1.
Hebrew language
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Hebrew is a language native to Israel, spoken by over 9 million people worldwide, of whom over 5 million are in Israel. Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Israelites and their ancestors, the earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE. Hebrew belongs to the West Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family, Hebrew is the only living Canaanite language left, and the only truly successful example of a revived dead language. Hebrew had ceased to be a spoken language somewhere between 200 and 400 CE, declining since the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Aramaic and to a lesser extent Greek were already in use as international languages, especially among elites and it survived into the medieval period as the language of Jewish liturgy, rabbinic literature, intra-Jewish commerce, and poetry. Then, in the 19th century, it was revived as a spoken and literary language, and, according to Ethnologue, had become, as of 1998, the language of 5 million people worldwide. After Israel, the United States has the second largest Hebrew-speaking population, with 220,000 fluent speakers, Modern Hebrew is one of the two official languages of the State of Israel, while premodern Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world today. Ancient Hebrew is also the tongue of the Samaritans, while modern Hebrew or Arabic is their vernacular. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Leshon Hakodesh, the modern word Hebrew is derived from the word Ivri, one of several names for the Israelite people. It is traditionally understood to be a based on the name of Abrahams ancestor, Eber. This name is based upon the root ʕ-b-r meaning to cross over. Interpretations of the term ʕibrim link it to this verb, cross over, in the Bible, the Hebrew language is called Yәhudit because Judah was the surviving kingdom at the time of the quotation. In Isaiah 19,18 it is called the Language of Canaan, Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group of languages. In turn, the Canaanite languages are a branch of the Northwest Semitic family of languages, according to Avraham ben-Yosef, Hebrew flourished as a spoken language in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah during about 1200 to 586 BCE. Scholars debate the degree to which Hebrew was a vernacular in ancient times following the Babylonian exile. In July 2008 Israeli archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel discovered a ceramic shard at Khirbet Qeiyafa which he claimed may be the earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating around 3000 years ago. The Gezer calendar also dates back to the 10th century BCE at the beginning of the Monarchic Period, classified as Archaic Biblical Hebrew, the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the Phoenician one that through the Greeks, the Gezer calendar is written without any vowels, and it does not use consonants to imply vowels even in the places where later Hebrew spelling requires it
2.
Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
3.
Quartet on the Middle East
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The Quartet are the United Nations, the United States, the European Union, and Russia. The group was established in Madrid in 2002, recalling Madrid Conference of 1991, tony Blair resigned as the Quartets Special Envoy on 27 May 2015. The initiative to establish the Quartet evolved following the outbreak of the Second Intifada in September 2000, in the same meeting, they also agreed to transform their quadripartite cooperation into a permanent forum for follow-up of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. James Wolfensohn, the president of the World Bank, was appointed Special Envoy for Israels disengagement from Gaza in April 2005. He stepped down the year because of restrictions in dealing with the Islamic militant group Hamas. The approval came after initial objections by Russia, the United Nations were overseeing the finances and security of his mission, before his resignation on 27 May 2015. The present special envoy from November 2015 is the Dutch national Kito de Boer, tony Blair has periodically travelled to the Middle East following his appointment as Special Envoy. On a trip there in March 2008, he met with Israeli leaders to discuss recent violence, a planned meeting between Israeli and Palestinian businessmen was postponed due to recent fighting. In May 2008 Blair announced a new plan for peace and for Palestinian rights, dont apply rules to the Government of Israel that you would never dream of applying to your own country, he said. He characterized such double standards and prejudice as being an affront to humanity which it is a duty to counter. The Quartet has been criticized for its ineffectiveness. They said his job, and the body he represents, are ′useless, useless, the Center for Middle East Policy said in February 2012 that The Quartet has little to show for its decade-long involvement in the peace process. The current mechanism is too outdated, dysfunctional, and discredited to be reformed. S
4.
Palestinians
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Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one half of the worlds Palestinian population continues to reside in historic Palestine, the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Israel. Of the Palestinian population who live abroad, known as the Palestinian diaspora, the history of a distinct Palestinian national identity is a disputed issue amongst scholars. Palestinian was used to refer to the nationalist concept of a Palestinian people by Palestinian Arabs in a limited way until World War I, Modern Palestinian identity now encompasses the heritage of all ages from biblical times up to the Ottoman period. Founded in 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization is an organization for groups that represent the Palestinian people before the international community. Since 1978, the United Nations has observed an annual International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, herodotus also employs the term as an ethnonym, as when he speaks of the Syrians of Palestine or Palestinian-Syrians, an ethnically amorphous group he distinguishes from the Phoenicians. Herodotus makes no distinction between the Jews and other inhabitants of Palestine, the Greek word reflects an ancient Eastern Mediterranean-Near Eastern word which was used either as a toponym or ethnonym. In Ancient Egyptian Peleset/Purusati has been conjectured to refer to the Sea Peoples, among Semitic languages, Akkadian Palaštu is used of Philistia and its 4 city states. Biblical Hebrews cognate word Plištim, is usually translated Philistines, the Arabic word Filastin has been used to refer to the region since the time of the earliest medieval Arab geographers. It appears to have used as an Arabic adjectival noun in the region since as early as the 7th century CE. The Arabic newspaper Falasteen, published in Jaffa by Issa and Yusef al-Issa, the first Zionist bank, the Jewish Colonial Trust, was founded at the Second Zionist Congress and incorporated in London in 1899. The JCT was intended to be the instrument of the Zionist Organization. On 27 February 1902, a subsidiary of this Trust called the Anglo-Palestine Company was established in London with the assistance of Zalman David Levontin and this Company was to become the future Bank Leumi. Following the 1948 establishment of Israel, the use and application of the terms Palestine and Palestinian by, for example, the English-language newspaper The Palestine Post, founded by Jews in 1932, changed its name in 1950 to The Jerusalem Post. Jews in Israel and the West Bank today generally identify as Israelis, Arab citizens of Israel identify themselves as Israeli and/or Palestinian and/or Arab. Anyone born, after that date, of a Palestinian father – whether in Palestine or outside it – is also a Palestinian. Thus, the Jews of Palestine were/are also included, although limited only to the Jews who had resided in Palestine until the beginning of the Zionist invasion. The Charter also states that Palestine with the boundaries it had during the British Mandate, is a territorial unit. The although the timing and causes behind the emergence of a distinctively Palestinian national consciousness among the Arabs of Palestine are matters of scholarly disagreement
5.
Mahmoud Abbas
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Mahmoud Abbas, also known by the kunya Abu Mazen, is the President of the State of Palestine and Palestinian National Authority. He has been the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization since 11 November 2004, Abbas is a member of the Fatah party. As a result, Fatahs main rival, Hamas, announced that it would not recognize the extension or view Abbas as the rightful president. Abbas was chosen as the President of the State of Palestine by the Palestine Liberation Organizations Central Council on 23 November 2008, Abbas served as the first Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority from March to September 2003. Before being named prime minister, Abbas led the PLO Negotiations Affairs Department, mahmoud Abbas was born on 26 March 1935 in Safed, in the Galilee region of Mandatory Palestine. His family fled to Syria during the 1948 Palestine war, before going to Egypt, Abbas graduated from the University of Damascus where he studied law. Abbas later entered graduate studies at the Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow and his doctoral dissertation was The Other Side, The Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism, a conspiracy theory about the Holocaust. He is married to Amina Abbas and they have had three sons, the eldest, Mazen Abbas, ran a building company in Doha and died in Qatar of a heart attack in 2001 at the age of 42. The kunya of Abu Mazen means father of Mazen and their second son is Yasser Abbas, a Canadian businessman who was named after former PA leader Yasser Arafat. The youngest son is Tareq, a business executive, Abbas has eight grandchildren, six of whom are part of the Seeds of Peace initiative bringing them in touch with young Israelis. While there in 1961, he was recruited to become a member of Fatah, at the time, Arafat was establishing the groundwork of Fatah by enlisting wealthy Palestinians in Qatar, Kuwait, and other Gulf States. According to Abu Daoud, part of the funds raised by Abbas were used, without the latters knowledge and he was among the first members of Fatah to call for talks with moderate Israelis, doing so in 1977. In a 2012 interview, he recalled, because we took up arms, Abbas has performed diplomatic duties, presenting a moderating contrast to the PLOs revolutionarypolicies. In the Oslo I Accord, Abbas was the signatory for the PLO on 13 September 1993 and he published a memoir, Through Secret Channels, The Road to Oslo. In 1995, he and Israeli negotiator Yossi Beilin wrote the Beilin-Abu Mazen agreement, Palestinian officials replied that at the time in question, the PLO collaborated with Moscow, and that Abbas was their liaison man in the Palestinian-Soviet friendship foundation. By early 2003, as Israel and the United States refused to negotiate with Yasser Arafat, Abbass reputation as a pragmatist garnered him favor with the West and some members of the Palestinian legislature. Under international pressure, on 19 March 2003, Arafat appointed Abbas Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority, according to Gilbert Achcar, the United States imposed Abbas on Arafat, the democratically elected leader, though the majority of Palestinians thought of the former as a Quisling. However, a struggle for power between Arafat and Abbas followed, Abbass term as prime minister was characterised by numerous conflicts between him and Arafat over the distribution of power
6.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
7.
