lebanese Defense Minister had sent messages to Israel via the United States stating the Lebanese Army would refrain from getting involved in a future conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and that the army, as quoted in the cables "will move to pre-position food, money, Sony VAIO VGN-SR21M/S Battery

and water with these units so they can stay on their bases when Israel comes for Hizbollah — discreetly, Murr added."^[9] Additionally, he advised Israel to ensure not to "bomb bridges and infrastructure in the Christian areas." According to former U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michele Sison, the dispatcher of the cable, Sony VAIO VGN-SR21RM/H Battery

"Murr offered some ideas aimed at avoiding turning the Christian population against Israel when the next war with Hizballah occurs . . . Murr also outlined his orders to the Lebanese Army when/if Israel invades to counter Hizballah."

Alleged Spying

Since April 2009 Lebanese authorities have arrested almost 100 people suspected of spying on behalf of Israel. Sony VAIO VGN-SR21RM/S Battery

Many are expected to receive the death penaltywhich the Lebanese cabinet has announced it intends to carry out.^[10]

Natural Gas dispute

In 2010, Israel discovered massive deposits of natural gas off its coast in the Mediterranean Sea. While Israel's find is within its territorial exclusive economic zone, the dispute stems from the possibility that the gas field spans to Lebanon's boundary. Sony VAIO VGN-SR220J/B Battery

A general principle in such a situation is the Rule of capture where each side is permitted to lift as much as it can on its side. Israel has already started exploration and construction on its side, while Lebanese authorities have not yet officially demarcated its exclusive economic zone or initiated a process of attracting bids for exploration rights. Sony VAIO VGN-SR220J/H Battery

Lebanese Energy Minister Gebran Basil warned that Lebanon would not allow Israel or any company "serving Israeli interests" to drill gas "that is in our territory". Beirut had previously warned the American Noble Energy company not to approach its territory. In response, Israeli Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau warned Lebanon that Israel was willing to use force to protect the gas reserves discovered off its shores.^[12] Sony VAIO VGN-SR240J/B Battery

On 17 August, the Parliament of Lebanon passed authorising exploration and drilling of offshore oil and gas fields. The law called for the establishment of a treasury and a committee to oversee exploration and drilling. Speaker Nabih Berri's advisor, Ali Hamdan, said that he expected rights to be up for auction by the end of 2011. Sony VAIO VGN-SR240N/B Battery

"This is definitely a major cornerstone in Lebanon's oil policy... and will help Lebanon divide its reserves into blocks an eventually bring in tenders and start looking into power-sharing agreements."^[13] Sony VAIO VGN-SR290JTH Battery

2010 border clash

On August 3, 2010, a clash took place near the Lebanese border village of Adaisseh between the Israel Defense Forces and Lebanese Armed Forces after an Israeli patrol operating on the border clashed with Lebanese troops. Sony VAIO VGN-SR290JTJ Battery

Israel claimed that the troops had stayed within Israel, while Lebanon claimed that the soldiers had crossed the border to uproot trees. An ensuing firefight resulted in the deaths of three Lebanese soldiers and one senior Israeli commander; two Israeli soldiers and five Lebanese soldiers were also wounded. Sony VAIO VGN-SR290JTQ Battery

A Lebanese journalist was also killed. Israeli artillery and helicopter gunships then struck several Lebanese Army posts and the Lebanese Army's southern headquarters, destroying several military vehicles.

The Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Sony VAIO VGN-SR290JVB/C Battery

politically under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian National Authority and the Hamas Government in Gaza. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries to be part of theState of Palestine,^[4] Sony VAIO VGN-SR290JVH/C Battery

although this status is not recognized by the United Nations, Israel and major Western nations, including the United States. Effectively parts of the West Bank are currently governed by the Palestinian National Authority, while other parts are governed by Israeli military authorities, Sony VAIO VGN-SR290NTB Battery

which the UN and international legal bodies often refer to as the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The Gaza Strip is being controlled by Hamas-led Palestinian Government.

