The World at War

The World at War

The World at War

Middle – Est

Scope of the Conflict

Key Dates

Our Opinions

Some Pictures, because you have to know what is

happening

The End

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The World at WarThe United Nations defines "major wars" as military

conflicts inflicting 1,000 battlefield deaths per year. In 1965, there were 10 major wars under way. The new

millennium began with much of the world consumed in armed conflict or cultivating an uncertain peace. As of

mid-2005, there were eight Major Wars under way [down from 15 at the end of 2003], with as many as two dozen

"lesser" conflicts ongoing with worrying degrees of intensity.

Most of these are civil or "intrastate" wars, fueled as much by racial, ethnic, or religious animosities as by

ideological fervor. Most victims are civilians, a feature that distinguishes modern conflicts. During World War I, civilians made up fewer than 5 percent of all casualties. Today, 75 percent or more of those killed or wounded in

wars are non-combatants.

"Perpetual peace is no empty idea, but a practical thing which, through its gradual solution, is coming always nearer its final realization..." IMMANUEL KANT

Let’s examine Middle-East situation

The Arab-Israeli conflict nearly 80 years of political

tensions and open hostilities. It involves the establishment of the modern State of Israel as a Jewish

nation state, as well as the establishment and independence of several Muslim Arab countries at the same

time, and the relationship between

the Muslim Arab nations and the state

of Israel.

Scope of the conflict Despite involving a relatively

small land area and number of casualties, the conflict has been

the focus of worldwide media and diplomatic attention for

decades, primarily due to the huge petroleum reserves found

in the area. Many countries, individuals and non-

governmental organizations elsewhere in the world feel involved in this conflict for

reasons such as cultural and religious ties with Islam, Arab culture, Christianity, Judaism

orJewish culture, or for ideological, human rights,

strategic or financial reasons.

Because Israel is a democracy with a free press, the media has access to the conflict which also increases media coverage. Some

consider the Arab-Israeli conflict a part of (or a precursor to) a wider clash of civilizations between the Western World and

the Arab or Muslim world. Others claim that the religion dimension is a relatively-new matter in this conflict. This

conflict has engendered animosities igniting numerous

attacks on and by supporters (or perceived supporters) of

opposing sides in countries throughout the world.

Some uses of the term Middle East conflict refer to this matter;

however, the region has been host to other conflicts not

involving Israel. Since 1979, the conflict involves

the Islamic Republic of Iran (a non-Arab state, not highlighted

on the map) as well.

Key DatesFrom 1881 to 1897

From 1915 to 1917

From 1922 t0 1947

From 1947 to 1948

From 1948 to 1964

From 1967 to 1970

From 1973 al 1977

From 1978 to 1985

From 1987 to 1992

1993

1994

1995

From 1996 to 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

20042005

1881+ Economic and political instability and pogroms shake Eastern Europe. Some Jews go to Palestine but 2.5 million move west, 2.0 million to the US by World War I.

1894-1906 Dreyfus Affair in France exposes deep anti-Semitism. Trial is covered by Viennese journalist Theodor Herzl.

1896 Herzl writes The Jewish State. "The idea which I have developed in this pamphlet is a very old one: it is the restoration of the Jewish state." Herzl is considered the Father of Zionism, a political movement to create a Jewish state.

1897 First Zionist Congress (Switzerland) declared Palestine the Jewish Homeland. Participants developed a structure of government which could be transferred to Palestine at some future time, including the World Zionist Organization to link all Jews together, the Jewish National Fund to acquire land, a committee to manage finances, a political committee to govern the land.

1915-16 Hussein-McMahon correspondence. Britain promises to create an Arab kingdom in exchange for war support.

1916 Sykes-Picot Accords. Secret British-French agreement to divide the postwar Middle East between them.

1917 Balfour Declaration. In exchange for war support, Britain promises Jews a "national home" in Palestine (without prejudice to the "civil and religious rights" of the non-Jewish population).

1922-28 Britain ruled Palestine, Jordan, and Iraq under League of Nations Mandates. France controlled Syria and Lebanon.

1936-39 Palestinian nationalist uprising against Britain. Britain proposes partition of Palestine and expulsion of 250,000 Palestinians.

1939-45 World War II. Holocaust kills nearly six million Jews. Many survivors look to Palestine for refuge.

1944-47 Jewish-British War. Jewish groups in Palestine try to expel Britain. Mainstream Jewish fighters under David Ben Gurion are called Hagana. They later become the Israeli army. Two separate military groups (Irgun Zvai Leumi led by Menachem Begin and Lehi or the Stern Gang led by Yitzhak Shamir) resort to assassination and bombings. Many British soldiers and Arab civilians are killed.

