LEAGUE OF ARAB STATES  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAIR: SERG KONDRATYUK

POLITICAL OFFICER: LUKAS AMBRAZIEJUS

VICE CHAIR: MICHAEL LOMBARDO

Table of Contents

1. Letter from Chair

2. Members in committee

3. History of Arab League

5. Topic 1: Refugees in the Middle East

13. Topic 2: Gaza Crisis

18. Bloc Positions

Letter from chair Dear Delegates,

My name is Serg Kondratyuk and I will be your presiding chair for the Arab League committee at SILTMUN III. I’m a junior here at LT and this is my third year participating in Model UN, but my first time chairing. Over the years, I have attended many conferences, such as Georgetown, CIMUN, and NUMUN, and have won numerous awards. I have always found The Middle East and the Arab World an extremely interesting and exciting to research and discuss. With that being said, I am very excited to have you join me in the most exciting committee at SILTMUN this year.

Your Political Officer for SILTMUN III is Lukas Ambraziejus, a visitor here all the way from the bountiful nation of Lithuania. Your Vice Chair, Michael Lombardo, on the other hand, is a mysterious junior from the suburbs of Chicago and also a student at LT. Both are intelligent and fun people who cannot wait to work with all of you this spring.

As a delegate, past and future, I always wanted to know what my chair looks for in a best delegate. To save you the trouble, here is a list:

I. Speaking skills II. Cooperation III. Position Paper (I will read all of them) (Feel free to spruce up your paper with

watermarks, or other official looking edits. It shows me you worked hard!) IV. Policy/Authenticity (Be “in character”! Bring a flag of your country or wear a pin for

bonus points) V. Knowledge of topics

This is a very simple and almost universal list. If you have any questions about the conference, this committee, or if you need me to take a look at your position paper or you have trouble finding information, email me at Kondratyuk.serhiy@yahoo.com. I check my email several times a day and will reply to you by the end of the day.

-Praise Allah, Serg Kondratyuk

Members in Committee 1. Algeria 2. Bahrain 3. Comoros 4. Djibouti 5. Egypt 6. Iraq 7. Jordan 8. Kuwait 9. Lebanon 10. Libya 11. Mauritania

12. Morocco 13. Oman 14. Palestine 15. Qatar 16. Saudi Arabia 17. Somalia 18. Sudan 19. Syria* 20. Tunisia 21. United Arab Emirates

22. Yemen

*Due to its suspension, the nation of Syria will have the status of an observer nation. Meaning, it can participate in debate but cannot take part in non-procedural voting

History of the Arab League The roots of Arabian unity lie in the early 20th century, where during World War I the British Empire

helped bring the Arab people together and helped them cooperate with each other, leading to their revolt against the Turkish Ottoman Empire. During the Second World War, the British used the Arab world as an ally to fight the Germans and the cooperation between Arab states was even more successful and led to another victory. Impressed by the successful cooperation during both world wars, Arab diplomats noticed the potential for Arab unity and eventually, in 1944, official representatives from Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, North Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and Transjordan met in Alexandria, Egypt, and agreed to form the League of Arab States. Since then, Arab Citizens began to perceive themselves as one group of people divided among a number of separate nations with

similar history, geography, language, culture, and socio-economic interests, which propelled them to forge a strong Arab unity. Since then, it has grown to an organization of twenty-two members. Having existed for about 68 years, the Arab League has grown to become the most prominent regional body in the Middle East. Given the importance of the Middle East in the world today, the importance of an effective Arab League cannot be denied 

As outlined in the second chapter of the “Charter of the Arab League”, the overall goal of the Arab

League is “… Strengthening of the relations between the memberstates, the coordination of their policies in order to achieve co-operation between them and to safeguard their independence and sovereignty; and a general concern with the affairs and interests of the Arab countries.”

Historically, the Arab League has lived up to its expectation and has had a huge impact on the Arab world. From the Arab-Israeli War in 1948 to the Arab Spring starting in 2010, the Arab League’s reaction to these fast-unfolding events has had a large impact on their development and demise. Although we are sovereign nations, today we must unite as one and deal with the issues the Arab world faces today. Whether the issue lies in economics or security, we are all brothers, born from the same mother, the Middle East.

Topic 2: The Crisis at Gaza-Feb 1st, 2013 Synopsis:

Since its creation in 1948, Israel has always maintained its hostile policies towards Palestinian People. After numerous conflicts, in most of which Palestine was politically and militarily supported by the Arab world, the State of Israel, on November 14th, 2012 began another operation, named Pillar of Defense and led by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Through a series of air strikes, 105 Palestinians were killed, among which was Hamas’ military leader Ahmed al-Jabari. The Israeli government claims that the aims of the operation were to halt the indiscriminate rocket attacks originating from the Gaza Strip and to disrupt the capabilities of militant organizations arguing that the death of Ahmed al-Jabari was a coincidence. This conflict, although a fraction of the real thing which has lasted for years, officially ended on November 21st, 2012 resulting in a ceasefire. Under the agreements of the ceasefire:

Israel to end all hostilities on Gaza Strip by sea, land and air, including incursions and the targeting of individuals

All Palestinian factions in Gaza to stop all hostilities against Israel, including rocket and border attack

After 24 hours from start of ceasefire, talks to begin on opening crossings into Gaza and allowing free movement of people and goods

Egypt to receive assurances from both sides that they will abide by the deal

Although this seven day conflict resulted in a ceasefire, it also resulted in the death of 105 Palestinian civilians, of which many were women and children, compared to the four civilians lost by Israel. Despite no longer being under the control of Israel, Gaza Strip's northern borders, as well as its territorial waters and airspace are controlled by Israel.