The territories were part of the territory west of the Jordan River of Mandate Palestine, formed in 1922. Sony VAIO VGN-SR29VN/S Battery

In March 1946, the territory east of the Jordan River, which had been ruled as a separate province of Mandate Palestine, became the independent kingdom of Transjordan, though general international recognition took a bit longer. From the 1948 Arab–Israeli War until the 1967 Six Day War, Sony VAIO VGN-SR29XN/S Battery

the West Bank was occupied and annexed by Jordan(annexation recognized only by UK and Pakistan) and the Gaza Strip occupied by Egypt, though limited authority was exercised in Gaza by the All-Palestine Government until 1959. The borders of Palestinian territories are currently considered to be delineated by the 1949 Armistice Agreements.^[5] Sony VAIO VGN-SR2RVN/S Battery

Since 1967 and until the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority in 1993, the territories became occupied by Israel, and effectively the term Occupied Palestinian territories was coined. In 1980 Israel annexed East Jerusalem, but United Nations Security Council Resolution 478 declared it "null and void" and required that it be rescinded, Sony VAIO VGN-SR390NAB Battery

stating that it was a violation of international law. The annexation lacks international recognition.^[6] After losing it in 1967, Jordan renounced all territorial claims to East Jerusalem and the West Bank in 1988.

In 1993, parts of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank were transferred to the administration of the Palestinian National Authority, becoming Palestinian territories. Sony VAIO VGN-SR390NAH Battery

In 2005, Israel pulled out all its remaining forces of Gaza Strip and dismantled its settlements. Yet, both West Bank and Gaza Strip are currently considered to be occupied by Israel according to the international community, although Israel has denied that it occupies the Gaza Strip.Sony VAIO VGN-SR41M/P Battery

The Palestinian National Authority the United Nations Security Council,^[9] the United Nations General Assembly,^[10]the EU,^[11] the International Court of Justice,^[12] and the International Committee of the Red Cross^[13] regardsEast Jerusalem as part of the West Bank, and consequently a part of the Palestinian territories, Sony VAIO VGN-SR41M/S Battery

while Israel regards it as part of Israel as a result of its annexation in 1980. According to the Israeli Supreme Court, theFourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits unilateral annexation of occupied territory, does not apply to East Jerusalem, as there was no "legitimate sovereign" there prior. Sony VAIO VGN-SR49VN/H Battery

The Palestinian National Authority, which maintains a territorial claim to East Jerusalem, never exercised sovereignty over the area. However, this reasoning has not been recognized by any other country, since unilateral annexation of territory conquered during war contravenes the Fourth Geneva Convention.^[14][15] Sony VAIO VGN-SR51B/P Battery

The Hamas takeover of Gaza politically divided the Palestinian territories, with Abbas’s Fatah left largely ruling the West Bank and recognized internationally as the official Palestinian Authority,^[16] while Hamas has secured its control over the Gaza Strip. Sony VAIO VGN-SR51B/S Battery

In April 2011, the Palestinian parties signed an agreement of reconciliation, but its implementation has stalled since.

The United Nations, the International Court of Justice, the European Union, International Committee of the Red Cross and the government of the United Kingdom all refer to the "Occupied Palestinian Territories".Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MF Battery

Journalists also use the description to indicate lands outside the Green Line.The term is often used interchangeably with the term occupied territories, although this term is also applied to the Golan Heights, which is internationally recognized as part of Syria and not claimed by the Palestinians. Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MF/P Battery

The confusion stems from the fact that all these territories were captured by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War and are treated by the UN as territory occupied by Israel.

Other terms used to describe these areas collectively include 'the disputed territories', 'Israeli-occupied territories', and 'the occupied territories'. Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MF/S Battery

Further terms include "Yesha" (Judea-Samaria-Gaza), Yosh (Judea and Samaria), the Katif Strip (Gaza Strip), "administered territories", "territories of undetermined permanent status", "1967 territories", and simply "the territories".

