The Policies Of The Palestine Liberation Organisation
Before 1964, most Palestinians hoped that Arab states nearby would
destroy the state of Israel. Inspired by Nasser in Egypt, they
expected him to lead an Arab army in a campaign to successfully
destroy Israeli power. However, time passed, and little progress was
made, leading to many Palestinians becoming disillusioned with the
help they received from the Arab states that they were relying on.
Instead, they began to set up their own organisations, to defend
Palestinian rights, and to fight against the state of Israel. One of
the first of these was called ‘Fatah’. Set up in 1959 by Palestinian
exiles in Kuwait, its leader was a young Yasser Arafat, an engineer at
the time. Fatah developed into an active fighting force in the
1960’s.
In 1964, the Arab governments set up the PLO, an organisation to
represent the Palestinian people. It was controlled by Arab states,
Nasser in Egypt in particular. Yet defeat in the 6-day war in 1967 saw
change, with Israel gaining a lot of land, such as Golan Heights, and
so it was a great turning point for the Palestinians. After this
defeat it became much more important.
These events led to the Palestinians rethinking their relationships
with the wider Arab world. Fatah fighters alone resisted an attack at
Karama in Jordan by Israelis, encouraging more recruits, and the Fatah
soon became dominant in the PLO. The PLO was no longer an
organisation for Arab states, it was a voice for Palestinians
themselves.
The main, and most important policy of the PLO, in 1964, was its
straightforward attitude to Israel – it had no right to e...
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...ideas of the UN, and that the agreement to accepting
resolution 242 was very muddled. And despite agreeing to accept
Israel as a state, arguments continued, and many still continued to
reject Israel. Maybe this agreement was the first steps by Arafat to
destroying Israel as many Israelis suggested.
Therefore it is clear that there is both continuity, and change in the
policies of the PLO. Change is evident between 1964 and 1988, with a
revision of them in 1968 when the PLO became the voice for all
Palestinians, but by 1993, the changes of 1988, and agreeing to the UN
and US terms, seem to be overlooked by the PLO in some cases,
suggesting that the PLO was still on course to try and destroy Israel,
and the policies were very much the same as they were back in 1964,
when they were first laid out by the organisation.
The ideas of David, Reuven and other reform Jews sparked new interest in the notion of a Hebrew state in Palestine. Zionism was an idea with a long history, but it starts to involve the characters of The Chosen and picks up intensity after the Holocaust.
Bob Hawke once said; “Unless and until something concrete is done about addressing the Israeli-Palestinian issue you won't get a real start on the war against terrorism.” Perhaps Hawke put into a few simple words one of the most complicated issues within our world today, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As Israel continues to strip the Palestinians of their land and fears it’s very existence because of the Palestinians terrorist acts, there seems to be no solution in sight. The world appears to be split and all over the place when it comes to this matter. According to The Middle East Institute for Understanding approximately 129 countries recognize Palestine as a state while many others do not. Over all the political matters within this issue not only affect Palestine and Israel but the world as a whole, as the Middle East and the West seem to disagree. This has had and will continue to have an enormous impact on many political affairs all over the world particularly in the current fight against terrorism. Personally I feel that the Israeli Palestinian conflict while being a very complicated matter has a simple solution. Within this issue I am a firm believer that the occupation of the West Bank by Israeli forces is extremely unjust and must come to an end. Once this is achieved a two state solution will be the most effective way to bring peace to the area. The occupation of the West Bank violates political and legal rights, human rights, and illegally forces Palestinians who have lived in the area for hundreds of years from their land. This conflict is at the height of its importance and a solution is of dire need as nuclear issues arise in the Middle East due to the tension between Israel and it’s surrounding neighbors, and the...
This marked the beginning of the Palestine armed conflict, one of its kinds to be witnessed in centuries since the fall of the Ottoman Empire and World War 1. Characterized by a chronology of endless confrontations, this conflict has since affected not only the Middle East relations, but also the gl...
Zionism is a political organization that dated back in the Jewish and Judaism history; however, after 1897, Theodor Herzl is said to have redefined it the political Zionism, hence he is referred by historians as the father of political Zionism. From 1870 to 1897, the Hovevei Zion are said to have created the original 20 Jewish settlement in Palestine. Prior to the incident of the Holocaust, political Zionism main objective was to create a Jewish National Home along with a cultural center within Palestine, this was to assist in Jewish Migration; however, following the Holocaust, it changed its goals into formation of a Jewish State, with this objective being realized through the formation of Israel in 1948.
The question "Can war be justified?" plagued mankind since the first war. The Just War Theory holds that war can be just. The theory has evolved for thousands of years and modern theorists, such as Michael Walzer, author of Just and Unjust Wars, puts forth criteria for a just war, such as jus ad bellum and jus in bello. Jus ad bellum includes reasons for going to war, and jus in bello deals with the people who wage war. The criteria in jus ad bellum include; just cause, declaration by a proper authority, right intention, a reasonable chance of success, the end proportional to the means, and war as a last resort. Jus in bello includes keeping innocents outside the field of war, and limiting the amount of force used. Just War Theorists hold that all of these criteria must be followed for a war to be just. I will analyze The Just War Theories most debated arguments, self-defense, pre-emptive strikes, and the killing of innocents. In the second half of this paper, I will briefly explain Pacifism, and provide a counter argument for each Just War argument.
