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PULL QUOTEL: ‘The never-ending Western-driven peace process over many years targeted the two-nation paradigm as its goal. As the world can see, not much was achieved from these eternal peace negotiations. And peace does not necessarily bring forth justice. For instance, notwithstanding sporadic periods of peace between Palestine and Israel, the problem of achieving a sovereign Palestinian state and the right of self-determination remains in flux.’
THE Palestine-Israeli conflict seems like a never-ending saga. The ‘what is’ of the conflict includes several dimensions. These are: the internal political conflict in Palestine between the Hamas and Fatah, Israel’s occupation of Palestine, the proposal for a bi-national state where both Israel and Palestine become one State, and the suggestion for a two-nation state where Palestine and Israel will become two independent states. The never-ending Western-driven peace process over many years targeted the two-nation paradigm as its goal. As the world can see, not much was achieved from these eternal peace negotiations. And peace does not necessarily bring forth justice. For instance, notwithstanding sporadic periods of peace between Palestine and Israel, the problem of achieving a sovereign Palestinian state and the right of self-determination remains in flux.
The peace process did not realize its goal of a two-State solution because of Israel Government’s policies, according to the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (UN News Center, 2011); Abbas pointed to these as reasons for the failed peace process: continued construction of settlements in the West Bank; Palestinians not allowed to construct buildings in East Jerusalem; numerous military checkpoints restricting Palestinian movement; and continuing blockade of the Gaza strip.
However, ongoing Israeli settlements in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem are in violation of international law and the Roadmap (Ban Ki-moon, UN News Center, 2012). And so, the Palestinian Authority, unhappy with the prevailing political and economic conditions and the failure of the peace process, took its case of having an independent sovereign Palestinian State to the United Nations (UN).
On November 29, 2012, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) granted Palestine non-member observer State status at the UN and urged both Palestine and Israel to recommence peace talks aimed at reaching a settlement on a permanent two-State solution. This decision came on the same date as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People; this Day relates, too, to the same date in 1947 when the UNGA approved Resolution 181 dividing Palestine into two States, a Jewish State and an Arab State, with Jerusalem under international supervision.
And what seems to be even more strikingly unjust is that the partition of Palestine in 1947 provided 56% of lands to the Jewish State with 33% of the population, and 44% of lands to the Arab State with 67% of the population (Mehdawi, 2007). The Arabs in Palestine and the Arab countries rejected Resolution 181, and the Jews in Palestine supported it. Meanwhile, Palestine is now awaiting the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) decision on its 2011 application for full UN membership status.
In 1922, these lands were all Palestinian lands, as there was only one country called Palestine, as explained by Mehdawi (2007) as follows: at that time, there was 89% of Palestinian Arabs on 98% of the land, and 11% of Palestinian Jews on 0.2% of the land; the war in 1948 wiped out Palestine from the political map producing about 82% Palestinian refugees; with Israel in control of 78% of lands, leaving the Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza inhabiting a mere 22% of lands; as a result of the 1967 war, Israel made further encroachments on Palestinian and other countries’ lands through its occupation of the Golan Heights (Syria), Sinai (Egypt) (subsequently returned to Egypt), and the West Bank and Gaza, resulting in 200,000 Palestinian refugees.
However, whatever happens further at the UN and at any forthcoming peace process, Israel is here to stay as an independent State, but Palestine must also achieve status as an independent and sovereign State. Nevertheless, in any future peace negotiation as those in the recent past, there are several challenges, but which have now become even more complex.
Some of these challenges are: Israel should return Palestinian lands to its pre-1967 situation as determined by Resolution 242 of the UNSC; Palestine wants to recover its lands lost in conquest; Hamas and Fatah as Palestinian parties should be on the same page; Hamas does not recognize Israel; President Abbas of Fatah does; and uneven foreign aid by the U.S. to Israel, resulting in Israel’s military superiority over its immediate neighbours, requires rethinking.