Many Arab and Islamic leaders,^[who?] including some Palestinians, Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MF/W Battery

use the designation 'Palestine' and 'occupied Palestine' to imply a Palestinian political or religious claim to sovereignty over the whole former territory of the British Mandate west of the Jordan River, including all of Israel.^[20] Many^[who?] of them view the land of Palestine as an Islamic Waqf (trust) for future Muslim generations. Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MR Battery

A parallel exists in the aspirations of David Ben-Gurion,^[21] Menachem Begin,^[22][23] and other Zionists and Jewish religious leaders^[who?] to establish Jewish sovereignty over all of Greater Israelin trust for the Jewish people.^[24][25] However, this dispute is not related to religion for many Arabs, Sony VAIO VGN-SR59VG Battery

but simply an issue of rights, as the land was inhabited by Arabs (as well as a minority of Jews) before the Zionist movement began.

Many Israelis^[who?] object to the term "Occupied Palestinian Territories", and similar descriptions, because they maintain such designations disregard Israeli claims to the West Bank and Gaza, Sony VAIO VGN-SR59VG/H Battery

or prejudice negotiations involving possible border changes, arguing that the armistice line agreed to after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War was not intended as a permanent border. Dore Gold wrote, "It would be far more accurate to describe the West Bank and Gaza Strip as "disputed territories" to which both Israelis and Palestinians have claims."^[26] Sony VAIO VGN-SR70B/S Battery

Boundaries

The Palestinian Territories consist of two (or perhaps three) distinct areas: the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel regards East Jerusalem not to be a part of the West Bank, Sony VAIO VGN-SR72B/P Battery

but regards it is as part of a unified Jerusalem, which it unilaterally considers the capital of the state. The eastern limit of the West Bank is the border with Jordan. The Israel–Jordan peace treaty defined that border as theinternational border, and Jordan renounced all claims to territory west of it. Sony VAIO VGN-SR72B/S Battery

The border segment between Jordan and the West Bank was left undefined pending a definitive agreement on the status of the territory.^[27]

The southern limit of the Gaza Strip is the border with Egypt. Egypt renounced all claims to land north of the international border, Sony VAIO VGN-SR73JB/S Battery

including the Gaza Strip, in the Israel-Egypt peace treaty. The Palestinians were not parties to either agreement.

The natural geographic boundary of the West Bank, as the name implies, is the Jordan River. The Gaza Strip is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea. Sony VAIO VGN-SR74FB/S Battery

It is now generally accepted, at least as a basis for negotiation between the sides, that the boundaries between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and the State of Israel are what has historically been referred to as the Green Line.The Green Line represents the armistice lines under the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Sony VAIO VGN-SR90FS Battery

which brought an end to the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and expressly declared armistice lines, not international borders.

Between the Armistice of 1949 and the Six-Day War of 1967, the West Bank and East Jerusalem were occupied and annexed by Jordan and the Gaza Strip was occupied (but not annexed) by Egypt. Sony VAIO VGN-SR90NS Battery

The term "Palestinian" began to be applied exclusively to the Arab population of these areas only after Israel's victory in the 1967 War, and consequently the terms "Palestinian Territories" and "Occupied Palestinian Territories" also gained wide usage. Until the start of serious negotiations for a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian issues (the Peace Process), Sony VAIO VGN-SR90S Battery

the Palestinians refrained from defining the boundaries of what they called "the occupied territories," and which some even called "occupied Palestine", which implied a potential Palestinian claim to the whole of Israel. It was in the context of the negotiations that the term "1967 borders" came to be used, as a basis for negotiation. Sony VAIO VGN-SR90US Battery

"The 1967 borders" are in fact the 1949 armistice lines (which is the Green Line), which all Arab countries and Palestinians at the time insisted were to be temporary and with no other legal status. The Palestinian negotiators claim a return to those lines as the boundary for a future Palestinian state. Sony VAIO VGN-SR91NS Battery

The Palestinians also claim that East Jerusalem is a part of the occupied West Bank within the boundaries of the "1967 borders". The Arab League has supported these boundaries as the borders of the future State of Palestine in the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative.

