This is what was happening to Palestinians:
"Israel established a military administration to govern the Palestinian residents of the occupied West Bank and Gaza. Under this arrangement, Palestinians were denied many basic political rights and civil liberties, including freedoms of expression, the press and political association. Palestinian nationalism was criminalized as a threat to Israeli security, which meant that even displaying the Palestinian national colors was a punishable act. All aspects of Palestinian life were regulated, and often severely restricted. Even something as innocuous as the gathering of wild thyme (za‘tar), a basic element of Palestinian cuisine, was outlawed by Israeli military orders." Source
1967 was the year of the Six Day War, fertilized by an arms race between Israel and Egypt and competition in the region over water resources and freedom of navigation.
As I have mentioned in posts earlier this week, clashes between Zionist immigrants and native Palestinians had been happening a bit since the immigration of Zionists in the early 1900's. The worst clash happened during the Arab Revolt against British colonialism and Zionist immigration in 1939, in which over 5,000 Arabs died against Israeli and British forces.
The same year Britain abandoned it support for Israel in the MacDonald White Paper, and supported an independent authority for Palestine.
Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs dates intensification of terrorist attacks starting in 1952, four years after the war of Israeli Independence or to Arabs, The Catastrophe, created over 700,000 refugees.
There are now about 5 million Palestinian refugees, the largest refugee population in the world, mostly from the Wars in 1948 and 1967.
The Suez Crisis
In 1954 Britain released the Suez Canal to Egypt as part of Egypt's independence. Egypt promised to compensate owners and allow all access to the canal. In 1956 Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal and closed the canal to Israel. Egypt's actions prompted a Military response from Israel, Britian and France. Britain and France had been owners of the canal as part of their course in colonialism.
Israel was successful in capturing the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt and receded from Sinai a year later.
Pressure from Russia and the US ended the war.
It is noteworthy that this war is considered one "the single most important event in the history of African independence" because it gave hope to many Africans for resistance to British and French colonialism.
It also set the scene for The Six Days War.
The Six Day War
Egypt militarizes Sinai, and closes the Straits of Tiran to Israel.
There were a couple of issues that combined to bring Egypt, Syria and Jordon, once more, against Israel.
According to MERIP, the Soviet Union is responsible for providing false information to Syria about Israel building up forces on the Syrian border. According to this source, Syria requested assistance from Egypt, which is why Egypt starting building up forces in the Sinai Pinisula.
There was also a water issue over the Jordon river basin, which started in 1964, and came to a head in 1967 as Israel attacked Syria and Jordon's Headwater diversion plan, aimed at diverting water before it reached Israel's National Water Carrier System meant for the coastal plains and Negev Desert.
In any case, as forces built up around Israel, it made a pre-emptive strike on Egypt's air force. The pre-emptive strike proved successful and Israel 'won' the war.
Israel took the Palestinian territories previously held by the Arab states (since the 1948 wars) and the Sinai Peninsula as spoils of war (not fashionable after WWI).
The International community requires Israel to release the land and return to it's previous 1967 borders with UN Resolution 242. Israel does not comply.
Map from Wiki
Terrorism increases as Palestinians are denied land and rights
Terrorism from Palestinians increased as:
Israel took over more land;
more Palestinians became refugees with no representation or right to a home;
and Palestinian homes and land were confiscated.
Some lands have been and are given to Jewish developers and the Jewish National Fund, which stipulates land can only be bought and used by Jewish people and not Arabs- even Israeli Arabs.
The Situation as I see it so far...
There are structural causes for these conflicts.
The main structure is colonialist ideology.
1. Israel's plan for the area of Palestine has always been colonial.
2. Britain and French influences were being voluntarily and forcefully dismantled as the acceptance of colonialism waned.
The above points 1 and 2 conflict, and this is an interesting conflict that continues to this day.
Whereas colonial influences leave the Arab world, and Israel enters copying colonial patterns.
The colonial patterns Israel uses are losing popularity and authority worldwide just as Israel starts its mission.
3. Britain left Palestine with no official state in existence.
The specter of colonialism left Arab nations to occupy Palestinian territories in 1948. Israel gained statehood through the UN in 1949, but there was no ratification for a state of Palestine.
As Palestinians had no voice, and were occupied by other Arab states, Israel had no Palestinian leader to negotiate with and instead acted as a colonial power negotiating with other colonial powers- all without regard to the plight or rights of self-determination of Palestinians.
Another structure is Zionism
This is the ideology carried out by Israeli authorities which believes:
1. G-d gave the land to Jewish people, and their mission is to create a wholly Jewish state.
This ideology has driven policies to occupy and develop all the land they can as their advantage allows, which has:
Prevented Israel from conceding Jerusalem as an international (as originally envisioned) or as a shared
city (as part of a two state solution...and a sticking point for Arabs);
Encouraged war crimes by a compelling spirit to take land
2. 'Others' are less than the Jewish people.
This has led to anti-civil rights policies carried out by the state of Israel including:
Restriction of land to only Jewish people
Different gov'ts for Jewish and minority peoples
Different schools for Jewish and minority peoples
Imprisonment of millions of Palestinians whose movements are restricted inside camps
Official imprisonment of 1 in 4 Palestinian men, or over one million people imprisoned in Israeli jails.
Indiscriminate killing of Arabs in the state of Israel and the camps.
Admonition of the entire world and UN concerning human/civil rights violations
As Israel took over 'protectorship' of Palestinians, they were denied free movement, freedom of association and many other basic civil and human rights.
Refugee populations are mostly in Egypt, Syria, Jordon and Lebanon, and have spurred many more wars in the larger ME and also terrorist attacks on the Western allies.
The first case of a suicide bomber surfaced in 1993.
More on this in coming posts...
Make a great day.
-Kathryn
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