1947 Britain decides it cannot bring peace to Palestine and turns the matter over to the UN. In Resolution 181

the UN votes to partition Palestine into Jewish and Palestinian states with an international enclave around Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Arab leaders reject the plan

and insist on a united Palestine with a secular government. Fighting begins between Jews and

Palestinians. Many Palestinians become refugees.

1948 With Britain out, Jews proclaim a Jewish state. Local Palestinians and army units from Egypt, Jordan,

Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon engage in an escalating war to prevent the partition of Palestine, the creation of a

Jewish state, and Israeli expansion into the proposed Palestinian area. Israeli units defeat the combined Arab armies. What the UN had designated as the Arab state is

split into three parts: some is taken by Israel and incorporated into their new state; the tiny Gaza Strip is

held by Egypt and governed by them; the largest remaining component - generally called the West Bank of

the Jordan River - is held by Jordan. The UN had proposed that Jerusalem and other holy places become

an internationally-governed entity. In the fighting, Jerusalem was divided into Israeli west and Jordanian east. The 1948 defeat was a major humiliation for the Arab world. Within a few years, the governments of

Egypt and Syria are swept away in military coups and the king of Jordan is assassinated.

1948-50 Of 1,200,000 Palestinians in the Mandate, 725,000 or more are driven out of their homeland or flee the fighting that accompanied the creation of a Jewish state. Only l60,000 remain in Israel itself. The Israeli government allows only a very few to return after the war is over. By 1950, over one million live in UN-supported refugee camps in Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan. The camps become centers of political militancy.

1956 Suez War. Britain, France, and Israel attack Egypt. Israel seizes Egypt's Sinai peninsula. US and USSR demand Israeli, French, and British withdrawal. Egypt (and Sinai) are freed.

1964 Palestinians form Fatah under Yasser Arafat; the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) is formed in 1967 by George Habash. Jordan becomes the main base for guerrilla actions.

1967 June War (Six-Day War). Israel crushes Egypt, Jordan, Syria; Israel captures the Sinai peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt, the Golan province from Syria, West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan. Approximately 250,000 more Palestinian refugees flee, or are forced, into Jordan. More Palestinians are now under Israeli rule.

1969 Yasser Arafat becomes head of the PLO. It becomes an organization aspiring to unite and speak for all Palestinians. It is controlled by Palestinians in exile.

1970 In September, militant Palestinians try to overthrow King Hussein with Syrian help. US and Israel mobilize to help Jordan if necessary. More than 3,000 Palestinians are killed.

1970-76 Palestinians form "Black September" to carry out revenge assassinations and hijackings. Israelis form "Wrath of God" to assassinate Palestinian leaders. Much loodshed follows.

1973 October or Ramadan or Yom Kippur War. Egypt and Syria attempt to regain lost territories. They push Israel back in the Sinai peninsula and initially in the Golan province. A massive airlift of US arms to Israel tips the balance. Arab oil states proclaim a boycott against all countries helping Israel. 1974 Yasser Arafat speaks to UN. In a major shift in PLO policy, he calls for a united Palestine with a democratic secular government "where Christian, Jew, and Muslim live in justice, equality and fraternity" (including all Jews who live there). "I come to you with an olive branch and a freedom fighter's gun; do not let the olive branch fall from my hand." 1975 Lebanese civil war begins. By the end of the 1980s, 144,000 Lebanese have died, most in subsequent invasions. 1977 Menachem Begin becomes prime minister of Israel. His Likud party traditionally advocated a "Greater Israel" including the West Bank and Gaza and perhaps Jordan with unlimited settlement of Jews in Arab-populated areas under Israeli occupation. Sadat of Egypt goes to Jerusalem to open talks.

1978 Egypt and Israel sign the Camp David Accords. Israel invades Lebanon and seizes a 'security zone" up to the Litani River. It sets up the puppet government of the Southern Lebanese Army.

1982 Israel invades Lebanon and occupies much of the countries up to Beirut, which is subjected to prolonged siege. The US brokers a withdrawal of PLO fighters and Arafat's staff to Tunis. After the massacre of unarmed Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps, US troops return as part of a peace-keeping force but soon begin to favor some Lebanese groups and attack others. Lebanese resistance groups in the Shiite community attacks Israel, US and Western forces and organizations.

