The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict is quickly approaching its one-hundredth year. It is a conflict of both regional and international importance involving Israel, the Palestinians, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, the United States, the nations of the Arabian Peninsula, and the European Union. Since Israel’s independence in 1948, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has involved Israel’s Arab neighbors on six separate occasions: the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the 1956 Suez Crisis, the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War, and 2006 Lebanon War. There have been additional conflicts directly between Israelis and Palestinians including the First Intifada (1987-1991), the Second Intifada (2000-2005), and escalations in Gaza in 2008, 2012, and 2014.
Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) believes working towards a just and lasting solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict would not only serve the cause of peace and justice in the Holy Land but also promote peace in the broader Middle East region in general.
For Israelis, a peace agreement must include the following components: recognition of the right to exist from the broader Arab world, agreement on strategically defensible borders for Israel, the reestablishment of a vibrant Jewish community in the Old City of Jerusalem, and an end to the threats of suicide bombings and rocket attacks. For Palestinians, a negotiated settlement must address the status of displaced refugees, ensure access to Christian and Muslim Holy Sites in Jerusalem, bring about the evacuation of Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, provide for the dismantling of the separation barrier, and create a fully sovereign Palestinian state.
To address all of these concerns, CMEP pursues a just and durable resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis in which Israelis and Palestinians realize the vision of a just peace, which illuminates human dignity and cultivates thriving relationships. CMEP would support a negotiated two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that includes an end to the violence, security for all peoples, an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, the establishment of a viable and contiguous Palestinian state, and an agreement on Jerusalem that allows the city to be shared by the two peoples and three faiths. CMEP believes that working towards a just and lasting solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict would also promote peace in the broader Middle East by resolving grievances of those who exploit this conflict to serve their own ideological motives (see CMEP policy guidelines).
CMEP Curriculum for Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: The Search for Peace and Justice in the Holy Land is a curriculum designed to be taught in a small-group setting over a period of five weeks with one 90-120 minute session each week, based on discussion time. It can also be taught in one hour sessions over the course of ten weeks with one week sharing content and the second week of each session being reserved for discussion. Learn More
Competing Narratives: Carefully chosen language is vital when discussing the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. Even the simplest of terms often betrays a political stance. The following guide explains the differences in the nuanced terminology used by Palestinians and Israelis to describe the conflict. Read More
Israel: Comprising 78 percent of the historic Palestine, Israel became independent in 1948. Since then, Israel has been at war six times with its neighbors and has had many additional conflicts directly with Palestinians within the occupied Palestinian territories of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza.
West Bank: The territory lying between the 1948 Cease Fire Line (Green Line) and the Jordan River has a population of about 3 million, including 600,000 Israeli settlers, as of 2015. The division of the West Bank into Israeli and Palestinian zones of administration (Zones A, B, C), the construction of the separation barrier, and expansion of Israeli settlements are some of the challenges facing the Palestinian population there. Read More
Gaza Strip: During the 2014 Gaza War, the main power plant is Gaza was damaged severely. Since then, the infrastructure crisis has grown exponentially. Currently, in late 2018, Gazans typically only have electricity for 3-4 hours per day, leaving them in darkness for about 21 hours. Read More
Jerusalem: Sacred to Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike, the status of Jerusalem must be resolved in a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, assuring access to the Holy Sites for all three Abrahamic faith traditions. Read More
Settlements and Displacement: The existence and continuing expansion of illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian lands increasingly dims the hopes and realistic prospects for a two-state solution and is a major threat to peace. Read More
Separation Barrier: In 2003, Israel announced the construction of a barrier to enclose the West Bank. Israelis refer to the barrier as the Security Fence while to Palestinians it is known as the Apartheid Wall. Only 15 percent of the separation barrier follows the 1948 Green Line. The remainder cuts into the West Bank, incorporating Israeli settlements, separating villages from their adjoining lands, and obstructing the local Palestinian economy. The barrier has been deemed illegal according to international law. Read More
