Major Players/Terms and Key Historical Events:
Hamas: officially the “Islamic Resistance Movement”, is a Sunni Islamist political and military organization governing the Gaza Strip of the Palestinian territories. It is one of two major governing Palestinian groups; The Fetah (Palestinian Authority or PLO) is the other one which reigns in the West Bank. (*Note these 2 groups have always gotten along very well including civil war between the two in 2006 & 2007 when Hamas gained complete sovereignty in the Gaza Strip).
Established in 1987 with a clear objective to establish an Islamic State encompassing the entirety of present-day Israel, Judaea and Samaria through whatever means possible which would also include the removal of the current residents who are mostly Jewish Israelis. (For a comprehensive history go here Hamas)
IDF: “Israeli Defense Forces” are represents the military for the State of Israel. Its activities are subject to the authority of the democratic civil government of Israel. Their stated purpose is to preserve the State of Israel, to protect its independence, and to foil attempts by its enemies to disrupt the normal life within it. The soldiers of the IDF are obligated to fight and devote every effort, even at the risk of their own lives, to protect the State of Israel, its citizens and residents. Soldiers of the IDF shall act according to the values of the IDF and its commands, while abiding to the law, upholding human dignity, and respecting the values of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. (For more information; IDF)
Palestinian Islamic Jihad: The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine commonly known simply as Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), is a Palestinian Islamist paramilitary organization formed in 1981. It is a member of the Alliance of Palestinian Forces, which rejects the Oslo Accords and whose objective is the establishment of a sovereign Islamic Palestinian state. The main objection of the Oslo Accords is that it officially recognizes Israel as a State and their right to exist. The PIJ calls for the military destruction of Israel and rejects a two-state solution. The organization’s financial backing has historically come mainly from Syria and Hezbollah. Since 2014, PIJ has seen its power steadily increase with the backing of funds from Iran. It is primarily positioned in the West Bank. (For more see PIJ)
Hezbollah: “Party of Allah” or “Party of God” is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group. Its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. Hezbollah was established in 1982 and adopted the model set out by Ayatollah Khomeini after the Iranian Revolution in 1979, and the party’s founders adopted “Hezbollah” as the name chosen by Khomeini. They declared war on Israel in 2006. During the Lebanese Civil War, Hezbollah’s 1985 manifesto listed its objectives as the expulsion of “the Americans, the French and their allies definitely from Lebanon, putting an end to any colonialist entity on our land“. From 1985 to 2000, Hezbollah also participated in the 1985–2000 South Lebanon conflict against the South Lebanon Army (SLA) and Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and fought again with the IDF in the 2006 Lebanon War. During the 1990s, Hezbollah also organized volunteers to fight for the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War. (For more see Hezbollah)
Zionism: is a nationalist movement that emerged in the 19th century to enable the establishment of a homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine. Following the establishment of Israel, Zionism became an ideology that supports “the development and protection of the State of Israel”. From 1897 to 1948, the primary goal of the Zionist Movement was to establish the basis for a Jewish homeland in Palestine, and thereafter to consolidate it. In a unique variation of the principle of self-determination. The first settlers in Israel were largely motivated by the Zionist ideology. (For more see Zionism)
The Oslo Accords: The Oslo Accords are a pair of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to facilitate the “right of the Palestinian people to self-determination“.
The Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993; resulted in both the recognition of Israel by the PLO and the recognition by Israel of the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people and as a partner in bilateral negotiations.
Among the notable outcomes of the Oslo Accords was the creation of the Palestinian National Authority, which was tasked with the responsibility of conducting limited Palestinian self-governance over parts of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Oslo II Accord, signed in Taba, Egypt in 1995, initiated the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The Oslo Accords envisioned the establishment of a Palestinian interim self-government in the Palestinian territories. Oslo II created the Areas A, B and C in the West Bank which still exist today. The Palestinian Authority was given some limited powers and responsibilities in the Areas A and B and a prospect of negotiations on a final settlement. (For more see Oslo Accords)
NOTE: A portion of the Palestinian population, including various Palestinian militant groups (Hamas & PIJ), staunchly opposed the Oslo Accords. It disagrees with their objectives.
NOTE: Far-right Israelis were also opposed to the Oslo Accords, and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by a right-wing Israeli extremist for signing them. He was killed by his own people.
NOTE: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was also assassinated by some far-right Egyptian citizens opposed to him signing a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. He was killed by his own people.
The British Mandate (1920-1948): was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 in the region of Palestine under the terms of the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine at the end of the First World War (1914–1918). The British and French formed a joint “Occupied Enemy Territory Administration” in what had been Ottoman Syria.
One objective of the League of Nations mandate system was to administer areas of the defunct Ottoman Empire “until such time as they are able to stand alone“.
During the Mandate, the area saw successive waves of Jewish immigration and the rise of nationalist movements in both the Jewish and Arab communities. Competing interests of the two populations led to the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine (violent acts against the Jewish people) and the 1944–1948 Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine.
