Israel/Palestine

1947

• Britain had ruled the area of Palestine since 1920– Remember: Palestine is not a country– After WWII, many Jews return to the area seeking

a home– Handed over responsibility to the UN– Recommended splitting the territory into 2

separate states

1948

• Israel becomes a state in Tel Aviv• Fighting broke out– Many Palestinians fled to the area known as the West

Bank• Days after becoming a state- 5 Arab armies from

Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq invaded Israel – Crushed by Israeli army– Egypt kept the Gaza Strip– Jordan annexed the West Bank

1964

• There had been fierce competition between neighboring states to lead an Arab response to the creation of Israel– Creation of PLO• Mission: create an independent Palestinian state

– Yasser Arafat, first leader

1967

• Six Day War– Egypt is mobilizing on Israeli border– Israel seized Gaza and the Sinai from Egypt in the

south and the Golan Heights from Syria in the north. It also pushed Jordanian forces out of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

• The territorial gains doubled the area of land controlled by Israel. The victory heralded a new age of confidence and optimism for Israel and its supporters.

1973

• Yom Kippur War• Upset about lost territory from 1967, Egypt

and Syria launched major offensives against Israel

• Israeli forces pushed into Syria beyond the Golan Heights, though they later gave up some of these gains. – In Egypt, Israeli forces regained territory and

advanced to the western side of the Suez Canal.

1973 cont.

• The war left Israel more dependent on the US for military, diplomatic and economic support.– Soon after the war, Saudi Arabia led a petroleum

embargo against states that supported Israel. – UN Security Council passed a resolution which

called for the combatants "to cease all firing and terminate all military activity immediately... [and start] negotiations …aimed at establishing a just and durable peace in the Middle East".

1979• Egypt (Anwar Sadat) and Israel

(Menachem Begin) signed the Camp David accords – First Arab leader to recognize Israel– Outlined framework for peace– Sinai Peninsula was returned to

Egypt– Arab states boycotted Israel– Sadat was assassinated by

extremists

Fast forward…2002/2003

• Fighting continues• Israel began building a barrier in the West

Bank, which it said was to prevent attacks inside Israel

• In late April, the US outlined a step-by-step timetable towards a negotiated Palestinian state, with the first phase contingent on an end to Palestinian violence and Israeli invasions and settlement activity.

2004/2005

• Arafat dies and Abbas takes over

• PM Ariel Sharon revealed a "disengagement plan" – withdrawal of all 8,000

settlers and the troops that protect them in the Gaza Strip

– and from three small settlements in the northern West Bank.

Present Day

• Abbas controls West Bank• Hamas controls the Gaza Strip– Regularly launch rockets into Southern Israel from

here– Israel controls surrounding lands and enforces

blockades

June 2014• 3 Israeli teenagers were

kidnapped from the West Bank– 1 held dual citizenship

• Israel blamed deaths/disappearances on Hamas

• Netanyahu hinted at revenge• Hamas warned against

escalation

• Israel started to send airstrikes into Gaza– Targeting Hamas and other militant groups

• Hamas was firing rockets into Israel– Near Ben Gurion airport– Air strikes, invasions, tunnels

• Currently a cease fire• Trying to negotiate• Israel negotiates with West Bank/Abbas- will

give them land for peace– But Hamas keeps firing rockets from Gaza at Israel– Israel keeps building settlements in West Bank– Israel blockades, but this hurts civilians