HISTORY
The creation of the State of Israel
in 1948 was preceded by more than 50 years of efforts to establish
a sovereign nation as a homeland for Jews. These efforts were
initiated by Theodore Herzl, founder of the Zionist movement,
and were given added impetus by the Balfour Declaration of 1917,
which asserted the British Government's support for the creation
of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
In the years following World War
I, Palestine became a British Mandate and Jewish immigration steadily
increased, as did violence between Palestine's Jewish and Arab
communities. Mounting British efforts to restrict this immigration
were countered by international support for Jewish national aspirations
following the near-extermination of European Jewry by the Nazis
during World War II. This support led to the 1947 UN partition
plan, which would have divided Palestine into separate Jewish
and Arab states, with Jerusalem under UN administration.
On May 14, 1948, soon after the British
quit Palestine, the State of Israel was proclaimed and was immediately
invaded by armies from neighboring Arab states, which rejected
the UN partition plan. This conflict, Israel's War of Independence,
was concluded by armistice agreements between Israel, Egypt, Jordan,
Lebanon, and Syria in 1949 and resulted in a 50% increase in Israeli
territory.
In 1956, French, British, and Israeli
forces engaged Egypt in response to its nationalization of the
Suez Canal and blockade of the Straits of Tiran. Israeli forces
withdrew in March 1957, after the United Nations established the
UN Emergency Force (UNEF) in the Gaza Strip and Sinai. This war
resulted in no territorial shifts and was followed by several
years of terrorist incidents and retaliatory acts across Israel's
borders.
In June 1967, Israeli forces struck
targets in Egypt, Jordan, and Syria in response to Egyptian President
Nasser's ordered withdrawal of UN peacekeepers from the Sinai
Peninsula and the buildup of Arab armies along Israel's borders.
All parties agreed to a cease-fire after 6 days of fighting, under
which Israel retained control of the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan
Heights, the Gaza Strip, the formerly Jordanian-controlled West
Bank of the Jordan River, and East Jerusalem. On November 22,
1967, the Security Council adopted Resolution 242, the "land for
peace" formula, which called for the establishment of a just and
lasting peace based on Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied
in 1967 in return for the end of all states of belligerency, respect
for the sovereignty of all states in the area, and the right to
live in peace within secure, recognized boundaries.
The following years were marked by
continuing violence across the Suez Canal, punctuated by the 1969-70
war of attrition. On October 6, 1973--Yom Kippur (the Jewish Day
of Atonement), the armies of Syria and Egypt launched an attack
against Israel. Although the Egyptians and Syrians initially made
significant advances, Israel was able to push the invading armies
back beyond the 1967 cease-fire lines by the time the United States
and the Soviet Union helped bring an end to the fighting. In the
UN Security Council, the United States supported Resolution 338,
which reaffirmed Resolution 242 as the framework for peace and
called for peace negotiations between the parties.
In the years that followed, sporadic
clashes continued along the cease-fire lines but guided by the
U.S., Egypt, and Israel continued negotiations. In November 1977,
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat made an historic visit to Jerusalem,
which opened the door for the 1978 Israeli-Egyptian peace summit
convened at Camp David by President Carter. These negotiations
led to a 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, pursuant
to which Israel withdrew from the Sinai in 1982, signed by President
Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel.
In the years following the 1948 war,
Israel's border with Lebanon was quiet relative to its borders
with other neighbors. After the expulsion of Palestinian fighters
from Jordan in 1970 and their influx into southern Lebanon, however,
hostilities along Israel's northern border increased and Israeli
forces crossed into Lebanon. After passage of Security Council
Resolution 425, calling for Israeli withdrawal and the creation
of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon peacekeeping force (UNIFIL),
Israel withdrew its troops.
In June 1982, following a series
of cross-border terrorist attacks and the attempted assassination
of the Israeli Ambassador to the U.K., Israel invaded Lebanon
to fight the forces of Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO). The PLO withdrew its forces from Lebanon in August 1982.
Israel, having failed to finalize an agreement with Lebanon, withdrew
most of its troops in June 1985 save for a residual force which
remained in southern Lebanon to act as a buffer against attacks
on northern Israel. These remaining forces were completely withdrawn
in May 2000 behind a UN-brokered delineation of the Israel-Lebanon
border (the Blue Line). Hizballah forces in Southern Lebanon continued
to attack Israeli positions south of the Blue Line in the Sheba
Farms/Har Dov area of the Golan Heights.
The victory of the U.S.-led coalition
in the Persian Gulf War of 1991 opened new possibilities for regional
peace. In October 1991, the United States and the Soviet Union
convened the Madrid Conference, in which Israeli, Lebanese, Jordanian,
Syrian, and Palestinian leaders laid the foundations for ongoing
negotiations designed to bring peace and economic development
to the region. Within this framework, Israel and the PLO signed
a Declaration of Principles on September 13, 1993, which established
an ambitious set of objectives relating to a transfer of authority
from Israel to an interim Palestinian authority. Israel and the
PLO subsequently signed the Gaza-Jericho Agreement on May 4, 1994,
and the Agreement on Preparatory Transfer of Powers and Responsibilities
on August 29, 1994, which began the process of transferring authority
from Israel to the Palestinians.
On October 26, 1994, Israel and Jordan
signed a historic peace treaty, witnessed by President Clinton.