George W. Bush
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George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. He was also the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000 and he is the eldest son of Barbara and George H. W. Bush. After graduating from Yale University in 1968 and Harvard Business School in 1975, Bush married Laura Welch in 1977 and ran unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives shortly thereafter. He later co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team before defeating Ann Richards in the 1994 Texas gubernatorial election and he is the second president to assume the nations highest office after his father, following the lead of John Quincy Adams. He is also a brother of Jeb Bush, a former Governor of Florida who was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2016 presidential election, the September 11 terrorist attacks occurred eight months into Bushs first term as president. Bush responded with what became known as the Bush Doctrine, launching a War on Terror, a military campaign that included the war in Afghanistan in 2001. He also promoted policies on the economy, health care, education, Social Security reform and his tenure included national debates on immigration, Social Security, electronic surveillance, and torture. In the 2004 Presidential race, Bush defeated Democratic Senator John Kerry in another close election. After his re-election, Bush received increasingly heated criticism from across the spectrum for his handling of the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina. Amid this criticism, the Democratic Party regained control of Congress in the 2006 elections, Bush left office in 2009, returning to Texas where he purchased a home in Crawford. He wrote a memoir, Decision Points and his presidential library was opened in 2013. His presidency has been ranked among the worst in historians polls published in the late 2000s and 2010s. George Walker Bush was born on July 6,1946, at Grace-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut, as the first child of George Herbert Walker Bush and his wife, the former Barbara Pierce. He was raised in Midland and Houston, Texas, with four siblings, Jeb, Neil, Marvin, another younger sister, Robin, died from leukemia at the age of three in 1953. His grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a U. S and his father, George H. W. Bush, was Ronald Reagans Vice President from 1981 to 1989 and the 41st U. S. President from 1989 to 1993. Bush has English and some German ancestry, along with more distant Dutch, Welsh, Irish, French, Bush attended public schools in Midland, Texas, until the family moved to Houston after he had completed seventh grade. He then spent two years at The Kinkaid School, a school in Houston. Bush attended high school at Phillips Academy, a school in Andover, Massachusetts
8.
Israel
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Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. The country contains geographically diverse features within its small area. Israels economy and technology center is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, in 1947, the United Nations adopted a Partition Plan for Mandatory Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem. The plan was accepted by the Jewish Agency for Palestine, next year, the Jewish Agency declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied territories including the West Bank, Golan Heights and it extended its laws to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, but not the West Bank. Israels occupation of the Palestinian territories is the worlds longest military occupation in modern times, efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not resulted in peace. However, peace treaties between Israel and both Egypt and Jordan have successfully been signed, the population of Israel, as defined by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, was estimated in 2017 to be 8,671,100 people. It is the worlds only Jewish-majority state, with 74. 8% being designated as Jewish, the countrys second largest group of citizens are Arabs, at 20. 8%. The great majority of Israeli Arabs are Sunni Muslims, including significant numbers of semi-settled Negev Bedouins, other minorities include Arameans, Armenians, Assyrians, Black Hebrew Israelites, Circassians, Maronites and Samaritans. Israel also hosts a significant population of foreign workers and asylum seekers from Africa and Asia, including illegal migrants from Sudan, Eritrea. In its Basic Laws, Israel defines itself as a Jewish, Israel is a representative democracy with a parliamentary system, proportional representation and universal suffrage. The prime minister is head of government and the Knesset is the legislature, Israel is a developed country and an OECD member, with the 35th-largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic product as of 2016. The country benefits from a skilled workforce and is among the most educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentage of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree. The country has the highest standard of living in the Middle East and the third highest in Asia, in the early weeks of independence, the government chose the term Israeli to denote a citizen of Israel, with the formal announcement made by Minister of Foreign Affairs Moshe Sharett. The names Land of Israel and Children of Israel have historically used to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Israel. The name Israel in these phrases refers to the patriarch Jacob who, jacobs twelve sons became the ancestors of the Israelites, also known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel or Children of Israel. The earliest known artifact to mention the word Israel as a collective is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt. The area is known as the Holy Land, being holy for all Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam
9.
Ariel Sharon
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Ariel Sharon was an Israeli general and politician who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Israel from March 2001 until April 2006. Sharon was incapacitated by a stroke in January 2006, Sharon was a commander in the Israeli Army from its creation in 1948. As Minister of Defense, he directed the 1982 Lebanon War, Sharon was considered the greatest field commander in Israels history, and one of the countrys greatest military strategists and tacticians. After his assault of the Sinai in the Six-Day War and his encirclement of the Egyptian Third Army in the Yom Kippur War, the Israeli public nicknamed him The King of Israel. Upon retirement from the military, Sharon entered politics, joining the Likud and he became the leader of the Likud in 2000, and served as Israels prime minister from 2001 to 2006. From the 1970s through to the 1990s, Sharon championed construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, however, as Prime Minister, in 2004–05 Sharon orchestrated Israels unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip. Facing stiff opposition to this policy within the Likud, in November 2005 he left Likud to form a new party, Kadima. He had been expected to win the election and was widely interpreted as planning on clearing Israel out of most of the West Bank. After suffering a stroke on January 4,2006, Sharon remained in a permanent vegetative state until his death in January 2014. Sharon was born on February 26,1928 in Kfar Malal and his mother, Vera, was from a family of Russian Subbotnik Jewish origin. His parents met while at university in Tiflis, where Sharons father was studying agronomy and they immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1922 in the wake of the Russian Communist governments growing persecution of Jews in the region. The family arrived with the Third Aliyah and settled in Kfar Malal, although his parents were Mapai supporters, they did not always accept communal consensus, The Scheinermans eventual ostracism. They were expelled from the local clinic and village synagogue. The cooperatives truck wouldnt make deliveries to their farm nor collect produce, Sharon grew up to be bilingual in both Hebrew and Russian languages. Four years after their arrival at Kfar Malal, the Sheinermans had a daughter, Ariel was born two years later. At age 10, he joined the youth movement HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed, as a teenager, he began to take part in the armed night-patrols of his moshav. Sharons unit of the Haganah became engaged in serious and continuous combat from the autumn of 1947, without the manpower to hold the roads, his unit took to making offensive hit-and-run raids on Arab forces in the vicinity of Kfar Malal. In units of thirty men, they would hit constantly at Arab villages, bridges and bases, Sharon wrote in his autobiography, We had become skilled at finding our way in the darkest nights and gradually we built up the strength and endurance these kind of operations required
10.
Aqaba
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Aqaba is the only coastal city in Jordan and the largest and most populous city on the Gulf of Aqaba. Situated in southernmost Jordan, Aqaba is the centre of the Aqaba Governorate. The city has a population of 188,160 and a area of 375 square kilometres. Today, Aqaba plays a role in the development of the Jordanian economy, through the vibrant trade. The Port of Aqaba also serves other countries in the region, Aqabas strategic location at the northeastern tip of the Red Sea between the continents of Asia and Africa, has made its port important over the course of thousands of years. The ancient city was called Ayla, its location and proximity to copper mines, made it a regional hub for copper production. Ayla became a bishopric under Byzantine rule and later became a Latin Catholic titular see after Islamic conquest around 600 AD, the Great Arab Revolts Battle of Aqaba, depicted in the film Lawrence of Arabia, resulted in victory for Arab forces over the Ottoman defenders. They are expected to turn the city into a tourism hub in the region. However, industrial and commercial activities remain important, due to the location of the city as the countrys only seaport. The city was called Ayla in ancient times, which is a Semitic name written in historical sources in different ways, Aila, Ailana, Elana, Haila, Ailath, Elath. The exact origin of name is disputed, some argue that it comes from the Hebrew root Ayl which is also the root for the word Elah, while others argue it is named after the term Ayl that appears in the ancient Mesopotamic poem called the Epic of Gilgamesh. Aqaba gained its name during the Mamluk era, which means Obstacle in Arabic, due to the mountains surrounding the city. Excavations at Tall Hujayrat Al-Ghuzlan and Tall Al-Magass in Aqaba revealed that the city has been a settlement since 4000 BC. This period is unknown due to the absence of written historical sources. The people who inhabited the site had developed a water system in irrigating their crops which was mostly grapes. Several different-sized clay pots were found suggesting that copper production was a major industry in the region. Scientific studies performed on site revealed that it had undergone two earthquakes, with the one leaving the site completely destroyed. They profited from its location at the junction of trading routes between Asia and Africa
11.
Jordan
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Jordan, officially The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is an Arab kingdom in Western Asia, on the East Bank of the Jordan River. Jordan is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the east and south, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north, Israel, Palestine and the Dead Sea to the west, Jordan is strategically located at the crossroads of Asia, Africa and Europe. The capital, Amman, is Jordans most populous city as well as the countrys economic, what is now Jordan has been inhabited by humans since the Paleolithic period. Three stable kingdoms emerged there at the end of the Bronze Age, Ammon, Moab, later rulers include the Nabataean Kingdom, the Roman Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. After the Great Arab Revolt against the Ottomans in 1916 during World War I, the Emirate of Transjordan was established in 1921 by the then Emir Abdullah I and became a British protectorate. In 1946, Jordan became an independent state known as The Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. Jordan captured the West Bank, which it later lost in 1967, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Jordan is a founding member of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and is one of two Arab states to have signed a peace treaty with Israel. The country is a monarchy, but the king holds wide executive and legislative powers. Jordan is a relatively-small, semi-arid, almost-landlocked country with a population numbering at 9.5 million, Sunni Islam, practiced by around 92% of the population, is the dominant religion in Jordan. It coexists with an indigenous Christian minority, Jordan is considered to be among the safest of Arab countries in the Middle East, and has avoided long-term terrorism and instability. The kingdom is also a refuge to thousands of Iraqi Christians fleeing the Islamic State, while Jordan continues to accept refugees, the recent large influx from Syria placed substantial strain on national resources and infrastructure. Jordan is classified as a country of high human development with a middle income economy. The Jordanian economy, one of the smallest economies in the region, is attractive to foreign investors based upon a skilled workforce, the country is a major tourist destination, and also attracts medical tourism due to its well developed health sector. Nonetheless, a lack of resources, large flow of refugees. Jordan is named after the Jordan River, where Jesus is said to have been baptized, the origin of the rivers name is debated, but the most common explanation is that it derives from the word yarad, found in Hebrew, Aramaic, and other Semitic languages. Others regard the name as having an Indo-Aryan origin, combining the words yor and don, another theory is that it is from the Arabic root word wrd, as in people coming to a major source of water. The name Jordan appears in an ancient Egyptian papyrus called Papyrus Anastasi I, the lands of modern-day Jordan were historically called Transjordan, meaning beyond the Jordan River. The name was Arabized into Al-Urdunn during the Muslim conquest of the Levant, during crusader rule, it was called Oultrejordain
12.