In 1922 after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire that ruled Greater Syria for four centuries (1517–1917), Sony VAIO VGN-SR91PS Battery

the British Mandate for Palestine was established. Large-scale Jewish immigration from abroad, mainly from Eastern Europe took place during the British Mandate, though Jewish immigration started during the Ottoman period.^[28][29] The future of Palestine was hotly disputed between Arabs and Jews. Sony VAIO VGN-SR91S Battery

In 1947, the total Jewish ownership of land in Palestine was 1,850,000 dunams or 1,850 square kilometers, which is 7.04% of the total land of Palestine.^[30] Public property or "crown lands", the bulk of which was in the Negev, belonging to the government of Palestine may have made up as much as 70% of the total land; Sony VAIO VGN-SR91US Battery

with the Arabs, Christians and others owning the rest.^[31]

The 1947 United Nations Partition Plan proposed a division of Mandate Palestine between an Arab and a Jewish state, with Jerusalemand the surrounding area to be a corpus separatum under a special international regime. Sony VAIO VGN-SR92NS Battery

The regions allotted to the proposed Arab state included what became the Gaza Strip, and almost all of what became the West Bank, as well as other areas.

The Partition Plan was passed by the UN General Assembly on November 1947. The Partition Plan was accepted by the Jewish leadership, but rejected by the Arab leaders. Sony VAIO VGN-SR92PS Battery

The Arab League threatened to take military measures to prevent the partition of Palestine and to ensure the national rights of the Palestinian Arab population. One day before the expiration of the British Mandate for Palestine, on 14 May 1948, Israel declared its independence within the borders of the Jewish State set out in the Partition Plan. Sony VAIO VGN-SR92S Battery

US President Harry Truman recognized the State of Israel de facto the following day. The Arab countries declared war on the newly formed State of Israel heralding the start of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

After the war, which Palestinians call the Nakba, Sony VAIO VGN-SR92US Battery

the 1949 Armistice Agreements established the separation lines between the combatants, leaving Israel in control of some of the areas designated for the Arab state under the Partition Plan, Transjordan in control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Egypt in control of the Gaza Strip and Syria in control of the Himmah Area. Sony VAIO VGN-SR93DS Battery

In 1950 Jordan annexed the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Only the United Kingdom formally recognized the annexation of the West Bank, de facto in the case of East Jerusalem.^[32] In the Gaza Strip the Arab League formed the All-Palestine Government, which operated under Egypt occupation. Sony VAIO VGN-SR93JS Battery

Article 24 of the Palestinian National Charter of 1964, which established the Palestine Liberation Organization,^[33] stated: "This Organization does not exercise any territorial sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on the Gaza Strip or in the Himmah Area" Sony VAIO VGN-SR93PS Battery

 (i.e. the areas of the former Mandate Palestine controlled by Jordan, Egypt and Syria, respectively).

Israel captured both territories in the 1967 Six-Day War, besides other territory belonging to Egypt and Syria. Sony VAIO VGN-SR93YS Battery

Since then these territories have been designated Israeli-occupied territories. Immediately after the war, on June 19, 1967, the Israeli government offered to return the Golan Heights to Syria, the Sinai to Egypt and most of the West Bank to Jordan in exchange for peace. At theKhartoum Summit in September, Sony VAIO VGN-SR94FS Battery

the Arab parties responded to this overture by declaring "no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel and no negotiations with Israel."^[34]

UN Security Council Resolution 242 introduced the "Land for Peace" formula for normalizing relations between Israel and its neighbors. Sony VAIO VGN-SR94GS Battery

This formula was used when Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in 1979 in exchange for a peace treaty. While that treaty mentioned a "linkage" between Israeli-Egyptian peace and Palestinian autonomy, the formerly Egyptian-occupied territory in Gaza was excluded from the agreement, and remained under Israeli control. Sony VAIO VGN-SR94HS Battery

The Oslo Accords of the early 1990s between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel led to the creation of the Palestinian Authority. This was an interim organization created to administer a limited form of Palestinian self-governance in the territories for a period of five years during which final-status negotiations would take place. Sony VAIO VGN-SR94VS Battery

The Palestinian Authority carried civil responsibility in some rural areas, as well as security responsibility in the major cities of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Although the five-year interim period expired in 1999, the final status agreement has yet to be concluded despite attempts such as the 2000 Camp David Summit, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ35B/B Battery

the Taba summit, and the unofficial Geneva Accords.