Child Detention: Every year between 500 and 700 Palestinian children are tried in the West Bank under Israeli military law. Ensuring that minors receive treatment in accordance with the needs of their age within criminal justice systems is a widely accepted principle of international law. Read More
Fifty Years Too Long: CMEP issued a statement around the 50th Anniversary of the occupation which stated: “This June 2017 marks 50 years since the beginning of Israel’s military occupation of Palestinian lands, an occupation that harms both peoples…During this 50th year, we acknowledge that while peace is the only way forward, many do not believe peace is possible. Ongoing settlement expansion combined with violence and incitement by both Palestinians and Israelis have resulted in fear and mistrust.” Read More
Israel-Palestine International Criminal Court Timeline [Just Security, 2017] A timeline of the proceedings of the International Criminal Court on issues pertaining to the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. Read More
The Matrix of Control [ICAHD] A detailed discussion between the ideas of sovereignty versus autonomy. A look at the Taba negotiations in 2001 would not have dismantled the Matrix of Control. It gave Palestinians land but not sovereignty. Read More
Reality Check: Almost Fifty Years of Occupation [B’Tselem, 2017]
“A year from now, Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip will mark its fiftieth anniversary. A third, even fourth, generation of Palestinians and Israelis have been born into this reality, and it is the only one they know.” Read More
Carefully chosen language is vital when discussing the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. Even the simplest of terms often betrays a political stance. The following guide explains the differences in the nuanced terminology used by Palestinians and Israelis to describe the conflict. It is critical that as we speak about the conflict, we don’t accidentally use language that disguises the injustices at the heart of the conflict. At the same time, we also need to understand the language of those who disagree with us, so that we can better engage them in productive dialogue on the issues.
In the Balfour Declaration of 1917, Great Britain promised to set aside Palestine as a national homeland for the Jewish people on the condition that this decision would no way negate rights of the indigenous population. During the 1930s, communal violence erupted between the Jewish immigrants and the local Arabs as immigration from Europe increased. The British attempted to solve the crisis by imposing quotas on Jewish immigration. The Jews of Palestine felt betrayed and began armed resistance movements against the British for their independence.
The War of Independence
For these Jewish resistance groups, the United Nations’ decision in 1947 to partition British Palestine into two states – one Arab and one Jewish – was a cause for celebration. The Jewish community would gain 55 percent of historic Palestine. The Arab community rejected the compromise and declared war, believing the entirety of Palestine was rightfully theirs. In Israel, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War is known as the War of Independence. The 1948 War displaced at least 750,000 Palestinian refugees into neighboring Arab countries. In the decades to come hundreds of thousands of Jews would immigrate to Israel from neighboring Arab states. Many Israelis view the Palestinian refugee problem as a regrettable consequence of the Arabs’ decision to go to war. To them, Israel’s victory is one of the most momentous events in Jewish history–the first time that they truly had a home safe from persecution where they were free to be Jewish. From their perspective, the tragedy of the Palestinians was the result of Arab leaders’ unwillingness to compromise and the fault of neighboring Arab countries for not assimilating the Palestinian refugees into their societies.
The Nakba
While a small indigenous community of Jews persisted in Palestine over the centuries and assimilated the language and culture of their Muslim and Christian neighbors, non-Jewish communities in Palestine also have a history at least 2000 years old. As Jews from Europe immigrated and bought Palestinian farmland, they displaced the local Arab tenant farmers. Rising unemployment accompanied by increased immigration created tensions between the Jewish immigrants and Palestine’s indigenous community, which became an all out war in 1936. Palestinians note that at the time the international community, including the United States, classified the Jewish resistance groups that fought the British in the 1940s as terrorist organizations.
When the British turned the problem over to the UN, they resolved to partition Palestine. The 1947 Partition Plan would have taken over half of their land and given it the Jewish community that at the time comprised only 33 percent of the population. No Arab leader considered the partition to be a fair compromise. They viewed the partition as an act of European imperialism that necessitated war. During the 1948 war, Palestinians maintain that Jewish forces followed a deliberate strategy of clearing the land of its native population. Palestinians refer to the 1948 War as the Nakba–the Catastrophe. The Nakba is the defining historical event for Palestinians.
