Two State Idea: Israel – Palestine

Shaul Arieli

2014

Balfour Declaration (2-11-1917)“opening shot”

Jewish-Zionist Arab-Palestinian

• British government offered its support to the Zionist Organization and promised to establish a national home for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel

• The Balfour Declaration and the Mandate do not mention the collective rights of the Palestinian Arabs in terms of self-definition or any other political definition, despite the fact that they constituted the vast majority (94 percent) of the population of Palestine at the time.

• The Partition Report published by the UNSCOP committee in 1947 stated: “The principle of self-determination was not applied to Palestine when the Mandate was created in 1922 due to the aspiration to establish the Jewish national home.”

The Mandate for Palestine (24-7-1922)

Jewish-Zionist Arab-Palestinian

• “Whereas recognition has thereby been given to the historical context of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country”

• Noted that Britain would “be responsible for placing the country under such political, administrative and economic conditions as will secure the establishment of the Jewish national home…”

• These two documents related to the Palestinian Arabs as “non-Jewish communities” which, in the framework of the Jewish national home, would enjoy the “…safeguarding [of] the civil and religious rights of all the inhabitants of Palestine, irrespective of race and religion.”

Two national narratives which contradict each other. But every one of them has political, legal and moral

valid.

The commission’s principal proposal was that Palestine should be divided between Jews and Arabs, since this was “a struggle between two national movements with valid claims that cannot be reconciled in any manner…. other than partition…”

Jewish-Zionist

Arab-Palestinian

• Independent Jewish state(17%)

• The area intended for Arabs should be annexed to Transjordan under the rule of King Abdullah from the Hashemite dynasty

: “…only by means of partition can these two opposing national aspirations be manifested in concrete terms, and the two peoples allowed to take their place as independent nations in the international community and in the United Nations…” (Partition Report).

Jewish-Zionist Arab-Palestinian

• This decision established the legal and practical basis for the establishment of The State of Israel on May 14, 1948.

• For the first time, this resolution also recognized the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, and proposed that this be realized through the establishment of an independent Arab state on 45 percent of the territory of Palestine

Jewish-Zionist Arab-Palestinian

• David Ben Gurion’s declaration of independence emphasized that the state was established “…by virtue of our natural and historic right and on the strength of the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly.”

• This war began on the initiative of the Palestinians after they rejected the Partition Resolution.

• On April 16, 1948, Jamal Hussein told the Security Council: “The representative of the Jewish Agency informed us yesterday that they are not the aggressive side. That it was the Arabs who began the fighting…Actually we do not deny this fight… We told the world… that we do not agree that tiny Palestine be partitioned… and we intend to fight against this.”

War of Independence (November 30, 1947 – July 20, 1949) ,

Jewish-Zionist

Arab-Palestinia

n

• Independence

• Nakba

In the war Israel secured territorial gains within the borders of Mandatory Palestine – the West Bank and Gaza Strip – and beyond these borders – the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights.

UN Security Council Resolution 242, adopted on November 22,

1967.

This resolution provided the legal foundation and framework for the peace process between Israel and its neighbors on the basis of the “land for peace” formula. On this basis, peace agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt in 1979 and between Jordan and Israel in 1994.

In November 1988, the PLO recognized UN Resolution 181, and a month later it recognized Resolution 242.

Mutual recognition between Israel and the PLO September 1993

In exchanges of letter between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, it was stated: “… the PLO recognizes Israel’s right to exist in peace and security, recognizes Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, undertakes to resolve the conflict by peaceful means and negotiations, condemns terror, and sees this signing as the beginning of an era of coexistence…” and in return: “the Government of Israel recognizes the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people.”

• The process continued with the signing of the Declaration of Principles (“The Oslo Accords”) on September 13, 1993 between Israel and the PLO,

• followed by the signing of the Interim Agreement on September 28, 1995, which in turn led to the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1996.

• By 1998, Israel transferred 40 percent of the territory of the West Bank to the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority

• Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip and evacuated its settlements in the area in the summer of 2005;

• since 2007, the Gaza Strip has been under the control of Hamas.

Division of Responsibilities in the

West Bank

Area A1,173,697

Area C886,011

Area B74,756

Total population of West Bank: 2,134,464

Area A18%

Area B22%

Area C60%

% of Area of the West Bank

Distribution of the Total Population in the West Bank

West Bank – Israeli Settlement

530,000 Israelis

135 Settelments

9% 3%10%

79%

Type of settlement

NeighborhoodsCitiesLocal councilsRegional councils

Neigh-borhoods

36%

Cities27%Local

councils14%

Regional councils

23%

Population

Negotiations for a permanent status agreement:

Camp David-2000 Taba-2001Annapolis-2007-8 Kerry's mission-2013-

November 29, 2012:

The resolution of the UN General Assembly recognizing the State of Palestine within the 1967 borders as a non-member state.

Conditions for end of claimsTwo states, a national home for the Jewish

people and a national home for the Palestinian people

’67 borders as a basis and territorial exchange on a 1:1 ratio

Division of east Jerusalem between the two capitals

Solution to the refugee problem not by returning to Israel

Cessation of terrorism and violence The Palestinian state will be demilitarized

Regional security: From a conventional Eastern front

to the threat of surface-to-

surface missiles and

terror

Bilateral security: From control on the ground to disarmament and

security arrangements

The Jerusalem Issue“We won’t be asked to divide

something that is already divided” (Teddy Kollek)

Jerusalem: Division of Neighborhoods on Demographic Basis

Refugees

Israel: 1,000 a year for 5 years.

Palestinians: 10,000 a year for 10 years.

תודה!

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