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Palestinian issues

Palestinian issues. A survey. Arab Nationalis m. Arab and Zionist nationalism are both early 20 th century movements One influenced by nationalism and anti- semitism and the other by nationalism and anti Ottoman sentiments Arab Nationalism also to some extent a consequence of Zionism

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Palestinian issues

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  1. Palestinian issues A survey

  2. Arab Nationalism • Arab and Zionist nationalism are both early 20th century movements • One influenced by nationalism and anti-semitism and the other by nationalism and anti Ottoman sentiments • Arab Nationalism also to some extent a consequence of Zionism • Pan-arabism a creation of Nasser • Pan-Arabism has had shortlived successes such as the union of Egypt and Syria or the longer lasting Arab League founded in 1945 • Palestinian consciousness is a part of Arab Nationalism

  3. Arab Nationalism

  4. Palestine 1945-49 • Resistance to British and Zionists • UNSCOP and the partition of Palestine • Civil war • 1st Arab Israeli war and defeat • Palestine absorbed by Egypt, West Bank by Jordan, Negev by Israel • Palestinian refugee crisis

  5. Fate of palestinians 1948 onwards

  6. Palestinian Political Identity

  7. Rise of Ba’athism • Founded by Michael Aflaq and ConstantinZurieq • Aims to combine Socialism and Arab nationalism • A secular pan Arab movement • By 1950’s a more hostile Arab nationalism emerges • Anti Jewish and anti West • Socialist in name but not really Marxist in aim • Used by Nasser to develop Pan Arabism: ‘Social freedom is the only door to political freedom’ • 3 principles of Arab nationalism: Socialism, Union and Freedom

  8. The creation of the PLO • Acc to Kirsten Schulze, the war of 1956 demonstrated yet again that the focus of the Arab leaders was on their domestic concerns rather than any desire to liberate Palestine. • It seemed as if the Arab world had forgotten about the plight of the Palestinian refugees

  9. Palestinian view of the conflict • Growing feeling that the world was forgetting them and ignored by both the Arab governments and the world. • The Fatah was formed in 1958 -1959 ( the term when the arab initials are reversed means the movement for the liberation of Palestine) HarakaTahrirFilastin • Formed by three men all of whom had fled to Gaza at the creation of Israel and then moved to Cairo in the 1950’s where they dominated the Palestinian Students League at Cairo Uni. • All left Cairo following the Suez crisis and settled in Kuwait and published a journal called Our Palestine ( Filastinuna) • Yasser Arafat • SalahKhalaf • KhalilWazir • Yasser Arafat was a minor branch of the Husseini clan on his mother’s side

  10. Significance of the formation of the Fatah According to T.G.Fraser ‘The Arab Israeli conflict’ the formation of the Fatah signalled • the revival of Palestinian awareness. It had taken about 10 years to evolve • Indicated a growing Arab hostility to Palestinian issue. The movements for Palestinian causes incurred the hostility of Arab intelligence services

  11. Aims of the Fatah • Liberation of Palestine had to precede Arab unity • Militancy and military action were precludes to politics • In a sense this was the thinking of the time..Algerian Revolt under Franz Fanon was one such example

  12. Fatah Ideology • While initially it was a more militant movement, later writing reveal that the groups philosphy of action changed according to the circumstances. • By mid 1965 when the Fatah m.o changed and it attacked Israeli installations , it argued that tensions with Israel would promote Arab unity to confront Israel which would result in an Arab victory and the liberation of Palestine from Israeli control. • It assumed Arab military superiority over Israel in conventional weapons. War seemed desirable sooner rather than later.

  13. Arab National Movement • Several factions merged later, under the rubric of the Arab National Movement ( ANM) led by George Habash. Formed the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Eventually a rival of the Fatah • Within this framework the liberation of Palestine would occur only after Arab unity had been achieved

  14. Israel’s Actions • By 1963, Israel had reached a critical stage in its plans for a National Carrier which would channel the waters of the River Jordan to the Negev • Arab reaction was angry as this would provide more water resources and help Israel to absorb its immigrants • The Arab world saw this as water theft since the source of the River Jordan lay in Jordan and not in Israel • Of all the Arab powers, Nasser was the only one who knew that the Arab world was not in a position to fight Israel.

