Essay on The Palestine Problem

The Palestine problem took birth with the disintegration of the Turkish Ottoman Empire after the world war-I. Palestine was also among the several former Ottoman Arab territories which were placed under Great Britain under the Mandate System of the League of Nations pursuant to the League’s Covenant (Article 22).

Except Palestine all of these Mandated Territories became fully independent States. The exception was Palestine where, instead of being limited to “the rendering of administrative assistance and advice” the Mandate had as a primary objective the implementation of the “Balfour Declaration” issued by the British Government in 1917,declaring support for “the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine.”

During the years of the Palestine Mandate from 1922 to 1947 large-scale lewish immigration from abroad,· mainly from Eastern Europe took place, the numbers swelling in the 1930s with the notorious Nazi persecution of Jewish populations. Palestinian demands for independence and its resistance to Jewish immigration led to a rebellion in 1937, followed by continuing terrorism and violence from both sides during and immediately after WorId War II. Great Britain used various formulas to bring independence to the land ravaged by violence. In 1947, Great Britain handed over the problem over to the United Nations.

After taking into account various alternatives the UN proposed the partitioning of Palestine into two independent States, one Palestinian Arab and the other Jewish ‘Palestine. One of the two States envisaged in the partition plan proclaimed its independence as Israel and the 1948 war expanded to occupy 77 per cent of the territory of Palestine. Israel also occupied the larger part of Jerusalem. More than half the indigenous Palestinian population fled or were expelled. Jordan and Egypt also occupied the other parts of the territory of the Palestinian Arab State which did not into come into being.

During the 1967 war, Israel occupied the remaining territory of Palestine, which was until then under Jordanian and Egyptian control (the West Bank and Gaza Strip) including the remaining part of Jerusalen1, which was subsequently annexed by Israel. The war brought about a second exodus of Palestinians. Security Council resolution 242 of 22 November 1967 called on Israel to withdraw from territories it had occupied the 1967 conflict.

In1974, the General Assembly reaffirmed the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, national independence and sovereignty. In 1975 , the General Assembly established the Committee on the Exercise of the inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. The General Assembly also conferred on the PLO the status of observer in the Assembly and in other international conferences held under United Nations auspices.

Events on the ground, however, were not positive but remained negative.In June 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon with the declared intention to eliminate the PLO. A ceasefire was arranged. PLO troops withdrew from Beirut and were shifted to neighboring countries after guarantees of safety were provided for thousand of Palestinian refugees left behind. Subsequently, a large-scale massacre of refugees took place in the camps of Sabra and Shatila.

In September 1983, the International Conference on the Question of Palestine, which was widely attended, adopted inter alia the Geneva Declaration containing the following principles: the need to oppose and reject the establishment of settlement in the occupied territory and action’s taken by Israel to change the status of Jerusalem, the right of all States in the region to existence within secure and internationally recognized boundaries, with justice and security for all the people and the attainment of the legitimate, inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.

In December 1987, a mass uprising against the Israeli occupation began in the occupied Palestinian territory. Methods used by the Israeli forces during the uprising resulted in mass injuries and heavy loss of life among the civilian Palestinian population.

A Peace Conference on the Middle East was convened in Madrid on 30 October 1991 with the aim of achieving a lasting and comprehensive peace settlement through direct negotiations along 2 tracks: between Israel and the Arab Stares and between Israel and the Palestinians based on Security Council resolutions242 and 338 (the “land for peace” formula). A series of subsequent negotiations culminated in the mutual recognition between the Government of the State of Israd and the Palestine Liberation Organization, the representative of the Palestinian people and signed by the two parties of the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements in Washington, D.C., on 13 September 1993, as well as the subsequent implementation agreements, which led to several other positive development, such as the withdrawal of Israeli forces, the elections to the Palestinian Council and the Presidency of the Palestinian Authority, the release of prisoners and establishment of a functioning administration in the areas under Palestinian self-rule. The involvement of the United Nations has been essential to the peace process, both as the guardian of international legitimacy and in the mobilization and provision of international assistance.

The UN General Assembly welcomed the Declaration of Principles as an important step forward. The Assembly also reaffirmed that “the United Nation as has a permanent responsibility with respect to the question is resolved in all its aspects in a satisfactory manner in accordance with international legitimacy. “

During the past years, there has been increasing concern at the stalemate in the peace negotiations. The General Assembly, particularly the Assembly’s Tenth Emergency Session, was called upon to deal with the deteriorating situation in the occupied Palestinian territory. There has been increasing alarm at acts of violence against civilians, the position and actions of the Government of Israel with regard to Jerusalem, the expansion of settlements, land confiscation and punitive collective measures which were seriously undermining the peace process due to violence taking place in the region. Neither Israel nor the Palestine leaders are taking serious steps to curb the violence. Both the parties are at logger heads, it is the innocent people that are the main sufferers. UNO here seems totally ineffective.