Resolution 242 : Even though all the parties from Arab and Israeli side accepted the resolution the results on the ground were absent because the concept of “land for peace” was not taken seriously by Israel. The UN led discussions with the warring parties but of no avail.
The Yom Kippur War 1973: In October 1973 Egypt and Syria launched a secretly coordinated attack on the holiest day of Jewish year. The purpose was to regain back Sinai and Golan heights lost in 1967 war. They forced Israelis to retreat and destroyed several hundred Israeli tanks. However, within days Israel launched a counterattack with a massive support by the U.S and drove Arab armies back. The U.S prolonged a ceasefire endeavor at the UN until Israel regained not only Sinai and Golan Heights back but also additional territory.
Peace Treaty with Egypt 1979: Six years later Israel and Egypt went into a peace treaty that returned Sinai to Egypt. Much of the world applauded this breakthrough for Egypt became the first Arab country to recognize Israel. The Israelis withdrew from Sinai to get recognition from Egypt but they remained more determined than ever to maintain their control over West Bank and Gaza.
The Israeli occupied Palestinian territories: A: Israeli government proceeded to annex East Jerusalem immediately after six day war of 1967 even though this was against International Law and the UN condemned it. Palestinian inhabitants were evicted and their houses were demolished in order to reconstruct ‘Jewish Quarter’ in the old city. Jerusalem was unilaterally declared as Israel’s capital.
B: In 1949 when Israel was created large areas of land were cleared of Palestinian population and a minority that remained were made Israeli citizens, but in 1967 when Israel occupied West Bank and Gaza and East Jerusalem, a policy of military occupation was implemented, exploiting all the resources but bearing no responsibility for the people living in those territories.
C: Since Israeli government ruled out full annexation of occupied territories with full rights to Palestinians as Israeli citizens in order to maintain Israel as the Jewish State, it went on to apply and sanction two highly condemnable acts: the policy of apartheid and building of Settlements, both in gross violation of International Law.
Yitzak Rabin: He had commanded Israeli forces in the Six Day War and was the instigator of iron fist policy in the occupied territories. He became Prime Minister of Israel twice, first in 1974 and then in 1992 after the first Intifada. He was a believer in Israel’s security more than anything else and was willing to reach an agreement with Palestinians to achieve this goal. In his first term he proposed to negotiate with Jordan to establish a Jordanaian-Palestinian State with assurance by Jordan to supervise a limited autonomy of Palestinian portion within Jordanian constitution. However he came under pressure from right wing lobby in the government including Defense Minister Shimon Peres and National religious party who favored settlement building in occupied land. In his second term as Prime minister after the first Intifada. he negotiated with Yasser Arafat ‘The Oslo Accord’ with the US being the interlocutor with the involvement of President Clinton as moderator and facilitator.
Menachem Begin and Plan for Greater Israel: The Likud party came to power in 1977 led by Menachem Begin as Prime Minister. Under him, settlement buildings intensified, supported also by the ‘Mizrahim’ the Jews who had migrated from Arab lands many of whom resented domination of European Ashkenazi Jews and their descendants. Begin was a champion of “Greater Israel” a Jewish State in all the land between the Mediterranean and Jordan river depicted by the slogan ‘River to the Sea’. The settlements were not only against international law but also a threat to Israeli security potentially inviting violent reaction from Palestinians.
Fatah and PLO: During and after the Six Day War of 1967, over 250,000 Palestinians fled from West Bank and Gaza. Most went to Jordan. The majority of them were refugees of the first Arab-Israeli was of 1948-49 and now they were refugees a second time. For a million or more who remained in the West Bank and Gaza, resistance to Israeli military occupation was harshly dealt. The refugee camps particularly in Jordan were swollen by new waves of incoming Palestinians.
Fatah and PLO: Following the defeat in the six day war and aggravated refugees situation and related problems, Palestinians were convinced that they have to fight for their homeland on their own. Fatah the largest Palestinian resistance group now took the initiative. It sought to guerrilla war strategy. And send guerrilla groups to West Bank and established their training bases at Jordan, the country that had the largest number of refugees and the longest border with Israel. In the first three months of 1968, Fatah carried out 78 attacks on Israeli targets. On March 21,1968, Israel carried out a major attack with tanks and aircraft in and around the village of Karameh in Jordan. Palestinian bases were largely destroyed, 92 guerrilla fighters were killed out of 300 but against overwhelming odds, Fatah’s fighters had stood the ground, something that three Arab armies of Egypt Syria and Jordan were unable to do. This is called “Battle of Karameh”. It gave immense political and psychological victory to Palestinians. Fatah leadership now confident of its vanguard position in the resistance to Israel invited all different guerrilla groups to unite under one banner of Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) with the proclamation that armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine.
