Israeli/Palestinian Conflict: A Brief History On The Origins Of Terror

Though the Israeli/Palestinian conflict has played a major role in the development of terrorism and it's related activities, many of us are unaware of just how long of a history this issue has, or even what the facts are concerning this conflict. Including the fact, that until fairly recently, many Israeli's accepted the term Zionism, while many of the varying Jewish sects rejected it, seeing it is a form of radicalism.

Zionism was associated with radicalism and an insistence on Israel being a state and a religion. Which many Orthodox Jews rejected. After the Holocaust, most Jews accepted the term and its concepts. Here is a link to the timeline on Zionism:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Zionism

Under the Balfour Declaration of 1917, the British were given the Mandate to ""view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people"..."it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine". This declaration was supported by a number of other countries, including the United States, and became more important following World War I, when the League of Nations assigned the United Kingdom the Palestine mandate (1922 Text: League of Nations Palestine Mandate).

Post WWII, the British withdrew from this mandate and the UN General Assembly passed this resolution: "The United Nations General Assembly (GA Resolution 181, November 29, 1947) proposed the partition of Palestine into two states, an Arab state and a Jewish state, with Jerusalem to be under United Nations administration (see map). Most Jews in Palestine accepted the proposal, while most of the Arabs in Palestine rejected it. The Arabs totally rejected the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine (However, they were not under any legal obligation to accept the plan as General Assembly resolutions are not binding).

Violence between Arab and Jewish communities erupted almost immediately. Toward the end of the British mandate, the Jews planned to declare a separate state, a development the Arabs were determined to prevent. On May 14, 1948, the last British forces withdrew from Palestine, and the Jews in Palestine declared the creation of the State of Israel, in accordance with the Partition Plan.

711,000 Palestinians were permanently displaced, many of them living in permanent refugee camps, overseen by the UN since this began. 800,000 Jews were displaced, but 600,00 of them were resettled in the new state of Israel.

The Palestinians, who had occupied this land for centuries, suddenly found themselves permanently displaced, following a series of legislations, designed to help create an area for Israel. While so much focus has been placed on the terroristic activities of the PLO , Hamas and Hezbollah, Israel itself doesn't have clean hands either.

The Lavon Affair as it became known, brought down the Israeli government, and ultimately led to the ousting of David Ben Gurion. This incident, which occurred in 1952, involved a cell, from inside the highest circles of Israeli government, going into Egypt and initiating an attack against American governmental and civilian buildings in Egypt., including a theater, and libraries in Alexandra and Cairo, plus other American businesses.

Here is what wikipedia has to say on this matter:

"the Israeli government and the Mossad conspired to undermine relations between America and Egypt. This group orchestrated a bombing campaign against American governmental and civilian installations in Egypt, including an American library in Alexandria and Cairo, an MGM Cinema, and other American owned business buildings.

The campaign was halted in 1954 by the arrest of two agents who had attempted to place a bomb; this led to the collapse of the cell and the imprisonment or execution of most of its members by Egypt. Some quarters maintain that Israel did not do enough to protect its agents, prompted by allegations of torture and mistreatment of the bombers by the Egyptian authorities.

In the following investigation, Brigadier Binyamin Gibli claimed that the Defense Minister, Pinhas Lavon gave a verbal order to carry out the operation. The Chief of Staff of that time, Moshe Dayan, agreed with him. As a result of the scandal, now known as the Lavon Affair, Lavon was forced to resign. David Ben Gurion replaced him in office. In 1960, following new evidence from a secret 1958 trial of a suspected double agent, Lavon asked Ben Gurion to exonerate him. Ben-Gurion refused, since he could not believe that officers of the Israeli army, which he had built himself, would be able to commit such a dishonest action as framing Lavon.

In 1960, a committee of seven ministers set up to investigate the matter revealed the forging of a document used by Moshe Dayan and Shimon Peres, then Deputy Minister of Defense, to deflect responsibility for the botched 1954 Egyptian operation onto Lavon. A subsequent hearing revealed that Peres, Dayan and Brigadier Abraham Givli were also involved. The conclusions of the committee were accepted by the government. Despite attempts to censor the details of the case on grounds of national security, the Lavon Affair led to a second scandal, and Ben Gurion's forced resignation due to the inability of the government to act due to political considerations. The Israeli public reacted with outrage when they learned the truth about the conspiracy.

In the following 1961 elections, Ben-Gurion declared that he would only accept office if Lavon was fired from the position of the head of Histadrut, Israel's labor union organization. His demands were accepted; however in 1963 he quit again in the wake of the scandal. His attempts to make his political party MAPAI resolve this issue during 1964-1965 turned against him, and Ben-Gurion was forced to leave."

In June of 1967, Israel launched pre-emptive strikes into the Egyptian interior decimating its Air Force. That same day, they neutralized the air forces of both Syria and Jordan. The US, had launched formal protests over the Lavon affair, and also against the Egyptrian/Israeli conflict over blockading the Suez Canal, with assistance from Britain and Germany. In 1970, the US helped to end hostilities in the Suez, but were unsuccessful in maintaining any type of accord.

Understanding just this much of the history of the Arab/Israeli conflict can only help us all become more aware and informed as to the motivations behind the hostilities in that region, and their impact on terrorism.

Having said that, I go on record as clearly stating that nothing on either side of this equation excuses or condones the use of terror in any way to resolve this or any other conflict. As with so many others I've spoken with on this subject, we have too long been in thrall to the politically dangerous scenario between these two countries, neither of whom is right.

And now with Iran looming large as a serious threat to stability in the region, the picture is even grimmer. None of these global players seem to give a damn for anything but their own selfish determination to have their own way, and impose their will on everyone involved.

As to answers to this threat, this writer certainly can't claim to have them, nor indeed does it appear that anyone else does either. So we sit and watch helplessly, as these two deeply divided countries continue their hostilities, praying that the whole mess doesn't end up exacting a toll, we aren't prepared to pay.

First Zionist Congress
The Basel Program