Passover massacre
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The Passover massacre was a suicide bombing carried out by Hamas at the Park Hotel in Netanya, Israel on 27 March 2002, during a Passover seder. Thirty civilians were killed in the attack and 140 were injured and it was the deadliest attack against Israelis during the Second Intifada. On the evening of 27 March 2002, a Palestinian bomber, Abdel-Basset Odeh, the suicide bomber managed to pass the security guard at the entrance to a hotel, then he walked through the lobby passing the reception desk and entered the hotels crowded dining room. At 19,30 pm the bomber detonated the explosive device he was carrying. The force of the explosion instantly killed 28 civilians and injured about 140 people, two of the injured later died from their wounds. Some of the victims were Holocaust survivors, most of the victims were senior citizens. The oldest victim was 90 and the youngest was 20 years old, a number of married couples were killed, as well as a father together with his daughter. One of the victims was a Jewish tourist from Sweden who was visiting Israel for Passover, the plot for the Passover massacre included the use of cyanide,4 kg of cyanide had been bought and prepared for a chemical attack. Tarak Zidan had been recruited to Hamas, and during 1997 he researched the use of chlorine, in 2002,4 kg of chlorine had been bought and packed for the attack. For unknown reasons it was not used and passed to Abbas al-Sayyid instead, families Additional victims Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. The bomber was identified as Abdel-Basset Odeh, a 25-year-old from the nearby West Bank city of Tulkarm, involved parties Israel, Israeli government spokesman Gideon Meir related to the attack saying what we had tonight was a Passover massacre and added There is no limit to Palestinian barbarism. Palestinian territories, Palestinian National Authority, Palestinian Authority officials strongly condemned the attack, supranational United Nations, Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary General stated that he condemned suicide bombings against Israeli civilians as morally repugnant. International United States, President of the United States George W. Bush condemned the attack, the attack was perceived in Israel as the high point of a bloody month in which more than 135 Israelis, mostly civilians, were killed in terror attacks. An armored IDF Caterpillar D9 bulldozer toppled the house where he was hiding, after he was given a chance to surrender, in May 2002, Israeli forces arrested the mastermind behind the attack, Abbas al-Sayed. On 22 September 2005, al-Sayed was convicted of the Passover attack and he received 35 life sentences for each murder victim and additional time for those who were wounded. On 26 March 2008 Hamas commander Omar Jabar, suspected of organizing the Passover massacre bombing, was arrested in Tulkarem. In 2003, the Palestinian Authority sponsored a tournament, Tulkarm Shahids Memorial Soccer Championship Tournament of the Shahid Abd Al-Baset Odeh
13.
West Bank
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The West Bank shares boundaries to the west, north, and south with Israel, and to the east, across the Jordan River, with Jordan. The West Bank also contains a significant section of the western Dead Sea shore, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has a land area of 5,640 km2 plus a water area of 220 km2, consisting of the northwest quarter of the Dead Sea. As of July 2015 it has an population of 2,785,366 Palestinians, and approximately 371,000 Israeli settlers. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, illegal under international law and this annexation was recognized only by Britain, Iraq and Pakistan. The term was chosen to differentiate the west bank of the River Jordan from the east bank of this river, the neo-Latin name Cisjordan or Cis-Jordan is the usual name for the territory in the Romance languages and Hungarian. The name West Bank, however, has become the standard usage for this entity in English. The analogous Transjordan has historically used to designate the region now roughly comprising the state of Jordan. From 1517 through 1917, the now known as the West Bank was under Ottoman rule as part of the provinces of Syria. At the 1920 San Remo conference, the victorious Allied powers allocated the area to the British Mandate of Palestine, the San Remo Resolution adopted on 25 April 1920 incorporated the Balfour Declaration of 1917. It and Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations were the basic documents upon which the British Mandate for Palestine was constructed. Faced with the determination of Emir Abdullah to unify Arab lands under the Hashemite banner, the West Bank area, was conquered by Jordan during the 1948 war with the new state of Israel. In 1947, it was designated as part of a proposed Arab state by the United Nations partition plan for Palestine. 1949 Armistice Agreements defined the boundary between Israel and Jordan. In 1950, Transjordan annexed the area west of the Jordan River, naming it West Bank or Cisjordan, Jordan ruled over the West Bank from 1948 until 1967. Jordans annexation was never recognized by the international community, with the exception of the United Kingdom. King Abdullah of Jordan had been crowned King of Jerusalem by the Coptic Bishop on 15 November 1948. and granted Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank, in June 1967, the West Bank and East Jerusalem were captured by Israel as a result of the Six-Day War. With the exception of East Jerusalem and the former Israeli-Jordanian no mans land, the Israeli settlements were, on the other hand, administered subsequently as Judea and Samaria Area directly by Israel. Since the 1993 Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority officially controls a geographically non-contiguous territory comprising approx, 11% of the West Bank which remains subject to Israeli incursions
14.
Operation Defensive Shield
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Operation Defensive Shield was a large-scale military operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces in 2002 during the course of the Second Intifada. It was the largest military operation in the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War, the stated goal of the operation was to stop terrorist attacks. The Israel Defense Forces invaded Tulkarm and Qalqilya on April 1, Bethlehem the next day, Jenin and Nablus the next. In May 2002, the Israeli troops had pulled out of the Palestinian cities, but maintained cordons of troops around West Bank towns and villages, and continued carrying out raids on Palestinian areas. The UN report on the subject says, Combatants on both sides conducted themselves in ways that, at times, placed civilians in harms way, much of the fighting during Operation Defensive Shield occurred in areas heavily populated by civilians and in many cases heavy weaponry was used. The Israeli–Palestinian conflict between Israel and the Palestinians escalated during the Second Intifada, in January and February 2002,71 people were killed on all sides during attacks from Palestinian militants and the Israeli army. March and April 2002 saw an increase in attacks against Israelis by Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad. In addition to shooting and grenade attacks, fifteen suicide bombings were carried out in March. March 2002 became known in Israel as Black March, the high rate of attacks severely disrupted daily life throughout Israel. We must cause them losses, victims, so that they feel a heavy price, Palestinian attacks continued, with suicide bombings on 9 March,20 March, and 21 March. Shooting and grenade attacks also continued to occur in Israel and Israeli settlements, on 27 March, a suicide attack occurred in Netanya, where 30 people were killed in the Park Hotel while celebrating Passover. The event became known as the Passover massacre, the following day, a Palestinian gunman infiltrated into the Israeli settlement of Elon Moreh and killed four members of the same family. On March 29, the Israeli government announced Operation Defensive Shield, the Israel Defense Forces issued emergency call-up notices for 30,000 reserve soldiers, the largest call-up since the 1982 Lebanon War. The same day, two Israelis were stabbed in the Gaza settlement of Netzarim, two suicide bombings occurred the next day, and another one took place the day after that. The orders are clear, target and paralyze anyone who takes up weapons and tries to oppose our troops, IDF officers also noted that incursions would force Palestinian militants to exert their energy by defending their homes in the camps instead of by plotting attacks on Israelis. Operation Defensive Shield was announced on March 29, but it is widely assumed preparations began nearly a month before. In early April, the IDF was conducting military operations inside all Palestinian cities, but the majority of the fighting centered on Bethlehem, Jenin, Nablus. Over 20,000 Israeli reservists were activated during the conflict, the IDF spokesman attributed 23 of the 60 suicide bombers that attacked Israel in 2002 to Palestinians from Jenin
15.
West Bank Areas in the Oslo II Accord
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The Oslo II Accord divided the West Bank into three administrative divisions, the Areas A, B and C. Area A comprises approximately 18% of the West Bank and Area B about 22%, as of 2015, Area C is home to 150,000 Palestinians in 532 residential areas. It also is home to 389,250 Israelis, in 135 settlements, Area C forms a contiguous territory, administered via the Judea and Samaria Area administration. In contrast, under the Oslo Accords the Areas A and B were subdivided into 165 separate units of land that have no territorial contiguity. The Oslo II Accord stipulated that during the first phase of redeployment the jurisdiction over the Areas A and B would be transferred to the Palestinian Council. Article XI.2. a reads, Land in populated areas, including government and Al Waqf land, the populated areas were defined by delineations on a map attached to the document. Area C comprised the areas of the West Bank outside Areas A and B, Area A, initially, circa 3% of the West Bank, exclusive East Jerusalem. As of 2013, Area A formally comprised about 18% of the West Bank and this area includes eight Palestinian cities and their surrounding areas, with no Israeli settlements. Entry into this area is forbidden to all Israeli citizens, as of 2013, Area B formally comprised about 22% of the West Bank. This area includes some 440 Palestinian villages and their surrounding lands, under the 1998 Wye River Memorandum, Israel would further withdraw from some additional 13% from Area C to Area B, which officially reduced Area C to circa 61% of the West Bank. Israel, however, withdrew from only 2%, and during Operation Defensive Shield, as of 2013, Area C formally comprised about 63% of the West Bank, including settlements, outposts and declared state land. Including or excluding annexed East Jerusalem, no-mans land and the Palestinian part of the Dead Sea also determines the percentage, all Israeli settlements, including those in and around East Jerusalem, are located in Area C. Oslo II, Article XII, for example, states, For the purpose of this Agreement, the Settlements means, in the West Bank the settlements in Area C, in 1972, there were 1,000 Israeli settlers living in what is now Area C. By 1993, their population had increased to 110,000, as of 2013, an estimated 350,000 Jewish settlers lived in Area C in Israeli settlements and outposts. In 2013, some 300,000 Palestinians lived in Area C, parts of Area C are military area closed for Palestinians. Part of Area C was intended to be handed to Palestinians by the end of 1999, Israel promised to redeploy its troops from Areas A and B before the elections. After the inauguration of an elected Palestinian parliament, the Israeli Civil Administration would be dissolved, the Council would get some powers and responsibilities. Israel shall transfer powers and responsibilities as specified in this Agreement from the Israeli military government, Israel shall continue to exercise powers and responsibilities not so transferred. ″″5
16.