Israel has again demonstrated that Palestine's independence efforts will be continuously seen by Israeli government as "threat to national security" and that the world must not forget that Israel holds Palestine as its historical part. However, these shocking November events have not left unnoticed. U.N. General Assembly on November 29th, 2012 overwhelmingly approved the de facto recognition of a sovereign Palestinian state after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the world body to issue its long overdue birth certificate. However, this historic General Assembly decision to accept "Palestine" as a non-member observer state won't actually grant independence to the 4.3 million Palestinians who live in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the UN vote as meaningless. He also claimed that the UN move violated past agreements between Israel and the Palestinians and that Israel would act accordingly, without elaborating what steps it might take. 

Two months later, on February 1st, 2013 British newspaper "London Times" was first to publish the Israeli assault fully breaking cease-fire agreement with Palestine in the end of 2012. On the night of January 31st, Israel launched 54 missiles all being directed towards main media and Hamas buildings across Gaza. UNWRA estimates that this operation claimed lives of 170 Palestinians with more than 300 wounded.

According to the same report, three high-ranked Hamas officials were announced dead as their houses were bombed claiming lives of everyone, including families. Hamas also informs about 80 million dollars of financial loss. In the meantime, Israeli officials in the press conference on January 29th argued attacks to be a response to Palestine's crave of having full control of Jerusalem and again, having nothing to do with operations of killing Hamas officials.

UN condemned this Israeli's attack but no actions are about to be made. However, after 24 four hours from the start of

bombings, Hamas has begun response operation, "Vicious Snake". Renewed conflict on the next day is now believed to be at its peak, when Hamas constantly sends missiles towards Israeli cities. There have been reports of armed clashes in northern borders as well as in territorial borders of Palestine.

Egypt followed up by reports of broken ceasefire calls Arab League to put this Palestine question on Arab League's agenda.

History:

The land that is now known as Gaza was formed by the armistice line after the Arab-Israeli War of 1948-1949. Since its creation, the control of Gaza has shifted numerous times between the Palestinians, Israelis, and Egyptians. From June 1967, following the Six-Day War, the Israeli administration regained control of the Gaza Strip until to 1994, after the signing of the Oslo Accords, an agreement between Palestine and Israel.

In 2000, a huge wave of protests and riots broke out, resulting in bombings against Israeli military personnel and civilians on the Israeli border. In February 2005, Israel's unilateral disengagement plan was approved and the evacuation of Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip on August 15, 2005. The evacuation was completed on September 12. All Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip and the joint Israeli-Palestinian Erez Industrial Zone were dismantled, and 9,000 Israelis, were evicted. From December 27th, 2008 to January 18, 2009, a three week armed conflict between Palestine and Israel, known as the Gaza War, took place. To the Israelis, this was an

operation called Cast Lead and to the Palestinians it was known as the Battle of al-Furqan, while to the rest of the world, it was called the Gaza Massacre. This conflict resulted in the death of 1,417 Palestinians compared to the 13 lost by Palestine. This conflict resulted in Israeli victory, in addition to Over 4,000 homes destroyed and around $2 billion worth of damage to Gaza

On 26 March 2010, Two Israeli soldiers and two Hamas militants were killed during clashes on the Gaza Strip's southern border. Two other soldiers were wounded during the fighting which broke out east of the town of Khan Younis. They are the first Israeli soldiers to have been killed in hostile fire in or around Gaza since Israel's major offensive there in January 2009.

Summary: Topic 2, Gaza Crisis is a crisis topic that is set one day before SILTMUN III. These events have not happened in real life but may happen after the submission of this background guide. For this topic, delegates are expected to not only know their foreign policy really well but also be prepared to face a lot of crises. The best way to prepare for this topic is to stay updated on the current events happening in the Middle East. Using websites like BBC and Aljazeera is strongly recommended. In regards to the position paper, you, the delegate, are expected to write about your allies and actions if the Gaza Crisis breaks off into a full-fledged war (hint hint).

Questions to Consider: What diplomatic means can be used in order to prevent international conflicts from happening in a

future? What measures will your country introduce to control internal and external political tensions? How can Arab League use its power to prevent internal conflict from becoming international

conflicts while respecting primary rights of state sovereignty?

Additional Reading: http://www.aaj.tv/2012/11/israel-palestinians-chrono/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/middle_east/ http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/ http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/02/20/139423/divisions-in-arab-league-hobble.html

Bloc Positions: Although we are all Arab brothers and have many of the same goals, there are times when an issue will create division amongst us. Recently, this issue is Syria and the Civil War within. Some countries, notably Qatar and Saudi Arabia, are the biggest opposition to the Assad regime. While countries like Jordan oppose all sanctions on Syria because more than 60 percent of its imports from Europe arrive via Syria. When deciding where you stand on when it comes to Palestine and Israel or refugees and how to deal with them, it’s important to keep in mind economic, political, social, and military consequences of your future actions.