• Podcast with the author…. Highly recommend as a concise and engaging summary of the conflict.

Intro

• From the very beginning, Zionist leaders simply ignored the fact that “Palestine was already inhabited by a population that would not agree to be supplanted.”
• Modern history of Palestine can be understood as typical example of colonial war waged vs indigenous population, by many parties, ti force them to relinquish homeland against their will
  • Also some characteristics specific to Zionist movement: massive support from external powers, biblical cx of Christians and Jews to the land
  • Can be understood as both colonial and national conflict, but focus here more on the former
• Zionists and supporters claimed that Palestinians just didn’t exist, eventually branded as anticolonial mvmt

The First Declaration of War, 1917–1939: The Great Revolt

• At turn of 20th c, vibrant Arab society under Ottoman rule in Palestine
  • Weakening of Ottoman Empire with WWI, high civilian cost
• 1917 Balfour Declaration: Britain supports and will facilitate est national home for Jewish people in Palestine
  • Many British motives, none of which were altruism
  • Endorsed unlimited Jewish immigration to the majority-Arab country
• WWI and resulting talk of self-determination → boosted nationalist sentiments
  • Proof of Palestinian identities emerging not just in response to Zionism, but alongside & due to many other factors
• Instability spread across region post-WWI with other colonial struggles (in Syria, etc.), but Palestine treated differently— British mandate of governance, once again, completely ignored existence and rights of Arabs
• Ascendency of Hitler in 1930s → surge in Jewish immigration, rapid economic growth → building tension and outbreaks of violence by Palestinians (who had ineffectual govt representation)
  • Another attempt at ignoring collective rights in Peel Commission (proposed partition) → 1936-39 revolt, key interwar event
  • Resulting brutal oppression by British
• Palestine had to deal with triple-bind of colonial pressure from London, nationalist Zionist movement, and external financing & support (LoN)

The Second Declaration of War, 1947–1948: the Nakba

• The Nakba (Catastrophe) → 720k Palestinians made refuges, barely 1/5 prewar Arab population allowed to remain
• Entrance of US and USSR to Middle East after WWII → US backed Zionist movement, little support from other Arab nations (colonial influences, weak govt?)
  • Also entangled with question of how to deal with Holocaust survivors
  • Lots of inter-Palestinian differences and polarization
  • Issue passed from British to the UN (and thus new superpowers); subject to influences of global scale
• Plan Dalet → several weeks of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Jaffa, Haifa, Arab parts of W Jersusalem, etc.
  • Arab nations belatedly intervened, and in vain → all those expelled became/still are refugees
• Nakba’s three main components = 1) ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, 2) theft of land and property left behind, 3) destabilization of surrounding nations by flood of refugees
• King of Jordan offered to extend citizenship and annex remaining Palestinian land, but lead to lasting conflict with nationalists, eventually assassinated; differing relations with other Arab nations
  • Difficult for Palestinians to form own resistance movements or represent themselves w/o interference from other interests
  • Pattern of armed raids in Israel leading to disproportionate massacres carried out in Gaza Strip in response; very little media coverage

The Third Declaration of War, 1967: SC 242

• Popular story in media = Israel is a tiny, vulnerable country facing constant existential threat— but military was clearly far superior, not much risk
• 1967 Israeli routing of three Arab militaries exemplified this, and new ME axis still existing today: Israeli forces on the ground, US cover diplomatically
  • Led to third declaration, UN resolution SC 242 → important result of legitimizing 1949 armistice lines, ignoring Palest refugee rights to return home
  • Also enabled conflict to be dealt with in bilateral compartments → avoid any “unified” Arab position
  • US position solidified as pro-Israel with Johnson admin, strategic adv of ally in the region bc oil → green light for preemptive Israeli strikes
• Paradoxically, defeat of Arabs in 1967 → resurrection of Palestinian nationalism and resistance
  • Still did not lose much strategic threat, but reopened existential question of Palestine, big PR effects
  • Problems for US diplomacy given context of anti colonial movements around the world— but PLO failed to capitalize
• Fundamental dilemma: “in order to be recognized, Palestinians were required to accept an international formula designed to negate their existence.”
• US involvement in regional hostilities (notably, green light to Syria in attacking PLO in 1976) as part of Cold War tensions for alignment with Egypt
• Lots of drama around official negotiations and recognition, but ultimately US aligned with most extreme position negating Palestinian rights— autonomy at most possible for people, but not at all for the land