In 2005, Israeli forces withdrew from the Gaza Strip, ceding full effective internal control of the territory to the Palestinian Authority.

Since the Battle of Gaza (2007) the two separate territories, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ54B/B Battery

are divided into a Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip and aFatah civil leadership in the autonomous areas of the West Bank. Each sees itself as the administrator of all Palestinian Territories and does not acknowledge the other one as the official government of the territories. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ55B/B Battery

The Palestinian Territories have therefore de facto split into two entities.

Political status

The political status of the territories has been the subject of negotiations between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and of numerous statements and resolutions by the United Nations. (See List of United Nations resolutions concerning Israel.) Sony VAIO VGN-SZ55GN/B Battery

Since 1994, the autonomous Palestinian National Authority has exercised various degrees of control in large parts of the territories, as a result of the Declaration of Principles contained in the Oslo Accords. The United States government considers the West Bank and Gaza as a single entity for political, economic, legal and other purposes.^[35] Sony VAIO VGN-SZ56 Battery

The State Department and other US government agencies, such as USAID West Bank and Gaza,^[36] have been tasked with projects in the areas of democracy, governance, resources, and infrastructure. Part of the USAID mission is to provide flexible and discrete support for implementation of the Quartet Road Map.^[37] Sony VAIO VGN-SZ561N Battery

The Road Map is an internationally backed plan that calls for the progressive development of a viable Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza. Participating states provide assistance through direct contributions or through the Palestinian State account established by the World Bank. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ562N Battery

After Hamas won a majority of seats in elections for the Palestinian Parliament, the United States and Israel instituted an economic blockade of the Gaza Strip.^[39][40] When that failed to topple the new government, a covert operation was launched to eliminate Hamas by force. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ57N Battery

The covert initiative was exposed when confidential State Department documents were accidentally leaked by the US envoy. The talking points delivered to the Fatah leadership said:

Hamas should be given a clear choice, with a clear deadline: they either accept a new government that meets the Quartet principles, or they reject it. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ58GN Battery

The consequences of Hamas’ decision should also be clear: If Hamas does not agree within the prescribed time, you should make clear your intention to declare a state of emergency and form an emergency government explicitly committed to that platform. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ58GN/C Battery

Since the Battle of Gaza (2007), the administration of the territories has been contested by two rival factions of the Palestinian National Authority, with Hamas controlling the Gaza Strip and Fatah continuing to administer the West Bank. Both groups claim legitimacy over leadership of the Palestinian territories. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ58N Battery

Most countries with an interest in the issues, including most of the Arab countries, recognize the administration of Mahmoud Abbas as the legitimate government over both Palestinian Territories.^[who?]

During Operation Cast Lead the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1860 (2009), Sony VAIO VGN-SZ61MN/B Battery

which said that the Gaza Strip constitutes an integral part of the territory occupied in 1967 that will be a part of the Palestinian state.^[45]

On 15 December 2011, Iceland recognized Palestine as an independent and sovereign state within the pre-1967 Six Day War borders; Össur Skarphéðinsson, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ61VN/X Battery

Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iceland, and Dr. Riad Malki, the Foreign Minister of Palestine, formally confirmed the establishment of full diplomatic relations between Iceland and Palestine.^[46]

Legal status

The international community regards the West Bank and East Jerusalem as territories occupied by Israel, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ61WN/C Battery

and, although it has withdrawn its military forces, Israel continues to be designated the occupying power in the Gaza Strip by the United Nations, the United States, the United Kingdom and various human rights organizations.^[47][48] However, the co-founder of Hamas, Mahmoud Zahar, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ640N/B Battery

has stated that Gaza is no longer occupied since the Israeli withdrawal.^[49] The final status of the Palestinian Territories as an independent state is supported by the countries that form the Quartet's "Road map for peace". The government of Israel has also accepted the road map but with 14 reservations.^[50] Sony VAIO VGN-SZ645P3 Battery