The Six Day War
The 1967 Arab-Israeli War is known in Israel as the Six Day War. Many Israelis believe that the war began as a preemptive move against Egyptian and Arab aggression. Israel’s quick deployment soon crushed the superior numbers of the combined forces of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. In the process, Israel gained control over the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Golan Heights. A victory of this scale was seen by many Jews and Christians as a biblical miracle in the 20th century. The capture of Jerusalem brought about a resurgence in messianic thinking and major revival in Jewish religiosity. It was the first time since the Jewish-Roman War in AD 70, that the Jewish people held political control over Jerusalem and had unrestricted access to pray at the Western Wall below the Temple Mount. Since 1967 secularism has been on the wane in Israel as more and more devout Jews have begun to call Israel home.
The Naksa
For the Palestinians, 1967 War is the Naksa–the Setback. In their view, the war began when Israel initiated hostilities against Egypt. Once again, the Israelis had a technological advantage over the combined Arab militaries and were able to achieve a quick, stunning victory. Egypt lost the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip, Jordan lost the West Bank, and Syria lost the Golan Heights. When Israel took control over the West Bank and Gaza Strip, another wave of Palestinian refugees fled into neighboring Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. For those Palestinians who did not flee their homes,1967 marks the end of living under Jordanian and Egypt rule and the beginning of the Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza. The Arab defeat was just as significant as the 1948 war.
After defeating Egypt, Syria, and Jordan in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Israeli forces occupied the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Golan Heights. Soon afterward, groups of Israelis began settling in these lands and building permanent communities. According to international law, an occupying country cannot resettle its population into occupied territory, making these settlements illegal. Israel denies that the territories are occupied, citing treaties with Egypt and Jordan that renounced their claims on the lands. As a result, Israel treats settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank as regular communities that are a part of the State of Israel. However, the vast majority of the international community outside of Israel maintains that since these lands were designated by the United Nations to become an independent Palestinian state, they still remain occupied territory.
The territory lying between the 1948 Cease Fire Line (Green Line) and the Jordan River has a population of about three million in 2015, including 600,000 Israeli settlers. Palestinians call this territory the “West Bank,” in reference to the land’s position west of the Jordan River. Many Israelis call it “Judea and Samaria,” after the biblical names for these areas 3000 years ago. East Jerusalem and the West Bank are home to many historic sites associated with the Hebrew Patriarchs and ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The Palestinians, who claim descent from the non-Jewish population present in Judea since Roman times and the later Arab immigrants, have called the area home for at least 2000 years.
Located within the Old City of Jerusalem and sacred to Jews and Muslims alike, this holy site is contested between Israelis and Palestinians. For Jews, who refer to the site as the Temple Mount, there is no holier place. The ancient Temple of Solomon is said to have stood here 3000 years ago, and subsequently a second temple begun under Nehemiah and enlarged by Herod the Great in the 1st century BC once stood on this site. Today the Western Wall at the base of the mount is the last remnant of Herod’s temple and the focus of Jewish worship. For Muslims, who refer to the site as the Noble Sanctuary (or Haram ash-Sharif), this was the place where the angel Gabriel took the Prophet Muhammad during his Night Journey in which he ascended to heaven. Today, al-Aqsa Mosque stands on the southern end of the mount while the iconic gold-covered Dome of the Rock crowns the northern end.
In 2003, Israel began constructing a barrier between Israeli-populated areas in the West Bank and predominantly Palestinian areas. In urban areas, the barrier consists of a 26 foot-high concrete wall punctuated by guard towers. Across the countryside, it consists of a high-tech fence system equipped with motion sensors. The barrier does not follow the pre-1967 borders of Israel, but is instead built around the perimeter of the major West Bank settlement blocs. By some estimates 85 percent is built on formerly Palestinian land. Many Israelis call it “The Security Fence,” arguing that its construction put an end to the wave of suicide bombings that were a major security concern during the Second Intifada. Some Palestinians call it the “Apartheid Wall,” noting that it keeps Palestinians effectively confined and isolated from Israelis as well as separating many villages from their traditional farmland. Palestinians also note the difficulties it creates for workers employed in Israel who have to pass through checkpoints every morning and evening, a process which can take hours.
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