Jennifer Fisher, Melanie Trackwell, Carmen Houck, Jamie Loehmer, and Tara Bateman

Palestine

The Holy Land, the Promised Land, Canaan, and the Land of Israel

This is a Honors History project for the

History: In Biblical times, before the Palestinians and Jews were in Palestine, there was a group of people living there known as the Canaanites. By the third millennium BC, they had established cities like Jericho, and had begun practicing their religion. This religion had a major influence on Judaism, and through it, impacted both Christianity and Islam. After this, Palestine became a major object of dispute. Up until World War I, Palestine was fought over by many different groups, and had changed ownership many times. With the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe, many Jews began to migrate to their "promised land." They were coming back to the land once known as Israel, but had not existed as that for nearly 2000 years. This immigration as well as Jewish claims to be returning to "their land," were viewed with alarm by Palestinian leaders. These leaders feared losing their homes, and therefore became bitterly opposed to the Zionism movement. At the end of World War I, the British gained control of Palestine with the promise of giving them independence. Unfortunately, Britain had also promised the Jews a national home in Palestine in the Balfour Declaration. It was to be clearly understood that nothing would be done to press the civil and religious rights fo existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine. Britain found themselves in a sticky situation that they themselves had created. On one hand, the Jews were angry with the British because they had been promised a home land. On the other hand, the Palestinians feared dispossession at the hands of the Jews. This caused much violence and bloodshed, and Britain soon decided that they could not deal with it anymore. In 1947, Britain turned the mandate over to the United Nations. Immediately after, the Jews and Palestinians went to war. The Palestinians were defeated, and the state of Israel was established on May 14, 1948. Five Arab armies in favor of the Palestinians soon attacked, but all were defeated. As a result of these defeats, Israel gained more land, and many Palestinians were forced to move away from their homes into refugee camps. These refugees established the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1964 in their efforts to reclaim their country from the Israelis. In 1993, in an effort to establish peace, Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, agreed to the signing of a peace accord that introduced some Palestinian self-rule in the occupied territories. In May 1994, Palestinian control and administration began in the Gaza Strip. There were, however, some serious doubts about the PLO's ability to enforce its rule in the areas the Israelis had relinquished. As Israel prepared for elections in May 1996, it was the hope of the Arabs that Prime Minister Shimon Peres would be elected. Peres was an avid supporter of peace between Arabs and Jews, and he was willing to return the Golan Heights in exchange for peace. It was quite a surprise when Peres was defeated by Binyamin Netanyahu. Nethanyahu was against the Palestinians developing a state, and therefore was not willing to return the Golan Heights. An Arab statement seeking the establishment of a state with Jerusalem as its capital, an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, and adherance to the land-for-peace principle was declared one sided by Netanyahu, and it was clear that he had no intentions of complying with it. Today, there is still no state of Palestine. Palestinians do administer land in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, but this land is still Israeli occupied.

More History

West Bank

Gaza Strip

Why is the land sacred to both Jews and Muslims?

Why exactly do the Palestinian Arabs and the Israeli Jews think that Palestine is their land? Well, the original conflict goes back in the biblical times to the story of Joshua. Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised Land where he fought the battle of Jericho, and the walls came tumbling down. In biblical times, the Jews owned the land that is now known as the republic of Israel and Jordan, then known as Palestine and Trans-Jordan. Jews are told that they are a nation without a country. They must fight to get back their homeland, the land that is rightfully theirs. The Palestine side of the story is quite different. The Palestines feel that the Israelites killed and drove out the inhabitants of that area. They believe that Palestine is their homeland, and they will fight to keep it that way. Isiah 11 states that the Lord shall return when Israel has all its land. Israel is trying very hard to get all this land back to fulfill its religious duty. The Jews and Arabs are seperated by political differences. Some believe that Jerusalem should be shared as the "mosiac structure" that has characterized this city in the past. Others would stress the way this city is deeply divided. The Jews want the Palestinians to live with them in this holy area, but abide to their rules and power. This "separate but equal" plan will never work, especially with the Palestinians involved. The Palestinians want their land back and think of Jerusalem as their destined capital.

Islam

Arabs in Palestine

More Islam

Zionism

The Intifada- The1987 Intifada was major turning point in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In a Gaza refugee camp on December 8, 1987, an Israeli vehicle crashed into a crowd of Palestinians. This accident killed four people. The Palestinians believed the accident to be intentional, even though the Israeli police determined that "it was an accident with no malicious intent." This small incident was all that was needed to start an uprising. A few days later, all of Gaza and the West Bank were rebelling. Matters were make worse by the military efforts to stop the rebellious demonstrations. This national uprising came to be known as the Intifada, or shaking off. The Intifada is a group whose memvers ahve not been publicly identified. It acknowledges the PLO as the political representative of the Palestinians, and it began issuing bulletins suggesting mass actions which prople were more than happy to carry out. The Intifada is a major turning point because new Palestinain leaders were produced from people living inside the Palestinian territories rather than the people living in exile. The Intifada also brought together an organization known as the Unified Leadership of the Uprising, and many people who had previously been quiet during the conflict, such as merchants, intellectuals, villagers, and the middle classes were radicalized. A major shift in the PLO was another effect of the Intifada. It also helped to show that, although the Palestinians are not powerful enough to expell the Israelis, the Palestinians themselves could not be defeated. From December of 1987 through 1992, the number of Palestinians killed totalled 120,446. From December of 1987 through Febuary of 1993, toe total number of Israelis killed in the Occuped Territories totalled 48, 19 soldiers and 29 civilians.

Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)-- The PLO was founded in 1964 at the forst Arab summit meeting as a coordinating council for Palestinian organizations. It is a coalition of organizations of various groups such as workers, women, and students. The PLO is dominated by the political group al-Fatah whos leader, Yassir Arafat, has been chairman of the PLO since 1968. It is under the guidance of the Palestine Nationla Council and operates hospitals, factories, schools, and other social service agencies. It does not operate openly in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip because there the occupying authorities believe that suppore of the PLO is illegal. The PLO was first founded to split-up Israel, mainly through the use of armed force. The headquarters of the PLO are in Cairo. The PLO received UN recognition on Oct. 17, 1974.

Recent Events

Intifada revived

Key Players

Peace??

Peace Talks

Oslo Accords

The Wye River Memorandum

Israel pullback??

Info obtained from: http://www.flash.net/~royal/palestine.html http://ww.arabworld.com/factbooks/westbank.htm http://www.arabworld.com/factboods/gaza.htm http://us-israel.org/jsource/History/Arabs_in_Palestine.html http://www.islam.org http://cnn.com/WORLD/struggle_for_peace/background http://cnn.com/WORLD/struggle_for_peace/oslo.agreement.html http://cnn.com/WORLD/struggle_for_peace/key.players/groups.html#palestinians http://www.usia.gov./regional/nea/summit/chron.htm http://ArabNews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/981024/1998102453.html http://cgi.pathfinder.com/time/daily/0,2960,16772-121981210,00.html http://cgi.pathfinder.com/time/daily/latest/RB/1998Dec08/367.html http://geocities.com/southbeach/lagoon/8522/palestine.html http://www.pna.org/mininfo/jerusalem/jerus4.htm