Palestinian National Authority
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Following elections in 2006 and the subsequent Gaza conflict between the Fatah and Hamas parties, its authority had extended only in areas A and B of the West Bank. Since January 2013, the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority uses the name State of Palestine on official documents, the Palestinian Authority was formed in 1994, pursuant to the Oslo Accords between the Palestine Liberation Organization and the government of Israel, as a five-year interim body. Further negotiations were then meant to place between the two parties regarding its final status. The remainder of the territories, including Israeli settlements, the Jordan Valley region, East Jerusalem was excluded from the Accords. In the Palestinian legislative elections on 25 January 2006, Hamas emerged victorious, however, the national unity Palestinian government effectively collapsed, when a violent conflict between Hamas and Fatah erupted, mainly in the Gaza Strip. The move wasnt recognized by Hamas, thus resulting in two separate administrations – the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and a rival Hamas government in the Gaza Strip. The reconciliation process to unite the Palestinian governments achieved some progress over the years, the PA received financial assistance from the European Union and the United States. All direct aid was suspended on 7 April 2006, as a result of the Hamas victory in parliamentary elections, shortly thereafter, aid payments resumed, but were channeled directly to the offices of Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank. In November 2012, the United Nations voted to recognize Palestine as a non-member UN observer state, the Palestinian Authority was created by the Gaza–Jericho Agreement, pursuant to the 1993 Oslo Accords. The administrative responsibilities accorded to the PA were limited to civil matters and internal security, Palestinians in the diaspora and inside Israel were not eligible to vote in elections for the offices of the Palestinian Authority. General elections were held for its first legislative body, the Palestinian Legislative Council, the expiration of the bodys term was 4 May 1999, but elections were not held because of the prevailing coercive situation. Bush stated that the establishment of a Palestinian state by the end of 2005 was unlikely due to instability and we will give the Palestinian Authority technical help by sending equipment, training people. We will give the Palestinian Authority helicopters and also communication equipment, the Palestinian Authority became responsible for civil administration in some rural areas, as well as security in the major cities of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This increased the percentage of land in the Gaza Strip nominally governed by the PA from 60 percent to 100 percent, Palestinian legislative elections took place on 25 January 2006. Hamas was victorious and Ismail Haniyeh was nominated as Prime Minister on 16 February 2006, Hamas rejected these demands, which resulted in the Quartet suspension of its foreign assistance program and Israel imposed economic sanctions. In an attempt to resolve the financial and diplomatic impasse, the Hamas-led government together with Fatah Chairman Mahmoud Abbas agreed to form a unity government, as a result, Haniyeh resigned on 15 February 2007 as part of the agreement. The unity government was formed on 18 March 2007 under Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and consisted of members from Hamas, Fatah and other parties. The situation in the Gaza strip however quickly deteriorated into a feud between the Hamas and Fatah, which eventually resulted in the Brothers War
17.
Mukataa
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See muqataah for the Ottoman instrument for financing state expenses. This article deals mainly with the Mukataa of Ramallah, mukataʿa is an Arabic word for headquarters or administrative center. Mukataas were mostly built during the British Mandate as Tegart forts and were used both as British government centers and as dwellings for the British administrative staff, some Mukataas also included police stations and prisons. After the British left, the buildings often functioned similarly under the Jordanians, after the Oslo Accords, the Mukataas were used as governmental offices and headquarters for the Palestinian National Authority. During Operation Defensive Shield in April 2002, the Israeli Defence Forces raided the Mukataas in the West Bank, some Mukataas, including the Mukataa in Hebron, were entirely demolished. The Mukataa in Ramallah, built in the 1920s during the British Mandate by the British engineer Sir Charles Tegart, was a headquarters, a court of law. In May 1948, Jordan took over, and used the compound again as a prison and as a residence for Jordanian army officers, from the occupation in 1967 it was the Israeli military headquarters, until the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994. In 1996, Arafat moved in and the Mukataa became the official West Bank headquarters, on 29 March 2002, the Israel Defense Forces raided the compound and placed it under siege during Operation Defensive Shield. Although the military had withdrawn from the compound, the cities, on 6 June 2002, the IDF executed a new siege after having attacked the headquarters with tanks, bulldozers and armored vehicles. Arafats office building was destroyed, besides other parts of the compound. The attack was a retaliation on a bombing carried out by an Islamic Jihad militant. While Arafat was building a new Cabinet, the Israeli army five days later strengthened the siege on his headquarters with the support of US President George W. Bush, after a suicide bombing struck Tel Aviv on 19 September 2002, the Mukataa was again placed under siege. During the next ten days, the IDF destroyed all of the buildings that had survived the former sieges with bulldozers and explosives, only part of the building where Arafat and his people remained was left. The siege re-ignited Palestinian support for Yasser Arafat, on 24 September 2002, the UN Security Council demanded an end of the siege, but Israel ignored the Resolution. He alluded to the death of the two-state solution and said that were moving in the direction of state destruction. On 11 September 2003, the Israeli security Cabinet decided to remove Arafat, in a statement it said Recent days events have proven again that Yasser Arafat is a complete obstacle to any process of reconciliation. Israel will act to remove this obstacle in the manner, at the time, the compound remained under siege until Arafats transfer in October 2004, for medical care in a French hospital. In the early days of November, when it was clear his death was near, Jerusalem was the first choice, but Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he would not allow this
18.
War on Terror
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The War on Terror, also known as the Global War on Terrorism, is a metaphor of war referring to the international military campaign that started after the September 11th attacks on the United States. U. S. President George W. Bush first used the term War on Terror on 20 September 2001 and it was originally used with a particular focus on countries associated with Islamic terrorist organizations including al-Qaeda and like-minded organizations. In 2013, President Barack Obama announced that the United States was no longer pursuing a War on Terror, in 2017 Donald Trump assumed presidency of the United States and vowed that the fight against ISIL is his number one priority. Trump has also agreed to work together and carry joint operations with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the war on terror. The phrase War on Terror has been used to refer to the ongoing military campaign led by the U. S. The conflict has also referred to by names other than the War on Terror. Author Shane Harris asserts this was a reaction to the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing, Bush later apologized for this remark due to the negative connotations the term crusade has to people, e. g. of the Muslim faith. The word crusade was not used again, on 20 September 2001, during a televised address to a joint session of Congress, Bush stated that ur war on terror begins with al-Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped, in April 2007, the British government announced publicly that it was abandoning the use of the phrase War on Terror as they found it to be less than helpful. This was explained more recently by Lady Eliza Manningham-Buller, in her 2011 Reith lecture, the former head of MI5 said that the 9/11 attacks were a crime, not an act of war. So I never felt it helpful to refer to a war on terror. U. S. President Barack Obama has rarely used the term, in March 2009 the Defense Department officially changed the name of operations from Global War on Terror to Overseas Contingency Operation. In March 2009, the Obama administration requested that Pentagon staff members avoid the use of the term, basic objectives of the Bush administration war on terror, such as targeting al Qaeda and building international counterterrorism alliances, remain in place. Because the actions involved in the war on terrorism are diffuse, jackson cites among many examples a statement by John Ashcroft that the attacks of September 11 drew a bright line of demarcation between the civil and the savage. Administration officials also described terrorists as hateful, treacherous, barbarous, mad, twisted, perverted, without faith, parasitical, inhuman, Americans, in contrast, were described as brave, loving, generous, strong, resourceful, heroic, and respectful of human rights. The origins of al-Qaeda can be traced to the Soviet war in Afghanistan, a small number of Afghan Arab volunteers joined the fight against the Soviets, including Osama bin Laden, but there is no evidence they received any external assistance. On 7 August 1998, al-Qaeda struck the U. S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 people, the plant produced much of the regions antimalarial drugs and around 50% of Sudans pharmaceutical needs. The strikes failed to kill any leaders of WIFJAJC or the Taliban, next came the 2000 millennium attack plots, which included an attempted bombing of Los Angeles International Airport
19.
September 11 attacks
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The September 11 attacks were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda on the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11,2001. The attacks killed 2,996 people, injured over 6,000 others, two of the planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia and it was the deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement officers in the history of the United States, with 343 and 72 killed respectively. Suspicion for the attack fell on al-Qaeda. The United States responded to the attacks by launching the War on Terror and invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, many countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded the powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to prevent terrorist attacks. Although al-Qaedas leader, Osama bin Laden, initially denied any involvement, al-Qaeda and bin Laden cited U. S. support of Israel, the presence of U. S. troops in Saudi Arabia, and sanctions against Iraq as motives. Having evaded capture for almost a decade, bin Laden was located and killed by SEAL Team Six of the U. S. Navy in May 2011. S. many closings, evacuations, and cancellations followed, out of respect or fear of further attacks. Cleanup of the World Trade Center site was completed in May 2002, on November 18,2006, construction of One World Trade Center began at the World Trade Center site. The building was opened on November 3,2014. The origins of al-Qaeda can be traced to 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden traveled to Afghanistan and helped organize Arab mujahideen to resist the Soviets. Under the guidance of Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden became more radical, in 1996, bin Laden issued his first fatwā, calling for American soldiers to leave Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden used Islamic texts to exhort Muslims to attack Americans until the stated grievances are reversed, Muslim legal scholars have throughout Islamic history unanimously agreed that the jihad is an individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries, according to bin Laden. Bin Laden, who orchestrated the attacks, initially denied but later admitted involvement, in November 2001, U. S. forces recovered a videotape from a destroyed house in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. In the video, bin Laden is seen talking to Khaled al-Harbi, on December 27,2001, a second bin Laden video was released. In the video, he said, It has become clear that the West in general and it is the hatred of crusaders. Terrorism against America deserves to be praised because it was a response to injustice, aimed at forcing America to stop its support for Israel, the transcript refers several times to the United States specifically targeting Muslims. He said that the attacks were carried out because, we are free, and want to regain freedom for our nation. As you undermine our security we undermine yours, Bin Laden said he had personally directed his followers to attack the World Trade Center and the Pentagon
20.