1984 US troops leave Lebanon after a bomb kills 24 Marines. 1985 Hussein-Arafat Accords and UN speech by Israeli Foreign Minister Peres endorse an international conference to negotiate a settlement.

1987 The Palestinian Intifada against Israeli control begins in the Occupied Territories .

1988 Jordan repudiates its claim to the West Bank; Abu Jihad (PLO's Number 2 leader) is assassinated by an Israeli hit team; the PLO recognizes Israel, proclaims a Palestinian state, renounces terrorism, and calls for negotiations; as a result of the Israeli election Yitzhak Shamir returns as prime minister.

1991 Gulf War. Abu Iyad (the new Number 2 man in PLO) is assassinated, probably by Iraq. Negotiations open in Madrid under US and Russian auspices. Israelis, Palestinians, Jordanians, Syrians, and Lebanese participate. The talks have two parts: bilateral talks between Israel and Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and the Palestinians and multilateral talks on five functional issues: water, refugees, environment, economic development, and security.

1992 Yitzhak Rabin becomes prime minister of Israel.

1993 -The Oslo Peace Process

The election of the left-wing Labour government in June 1992, led by Rabin, triggered a period of frenetic Israeli-

Arab peacemaking in the mid-1990s. The government - including Rabin and doves Peres and

Beilin - was uniquely placed to talk seriously about peace with the Palestinians.

The PLO, meanwhile, wanted to make peace talks work because of the weakness of its position due to the Gulf

War. Israel immediately lifted a ban on PLO participants in the bilateral meetings in Washington. With the Washington bilateral talks going nowhere, the secret "Oslo track" - opened on 20 January 1993 in the Norwegian town of

Sarpsborg - made unprecedented progress.The Palestinians consented to recognise Israel in return

for the beginning of phased dismantling of Israel's occupation.

1994 - Birth of the Palestinian Authority

On 4 May 1994 Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation reached an agreement in Cairo on the

initial implementation of the 1993 Declaration of Principles. This document specified Israel's military withdrawal from most of the Gaza Strip, excluding

Jewish settlements and land around them, and from the Palestinian town of Jericho in the West Bank.

Negotiations were difficult and were almost postponed on 25 February when a Jewish settler in the West Bank

town of Hebron fired on praying Muslims, killing 29 people.

The agreement itself contained potential pitfalls. It envisaged further withdrawals during a five-year interim

period during which solutions to the really difficult issues were to be negotiated - issues such as the establishment of a

Palestinian state, the status of Jerusalem, Jewish settlements in the Occupied Territories and the fate of

more than 3.5 million Palestinian refugees from the 1948 and 1967 upheavals.

Many critics of the peace process were silenced on 1 July as jubilant crowds lined the streets of Gaza to cheer

Yasser Arafat on

his triumphal return to Palestinian territory. The returning Palestinian Liberation Army deployed in areas vacated by Israeli troops and Arafat became head of the

new Palestinian National Authority (PA) in the autonomous areas. He was elected president of the

Authority in January 1996.

1995 - Oslo II and the assassination of Rabin

The first year of Palestinian self-rule in Gaza and Jericho was dogged by difficulties.

Bomb attacks by Palestinian militants killed dozens of

Israelis, while Israel blocked the autonomous areas and

assassinated militants. Settlement activity continued.

The Palestinian Authority quelled unrest by mass

detentions. Opposition to the peace process grew among right-

wingers and religious nationalists in Israel. Against this background, peace talks were laborious and fell behind

schedule. But on 24 September the so-called Oslo II agreement was signed in Taba in Egypt, and

countersigned four days later in Washington.

The agreement divided the West Bank into three zones:

Zone A comprised 7% of the territory (the main Palestinian towns excluding Hebron and East Jerusalem) going to full Palestinian control;

Zone B comprised 21% of the territory under joint Israeli-Palestinian control;

Zone C remained in Israeli hands.

Israel was also to release Palestinian prisoners.

Oslo II was greeted with little enthusiasm by Palestinians, while Israel's religious right

was furious at the "surrender of Jewish land". Amid an

incitement campaign against Israeli Prime Minister. Yitzhak Rabin, a Jewish

religious extremist assassinated him on 4

November, sending shock waves around the world. The

dovish Shimon Peres, architect of the faltering peace

process, became prime minister.

1996 - 1999 - Deadlock

Conflict returned early in 1996 with a series of devastating suicide bombings in Israel carried out by the Islamic militant group Hamas, and a bloody three-week

bombardment of Lebanon by Israel.

Peres lost elections on 29 May to the right-wing Binyamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, who campaigned against the Oslo peace deals under the motto "Peace with Security".

