Tel Aviv. Since the founding of the State of Israel there have been repeated armed clashes with its neighbors. The first war in the Middle East was a war of independence for Israel – but for the Palestinians it was the beginning of the “Nakba” (catastrophe), of their escape and expulsion. Many other countries around the world recognize the State of Palestine, which is administered by an autonomous authority – but not all of them. Furthermore, Palestinians have wanted their own closed and independent territory for decades, without Israeli occupation and construction of Jewish settlements. Who are they, exactly what areas are they claiming and why are millions of people stateless? An overview.
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What is Palestine?
The State of Palestine was proclaimed on November 15, 1988 in Algiers by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Palestine claims as national territory the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem as its capital – but in fact this is Ramallah, north of Jerusalem.
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Around five million people live in the claimed national territory. The area of the State of Palestine (West Bank and Gaza Strip) is about 6,000 square kilometers and therefore about two and a half times larger than the Saar.
The State of Palestine is recognized as a state unit by numerous nations around the world.
Until 1918, historic Palestine – an area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean – had been part of the Ottoman Empire for four centuries. Britain then took control as a mandated power. In 1947, a UN plan called for the area to be divided into a Jewish state and an Arab state. This was accepted by the Jewish Zionist leadership, but rejected by the Arab side.
As part of the peace treaties between Israel and the PLO signed after 1993, the Palestinians then achieved partial autonomy in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. For them, a central objective has always been their own state. However, the desired expansion of the Palestinian autonomous areas did not materialize and peace negotiations failed in 2014.
The first Palestinian president was Yasser Arafat, and after his death in 2004, Mahmoud Abbas became head of the PLO. The following year, Abbas was directly elected president by the people. His term expired in 2009 and there were no elections after that. The last parliamentary elections took place in January 2006, when Hamas won. The four-year legislative period expired in 2010. Since then there has been no democratically legitimized leadership. A new election has been announced several times but has not yet taken place due to ongoing disputes between Abbas’s Fatah movement and Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip.
Where is Palestine?
The Palestinian Territories is a term for the Arab-dominated West Bank, Gaza Strip and eastern part of Jerusalem, which was conquered by Israel in 1967 and later annexed. Palestinians demand these areas for a future independent state. The areas can be found near the southeast coast of the Mediterranean. The state is also located there Israelparts Syriain Lebanon It is from Jordan (East Bank). O West Bank lies west Jordan It is eastern Israel. It has a 404-kilometer long border, 307 kilometers with Israel and 97 kilometers with Jordan. O Gaza strip It’s narrow, just A piece of land about 40 kilometers long and six to twelve kilometers wide in the Mediterranean between the heart of Israel and the Egyptian border.
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Who are the Palestinians?
Palestinians are an Arab people. Originally, all residents throughout the League of Nations mandate for Palestine were considered to be so. Today, it is mainly Arabic-speaking residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as their family members living in other countries, who are referred to as Palestinians.
Who (does not) recognize Palestine as a state?
Today 138 states recognize the State of Palestine. The Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of Austria and the Swiss Confederation do not recognize Palestine as a state, but maintain diplomatic relations with representatives of the Palestinian Authority.
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What is the Palestinian Authority?
The Palestinian Authority (PA) was founded in 1994 based on peace agreements between Israel and the PLO. It is responsible for basic services such as water and electricity supply, the school system and garbage collection. But it also issues documents such as passports, birth and death certificates or driving licenses. The Palestinian Authority’s main donor is the European Union.
How many Palestinians belong to Hamas?
O Hamas is a radical Islamic Palestinian organization and is considered by Israel, the EU and the US terrorist organization classified. Exact figures on the number of combatants are not known, but estimates range from 40,000 to 50,000.
How can a Palestinian become stateless?
After the founding of the State of Israel, five Arab states attacked Israel and the first War in the Middle East began. It led to the flight or expulsion of around 700,000 Palestinians from their homeland. As part of a ceasefire agreement in 1949, Jordan took control of East Jerusalem and the West Bank and Egypt took control of the Gaza Strip. Israel also conquered these areas in the Six-Day War in 1967. UN Resolution 242 called for Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied territories.
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According to the UN, the number of registered refugees, including their descendants, is around six million. Many of them live in camps in Lebanon and Syria, but to this day there are also refugee camps in Palestinian-controlled areas. It is impossible to quantify exactly how many Palestinians are stateless. Statelessness occurs when Palestinians are not registered as citizens of Palestine or the host Arab countries. Access to citizenship is severely restricted in Arab League countries and statelessness is “transmitted” from generation to generation. The German Bundestag Investigative Service declared in 2018 that at least around five million Palestinians are stateless.
What is Nakba:
The Arabic word Nakba means catastrophe or misfortune. In relation to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the term (also: al-Nakba) is used to remember that many Palestinians lost their ancestral homeland during the first Arab-Israeli war of 1948 and after.
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