Camp David Accords
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The Camp David Accords were signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on 17 September 1978, following twelve days of secret negotiations at Camp David. The two framework agreements were signed at the White House, and were witnessed by United States President Jimmy Carter, the second of these frameworks led directly to the 1979 Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty. Due to the agreement, Sadat and Begin received the shared 1978 Nobel Peace Prize, the first framework, which dealt with the Palestinian territories, was written without participation of the Palestinians and was condemned by the United Nations. The Camp David Accords were the result of 14 months of efforts by Egypt, Israel. The efforts initially focused on a resolution of disputes between Israel and the Arab countries, gradually evolving into a search for a bilateral agreement between Israel and Egypt. Upon assuming office on January 20,1977, President Carter moved to rejuvenate the Middle East peace process that had stalled throughout the 1976 presidential campaign in the United States, the Yom Kippur War further complicated efforts to achieve the objectives written in United Nations Security Council Resolution 242. Israels Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and his successor, Menachem Begin, were skeptical of an international conference. Even earlier, Begin had not been opposed to returning the Sinai, Carter visited the heads of state on whom he would have to rely to make any peace agreement feasible. By the end of his first year in office, he had met with Anwar El Sadat of Egypt, King Hussein of Jordan, Hafez al-Assad of Syria. Hafez al-Assad, who had no particular interest in negotiating peace with Israel, also refused to come to the United States, the Prime Minister had not yet arrived at his office and the caller spoke to Mr. Yechiel Kadishai, a Begin staff head. Kadishai said that no one was speaking with anyone and we expect a war in October and he also told the caller that if any high level talks were to occur the caller could be assured that they would be using his approach. Begin arrived, was informed of the plan, and contacted Sadat who agreed to the plan on that day, on the next day, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance traveled to the Middle East to obtain firsthand confirmation of the agreement between Israel and Egypt. The following day, Tuesday,8 August, the Camp David meeting was scheduled to take place in exactly 4 weeks time, the plan was that Israel agreed on 6 August to return the land to Egypt. Sadat’s then waning popularity would be enhanced as a result of such an achievement. Israels security was insured by the activities to take place during the transition period. Those activities also were included in the idea for peace communicated to Begins office on 6 August. President Anwar El Sadat came to feel that the Geneva track peace process was more show than substance and he also lacked confidence in the Western powers to pressure Israel after a meeting with the Western leaders. On 9 November 1977, President Sadat startled the world by announcing to parliament his intention to go to Jerusalem, shortly afterward, the Israeli government cordially invited him to address the Knesset in a message passed to Sadat via the US ambassador to Egypt
21.
Madrid Conference of 1991
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The Madrid Conference of 1991 was a peace conference, held from 30 October to 1 November 1991 in Madrid, hosted by Spain and co-sponsored by the United States and the Soviet Union. On 3 November, the conference was followed by negotiations between Israel and respectively the joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation, Lebanon and Syria. Subsequent bilateral meetings took place in Washington from 9 December 1991, in addition to maintaining a permanent U. S. As a first step Bush announced his intention to reconvene the international conference in Madrid. The Bush administration believed there was a window of opportunity to use the capital generated by the U. S. victory in the Gulf War to revitalize the Arab-Israeli peace process. This peace initiative focused on convening a multi-party international conference that would break into separate. U. S. Secretary of State James Baker made eight visits to the region to get support for the conference. A framework of objectives was formulated and the U. S. together with the Soviet Union, extended a letter of invitation, dated 30 October 1991 to Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and the Palestinians. This request however, added a new dimension to U. S. diplomacy, Secretary Baker made frequent shuttle trips to the region between March and October 1991 in an attempt to find a procedural formula acceptable to all sides. He did not have an easy time finding the formula to convene the conference. In light of Shamirs pro-settlement policy, Palestinians and many Arab governments viewed the request for Israeli loan guarantees as a test of Americas credibility as mediator, throughout the run-up to the Madrid conference, Israels loan guarantee request remained a sore point. By early September 1991, the Administration asked Congress for a 120-day delay on the loan guarantees and this postponement was seen as a way to get to Madrid, to buy time, and to soften the domestic debate. If a settlement freeze could not be obtained from Israel, Bush, must do everything we can to give peace a chance, Bush said in requesting the delay from Congress. Israeli leaders opposed linking the loans to the process, Shamir. Israel and its supporters in Washington began a campaign to support the loan request, by mid-September, U. S. -Israel relations were tense, pro-Israel groups challenged the president and lobbied against the delay. Shamir had originally believed he could outflank Bush and Baker and turn to U. S. public opinion, however, the U. S. Jewish community—though visibly mobilized on this issue—was not united in taking on the Administration, and Shamir soon backed away from a direct confrontation. The Palestinian team was part of a joint Palestinian-Jordanian delegation and consisted of Palestinians from the West Bank and it was formally without overt PLO associates like Saeb Erekat and Haidar Abdel-Shafi, the head of the delegation, because of Israeli objections. However, the delegation was in constant communication with the PLO leadership in Tunis, over Israeli objections, the PLO dispatched an unofficial advisory delegation, headed by Faisal Husseini to act as a liaison
22.
Protocol Concerning the Redeployment in Hebron
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It concerned the partial redeployment of Israeli military forces from Hebron in accordance with the 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. According to the Protocol, Area H-1 would come under Palestinian control, a large Palestinian majority still lives in both Area H-1 and Area H-2. The redeployment started on 16 January 1997, the protocol has never been ratified by either of the contracting parties. The Hebron Protocol initiated the third partial Israeli withdrawal, after the Gaza–Jericho Agreement, Hebron was excepted from the other West Bank cities, who got the status of Area A in the Oslo II Accord. The withdrawal was scheduled for completion before 28 March 1996. On 7 January 1997, the agreed on some provisions concerning the Old City. On 13 January 1997, Prime Minister Netanyahu met with Chairman Arafat in the presence of U. S. envoy Dennis Ross, on 14 January, they made known that they had reached an agreement. On 15 January, the Palestinian Authority in a joint meeting with the Executive Committee of the PLO approved the document, the Israeli Cabinet also approved the document. The Knesset approved the Protocol on 16 January by a vote of 87 to 17, the same day, the IDF began the redeployment from Hebron. The Hebron Protocol was signed on 17 January by Israeli chief negotiator General Dan Shomron, on 21 January, an agreement on the presence of an international monitoring group was signed. The Agreements provided, An IDF withdrawal from 80% of Hebron within ten days and this work would take place in conjunction with the implementation of the main Hebron Protocol. On 13 January 1997, the parties renewed talks on an agreement of troop withdrawal from Hebron, on 15 January 1997, Netanyahu and Arafat reached an agreement on the Protocol. U. S. envoy Dennis Ross drew up a note for the record to spell out the commitments, the partial Israeli withdrawal would begin within the next 10 days. The two leaders agreed that the Oslo peace process must move forward to succeed and that they had concerns and obligations about the Interim Agreement on the West Bank, prisoner release issues would be dealt with in accordance with the Interim Agreements provisions. Permanent status negotiations would be resumed within two months after implementation of the Hebron Protocol, the size of Palestinian police would be in keeping with the Interim Agreement. Exercise of governmental activity, and location of Palestinian governmental offices, in accordance with the provisions of the Interim Agreement both parties agreed on this protocol for the implementation of the redeployment in Hebron. The redeployment of the Israel Defense Forces in Hebron would be carried out in accordance with the Interim Agreement, Redeployment would be completed not later than ten days from the signing of this Protocol. During these ten days both sides would exert every effort to prevent friction
23.
Wye River Memorandum
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The Wye River Memorandum was an agreement negotiated between Israel and the Palestinian Authority at a summit in Wye River, Maryland, U. S. held from 15–23 October 1998. The Memorandum aimed to resume the implementation of the 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and it was signed in the White House by Benjamin Netanyahu and Yasser Arafat, through negotiations led by U. S. President Bill Clinton, on 23 October 1998. On 17 November 1998 Israels 120 member parliament, the Knesset, the Memorandum determined that it would enter into force on 2 November 1998, ten days from the date of signature. On 18 December 1998, the Clinton administration and the EU declared their contentment about the implementation of the first phase of the Memorandum by both sides. Israel, however, had only implemented stage 1 of the further redeployment, both parties accused each other of not fulfilling its share of responsibilities under the Wye River Memorandum, and the further implementation of the agreement remained unfinished. In the final push to get Netanyahu and Arafat to overcome remaining obstacles, on the final day of the negotiations, the agreement almost fell through. A bitter disagreement arose, with Netanyahu claiming that Clinton had promised to release Pollard and it was reported that then-Director of the CIA George Tenet had threatened to resign should Pollard be released. The agreement was signed by Netanyahu and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat at the White House. For the implementation of the Oslo II Accord and to facilitate the Israeli withdrawal from parts of the West Bank, Israel, the documents contained the reciprocal responsibilities, including those relating to further redeployments and security. In 1994, the Agreement on Preparatory Transfer of Powers and Responsibilities Between Israel, in 1995, the Protocol on Further Transfer of Powers and Responsibilities followed. The 1997 Hebron Protocol settled the withdrawal from 80% of Hebron, only the phases 1 and 2 are specified. Phase 3 was delegated to a Third further redeployment committee which was to be started, the Phases one and two, not specified in the Oslo II Accord, comprised the transfer to the Palestinians of 13% from Area C and shifts of parts of Area B to Area A. The redeployment was divided into three stages, specified in the Time line, Area B would increase with 13% and Area A with 14%. If the Memorandum had been implemented, Area C would theoretically have been reduced from circa 74% to 61% and this specification was a result of a misunderstanding regarding Prime Minister Netanyahus bottom line for Israeli territorial withdrawal. He told American negotiator Dennis Ross he could go as high as the lowest teen in percentage of territory, later, Netanyahu insisted he had meant 11% withdrawal, so Ross surfaced the idea of using the nature reserves to bridge the 11% and 13% figures. The Palestinian side was to make known its policy of tolerance for terror. The U. S. agreed to assist in carrying out the program and this decree would be comparable to the existing Israeli legislation which deals with the same subject. The Israeli, Palestinian and U. S. sides would each appoint a media specialist, a law enforcement representative, an educational specialist, there would be an exchange of forensic expertise, training, and other assistance
24.