The five-year interim period defined by Oslo for a final resolution passed on 4 May 1999, but Yasser Arafat was persuaded to defer unilateral declaration of Palestinian

statehood to give a chance for negotiations with the new administration.

2000 - Second intifada

Initial optimism about the peacemaking prospects of a government led by Ehud Barak proved unfounded.

A new Wye River accord was signed in September 1999 but further withdrawals from occupied land were

hindered by disagreements and final status talks (on Jerusalem, refugees, settlements and borders) got

nowhere.

Frustration was building in the Palestinian population who had little to show for five years of the peace process.

Barak concentrated on peace with Syria, also unsuccessfully. But he did succeed in fulfilling a

campaign pledge to end Israel's21-year entanglement in Lebanon.

After the withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000, attention turned back to Yasser Arafat, who was under pressure from Barak and US President Bill Clinton to

abandon gradual negotiations and launch an all-out push for a final settlement at the presidential retreat at Camp

David. Two weeks of talks failed to come up with acceptable solutions to the status of Jerusalem and the

right of return of Palestinian refugees.

In the uncertainty of the ensuing impasse, Ariel Sharon, the veteran right-winger who succeeded Binyamin

Netanyahu as Likud leader, toured the al-Aqsa/Temple Mount complex in Jerusalem on 28 September. Sharon's

critics saw it as a highly provocative move.

Palestinian demonstrations followed, quickly developing into what became known as the al-Aqsa intifada, or

uprising.

2001 - Sharon returns

By the end of 2000 Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak found himself presiding over an increasingly bitter and bloody cycle of violence as the intifada raged against

Israel's occupation in the West Bank and Gaza. With his coalition collapsing around him, Barak resigned

as prime minister on 10 December to "seek a new mandate" to deal with the crisis. However in elections on 6 Febuary, Ariel Sharon was swept to power by an Israeli

electorate that had overwhelmingly turned its back on the land-for-peace formulas of the 1990s and now

favoured a tougher approach to Israel's "Palestinian problem".

The death toll soared as Sharon intensified existing policies such as assassinating Palestinian militants, air strikes and incursions into Palestinian self-rule areas. Palestinian militants, meanwhile, stepped up suicide

bomb attacks in Israeli cities. The US spearheaded international efforts to calm the

violence.

2002 - West Bank re-occupied

Palestinian militants carried out an intense campaign of attacks in the first three months of the year, including a hotel bombing which killed 29 on the eve of the Jewish

Passover holiday. In response, Israel besieged Yasser Arafat in his

Ramallah compound for five weeks and sent tanks and thousands of troops to re-occupy almost all of the West

Bank. Months of curfews and closures followed as Israel

carried out operations it said were aimed at destroying the Palestinian terrorist infrastructure.

Controversy raged as Israeli forces entered and captured the West Bank city of Jenin in April. A UN report later refuted Palestinian claims of a massacre, but Amnesty

International concluded that the Israeli army had committed war crimes in Jenin and also Nablus.

In June, US President George Bush called for Palestinians to replace their leader with one not

"compromised by terror", and outlined a timetable for negotiations which would later become the plan known

as the "roadmap". Israel began building a barrier in the West Bank, which it

said was to prevent attacks inside Israel, although Palestinians feared an attempt to annex land.

Mr Arafat faced heavy pressure to reform the Palestinian Authority and rein in the militants.

Palestinian attacks continued, met with periodic Israeli incursions and a ten-day siege which reduced much of

Mr Arafat's compound to rubble.

2003 - Road map hopes

After several Palestinian attacks in January, Israel stepped up operations against Hamas, killing the

militant group's founder. With the US and Israel continuing to refuse to deal directly with Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader appointed Mahmoud Abbas as his prime minister.

At a summit with the US president in Aqaba, Jordan, in June, Mr Abbas called for an end to the armed intifada,

while Israeli President Ariel Sharon declared his support for the creation of a "democratic Palestinian state at

peace with Israel". Further negotiations led to pull-backs of Israeli forces in

Gaza and Bethlehem. Mr Abbas secured a temporary cessation of violence from Palestinian militant groups. In August, after seven weeks of relative calm, the truce disintegrated with a Palestinian suicide bombing, Israeli

raids and targeted killings.

After a long-running power struggle with Mr Arafat over control of the Palestinian security apparatus, Mr Abbas resigned in early September. He was replaced by Arafat

loyalist Ahmed Qurei.

