Palestinians Living in the West Bank,

Gaza Strip, and Golan Heights

Background

• Palestine divided after WWII

• Both Israelis and Palestinians claimed

• Zionists (people who favored a Jewish homeland in Palestine) began settling in Palestine

• Palestinians feared Jewish immigration would be troublesome for Palestinians

• Britain called for a partition

Causes

• UN partitioned Palestine into a Jewish and Israeli state, Jerusalem owned by neither

• Israel was formed on May 14, 1948• All Islamic countries and Palestinians

opposed partition• Jews accepted it graciously because the

partition gave them more land than needed

• Palestinian state the UN promised was never formed

Actions

• Six Arab states invaded Israel, the first of four Arab-Israel wars, ending in an Israeli victory

• Israelis depended on strong American support

• Thousands of Palestinians fled the fighting

• Three more wars broke out in 1956, 1967, and 1973

Suez Crisis -1956

• Began with Egypt’s seizure of Suez Canal in 1956

• Angered because British and French businesses were interfered with, they made an agreement with Israel

• Israelis marched on canal and defeated Egypt with support from European allies

• Pressure from rest of world forced Israel to withdraw from Egypt ending Suez Crisis

Six-Day War -1967

• Nasser and Arab allies backed by Soviet weaponry were ready to confront Israel

• Convinced Arab nations were going to attack, Israel attacked on three fronts, ending the war in six days

• War resulted in Israel occupying Jerusalem, Sinai Peninsula, Golan Heights, and the West Bank

• Palestinians either became citizens of Jordan or stateless

• The picture to the right shows how quickly Israel was able to defeat Egypt. In a matter of days they completely overran the Sinai Peninsula. This swift attack included two other fronts which led to the defeat of Egypt and their Arab allies. This defeat allowed Israel to gain a significant amount of land.

The 1973 War

• Erupted in October of 1973

• Anwar Sadat, Nasser’s successor, attacked on Yom Kippur, a Jewish holiday

• Catching Jews by surprise the attack inflicted heavy casualties and recaptured territory lost in 1967

• An unstable truce was agreed to and the war ended

Land for Peace

• In November 1977 Anwar Sadat offered peace to Israel in exchange for the recognition of Palestinian rights and lost land

• In 1979 Israel prime minister and Sadat signed the Camp David Accords

• Accords consisted of Egypt recognizing Israel as a state, and Israel agreed to return Sinai Peninsula to Egypt

Palestinian Israeli Peace?

• Palestinians living in Israel hated Israeli rule

• They turned to PLO, Palestinian Liberation Organization led by Yasir Arafat

• Violence broke out between PLO and Israelis

• In 1987 Palestinians expressed their frustrations in civil disobedience called the Intifada, or “uprising”

Complication

• The status of Israeli occupied territories remains to be an issue

• The Declaration of Principles was agreed to between Palestinians and Israelis

• Document granted Palestinians self-rule in the Gaza Strip and West Bank

• However Israeli prime minister was assassinated in 1995 and agreements fell apart

• Today a peace settlement is still not agreed upon and violence between Israelis and Palestinians continue

Works Cited

• Global History Textbook:– Patterns of Interaction

• Pages 901-905