  15. Arab Summit Cairo 1964 • Nasser convened the Arab summit in Jan. 1964 with the intention of creating a political organization for the Palestinians • The proposed organization was to be very much under the control of Nasser • PLO set up in May 1964 with a Nasser crony called Ahmed Shuqairy as its head. • PLO=Palestine Liberation Organization

  16. Kirsten Schulze • In her book Kirsten Schulze says: In an attempt to control the Palestinian Fedayeen and to prevent their actions from completely desatabilisng the region, Nasser established the PLO…. The new organization provided Nasser with leadership credentials in his regional rivalry with Iraq and Syria ( both had pro-Communist Baathist regimes). Thus it is not surprising that the PLO soon became an object of an inter Arab struggle for influence between Egypt, Syria and Iraq as well as an Arab-Palestinian struggle for control.

  17. The role of the PLO • The Charter of the PLO had the usual goal: the partition of Palestine was illegal as was the creation of Israel. • Acc to Schulze it was a political manifesto and a Constitution at the same time, laying claim to Palestine as a future state and designating armed struggle as the means to this end. • The PLO was never designed to be an effective voice of the Palestinians, it was to be a safety valve • It was to bolster Nasser’s faltering image as a pan-Arab leader • Shuqairy failed to be an effective leader but his virulent anti- Israel rhetoric provided Israel anti Arab propagandists much material

  18. Set up of the PLO • Main body of the PLO was the PNC or the Palestinian National Council • AT first PLO had a 100 members • AS PLO grew more popular had up to as many as 600 members • Real power was in the hands of a small committee headed by Shuqairy.

  19. Arafat 1964 Arafat 1995

  20. Arafat • The Fatah and the PLO were at odds, they regarded Shuqairy with contempt • The new Palestine Liberation Army ( PLA) a part of the PLO was causing the Fatah alarm as they were aggressively recruited from the Fatah • Arafat determined to provoke war in a bid to halt the bleeding of Fatah activists, while Nasser determined to prevent it. • Arafat chose to exploit the Nasser Assad( Syrian) rivalry to attain his aims

  21. Syrian Fatah Alliance • Syrian sponsorship of the Fatah was a part of the struggle for Arab leadership • Union of Syria and Egypt had collapsed in 1961. Nasser’s image had been tarnished • While Syria may not have necessarily accepted Fatah’s armed resistance nevertheless it saw the Fatah’s role as helping it in the water diversion issues with Israel. • It enlisted Fatah’s aid in reprisals against Israel. • By the end of 1965 close to 39 raids on Israel. Israe’lsreaction was maximum response, what was worrying to Israel was it was not clear who was the sponsor since the raids were carried out from Jordan while the backer was Syria. • It was this alliance between Syrian Baathists ( ruling party) and the activities of the Fatah that set the stage for the next war in this region.

  22. Significance of the Battle of Karameh 1968 • Karameh gives Arafat control of the PLO and sideline Ahmed Shukairy • ‘Armed struggle is the only way to liberate palestine’ 1968 • Arafat unable to contain actions of splinter groups such as the PFLP

  23. PFLP: Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine • Fed up that 20 years 1948-1968 had yielded no gains for Palestinians • Pointed out that Fedayeen raids had elicited little but Israeli reprisals • Hijacking and bombing of Airplanes and terror became their calling card • Israel’s response was to bomb Palestinian refugee camps but this did not receive enough media attention

  24. PLO forced out of Jordan • PLO was beginning to operate as a state within a state • Jordan was to bear the brunt of Israeli reprisals • 1970 blowing up of the BOAC plane in Jordan( Dawson Field) was the catalyst for reprisals • War between PLO and Jordanian armed forces in September 1970 • Worst fighting in10 days…PLO referred to it as ‘Black September’ • PLO driven out in to Syria and Lebanon. Jordanian PM was assassinated

  25. Emergence of Black September • Splinter group responsible for assassination of Jordanian PM and massacre of 11 Israeli athletes

  26. Quotes: • George Habash: ‘when we hijack a plane, it had more effect than if we kill 100 Israelis in battle

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