The bottom line today is that Israel’s occupation of Palestine is losing international popularity at the United Nations and elsewhere. It is time now for Palestinians to feel and experience a Palestinian homeland.
THE Palestine-Israeli conflict seems like a never-ending saga. The ‘what is’ of the conflict includes several dimensions. These are: the internal political conflict in Palestine between the Hamas and Fatah, Israel’s occupation of Palestine, the proposal for a bi-national state where both Israel and Palestine become one State, and the suggestion for a two-nation state where Palestine and Israel will become two independent states. The never-ending Western-driven peace process over many years targeted the two-nation paradigm as its goal. As the world can see, not much was achieved from these eternal peace negotiations. And peace does not necessarily bring forth justice. For instance, notwithstanding sporadic periods of peace between Palestine and Israel, the problem of achieving a sovereign Palestinian state and the right of self-determination remains in flux.
The peace process did not realize its goal of a two-State solution because of Israel Government’s policies, according to the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (UN News Center, 2011); Abbas pointed to these as reasons for the failed peace process: continued construction of settlements in the West Bank; Palestinians not allowed to construct buildings in East Jerusalem; numerous military checkpoints restricting Palestinian movement; and continuing blockade of the Gaza strip.
However, ongoing Israeli settlements in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem are in violation of international law and the Roadmap (Ban Ki-moon, UN News Center, 2012). And so, the Palestinian Authority, unhappy with the prevailing political and economic conditions and the failure of the peace process, took its case of having an independent sovereign Palestinian State to the United Nations (UN).
On November 29, 2012, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) granted Palestine non-member observer State status at the UN and urged both Palestine and Israel to recommence peace talks aimed at reaching a settlement on a permanent two-State solution. This decision came on the same date as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People; this Day relates, too, to the same date in 1947 when the UNGA approved Resolution 181 dividing Palestine into two States, a Jewish State and an Arab State, with Jerusalem under international supervision.
And what seems to be even more strikingly unjust is that the partition of Palestine in 1947 provided 56% of lands to the Jewish State with 33% of the population, and 44% of lands to the Arab State with 67% of the population (Mehdawi, 2007). The Arabs in Palestine and the Arab countries rejected Resolution 181, and the Jews in Palestine supported it. Meanwhile, Palestine is now awaiting the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) decision on its 2011 application for full UN membership status.
In 1922, these lands were all Palestinian lands, as there was only one country called Palestine, as explained by Mehdawi (2007) as follows: at that time, there was 89% of Palestinian Arabs on 98% of the land, and 11% of Palestinian Jews on 0.2% of the land; the war in 1948 wiped out Palestine from the political map producing about 82% Palestinian refugees; with Israel in control of 78% of lands, leaving the Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza inhabiting a mere 22% of lands; as a result of the 1967 war, Israel made further encroachments on Palestinian and other countries’ lands through its occupation of the Golan Heights (Syria), Sinai (Egypt) (subsequently returned to Egypt), and the West Bank and Gaza, resulting in 200,000 Palestinian refugees.
However, whatever happens further at the UN and at any forthcoming peace process, Israel is here to stay as an independent State, but Palestine must also achieve status as an independent and sovereign State. Nevertheless, in any future peace negotiation as those in the recent past, there are several challenges, but which have now become even more complex.
Some of these challenges are: Israel should return Palestinian lands to its pre-1967 situation as determined by Resolution 242 of the UNSC; Palestine wants to recover its lands lost in conquest; Hamas and Fatah as Palestinian parties should be on the same page; Hamas does not recognize Israel; President Abbas of Fatah does; and uneven foreign aid by the U.S. to Israel, resulting in Israel’s military superiority over its immediate neighbours, requires rethinking.
The bottom line today is that Israel’s occupation of Palestine is losing international popularity at the United Nations and elsewhere. It is time now for Palestinians to feel and experience a Palestinian homeland.