2000 Camp David Summit
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The 2000 Camp David Summit was a summit meeting at Camp David between United States president Bill Clinton, Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat. The summit took place between 11 and 25 July 2000 and was an effort to end the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the summit ended without an agreement. U. S. However, the process put in place under Oslo had fulfilled neither Israeli nor Palestinian expectations. On 11 July, the Camp David 2000 Summit convened, although the Palestinians considered the summit premature and they even saw it as a trap. The summit ended on 25 July, without an agreement being reached, at its conclusion, a Trilateral Statement was issued defining the agreed principles to guide future negotiations. The negotiations were based on an all or nothing approach, such that nothing was considered agreed, the proposals were, for the most part, verbal. As no agreement was reached and there is no written record of the proposals. This consensus was expressed by Faisal Husseini when he remarked, There can be no compromise on the compromise and they maintained that Resolution 242 calls for full Israeli withdrawal from these territories, which were captured in the Six-Day War, as part of a final peace settlement. Israel wanted to annex the numerous settlement blocks on the Palestinian side of the Green Line, based on the Israeli definition of the West Bank, Barak offered to form a Palestinian state initially on 73% of the West Bank and 100% of the Gaza Strip. In 10–25 years, the Palestinian state would expand to a maximum of 92% of the West Bank, from the Palestinian perspective this equated to an offer of a Palestinian state on a maximum of 86% of the West Bank. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, Israel would have withdrawn from 63 settlements, according to Robert Wright, Israel would only keep the settlements with large populations. Wright states that all others would be dismantled, with the exception of Kiryat Arba, which would be an Israeli enclave inside the Palestinian state, in return, Israel would allow the Palestinians to use a highway in the Negev to connect the West Bank with Gaza. This highway would be under the sovereignty of Israel, and Israel reserved the right to close the highway to passage in case of emergency, Israel would retain around 9% in the West Bank in exchange for 1% of land within the Green Line. The land that would be conceded included symbolic and cultural territories such as the Al-Aqsa Mosque, additional to territorial concessions, Palestinian airspace would be controlled by Israel under Baraks offer. Settlement blocs, bypassed roads and annexed lands would create barriers between Nablus and Jenin with Ramallah, the Ramallah bloc would in turn be divided from Bethlehem and Hebron. A separate and smaller bloc would contain Jericho, further, the border between West Bank and Jordan would additionally be under Israeli control. The Palestinian Authority would receive pockets of East Jerusalem which would be surrounded entirely by annexed lands in the West Bank, a particularly virulent territorial dispute revolved around the final status of Jerusalem. Leaders were ill prepared for the role the Jerusalem issue in general
25.
Annapolis Conference
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The Annapolis Conference was a Middle East peace conference held on 27 November 2007, at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, United States. The conference aimed to revive the Israeli–Palestinian peace process and implement the Roadmap for peace, the conference ended with the issuing of a joint statement from all parties. After the Annapolis Conference, the negotiations were continued, the United States organized and hosted the conference. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and U. S. President George W. Bush attended the meeting. A partial list of over 40 invitees was released on 20 November 2007, including China, the Arab League, Russia, the European Union, the conference aimed to revive the Peace process and gather broad international support. The objective was to restart negotiations on a status agreement that addresses all core issues. A draft document was leaked by Haaretz before the conference, with the final, President Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert had six meetings since June 2007 to try to agree on some basic issues ahead of the summit. A final round of discussions between Olmert and Abbas was held in Washington D. C. on 26 November 2007, after the Annapolis Conference, the negotiations were continued. This was Rices 8th visit to the region during the Bush Administration, Abbas stated that a clear agenda was necessary for the conference. He demanded a Palestinian state comprising an equal to the territory of the West Bank. He further demanded that all six central issues be debated at the conference, Jerusalem, refugees and right of return, borders, settlements, water and security. Abbas said that he hoped to reach an agreement with Israel by the end of November 2007, furthermore, he expressed his hope that a final agreement with Israel would be possible within six months of the conference. Shas minister Eli Yishai explained, Jerusalem is above all political considerations, I will not help enable concessions on Jerusalem. Olmerts ability to follow through on his comments about concessions in East Jerusalem is therefore in question. Prior to the conference, President Bush met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the White House, after meeting with Olmert and Abbas, President Bush read from a joint statement, signed by both parties, supporting a Two-State Solution. A steering committee would meet from 12 December 2007, followed by negotiations between President Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert. Hamas and Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of Iran called for a boycott of the conference, in the West Bank, large demonstrations opposed to the conference were quelled heavy-handedly, and demonstrators were beaten by Fatah militants. The president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, denounced the event, on 27 November 2007, Rabbi Dov Lior of the Yesha Rabbis Council called an emergency meeting in order to discuss the upcoming conference
26.
Borders of Israel
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Israels borders are the borders of the State of Israel. The borders have changed from time to time with developments in Israels military, the border with Egypt is the international border demarcated in 1906 between Britain and the Ottoman Empire. They are referred to as the 1923 Paulet-Newcombe Agreement borders, being those of Mandate Palestine, Israels borders with Egypt and Jordan have now been formally recognized and confirmed as part of the peace treaties with those countries, and with Lebanon as part of the 1949 Armistice Agreements. As of 2002, the borders with Syria and Palestinian National Authority were still in dispute, the Sykes–Picot Agreement of 1916 secretly divided the Ottoman Empire lands of Middle East between British and French spheres of influence. They agreed that Palestine was to be designated as an international enclave and this agreement was revised by Britain and France in 1919. It was agreed that Palestine and the Vilayet of Mosul in modern-day Iraq would be part of the British sphere in exchange for British support of French influence in Syria and Lebanon. In October 1919 the British envisaged the area that is today southern Lebanon, in the East, matters were more complicated. Was part of the Ottoman province of Damascus which in the Sykes-Picot agreement had been allocated to the French, at the San Remo Conference the Allied Supreme Council granted the mandates for Palestine and Mesopotamia to Britain without precisely defining the boundaries of the mandated territories. That said, the 1920 agreement contained Article 25, which created provision for the possible later exclusion of land east of the Jordan from the Balfour Declaration, the boundary between the forthcoming British and French mandates was defined in broad terms. That agreement placed the bulk of the Golan Heights in the French sphere, the treaty also established a joint commission to settle the border and mark it on the ground. In accordance with the process, a nearby parcel of land that included the ancient site of Dan was transferred from Syria to Palestine early in 1924. In this way the Golan Heights became part of the French Mandate of Syria, when the French Mandate of Syria ended in 1944, the Golan Heights remained part of the newly independent state of Syria. In June 1922, the League of Nations approved the Palestine Mandate, the French/Italian dispute was resolved on September 29,1923, and both Mandates came into force on that date. Britain administered the part west of the Jordan as Palestine, Palestine comprised 23% of the Mandate territory and Transjordan comprised 77%. Technically they were one mandate but most official documents referred to them as two separate mandates, Transjordan remained under British control until 1946, when it gained independence. Britain declared that the Mandate was to end on 15 May 1948, on 14 May 1948, David Ben-Gurion, in a ceremony in Tel-Aviv, declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel. Eliahu Epstein, Agent, Provisional Government of Israel said in a letter to President Truman seeking recognition from the U. The United Nations in June 2000 was called upon to decide the Lebanese border to determine whether Israel had fully withdrawn from Lebanon in compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 425 and this line came to be called the Blue Line
27.
Israeli settlement
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Such settlements within Palestinian territories currently exist in Area C of the West Bank and in East Jerusalem, and within Syrian territory in the Golan Heights. Israel dismantled 18 settlements in the Sinai Peninsula in 1982, while in 2005 all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip were dismantled, but only four in the West Bank. In the West Bank, however, Israel continues to expand its remaining settlements as well as settling new areas, the International Court of Justice also says these purportedly annexed settlements are illegal in a 2004 advisory opinion. Similar criticism was advanced by the EU and the US, Israel disputes the position of the international community and the legal arguments that were used to declare the settlements illegal. Most of the spending goes to the security of the Israeli citizens living there, on 30 June 2014, according to the Yesha Council,382,031 Israeli citizens lived in the 121 officially recognised Israeli settlements in the West Bank, almost exclusively Jewish citizens of Israel. In January 2015 the Israeli Interior Ministry gave figures of 389,250 Israeli citizens living in the West Bank, settlements range in character from farming communities and frontier villages to urban suburbs and neighborhoods. The four largest settlements, Modiin Illit, Maale Adumim, Beitar Illit, Ariel has 18,000 residents, while the rest have around 37,000 to 55,500 each. The 1967 Six-Day War left Israel in control of the entire West Bank of the Jordan River, the entire Sinai Peninsula up to the Suez Canal, and the Gaza strip. Most of the Golan Heights, since 1981, administered under the Golan Heights Law, as early as 1967, Israeli settlement policy was started by the Labor government of Levi Eshkol. The basis for Israeli settlement in the West Bank became the Allon Plan and it implied Israeli annexation of major parts of the Israeli-occupied territories, especially East Jerusalem, Gush Etzion and the Jordan Valley. The settlement policy of the government of Yitzhak Rabin, was derived from the Allon Plan. The first settlement was Kfar Etzion, in the southern West Bank, many settlements began as Nahal settlements. They were established as military outposts and later expanded and populated with civilian inhabitants, Ariel Sharon declared in the same year that there was a plan to settle 2 million Jews in the West Bank by 2000. Since 1967, government-funded settlement projects in the West Bank are implemented by the Settlement Division of the World Zionist Organization, though formally a non-governmental organization, it is funded by the Israeli government and leases lands from the Civil Administration to settle in the West Bank. It is authorized to create settlements in the West Bank on lands licensed to it by the Civil Administration, traditionally, the Settlement Division has been under the responsibility of the Agriculture Ministry. Since the Olso Accords, it was housed within the Prime Ministers Office. In 2007, it was moved back to the Agriculture Ministry, in 2009, the Netanyahu Government decided to subject all settlement activities to additional approval of the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister. In 2011, Netanyahu sought to move the Settlement Division again under the control of PMO
28.
