The Israel-Palestine Conflict: Prospects for a Two-State Solution Anmol Yadav, Nandini Singh & Divyasri S 1.Introduction By Anmol Yadav The Israel-Palestine conflict has been on-going for more than 100 years between Jews and Arabs over a piece of land between Jordan river and the Mediterranean Sea. Between 1882 to 1948 via the Aliyah’s movement, Jews from around the world gathered in Palestine. After World War 1, the Ottoman Empire fell, and the UK got control over Palestine which was inhabited by a Jewish minority and Arab majority. The Balfour Declaration was issued after Britain gained control with the aim of establishing a home for the Jews in Palestine. However, during that period, the Arabs were in majority in Palestine. Jews favored the idea while the Palestinians rejected it. Almost 6 million Jews lost their lives in the Holocaust which also ignited further demand of a separate Jewish state. Jews claimed Palestine to be their natural home while the Arabs too did not leave the land and claimed it with the international community supporting the Jews. In 1947, the UN voted for Palestine to be split into separate Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem becoming an international city. That plan was accepted by Jewish leaders but rejected by the Arab side and never implemented. 2. Historical Background of the Conflict By Anmol Yadav In 1948 Britain lifted its control over the area and Jews declared the creation of Israel. Although Palestinians objected, Jews did not back out which led to an armed conflict. The neighbouring Arabs also invaded and were thrashed by the Israeli troops. This made thousands of Palestinians flee their homes. This was called Al-Nakba, or the “Catastrophe”. Israel had gained maximum control over the territory after this came to an end. Jordan then went on a war with Israel and seized control over a part of the land which was called the West Bank, and Egypt occupied Gaza. Jerusalem was divided between Israel in the West, and Jordan in the East. However, no formal peace agreement was signed, each side continued to blame each other for the tension and the region saw more wars. Israeli forces captured East Jerusalem and the West Bank, various areas of Syrian Golan Heights, Gaza and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula in the year 1967.Israel still occupies the West Bank, and although it pulled out of Gaza the UN still regards that piece of land as part of occupied territory. Israel claims the whole of Jerusalem as its capital, while the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. The US is one of only a handful of countries to recognize Israel’s claim to the whole of the city. 3. TWO STATES SOLUTION The “two-state solution” refers to a proposed resolution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict that envisions the establishment of two separate and independent states, one for Israelis (Israel) and the other for Palestinians (Palestine), living side by side in peace and security. Hamas forcibly took control over the Gaza Strip in 2007. Shortly thereafter, the Israelis imposed a complete closure on Gaza’s borders. They declared Gaza to be an enemy entity. Of course, Gaza is not a state. Hamas, of course, is viewed by Israel and by much of the international community as a terrorist organization, including the United States, for their history of attacks on civilians and so forth. On June 24, the UN Secretary General António Guterres told a virtual meeting of the United Nations Security Council that the Israeli Palestinian conflict is at a “watershed moment”. The Israeli plans to annex parts of the West Bank have alarmed the Palestinians, many Israelis and the international community. Such annexation would be “a most serious violation of international law”. Under international law, annexation is forcible acquisition of territory by one state at the expense of another state. Such an act even if sanctified by Israeli law is illegal under international law and would violate the universally acknowledged principle of the “inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force”. 4. Political and Diplomatic Efforts There have been various peace Efforts like the 1978: Camp David Accords – Israel-Egypt peace treaty, 1987-1993: First Intifada – Palestinian uprising in the occupied territories and Oslo Accords – Peace negotiations between Israel and the PLO, leading to limited Palestinian self-rule.2000s saw Second Intifada of Palestinian uprising with significant violence and Israel withdrawing from the Gaza Strip but maintaining control of its borders. Hamas won Palestinian legislative elections in 2006 and took control of the Gaza Strip in a violent conflict with Fatah.2008 to 2014 saw many war uprisings continuing to the dates. 5.Major Obstacles to a Two-State Solution By Nandini Singh 5.1. Territorial disputes The first proposal for separate Jewish and Arab states in the territory was made by the British Peel Commission report in 1937. In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a partition plan for Palestine, leading to the1948 Palestine war. As a result, Israel was established on the area the UN had proposed for the Jewish state, as well as almost 60% of the area proposed for the Arab state. Israel took control of West Jerusalem, which was meant to be part of an international zone. Jordan took control of East Jerusalem and what became known as the West Bank, annexing it the following year. The territory which became the Gaza Strip was occupied by Egypt but never annexed. Since the 1967 Six-day War, both the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza Strip have been militarily occupied by Israel, becoming known as the Palestinian territories. 5.2. Security Concerns During the time of Oslo in the 1990s, a vast majority of Palestinians in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip clearly accepted Yasser Arafat and the PLO as their legitimate representatives. With Arafat’s death, the failure of the peace process until now, and the rise of Hamas, these problems have worsened. Hamas, despite and perhaps because of its role in perpetrating
