MERIP’s Primer on Palestine

This is the latest version of the Middle East Report’s “Primer on Palestine,” a comprehensive guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict:

Primer on Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict

Contents

The Land and the People The British Mandate in Palestine The United Nations Partition Plan The Palestinian Refugees Palestinians Palestinian Citizens of Israel The June 1967 War UN Security Council Resolution 242 The Occupied Territories Jerusalem The Palestine Liberation Organization The October 1973 War and the Role of Egypt

The First Intifada The Negotiation Process The Oslo Accords The Second (al-Aqsa) Intifada The 2002 Arab Peace Plan The Separation Barrier Popular Resistance The Road Map and the Quartet Israel’s “Withdrawal” from the Gaza Strip The 2006 Palestinian Elections and the Rise of Hamas Israel’s Siege of the Gaza Strip The Secret Olmert-Abbas Negotiations Palestinian Statehood and the UN

Click to view or download a PDF of the Primer.

The conflict between Palestinian Arabs and Zionist (now Israeli) Jews is a modern phenomenon, dating to the end of the nineteenth century. Although the two groups have different religions (Palestinians include Muslims, Christians and Druze), religious differences are not the cause of the strife. The conflict began as a struggle over land. From the end of World War I until 1948, the area that both groups claimed was known internationally as Palestine. That same name was also used to designate a less well-defined “Holy Land” by the three monotheistic religions. Following the war of 1948–1949, this land was divided into three parts: the State of Israel, the West Bank (of the Jordan River) and the Gaza Strip…

For the rest of the Primer, read here…