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Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Israel and the Occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip are at the center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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Israel and the Occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip are at the center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a part of the greater Arab-Israeli conflict, is an ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinians. (See definitions of Palestinian.)

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is by no means a simple two-sided conflict with all Israelis (or even all Israeli Jews) sharing one point of view and all Palestinians another. In both communities, there are individuals and groups who advocate total territorial removal of the other community, those who advocate a two-state solution, and those who advocate a binational solution of a single secular state encompassing present-day Israel and the Gaza strip and the West Bank.

Since the Oslo Accord, the government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) have been officially committed to an eventual two-state solution. The main unresolved issues between these two bodies are:

The refugee issue arose as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. The issue of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem arose as a result of the Six-Day War in 1967.

People who sympathize with Palestinians tend to view the conflict as an illegitimate military occupation of Palestine, supported with military and diplomatic assistance from the U.S. Many tend to view the armed Palestinian resistance within the West Bank and Gaza Strip as a right granted by the Geneva conventions, and some extend this view to attacks within Israel proper. Those sympathetic to Israel tend to view the conflict as a campaign of terrorism perpetrated by Palestinian groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah and others, and supported by other states in the region and the majority of the Palestinian people. Many tend to believe that the occupation is necessary for the security of Israel. This sharp contrast of views on the nature of the conflict has been a key obstacle to resolution.

One current peace proposal is the Road map for peace presented by the Quartet of the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States on September 17, 2002. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has also proposed a controversial disengagement plan. According to plans submitted to the United States, Israel has stated that it will remove its entire "permanent ... civilian and military presence" in the Gaza Strip, but will "supervise and guard the external envelope on land, will maintain exclusive control in the air space of Gaza, and will continue to conduct military activities in the sea space of the Gaza Strip." The Israeli government argues that "as a result, there will be no basis for the claim that the Gaza Strip is occupied territory", while others argue that, should the disengagement happen, the only effect would be that Israel "would be permitted to complete the wall [that is, the Israeli West Bank Barrier] and to maintain the situation in the West Bank as is" [1] http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3331.shtml [2] http://www.fmep.org/documents/disengagement_plan_of_Sharon.html .

Contents

History

See history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for an account of events of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict beginning in the 1880s and continuing to present day.

Related articles

Ethnicity

Religion

Geography

Places

History

Until 1949

1949-1967

1967-1993

1993-present

Ideology and ideas

Media coverage

Elements of the conflict

Organizations and armed forces

People

Israeli

Palestinian

Others

Related conflicts

Further reading

  • Pearlman, Wendy, Occupied Voices: Stories of Everyday Life from the Second Intifada, ISBN 1560255307.
  • Chomsky, Noam,The Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel and the Palestinians, ISBN 0896081877.
  • Safran, Nadav, The United States and Israel, ISBN 0674924908.
  • Ross, Dennis, "The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the fight for Middle East Peace", ISBN 0374199736
  • Bard, Mitchell, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Middle East Conflict", ISBN 0028644107

External links

  • Legal Status of West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem http://www.globalpolitician.com/articles.asp?ID=132
  • Middle East Policy Council - Conflict Statistics http://www.mepc.org/public_asp/resources/mrates.asp
  • HonestReporting http://www.honestreporting.com/
  • Sharm El-Sheikh Fact-Finding Committee Final Report (Mitchell Report) http://usinfo.state.gov/regional/nea/mitchell.htm
  • Government of Israel http://www.gov.il/
  • IndyMedia (Israel) https://israel.indymedia.org/
  • Palestine Independent Media Center http://jerusalem.indymedia.org
  • Electronic Intifada http://electronicintifada.net/
  • P10K (Palestine 10,000) - a peoples peace-keeping force http://www.P10K.net
  • Palestinian Negotiation Team http://www.nad-plo.org
  • "Barak's Generous offer" http://www.gush-shalom.org/media/barak_eng.swf from Gush Shalom
  • Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza http://www.jsource.org/jsource/Peace/settletoc.html
  • Myths and facts online: a guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths/mftoc.html A pro-Israeli view
  • *What next? By Sari Nusseibeh http://www.sfcg.org/cgnews/menarticleframe.cfm?articleid=148
  • Israeli newspaper editorial mentioning Mr. Nusseibeh http://www.sfcg.org/cgnews/menarticleframe.cfm?articleid=176
  • Current breakdown of fatalities in conflict http://www.ict.org.il/casualties_project/stats_page.cfm
  • Chicago Tribune: Israeli veterans show occupation's ugly side http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2027&e=6&u=/chitribts/israelivet
    eransshowoccupationsuglyside
    Photos of the occupation taken by Israeli soldiers
  • Two Peoples, One State http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/04/opinion/04tarazi.html?oref=login The PLO's Michael Tarazi outlines a solution to the conflict (New York Times, 4 October 2004)
  • The Jerusalem Post http://www.jpost.com/
  • Haaretz - English Edition http://www.haaretzdaily.com/
  • Directories
    • LookSmart - Israel-Palestine Conflict http://search.looksmart.com/p/browse/us1/us317836/us317916/us147927/us269889/us2
      90317/us290303/us290378/
    • Open Directory Project - Israel-Palestine Conflict http://dmoz.org/Society/Issues/Warfare_and_Conflict/Specific_Conflicts/Middle_Ea
      st/Israel-Palestine/
    • Yahoo - Israeli-Palestinian Conflict http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/Regions/Middle_East/Government/Politics/Israeli_Pa
      lestinian_Conflict/



Last updated: 02-07-2005 18:47:37
Last updated: 05-03-2005 17:50:55