Homeland for the Jewish people
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A homeland for the Jewish people is an idea rooted in Jewish culture and religion. In the early 19th century, the Napoleonic Wars led to the idea of Jewish emancipation and this unleashed a number of religious and secular cultural streams and political philosophies among the Jews in Europe, covering everything from Marxism to Chassidism. Among these movements was Zionism as promoted by Theodore Herzl, in the late 19th century, Herzl set out his vision of a Jewish state and homeland for the Jewish people in his book Der Judenstaat. Herzl was later hailed by the Zionist political parties as the father of the State of Israel. In the Balfour Declaration of 1917, the United Kingdom became the first world power to endorse the establishment in Palestine of a home for the Jewish people. The British government confirmed this commitment by accepting the British Mandate for Palestine in 1922, the European powers mandated the creation of a Jewish homeland at the San Remo conference of 19–26 April 1920. In 1948, the State of Israel was established, the Jewish aspiration to return to Zion is part of Jewish religious thought that dates back to the destruction of the First Temple. However, the movement for the creation of a secular homeland within the confines of modern international law was perceived as a solution to the widespread persecution of Jews within Europe. This became the centerpiece of secular political Zionism, anti-Semitism was not limited to Europe. The Zionist movement was preceded by several Jewish groups that had popularized the move to Israel. For example, Israel ben Pereẓ of Polotsk and hundreds of other Jewish groups settled in Israel from Europe, developing communities in Jerusalem, Hebron and around much of the country. This was in addition to the existing communities of Sephardi and Ashkenazim in Tiberias, Tsfat. Zionists, however, worked within the international legal framework. They also armed and defended themselves, in 1896, Theodore Herzl set out his vision of a Jewish state and homeland for the Jewish people in his book Der Judenstaat. He then proceeded to found the Zionist Organisation, numerous delegates sought to insert the phrase by international law, which was opposed by others. A compromise formula was adopted, which came to be known as the Basel program, the Sykes–Picot Agreement of 16 May 1916 set aside the region of Palestine for international administration under British control. The phrase national home was used instead of state because of opposition to the Zionist program within the British Cabinet. The initial draft of the referred to the principle that Palestine should be reconstituted as the National Home of the Jewish people
29.
Palestinian political violence
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Palestinian political violence refers to acts of violence or terror motivated by Palestinian nationalism. Periodically directed toward more limited goals such as the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israel, the PLO officially renounced terrorism in 1988, and Fatah says it no longer engages in terrorism. The PFLP-GC has been internationally inactive, the Abu Nidal organization all but dissolved on his death and exists only in name. Tactics have included hostage taking, plane hijackings, stone throwing, stabbing, shootings, several of these groups are considered terrorist organizations by the United States government, Canada and the European Union. Palestinian political violence has targeted Israelis, Palestinians, Lebanese, Jordanians, Egyptians, Americans and citizens of other countries, the attacks have taken place within and outside Israel and have been directed at both military and civilian targets. Israeli statistics state that 3,500 Israelis have been killed and 25,000 have been wounded as a result of Palestinian violence since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 and these figures include soldiers as well as civilians, including those killed in exchanges of gunfire. Israeli statistics listing hostile terrorist attacks also include incidents in which stones are thrown, personal grievances, trauma, or revenge against Israel are widely maintained to form an important element in motivating attacks against Israelis. By the end of Ottoman rule, the Jewish population of Palestine was 56,000 or one-sixth of the population. After the passing of the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine in 1947 which called for the establishment of independent Arab and Jewish States, on the other hand,24,841 Jews and Israelis have died and 35,356 have been wounded during the same period. Since 1967, some estimate that some 40% of the male population of the West Bank. Around 400 Palestinian infiltrators were killed by Israeli Security Forces each year in 1951,1952 and 1953,1,000 or more were killed in 1949. At least 100 were killed during 1954–6, in total upward of 2,700 and possibly as many as 5,000 infiltrators were killed by the IDF, police, and civilians along Israels borders between 1949 and 1956. At first, Palestinians were trying to go back to their houses or to retrieve property but after 1950 these acts became more violent. After Israels Operation Black Arrow in 1955 which came as a result of a series of massacres in the city of Rehovot, the Israeli government cites dozens of these attacks as Major Arab Terrorist Attacks against Israelis prior to the 1967 Six-Day War. Between 1951 and 1956,400 Israelis were killed and 900 wounded by fedayeen attacks, according to the Anti-Defamation League n 1955 alone,260 Israeli citizens were killed or wounded by fedayeen. The Palestine Liberation Organization was founded in 1964, at its first convention in Cairo, hundreds of Palestinians met to, call for the right of self-determination and the upholding of the rights of the Palestinian nation. In order to achieve goals, a Palestinian army of liberation was thought to be essential, thus. Fatah, a Palestinian group founded in the late 1950s to organize the resistance against Israel
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Palestinian right of return
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This view holds that those who opt not to return or for whom return is not feasible, should receive compensation in lieu. Opponents of the right of return hold that there is no basis for it in law. The number of Palestinian refugees of the 1948 war is estimated at between 700,000 and 800,000, and another 280,000 to 350,000 people were refugees of the 1967 war. Approximately 120, 000–170,000 among the 1967 refugees are believed to have also been refugees from the 1948 war, today, the estimated number of Palestinian refugees, including both first-generation refugees and their descendants, exceeds four million. The issue of the right of return has been of importance to Palestinians since 1948. UN General Assembly Resolution 3236, passed on 22 November 1974 declared the right of return to be an inalienable right, however, General Assembly resolutions are not binding in international law, and the Oslo Agreements deliberately omit any mention of these resolutions. The Palestinian refugee problem started during the 1948 Palestine War, when between 700,000 and 750,000 Arabs left, fled, or were expelled from their homes in the area that would become Israel. From December 1947 to March 1948, around 100,000 Palestinians left, among them were many from the higher and middle classes from the cities, who left voluntarily, expecting to return when the situation had calmed down. Some expulsions arose, particularly along the Tel-Aviv – Jerusalem road, after the truce of June, about 100,000 Palestinians became refugees. About 50,000 inhabitants of Lydda and Ramle were expelled towards Ramallah by Israeli forces during Operation Danny, during Operation Dekel, the Arabs of Nazareth and South Galilee could remain in their homes. They later formed the core of the Arab Israelis, from October to November 1948, the IDF launched Operation Yoav to chase Egyptian forces from the Negev and Operation Hiram to chase the Arab Liberation Army from North Galilee. This generated an exodus of 200,000 to 220,000 Palestinians, here, Arabs fled fearing atrocities or were expelled if they had not fled. During Operation Hiram, at least nine massacres of Arabs were performed by IDF soldiers, after the war, from 1948 to 1950, the IDF cleared its borders, which resulted in the expulsion of around 30,000 to 40,000 Arabs. The UN estimated the number of refugees outside Israel at 711,000, the causes and responsibilities of the exodus are a matter of controversy among historians and commentators of the conflict. During the Palestinian exodus, Israeli leaders decided against the return of the refugees. During her visit at Haïfa on May 1,1948, Golda Meir declared, The Jews should treat the remaining Arabs with civil and human equality, a Transfer Committee and a policy of faits accomplis were set up to prevent a refugee return. In July, it had become a policy, Absentees property was managed by Israeli government. Others have compared Palestinians claims for compensation to the claims of ethnic Germans who were expelled from eastern Europe in the aftermath of the Holocaust and World War II
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Positions on Jerusalem
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There is significant disagreement in the international community on the legal and diplomatic status of Jerusalem. Legal scholars disagree on how to resolve the dispute under international law, many United Nations member states formally adhere to the United Nations proposal that Jerusalem should have an international status. The chief dispute revolves around the status of East Jerusalem. As a result, foreign embassies are located in Tel Aviv. Jerusalem is one of the key issues in the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, both Israelis and the Palestinians want it as their capital. The European Union has stated that Jerusalems status is that of corpus separatum, from 1517 until the First World War, Jerusalem was part of the Ottoman Empire. Since the 1860s, Jews have formed the largest religious group in the city and since around 1887, in the 19th century, European powers vied for influence in the city, usually on the basis of extending protection over Christian churches and Holy Places. A number of countries also established consulates in Jerusalem. In 1917 and following the First World War, Great Britain was in control of Jerusalem, however, the Arab and Jewish communities in Palestine were in mortal dispute and Britain sought United Nations assistance in resolving the dispute. Jewish representatives accepted the plan, however, representatives of the Palestinian Arabs, in May 1948, the Jewish community in Palestine issued the declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel. The new state was quickly recognised de facto by the United States, Iran, Guatemala, Iceland, Nicaragua, Romania, and Uruguay. The Soviet Union was the first nation to fully recognize Israel de jure on 17 May 1948, followed by Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Ireland, the United States extended official recognition after the first Israeli election, on 31 January 1949. Israel became a member of the United Nations on 11 May 1949, the states recognizing Israel did not recognize its sovereignty over Jerusalem generally citing the UN resolutions which called for an international status for the city. With the declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel and the subsequent invasion by surrounding Arab states, the 1949 Armistice Agreements left Jordan in control of the eastern parts of the city, while the western sector was held by Israel. Each side recognised the de facto control of their respective sectors. Soon after Israel declared that Jerusalem was a part of the State of Israel. In 1950, Jordan annexed eastern Jerusalem, following the 1967 war, Israel declared that Israeli law would be applied to East Jerusalem and enlarged its eastern boundaries, approximately doubling its size. The action was deemed unlawful by other states who did not recognize it and it was condemned by the UN Security Council and General Assembly who described it as an annexation in violation of the rights of the Palestinian population
32.