This was followed by Israeli Prime Minister Rabin and PLO Chairman
Arafat's signing of the historic Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement
on September 28, 1995. This accord, which incorporated and superseded
previous agreements, broadened Palestinian self-government and
provided for cooperation between Israel and the Palestinians in
several areas.
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin
was assassinated on November 4, 1995, by a right-wing Jewish radical,
bringing the increasingly bitter national debate over the peace
process to a climax. Subsequent Israeli governments continued
to negotiate with the PLO resulting in additional agreements,
including the Wye River and the Sharm el-Sheikh memoranda. However,
ongoing Israeli-Palestinian violence led to a crisis of confidence
between the two sides, which continues into 2001.
A summit hosted by President Clinton
at Camp David in July 2000 to address permanent status issues--including
the status of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, Israeli settlements
in the West Bank and Gaza, final security arrangements, borders,
and relations and cooperation with neighboring states--failed
to produce an agreement.
Following the failed talks, widespread violence broke out in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza in September 2000. In April 2001 the Sharm el-Sheikh Fact Finding Committee, commissioned by the October 2000 Middle East Peace Summit and chaired by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, submitted its report, which recommended an immediate end to the violence followed by confidence-building measures and a resumption of security cooperation and peace negotiations. Building on the Mitchell report, In April 2003, the Quartet (the U.S., UN, European Union (EU), and the Russian Federation) announced the "roadmap," a performance-based plan to bring about two states, Israel and a democratic, viable Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.
Despite the promising developments of spring 2003, violence continued and in September 2003 the first Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), resigned after failing to win true authority to restore law and order, fight terror, and reform Palestinian institutions. In response to the deadlock, in the winter of 2003-2004 Prime Minister Sharon put forward his Gaza disengagement initiative, proposing the withdrawal of Israeli settlements from Gaza as well as parts of the northern West Bank. President Bush endorsed this initiative in an exchange of letters with Prime Minister Sharon on April 14, 2004, viewing Gaza disengagement as an opportunity to move towards implementation of the two-state vision and begin the development of Palestinian institutions. In a meeting in May 2004 the Quartet endorsed the initiative, which was approved by the Knesset in October 2004.
The run-up to disengagement saw a flurry of diplomatic activity, including the February 2005 announcement of Lieutenant General William Ward as U.S. Security Coordinator; the March 2005 Sharon-Abbas summit in Sharm el-Sheikh; the return of Egyptian and Jordanian ambassadors to Israel; and the May 2005 appointment of former World Bank president James D. Wolfensohn as Special Envoy for Gaza Disengagement to work for a revitalization of the Palestinian economy after disengagement. Wolfensohn's direct involvement spurred Israeli-Palestinian agreement on the Gaza ‘crossings" at Karni and Erez, on the demolition of settler homes, water, electricity, and communications infrastructure issues, as well as other issues related to the Palestinian economy.
On August 15, 2005, Israel began implementing its disengagement from the Gaza Strip, and the Israeli Defense Forces completed their withdrawal, including the dismantling of 17 settlements, on September 12. After broad recognition for Prime Minister Sharon's accomplishment at that fall's UN General Assembly, international attention quickly turned to efforts to strengthen Palestinian governance and the economy in Gaza. The United States brokered a landmark Agreement on Movement and Access between the parties in November 2005 to facilitate further progress on Palestinian economic issues. However, the terrorist organization Hamas--building on popular support for its "resistance" to Israeli occupation and a commitment to clean up the notorious corruption of the Palestinian Authority (PA)--took a majority in the January 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) elections, with Hamas leader Ismail Haniya as Prime Minister. The Israeli leadership pledged not to work with a Palestinian government in which Hamas had a role.
Shortly following Hamas' PLC victory, the Quartet--comprised of the United States, European Union, United Nations. and Russia--outlined three basic principles the Hamas-led PA must meet in order for the U.S. and the international community to reengage with the PA: renounce violence and terror, recognize Israel, and respect previous agreements, including the roadmap. The Hamas-led PA government rejected these principles, resulting in a Quartet statement of "grave concern" on March 30, 2006 and the suspension of U.S. assistance to the PA, complete prohibition on U.S. Government contacts with the PA, and prohibition of unlicensed transactions with the PA government. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) under the leadership of PLO Chairman and PA President Mahmud Abbas (Abu Mazen), by contrast, remained consistently committed to the Quartet principles.
Despite several negotiated cease-fires between Hamas and Fatah, violent clashes in the Gaza Strip--and to a lesser extent in the West Bank--were commonplace between December 2006 and February 2007 and resulted in dozens of deaths and injuries. In an attempt to end the intra-Palestinian violence, the King of Saudi Arabia invited Palestinian rivals to Mecca, and on February 9, 2007, Abbas and Hamas leader Haniya agreed to the formation of a Palestinian national unity government and a cessation of violence. Hamas' rejectionist policies and violent behavior continued despite the formation of the national unity government.
In June 2007, Hamas effectively orchestrated a violent coup in Gaza. Hamas also launched scores of Qassam rockets into southern Israel in an attempt to involve Israel in the Hamas-Fatah conflict. On June 14, Palestinian Authority President Mahoud Abbas exercised his lawful authority by declaring a state of emergency, dissolving the national unity government, and replacing it with a new government with Salam Fayyad as Prime Minister.
The new Palestinian Authority government under President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad has no elements controlled by Hamas or any other terrorist group. The new government is dedicated to peace and the Quartet principles and has been embraced politically and financially by the international community, including Israel.