Construction of the West Bank barrier continued throughout the year despite growing international

criticism.

The Israeli cabinet voted to "remove" Mr Arafat and in December Mr Sharon told the Palestinians he would

implement a policy of unilateral separation unless they halted violence.

2004 - Arafat dies

Palestinian suicide bombings and Israeli air strikes continued. Israel provoked outrage among Palestinians

by killing Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in a targeted missile attack in March. A second senior

leader, Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, was killed a month later.

In April Ariel Sharon revealed a "disengagement plan" which included the withdrawal of all 8,000 settlers and the troops that protect them in the Gaza Strip, and from

three small settlements in the northern West Bank.

Construction of the West Bank barrier continued, despite increasing protests and changes to the route in response

to a verdict in the Israeli High Court. In July, the International Court of Justice in The Hague pronounced the barrier illegal, but Israel dismissed the non-binding

ruling.

Intra-Palestinian political turmoil broke out over the summer as Yasser Arafat, Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei and various Palestinian factions battled over reform of the security forces. After three bombings in August and September and numerous Palestinian rocket attacks on

Israeli towns, Israel launched a major and bloody incursion into northern Gaza.

In late October Arafat was taken ill and flown to France for emergency treatment. He died of a mysterious blood

disorder on 11 November. The news was met with an outpouring of grief among Palestinians. Emotional

crowds engulfed Mr Arafat's compound in Ramallah as his body arrived by helicopter to be buried.

Mahmoud Abbas, who had spent a brief spell as prime minister in 2002, was confirmed as Arafat's successor as

chairman of the PLO.

2005 - Gaza pullout

Mahmoud Abbas was elected president of the Palestinian Authority after a landslide victory in January elections.

But post-election attacks by Palestinian militants immediately threatened to derail hopes for renewed

peace talks. However, Mr Abbas deployed Palestinian police in northern Gaza and by February had persuaded Hamas and Islamic Jihad to begin a temporary, unofficial cessation of violence. Mr Abbas and Mr Sharon went on

to announce a mutual ceasefire at a summit in Egypt, although the militant groups stopped short of making

their fragile truce official. Preparations for – and controversy over – Ariel Sharon's planned pullout from the Gaza Strip continued, with the

Israeli Prime Minister securing cabinet backing and fending off calls for a referendum from opponents.

Despite widespread protests by settlers, the withdrawal went ahead in late August and early September, with

emotional scenes as Israeli troops removed some settlers by force.

Our OpinionsOne day, we all know, there must be peace between

Israel and the Palestinians, but the process seems to be mired in eternal deadlock and misery. Israel makes empty promises and the Palestinians, including the

moderate ones, make threats, not all empty.

Israeli Prime Minister Olmert promised to make life better for the Palestinians at his last meeting with

Palestinian President Abbas, but nothing much happened. The checkpoints are still there, for the most part, the housing units in the settlements are getting

built, and the prisoners are still in jail. The safe passage, promised a long time ago in a previous meeting, never

materialized. We know from opinion surveys that somewhere, hidden in the hearts of the majority of the Israelis and Palestinians there is a will to make peace,

but the politicians and the political reality do not allow it become reality.

In our opinion the blocks to realizing the dream are: •Palestinians do not believe Israeli promises of a better life, Israelis do not believe Palestinian promises to abandon violence and keep the peace. Indeed, the Hamas insist they will never recognize the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state.

• Extremists who exploit the reality and the mistrust in order to generate support for more terror, incitement and repression and block constructive solutions.

•Israelis and Palestinians want the same bit of land and extremists keep pushing for drastic solutions.

To make a difference in reality, we need to break out of the impasse - to offer both a real political horizon that is

supported by the political mainstream and a different reality, not pie in the sky, so that the population at large

will see progress toward peace and begin to support peace as a national objective. We need a way forward that can change reality, but that is risk free insofar as legitimate needs of each side is concerned. We need to be sure everyone is following the same program and

roadmap, and moving toward the same solution.

Exiled Sentence

Most exiles do not take enough with themsome obtain new lands, new identities

others return to the empty corridors of their sleep

in a place they are certain they can always call home;

but most hold on to a sentence as if it were a coat

that will protect them from sun prisons,a sentence that will grow

the way we grow, leave ourselveslike silence leaves a home

it can no longer love.

Nathalie Handal

A work based on true contents by:

Michele Di Matteo

Ciro Fabbrocile

Federica Giuliano

Federica Lama

Music by:

Mercan Dede: Semaname, Ab I Hayat

David Bowie & Pat Metheny Group: This is not America