Zionist political violence
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Zionist political violence refers to acts of violence committed by Zionists. British soldiers and officials, United Nations personnel, Palestinian Arab fighters and civilians, domestic, commercial, and government property, infrastructure, and material have also been attacked. In 1935, the Irgun, a Zionist underground military organization, the Irgun were the armed expression of the nascent ideology of Revisionist Zionism founded by Zeev Jabotinsky. He expressed this ideology as every Jew had the right to enter Palestine, only active retaliation would deter the Arab and the British, only Jewish armed force would ensure the Jewish state. During the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine, Palestinian Arabs fought for the end of the Mandate and they attacked both British and Jews as well as some Palestinian Arabs who supported a Pan-Arabism. Mainstream Zionists, represented by the Vaad Leumi and the Haganah, practiced the policy of Havlagah, while Irgun militants did not follow this policy, the Irgun began bombing Palestinian Arab civilian targets in 1938. While the Palestinian Arabs were carefully disarmed by the British Mandatory authorities by 1939, after the beginning of World War II, the Haganah and Irgun suspended their activity against the British in support of their war against Nazi Germany. The smaller Lehi continued anti-British attacks and direct action throughout the war, after World War II, between 1945 and the 29 November 1947 Partition vote, British soldiers and policemen were targeted by Irgun and Lehi. It also continued to organize illegal immigration, in February 1947, the British announced that they would end the mandate and withdraw from Palestine and they asked the arbitration of the United Nations. After the vote of the Partition Plan for Palestine on 30 November 1947, Jewish and Arab communities fought each other violently in campaigns of attacks, retaliations and counter-retaliations which provoked around 800 deaths after two months. Arab volunteers entered Palestine to fight alongside the Palestinian Arabs, in April,6 weeks before the termination of the Mandate, the Jewish militias launched wide operations to control the territory dedicated to them by the Partition Plan. Many atrocities occurred during this time, the Arab population in the mixed cities of Tiberias, Safed, Haifa, Jaffa, Beisan and Acre and in the neighbouring villages fled or were expelled during this period. During the Battle for Jerusalem where the Jewish community of 100,000 people was besieged, most Arab villages of the Tel Aviv – Jerusalem corridor were captured by Jewish militias and leveled. At the beginning of the war, the Jewish militias organized several bombing attacks against civilians. On 12 December, Irgun placed a car bomb opposite the Damascus Gate, on 4 January 1948, the Lehi detonated a lorry bomb against the headquarters of the paramilitary Najjada located in Jaffas Town Hall, killing 15 Arabs and injuring 80. During the night between 5 and 6 January, the Haganah bombed the Semiramis Hotel in Jerusalem that had reported to hide Arab militiamen. The next day, Irgun members in a police van rolled a barrel bomb into a large group of civilians who were waiting for a bus by the Jaffa Gate. Another Irgun bomb went off in the Ramla market on February 18, killing 7 residents, on 28 February, the Palmah organised a bombing attack against a garage at Haifa, killing 30 people
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Israeli West Bank barrier
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The Israeli West Bank barrier or wall is a separation barrier in the West Bank or along the Green Line. Barrier opponents claim it seeks to annex Palestinian land under the guise of security, in Hebrew, descriptions include, separation fence, separation wall and security fence. In Arabic, it is called wall of apartheid جدار الفصل العنصري, in English, the BBCs style guide uses the terms barrier as does The Economist, PBS and the New York Times. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs uses the phrase security fence in English, the International Court of Justice has used the term wall explaining the other expressions sometimes employed are no more accurate if understood in the physical sense. It is also referred to as the Apartheid Wall or Apartheid Fence in a derogatory manner, Seam zone refers to the land between the 1949 Armistice Agreement Line and the fence. The barrier contains an on-average 60-metre wide exclusion area, the width of some sections is larger due to topographic conditions. The width of some sections is 3 metres where the barrier is constructed as a wall up to 8 metres high. These sections are narrower, require less land, and provide protection against snipers. Wall construction is common in urban settings, e. g. Qalqilyah and Jerusalem. The barrier nearly encircles some Palestinian towns, about 20% follows the line. Some 27,520 to 31,000 Palestinians will be captured on the Israeli side, another 124,000, on the other hand, will effectively be controlled and isolated. Some 230,000 Palestinians in Jerusalem will be placed on the West Bank side, most of the barrier was built at the northern and western edges of the West Bank, mostly beyond the Green Line and created 9 enclaves, which enclosed 15,783 ha. An additional barrier, circa 10 km long, run south of Ramallah, by contrast, the International Court of Justice states that in such cases it is only legal to build the barrier inside Israel. The barrier route has been challenged in court and changed several times, argument presented to the court has reiterated that the cease-fire line of 1949 was negotiated without prejudice to future territorial settlements or boundary lines. In 1992, the idea of creating a barrier separating the Israeli. In 1994, a first barrier was constructed along the Green Line between Bat Hefer and Tulkarm, in 1995, the Shahal commission was established to discuss how to implement a separation barrier. In 2000, Prime Minister Ehud Barak approved financing of a 74 km fence between the Wadi Ara region and Latrun, on 23 June 2002, the Ariel Sharon Government definitely approved the plan in principle and work at the barrier begun. By 2003,180 km had been completed and in 2004, by 2006,362 km of the barrier had been completed,88 km was under construction and 253 km had not yet been started
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Israel Electric Corporation
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Israel Electric Corporation is the largest supplier of electrical power in Israel. The IEC builds, maintains, and operates power generation stations, sub-stations, the company is the sole integrated electric utility in the State of Israel. Its installed generating capacity represents about 75% of the electricity production capacity in the country. It transmits and distributes all the electricity used in Israel. The State of Israel owns approximately 99. 85% of the company, the Jaffa Electric Company was founded in 1923 by Pinhas Rutenberg, and was later absorbed into a newly created Palestine Electric Company. The company was incorporated in Mandatory Palestine with its object to produce, supply, distribute. Israel Electric Corp. was first registered under the name The Palestine Electricity, Corporation Limited, which was changed in 1961 to its present name The Israel Electric Corporation Limited. Most of the base load electricity is generated using coal, though by the end of 2010 the company expected the majority of installed generation capacity to be in the form of natural gas plants. In 2009, the company sold 48,947 GWh of electricity, to meet projected future electricity demand, an IEC capital investment program provided for the addition of 2,578 MW of installed capacity by the end of 2011. In addition, the government of Israel was seeking private companies to generate an additional several thousand megawatts by the middle of the 2010s, which would then be distributed by the IEC. The Orot Rabin power station owned by the IEC has Israels second-tallest structure, israeli former Olympic sailor Shimshon Brokman has worked for Israel Electric Corporation since 1988, from 2006 as Head of the Fuel Management Department. The companys current CEO is Ofer Bloch, the IEC also provides power to the Palestinian territories. They are one of three sources of power for the Gaza Strip, and to the West Bank, on 23 February 2015 the IEC intentionally cut off the West Bank power for about 45 minutes due to uncollected debts. Two days later they again cut off power, stating it was a warning to the Palestinian Authority to begin paying down the debt, which at that time was NIS1.9 billion. The IEC stated that they are losing NIS85 million per month on power being supplied to Nablus and Jenin that they are not being paid for, causing the majority of their quarterly loss. The Palestinians accused IEC of collective punishment, however the IEC stated that they must operate independently and are treating this as they would any customer who does not pay their debts. On 31 March 2016 the IEC once again cut power to parts of the West Bank, in the Jericho area, on 4 April the IEC cut power, in the Bethlehem area, and the following day the IEC cut power in the Hebron area. On 6 April, the IEC restored full power to the West Bank after they received a NIS20 million payment, economy of Israel Energy in Israel Science and technology in Israel Investor Relations Site Official Site
35.
United Nations
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The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was established on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict, at its founding, the UN had 51 member states, there are now 193. The headquarters of the UN is in Manhattan, New York City, further main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states, the UNs mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its early decades by the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union and their respective allies. The organization participated in actions in Korea and the Congo. After the end of the Cold War, the UN took on major military, the UN has six principal organs, the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Secretariat, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Trusteeship Council. UN System agencies include the World Bank Group, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, UNESCO, the UNs most prominent officer is the Secretary-General, an office held by Portuguese António Guterres since 2017. Non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with ECOSOC and other agencies to participate in the UNs work, the organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, and a number of its officers and agencies have also been awarded the prize. Other evaluations of the UNs effectiveness have been mixed, some commentators believe the organization to be an important force for peace and human development, while others have called the organization ineffective, corrupt, or biased. Following the catastrophic loss of life in the First World War, the earliest concrete plan for a new world organization began under the aegis of the US State Department in 1939. It incorporated Soviet suggestions, but left no role for France, four Policemen was coined to refer to four major Allied countries, United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and China, which emerged in the Declaration by United Nations. Roosevelt first coined the term United Nations to describe the Allied countries, the term United Nations was first officially used when 26 governments signed this Declaration. One major change from the Atlantic Charter was the addition of a provision for religious freedom, by 1 March 1945,21 additional states had signed. Each Government pledges itself to cooperate with the Governments signatory hereto, the foregoing declaration may be adhered to by other nations which are, or which may be, rendering material assistance and contributions in the struggle for victory over Hitlerism. During the war, the United Nations became the term for the Allies. To join, countries had to sign the Declaration and declare war on the Axis, at the later meetings, Lord Halifax deputized for Mr. Eden, Wellington Koo for T. V. Soong, and Mr Gromyko for Mr. Molotov. The first meetings of the General Assembly, with 51 nations represented, the General Assembly selected New York City as the site for the headquarters of the UN, and the facility was completed in 1952. Its site—like UN headquarters buildings in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi—is designated as international territory, the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Trygve Lie, was elected as the first UN Secretary-General
36.
European Union
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The European Union is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2, the EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. Within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished, a monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002, and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency. The EU operates through a system of supranational and intergovernmental decision-making. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community, the community and its successors have grown in size by the accession of new member states and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. While no member state has left the EU or its antecedent organisations, the Maastricht Treaty established the European Union in 1993 and introduced European citizenship. The latest major amendment to the basis of the EU. The EU as a whole is the largest economy in the world, additionally,27 out of 28 EU countries have a very high Human Development Index, according to the United Nations Development Programme. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, through the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the EU has developed a role in external relations and defence. The union maintains permanent diplomatic missions throughout the world and represents itself at the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G7, because of its global influence, the European Union has been described as an emerging superpower. After World War II, European integration was seen as an antidote to the nationalism which had devastated the continent. 1952 saw the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, the supporters of the Community included Alcide De Gasperi, Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman, and Paul-Henri Spaak. These men and others are credited as the Founding fathers of the European Union. In 1957, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany signed the Treaty of Rome and they also signed another pact creating the European Atomic Energy Community for co-operation in developing nuclear energy. Both treaties came into force in 1958, the EEC and Euratom were created separately from the ECSC, although they shared the same courts and the Common Assembly. The EEC was headed by Walter Hallstein and Euratom was headed by Louis Armand, Euratom was to integrate sectors in nuclear energy while the EEC would develop a customs union among members. During the 1960s, tensions began to show, with France seeking to limit supranational power, Jean Rey presided over the first merged Commission. In 1973, the Communities enlarged to include Denmark, Ireland, Norway had negotiated to join at the same time, but Norwegian voters rejected membership in a referendum