The Fourth Declaration of War, 1982

• Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon vs PLO
  • First war since ‘48 to involve Palestinian army instead of other Arab nations
  • Indiscriminate bombings, high civilian casualties, massacres in refugee camps
  • Assasination of Lebanese president → Israeli invasion intensified
• Israelis had immense financial and military support from US, vs Palestinians who did not even have strong relations w Lebanon (oppressive PLO presence, resentment over violence)
• Enormous political impact of war
  • Rise of Hizballah in Lebanon, intensification of Lebanese civil war
  • More antipathy btw US/Israel abd surrounding Arab nations
  • Lebanese and Israeli leaders suffered humiliation, loss of office; PLO leaders assassinated as result of war, but American officials never saw consequences

The Fifth Declaration of War, 1987—1995: the Intifada

• Palestinian uprising (intifada): unintended consequences of 1982 war’s attempts to crush nationalist resistance
  • Israeli response = “iron fist” policy, literally breaking arms, legs, and skulls → very bad media image
• West Bank and Gaza Strip under oppressive occupation
• The First Intifada = grassroots movement led by young people, civil disobedience, often nonviolent, as well as demonstrations
  • Successfully achieved goal of shaping world public opinion: occupation as it had been was untenable
  • However: successful local organization → tension with political elite of PLO, who didn’t know what things were actually like in Occupied Territories
  • Creation of alt leadership groups (Hamas among them, supported by Israel to weaken PLO) → jealousy & resentment among PLO leaders trying to act as legitimate Palestinian representatives
• PLO consulted with renowned Third World anti colonial thinker Eqbal Ahmad: friend of Edward Said, worked with Frantz Fanon, worked with FLN in Algeria
  • Ahmad → use of violence vs Israel was a bad idea, given their history… advise not welcomed by PLO, who still supported armed conflict
  • (Contrasts w mostly nonviolent intifada)
• Decline of USSR → US = only remaining sponsor of any peace process, and they had previous agreements w Israel → not unbiased; diplomats/politicians involved often held strong pro-Israel stances that interferes w negotiations
  • PLO also damaged by miscalculations re: Gulf War, trying to stay neutral
  • Again, tensions btw PLO leaders and leaders from Occupied Territories (veterans of intifada) → exploited by Israelis
• Accords from Oslo negotiations = very asymmetric— Israel sort of recognized that Palestinians existed and granted them a very limited form of “self-rule” (by Palestinian Authority), while PLO recognized Israel as a state and agreed to continued occupation
  • Conditions for Palestinians in OT continued to deteriorate
  • Division of territories into A, B, and C, w differing control of security/governance

The Sixth Declaration of War, 2000–2014: the Second Intifada

• Territories and checkpoints from Oslo I → economic and cultural disaster, isolated/cut off regions from each other
  • Led to outbreak of violence in 2000
• Hamas = new rival to PLO
  • More militant— violence requires to achieve goals, frustration with failure of diplomacy
  • Second Intifada → focused on terrorist attacks in Israel, led to reoccupation of territories and erasure of positive perception of Palestine, solidified Israeli support of hardline position
  • Labelled as terrorist group, no formal recognition by US… eventually lead to absurdity of two independent groups governing the OT, neither with any actual authority
• Gaza basically under siege, an open-air prison— shortages of everything, blackouts, extreme poverty
  • Dahiya doctrine → Israel’s absolutely disproportiate military strikes against Gaza, using US weapons, vs people with no protection or escape route → immense damage to humans and property
  • Representative stat = 43:1 ratio of Palestinian:Israeli deaths
• US continuing to act as Israel’s lawyer, and even worse under Trump, backing most extreme viewpoints
• Will be critical to acknowledge colonial nature of the conflict, return to bounds of negotiations set in 1948 to make any progress, not have US be sole arbiter