In November 1947 The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was passed which would divide the territory into two states, one Arab and one Jewish. Neither side agreed to this solution, and war broke out! (1948 Arab–Israeli War)
1948 Palestine War: The State of Israel Established and the “All-Palestinian Protectorate” established in the Gaza Strip:
At midnight on 14/15 May 1948, the Mandate for Palestine expired and the State of Israel came into being. The 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight took place both before and after the end of the Mandate (thousands of Palestinians exiled from the land and become refugees seeking new homes and places to settle). Over the next few days, approximately 700 Lebanese, 1,876 Syrian, 4,000 Iraqi, and 2,800 Egyptian troops crossed over the borders into Palestine, starting the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Around 4,500 Transjordanian troops, commanded partly by 38 British officers who had resigned their commissions in the British Army only weeks earlier, entered the Corpus separatum region encompassing Jerusalem and its environs and moved into areas designated as part of the Arab state by the UN partition plan. The war, which was to last until 1949, would see Israel expand to encompass about 78% of the territory of the former British Mandate, with Transjordan seizing and subsequently annexing the West Bank and the Kingdom of Egypt seizing the Gaza Strip.
The 1948 Palestine war ended with the territory of Mandated Palestine divided among the State of Israel, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which annexed territory on the West Bank of the Jordan River, and the Kingdom of Egypt, which established the “All-Palestine Protectorate” in the Gaza Strip.
[Israel would gain control of the entire area including the Sinai Peninsula in 1967 (6-Day War) and remain the stewards until 1973 when Israel would give the Sinai back to Egypt. The Gaza Strip was also part of these discussions and negotiations. In those land negotiations Egypt would refuse to take control of the Gaza Strip and those living there. This is an interesting fact that their fellow Islamic brothers would in essence turn their back on them and leave the Gaza Strip for Israel who would then be tasked with monitoring the Gaza Strip…something they did not want to do or ask to do. They would remain in control until the Oslo Accords where Israel would partially pull out in their involvement. Israel would officially pull out of the Gaza Strip in 2005 as part of the unilateral disengagement plan].
The Balfour Declaration (1917): was a public statement issued by the British government in 1917 during the First World War announcing its support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine. This was very instrumental in Jews being allowed to inhabit Palestine.
Pogrom: is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews.
Apartheid: Apartheid was a system of institutionalized racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It is an Afrikaans word meaning “separateness”. It refers to the implementation and maintenance of a system of legalized racial segregation in which one racial group is deprived of political and civil rights. Apartheid is considered a crime against humanity.
Ethnic Cleansing: is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, and religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making a region ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal, extermination, deportation or population transfer, it also includes indirect methods aimed at forced migration by coercing the victim group to flee and preventing its return, such as murder, rape, and property destruction. It constitutes a crime against humanity and may also fall under the Genocide Convention, even as ethnic cleansing has no legal definition under international criminal law.
Hudna: A temporary cease fire (This is all Hamas has been willing to offer Israel due to their long term goals to eliminate them). At one time they offered a 10 year Hudna (with belief they can muster a resistance and wipe them off)
Islamic State: An Islamic State has a form of government based on sharia law. As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. This is the expressed desire for Hamas and other notable Islamic Groups in the areas of Palestine which includes the current lands of Israel. Examples of historical Islamic states include the state of Medina, established by the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and the Arab caliphate which continued under his successors and the Umayyads. Implementation of Islamic law plays an important role in modern theories of the Islamic state, as it did in classical Islamic political theories.
Sheria Law: Sharia is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the Hadith. Although sharia is presented as a form of government in addition to its other aspects, especially by the contemporary Islamist understanding, some researchers see the early history of Islam, which was also modelled and exalted by most Muslims; not a period when the understanding of sharia was dominant, but a kind of “secular Arabic expansion” and also includes the mandate for women to cover their head in the traditional dress.
League of Nations (1920): first worldwide organization intergovernmental organization whose principle mission was to maintain world peace at the end of WWI. The organization ceased operations in April 2046 when many components were realigned into the new United Nations.
United Nations: The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and serve as a center for harmonizing the actions of nations. It is the world’s largest international organization. The UN is headquartered in New York City (in the United States, but with certain extraterritorial privileges), and the organization has other offices in Geneva, Nairobi, Vienna, and The Hague, where the International Court of Justice is headquartered.
The UN was established after World War II with the aim of preventing future world wars, and succeeded the League of Nations, which was characterized as ineffective.
The Quartet of the Middle East A term used to describe the four major players influencing activities in the Middle East and include the US, Russia, EU, and United Nations.
The Arab League: formally the League of Arab States is a regional organization in the Arab world, which is located in North Africa, West Asia, and part of East Africa. The Arab League was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945, initially with six members: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria and now has 22 members. The League’s main goal is to “draw closer the relations between member states and co-ordinate collaboration between them, to safeguard their independence and sovereignty, and to consider in a general way the affairs and interests of the Arab countries”. The organization has received a relatively low level of cooperation throughout its history.
We have now shared key events & players which we hope will help you navigate the details of this conflict. We will now provide occasional updates on the major events occurring in the conflict.
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