Customary international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, has been widely interpreted as prohibiting Israel from building settlements, due to its clauses prohibiting the transfer of a civilian population into an occupied territory.^[51] This was reaffirmed December 5, 2001, at the Conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ650N/C Battery

The participating High Contracting Parties called upon Israel "to fully and effectively respect the Fourth Geneva Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and to refrain from perpetrating any violation of the Convention. They reaffirm the illegality of the settlements in the said territories and of the extension thereof." Sony VAIO VGN-SZ660N/C Battery

Article 47 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits any change of status in occupied territory concluded through negotiations between the occupying power and local authorities under occupation. Critics point out that implementation of the Oslo Accords has not improved conditions for the population under occupation.^[52] Sony VAIO VGN-SZ670N/C Battery

Israel contends that the settlements are not illegal as the West Bank is considered a "disputed territory" under international law. United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 recognized Israel's rights to "safe and secure borders", which has been interpreted as meaning that Israel had a right to West Bank territory for secure borders. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ680ND Battery

The San Remo Conference, binding under international law, further envisioned the West Bank as being part of a sovereign Jewish state, and arguably encourages, rather than prohibits Jewish settlement in the area. 
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Furthermore, many of the settlements were established on the sites of former Jewish communities that had existed there prior to 1947 on land that was legitimately bought, and ethnically cleansed by Arab forces. Israel views the territory as being the subject of legitimate diplomatic dispute and negotiation under international law. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ71E/B Battery

East Jerusalem, captured in 1967, was unilaterally annexed by Israel. The UN Security Council Resolution 478 condemned the annexation as "a violation of international law". This annexation has not been recognized by other nations, although the United States Congress declared its intention to recognize the annexationSony VAIO VGN-SZ71VN/X Battery

(a proposal that has been condemned by other states and organizations). Because of the question of Jerusalem's status, no states base their diplomatic missions there and treat Tel Aviv as the capital,^[55] though two states have embassies in the Jerusalem suburb of Mevaseret Zion. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ71WN/C Battery

Israel asserts that these territories are not currently claimed by any other state, and that Israel has the right to control them.

Israel's position has not been accepted by most countries and international bodies, and the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and theGaza Strip are referred to as occupied territories Sony VAIO VGN-SZ74B/B Battery

(with Israel as the occupying power) by most international legal and political bodies,^[56] the rest of the Arab bloc, the UK,^[57] including the EU, the United States,([8], [9]^{[dead link]}), both the General Assembly and Security Council of the United Nations,^[58] the International Court of Justice, the Conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention,^[59] Sony VAIO VGN-SZ750N/C Battery

and the Israeli Supreme Court (see Israeli West Bank barrier).

Some countries and international figures seem to have accorded some credibility to Israel's position. Former U.S. President George W. Bush stated, during his presidency, that he did not expect Israel to return entirely to pre-1967 borders, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ75B/B Battery

due to "new realities on the ground."^[60] However, the longstanding policy of the United States called upon Israel to offer territorial compensation.^[61]

Both U.S. President Bill Clinton and U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, who played notable roles in attempts at mediation, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ76 Battery

noted the need for some territorial and diplomatic compromise on this issue, based on the validity of some of the claims of both sides.^[62][63] One compromise offered by Clinton would have allowed Israel to keep some settlements in the West Bank, especially those in large blocks near the pre-1967 borders of Israel. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ770N/C Battery

In return, Palestinians would have received concessions of land in other parts of the country.^[64] The United Nations did not declare any change in the status of the territories as of the creation of the Palestinian National Authority between 1993 and 2000, although a 1999 U.N. document^[56] implied that the chance for a change in that status was slim at that period. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ77N Battery

During the period between the 1993 Oslo Accords and the Second Intifada beginning in 2000, Israeli officials claimed that the term "occupation" did not accurately reflect the state of affairs in the territories. During this time, the Palestinian population in large parts of the territories had a large degree of autonomy and only limited exposure to the Sony VAIO VGN-SZ780 Battery