“There is no such thing as a Palestinian.” Stated former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir after three fourths of one million Palestinians had been made refugees, over five hundred towns and cities had been obliterated, and a new regional map was drawn. Every vestige of the Palestinian culture was to be erased. Resolution 181, adopted in 1947 by the United Nations declared the end of British rule over Palestine (the region between the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River) and it divided the area into two parts; a state for the Jewish and one for the Arab people, Palestine. While Israel was given statehood, Palestine was not. Since 1947, one of the most controversial issues in the Middle East, and of course the world, is the question of a Palestinian state. Because of what seems a simple question, there have been regional wars among Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, terrorist attacks that happen, sometimes daily, displacement of families from their homes, and growing numbers of people living in poverty. Granting Palestinian statehood would significantly reduce, or alleviate, tensions in the Middle East by defining, once and for all, the area that should be Palestine and eliminating the bloodshed and battles that has been going on for many years over this land.
Bourke, Dale Hanson. The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Tough Questions, Direct Answers. Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity, 2013. N. pag. Print.
The holocaust was the reason for about 6 million people to have lost their lives but what if you found out the much more torture and terror was created than just in 1933-1945. Almost 2 million people perished in the 3 major genocides that occurred after the holocaust.The Kurdish Genocide took the lives of almost 200,000 people by Saddam Hussein. The East Timor Genocide, when Indonesia invaded which resulted in 400,000 deaths. The Rwandan Genocide although was very short it killed about 1 million people of the Tutsi tribe. were all very saddening and horrific much like the holocaust but do you ever think where the people who decided to wipe out 100,000’s of people got the idea? Hitler brainwashed many people in WW2 but he also made the
Since the Arabs were living in Palestine when the Ottoman Empire control it. Since the Arabs defeated the Ottoman Empire with the help of from Germany, “Just short of 6 months the Palestinians were crushed, militarily and psychologically” (document 8) On the other hand, Israel grew beyond the partition lines, gained more defensible borders and they destroyed Arab homes reducing their population. The Palestinians rightly felt that the Israelis were taking over the area and were pushing out of lands promised to them in both the Balfour Declaration and the UN 1947 Partition.
Arabs from Palestine started the war in 1948, but the Jews were targets because of their
...r under one leadership. The Arab forces were more so scattered and unable to join together under a single cause, creating instability within. The most effective strategy in war that helped the Israeli forces win was the occurrence of Plan D, which pushed thousands of Arabs out of zones that Israel deemed important. By executing Plan D, the Israeli forces were able to create a sense of fear throughout the Arab population, and ultimately lead the Palestinian Arabs to flee instead of supporting and fighting with the Arab forces. From being outnumbered to not pursuing the same goal, the Arab states were doomed from the beginning. Israel’s effective means of using every opportunity to grow and remain organized led it to win the War of 1948, thus creating a greater sense of pride within the newly established state, and creating a military that could not be tarnished.
Ben-Gurion, David. “Status-Quo Agreement.” In Israel in the Middle East: Second Edition, edited by Itamar Rabinovich and Jehude Reinharz, 58-59. Waltham: Brandeis University Press, 2008.
This group was created in 1978 and continues to expand its power today. It began as a branch of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. This terrorist group has several goals ranging from creating a Islamic state to continuing the armed struggle against Israeli occupation of Palestine territories. Their acts of terrorism to date have included suicide bomb attacks against Israeli civilians to attacks on suspected Palestinian collaborators.
In 1970 the PLO commandos fought a short but bloody war with the Jordanian army after which they were expelled from that country and settled in Lebanon. Little by little, they became a state within a state, and thus contributed to the disintegration of Lebanon after 1975. The aftermath of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 was to disperse some 12,000 PLO members to Syria and other Arab countries. Those loyal to Arafat made their headquarters in Tunis, where an Israeli bombing raid in 1985 severely damaged their headquarters and other buildings. Palestine is the ancient name of a Middle Eastern country situated on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
Since its inception in 1948, Israel’s position in the international system has been precarious due to its geopolitically vulnerable position. Located in the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East, Israel is surrounded by hostile Arab neighbors begrudged by the fact that Israel’s territorial boarders were carved out of their own countries. These neighboring states have actively sought the destruction and dismemberment of the new Jewish nation since it received its statehood. In the subsequent two decades, Israel was harassed by the surrounding countries; there were numerous skirmishes, terrorist attacks, and bombardments perpetrated with the goal of provoking Israel into a conflict. Israel got the message that war was inevitable. In June, 1967