Terrorism and the Palestinian struggle: PLO leadership wanted to limit the raids and the bombings to Israeli territory and targets, however more radical groups such as ‘Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine’ (PFLP) started to carryout attacks in other parts of the world.
a. In December 1968 two members of PFLP hijacked an Israeli plane in Athens Airport, killing one man. Israelis retaliated by destroying 13 planes at Beirut airport.
b. In February 1970 a Swiss plane was blown up on the way to Israel.
c. In September 1970 four planes were hijacked by PFLP and three of the planes belonging to British Airways and TWA were taken to an airfield in Jordan. The hijackers demanded release of Palestinian fighters jailed in Britain, Germany and Switzerland. The passengers were taken out of the planes and then the planes were blown up.
d. In September 1972 another guerrilla group called ‘Black September’ captured eleven Israeli athletes of Olympic games at Munich. They killed two of the athletes and demanded release of two hundred Palestinians in Israeli jail. When police attempted a rescue, Palestinians killed the remaining nine athletes.
e. June 27, 1976, an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris was hijacked during a stopover at Athens by two PFLP and German militants. The plane was taken to Entebbe, Uganda. Demands included 5 million Us dollars and release of 40 Palestinian militants jailed in Israel and 13 others in four other countries. On July 4, 1976, Israeli commandos launched a daring rescue operation with complete success. All the hijackers were killed. It is known as the most successful counter-terrorism mission in history.
Expulsion of Palestinians from Jordan: In Jordan the PLO started acting as if they ruled the country. They were roaming in the city of Amman fully armed. King Husain became concerned for Israeli reprisals and attacks on his country. Then when the incident of the hijacking of four planes happened, he ordered his army to take control of the PLO bases. Palestinians tried to resist but were killed mercilessly by Jordanian army. Three thousand of them were killed and over following nine months all the PLO bases in Jordan were decimated completely.
The PLO in Lebanon: Driven out from Jordan, PLO came to Lebanon and started their bases there. The Palestinian refugees were already there since 1948, added later after six day war. The PLO came into Lebanon in 1970 after expelled from Jordan and its armed forces established bases in southern Lebanon. PLO launched new attacks on Israel from Southern Lebanon. When the Israelis hit back many Palestinians and many Lebanese including Christians were killed. Soon Lebanon was caught up in a civil war mainly between Muslims and Christians. Meanwhile the PLO continued to carry out attacks on Israel. In 1978 a PLO suicide squad went further south and attacked a bus near Tel Aviv killing thirty seven passengers. Three days after the bus bombing, Israeli troops invaded Lebanon. They seized the south of the country, but the PLO forces melted away and dispersed. The Israelis withdrew under pressure form the US and the UN troops were sent to keep peace on the Lebonese-Israel border. Over the next four years, the Palestinian armed forces grew in strength. Lebanon had become the center of their military operations against Israel.
The Israeli Invasion of Lebanon 1982: Prime Minister Begin and Defense Minister Sharon of Israel planned an invasion of Lebanon that occurred in subsequent months around July/August, to destroy PLO’s independent power base in Lebanon with an aim to occupy more land for Israel thinking that if PLO is dismantled in Lebanon, Gaza and West Bank will be easy captures. On one day alone in August 1982, 127 air raids were launched on the city of Beirut killing more than 20 thousand people. PLO was being crushed badly while many civilians were killed. Lebanese politicians pressed PLO to leave. The US intervened and persuaded Israel to stop air raids in return for an agreement that the PLO fighter will be evacuated and go to any North African Muslim country. PLO moved its headquarters to Tunisia. The Israelis withdrew their troops from Beirut to the south of Lebanon.
The First Intifada, 1987-93: On December 8 1987 an Israeli army vehicle crashed into two cars in Gaza killing four Palestinians. Rumors spread that it was a deliberate act of revenge for the killing of an Israeli soldier two day ago. Huge protests by Palestinians followed and soon converted into a national uprising engulfing Gaza and West bank. The uprising was participated by mostly young Palestinians but also included women, children and the villagers, laborers and businessmen. Young people often teenagers with nothing more than stones and catapults wearing their Keffiyehs as masks faced and skirmished Israeli army with relentless courage and bravery. There was widespread agreement throughout the Palestinian community on the decision not to take up arms. This was called Intifada which meant ‘The Shaking Off’. The reasons were obvious. Daily humiliations of life under occupation was becoming intolerable for Palestinians. By 1984 about 250,000 Palestinians had experienced detention or humiliating interrogation. The oppressive nature of Israeli rule had become even more intense in the years 1984 to 87. In January 1988 the United National Leadership of the Uprising (UNLU) emerged to coordinate the protests and demonstrations. Israel responded with an ‘Iron Fist’ policy. Their troops used tear gas, water cannons, rubber bullets and even live ammunition. Over a thousand Palestinians were killed and 175,000 were imprisoned. 180 Israelis were killed including both civilian and security personnel.
PLO’s declaration of independence: In November 1988 the PLO issued a statement declaring independence and proclaiming the establishment of a State of Palestine, alongside Israel. Arafat recognized Israel’s right to exist and signaled the end of armed struggle. This led the US government to open discussions with the PLO representatives which it had hitherto refused to do.
References:
1. ‘The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine’: A history of settler-colonialism and resistance, by Rashid Khalidi
2. ‘The End of the Peace Process’ : Oslo and after, by Edward W. Said
3. ‘The Shortest History of Israel And Palestine’: From Zionism to Intifadas and the struggle for peace, by Michael Scott-Baumann
4. ‘Palestine and the Arab Israeli Conflict’: A history with documents, by Charles D. Smith
5. ‘The Truth About Camp David’: The untold story of the collapse of the peace process, by Clayton E. Swisher