IDF except when seeking to move between different areas. Following the events of the Second Intifada, and in particular, Operation Defensive Shield, most territories, including Palestinian cities (Area A), are back under effective Israeli military control, so the discussion along those lines is largely moot. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ78N Battery

In the summer of 2005, Israel implemented its unilateral disengagement plan; about 8500 Israeli citizens living in the Gaza Strip were forcibly removed from the territory; some received alternative homes and a sum of money. The Israel Defense Forces vacated Gaza in 2005, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ791N/X Battery

but invaded it again in 2006 in response to rocket attacks and the abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit by Hamas.

In January 2010, King Abdullah of Jordan, after a meeting with the Israeli president Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ84NS Battery

declared that his country does not want to rule the West Bank and that "the two-state solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the only viable option. If rule over the territory was to be transferred to the kingdom, it would only "replace Israeli military rule with Jordanian military rule... and the Palestinians want their own state."^[65] Sony VAIO VGN-SZ84PS Battery

In December 2010, Brazil recognized Palestine as a state with its 1967 borders. This move was later followed by Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, Bolivia and Ecuador. This action was later criticized by Israel and the United States, who labelled it "counterproductive".^[66] Sony VAIO VGN-SZ84S Battery

Governorates structure

The Constitution of the League of Arab States says the existence and independence of Palestine cannot be questioned de jure even though the outward signs of this independence have remained veiled as a result of force majeure.^[67] Sony VAIO VGN-SZ84US Battery

The League supervised the Egyptian trusteeship of the Palestinian government in Gaza after the termination of the British Mandate and secured assurances from Jordan that the 1950 Act of Union was "without prejudice to the final settlement".

By the 1988 declaration, the PNC empowered its central council to form a government-in-exile when appropriate, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ85NS Battery

and called upon its executive committee to perform the duties of the government-in-exile until its establishment.^[70]

Under the terms of the Oslo Accords signed between Israel and the PLO, the latter assumed control over the Jericho area of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on 17 May 1994. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ85S Battery

On September 28, 1995, following the signing of the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israeli military forces withdrew from the West Bank towns of Nablus,Ramallah, Jericho, Jenin, Tulkarem, Qalqilya and Bethlehem. In December 1995, the PLO also assumed responsibility for civil administration in 17 areas in Hebron.^[71] Sony VAIO VGN-SZ85US Battery

 While the PLO assumed these responsibilities as a result of Oslo, a new temporary interim administrative body was set up as a result of the Accords to carry out these functions on the ground: the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).

An analysis outlining the relationship between the PLO, the PNA (or PA), Sony VAIO VGN-SZ94NS Battery

Palestine and Israel in light of the interim arrangements set out in the Oslo Accords begins by stating that, "Palestine may best be described as a transitional association between the PA and the PLO." It goes on to explain that this transitional association accords the PA responsibility for local government and the Sony VAIO VGN-SZ94PS Battery

PLO responsibility for representation of the Palestinian people in the international arena, while prohibiting it from concluding international agreements that affect the status of the occupied territories. This situation is said to be accepted by the Palestinian population insofar as it is viewed as a temporary arrangement.^[72] Sony VAIO VGN-SZ94S Battery

In March 2008 it was reported that the PA was working to increase the number of countries that recognize Palestine and that a PA representative had signed a bilateral agreement between the State of Palestine and Costa Rica.^[73] Sony VAIO VGN-SZ94US Battery

A recent Al-Haq position paper said the reality is that the PA has entered into various agreements with international organizations and states. These instances of foreign relations undertaken by the PA signify that the Interim Agreement is part of a larger on-going peace process, Sony VAIO VGN-SZ95NS Battery

and that the restrictions on the foreign policy operations of the PA conflict with the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, now a norm with a nature of jus cogens, which includes a right to engage in international relations with other peoples. Sony VAIO VGN-SZ95S Battery,Sony VAIO VGN-SZ95US Battery, Sony VAIO VGN-TZ121 Battery