1. Modern History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict

3. Origins of Conflict
Land controlled by the Ottoman empire through WWI
Majority Arab Muslim population
New ideology: Rise of Zionism
Create a Jewish state and end the diaspora
European Jews organize efforts to create a homeland.
By the early 1900s 25,000 have settled in Palestine.
Thoedor Herzl

4. WWI
During WWI the British promise Jews, Muslims, and the French different ideas about the future of Palestine
A Jewish state – idea from the Balfour Declaration
An Arab state independent from the Ottomans
A French-British colony – idea of the Sykes-Picot Agreement

5. Sykes-Picot Agreement
Two Potential Options
Balfour Declaration
1917
Proposed
Sykes-Picot Agreement
Dear Lord Rothschild,
…On behalf of His Majesty’s Government,
the following declaration of sympathy with
Jewish Zionist aspirations...
“His Majesty’s Government view with
favour the establishment in Palestine of a
national home for the Jewish people…it
being clearly understood that nothing shall
be done with may prejudice the civil and
religious rights of existing non-Jewish
communities in Palestine, or the rights
and the political status enjoyed by Jews in
any other country.”
Arthur James Balfour

6. The Interwar Years
League of Nations grants GB a charter in 1920 to govern areas around Palestine.
British Mandate of Palestine
Quotas restrict flow of Jews to region
Slow Jewish migration continues through the interwar years

7. During the interwar years GB and the US limited Jewish Migration. Why?
WWII and the Shoah
During the interwar years GB and the US limited Jewish Migration. Why?
During WWII the British forbid the migration of European Jews into Palestine. Why?
After the Holocaust there is widespread, international support for the creation of a Jewish state

8. United Nation Partition Plan - 1947
After WWII the UN attempted to solve the issue of the Jewish/Arab state with the 1947 Partition Plan
This agreement split the territory into two separate states
Jewish state: Israel
David Ben Gurion = First PM
Arab state: Palestine

9. Arab-Israeli Conflicts
1948 – Israel declares independence and is invaded. Defeats Arab invaders and Palestine. No two state solution
1956 – Sinai Peninsula Conflict. Egypt and General Nasser nationalize Suez Canal and close Straight of Tiran. Israel, GB and FR invade. Minimal land exchanged
1967 – Six Day War. Egypt militarizes Sinai Peninsula. Israel launch preemptive attack and captures the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Golan Heights
1973 – Yom Kippur War. Arab nations invade and are pushed back

12. ██ Have been in war with Israel
Use the information provided to examine the following political cartoons and maps
██ Gaza and West Bank
██ Israel
██ Arab Nations
██ Have been in war with Israel
Why would the Israeli’s have attacked first in the 1967 conflict?

13. Internal Movements
1964 – Creation of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)
Led by Yasir Arafat.
Goal to destroy Israel and return land to Palestinian Arabs

14. Internal Movements 1987 and 2000 – First and Second Intifada.
“Shaking Off” or “Uprising”
Civilian movement of civil disobedience, strikes, and boycotts

15. Peace Accords
1979 – Camp David Peace Accord signed between Egyptian (Sadt) and Israel (Begin)
1993 – Oslo Accord between Israel (Rabin) and the PLO (Abbas)
Still no two-state solution

16. Contemporary Cartoons

18. No successful two-state solution to this day…

19. Maintaining peace in the future?
Build A Solution
Create your own solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict
Topics to address:
Borders?
Government?
Reparations?
Jerusalem?
Maintaining peace in the future?