As a result of the 1st World War, Great Britain seized the territory from the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), which in ancient times was called Palestine. She received a mandate for this territory and restored its historical name. At that time, according to topschoolsintheusa, the name “Palestine” extended to all inhabitants – Arabs, Jews and Christians. In 1946, the Transjordanian sector of Palestine was set aside by Great Britain as an independent kingdom. On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution No. 181, which provided for the termination of the British mandate for Palestine and the creation on its territory of two independent states – an Arab and a Jewish one. For Jerusalem, a special international regime was established with a special status under the control of the UN. The resolution was supported by the United States and the USSR, but the League of Arab States issued a statement on December 17, 1947 stating that
On May 14, 1948, Great Britain announced the termination of its mandate and the withdrawal of its troops. On the night of May 14-15, the Jewish Agency announced the establishment of the State of Israel in the territories allotted to it in the resolution. The USA and the USSR recognized the State of Israel. Arab irregulars from Egypt, Syria and Iraq began to move towards Palestine and occupy military bases liberated by the British, and on May 15 the regular armies of Egypt, Transjordan, Iraq, Syria and separate contingents from Saudi Arabia under the banner of the League of Arab States entered the territory of Palestine. The Arab-Israeli war of 1948–49 ended with the defeat of the Arab armies and the capture by Israel of large Palestinian territories, allotted by a UN resolution for the creation of an Arab state, as well as the western part of Jerusalem. Transjordan occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Egypt – the Gaza region. For many decades, the problem of Palestinian refugees arose. In 1950, the King of Transjordan annexed the West Bank and renamed the country Jordan.
From Ser. 1960s the initiative in confronting Israel and the struggle for the creation of a Palestinian state began to pass to the Palestinians themselves. In 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was created, which brought together scattered groups and organizations of fedayeen under its roof. In the same year, the National Council of Palestine (the Palestinian “parliament in exile”) and the Executive Committee (“government in exile”) were formed, which since 1969 have been invariably headed by Yasser Arafat, the head of the Al-Fatah organization, which since 1969 has become the head organization of the PLO..
On June 5, 1967, the “Six-Day War” began between the Arabs and Israel after the Egyptian leadership demanded that the UN withdraw UN emergency forces in the Sinai, which served as a buffer between the opposing forces there. Israel struck first and on June 5, 1967 destroyed most of the Egyptian aircraft at the airfields. On June 10, the war effectively ended, with Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Egyptian Sinai, the Syrian Golan Heights, and East Jerusalem as a result.
On November 22, 1967, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution No. 242, which set out the principles for a peaceful settlement in the Middle East. Egypt and Jordan accepted this resolution, putting forward a number of preconditions for peace talks. Israel also accepted Resolution 242, stating the need for direct negotiations with the Arab states and a comprehensive peace agreement. Syria rejected the resolution, speaking sharply against the concessions it demanded from the Arab countries. The PLO also sharply criticized Resolution 242. The solution to the problem has reached an impasse.
During 1970, in Jordan, where the PLO settled, tensions between the royal government and the Palestinians began to intensify. As a result of the clashes, the PLO was withdrawn from the country and its forces regrouped in neighboring Lebanon.
In October 1973 hostilities began again between Egypt and Israel in the area of the Suez Canal and Sinai, as well as between Israel and Syria in the Golan Heights. The UN Security Council adopted Resolution No. 338 (1973), which reaffirmed the principles of a peaceful settlement enshrined in Resolution No. 242, and called on the parties to start peace negotiations based on them. The UN call for a ceasefire was later reaffirmed in UN Security Council Resolution 339 (1973). In October, the UN Peacekeeping Emergency Forces were created. Israel and Egypt (1974), and then Israel and Syria (1975) agreed to the disengagement of their armed forces. The United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) was established to monitor compliance with the agreements between Israel and Syria. The mandate of UNDOF in the zone of confrontation between Egypt and Israel expired in July 1979 after the conclusion of a peace treaty between these countries. But in the Golan Heights, UNDOF continues to function to this day.
In 1974, the King of Jordan annulled his right to represent the Palestinian people in the international arena and recognized it as such for the Executive Committee of the PLO.
In December 1987, a popular uprising began in the territories occupied by Israel, putting forward the end of the Israeli occupation and the creation of an independent Palestinian state as the main slogans. On November 15, 1988, the Palestine Liberation Organization proclaimed the creation of the State of Palestine in the West Bank and Gaza, recognized the UN Security Council resolutions to resolve the Middle East conflict, incl. Israel’s right to exist, put forward demands for Israel’s withdrawal from all Palestinian and Arab territories occupied by it in 1967, including the Arab (eastern) part of Jerusalem, and the elimination of all Israeli settlements created in these territories.
The United States and many other countries have established diplomatic contacts with the Palestine Liberation Organization On November 18, 1988, the USSR declared the recognition of the Palestinian state. In January 1990, the PLO representation in the USSR, which had existed since 1981 and had the status of a diplomatic mission, was transformed into the embassy of the State of Palestine.
In October 1991, an international conference on the Middle East opened in Madrid, which marked the beginning of the peace process in the region. On September 13, 1993, Israeli Prime Minister I. Rabin and PLO Secretary General M. Abbas signed the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Measures, which determined the basis for organizing temporary self-government of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (Oslo 1). In 1994 and 1995, the parties signed additional agreements that determined the conditions for a five-year transitional period and the organization of Palestinian self-government in the Palestinian territories (Oslo 2) – the Palestinian national autonomy. As a result, in 1996, elections were held for the Palestinian Legislative Council, presidential elections, and a government was formed.
On May 4, 1999, after a five-year transitional period provided for by the Declaration of Principles and additional agreements, an agreement was to be reached between Israel and the PNA on determining the final status of the Palestinian Authority and on the creation of a Palestinian state. However, by this date, the parties failed to agree, the negotiations were interrupted due to disagreements on a number of fundamental issues: the territorial delimitation between Israel and the Palestinian state, the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Jewish settlements and the return of Palestinian refugees.
In the current situation, on April 30, 2003, representatives of the international community – the “four international mediators”: Russia, the USA, the EU and the UN – put forward a project to overcome the crisis “Road Map”. This project envisages a peaceful progress towards a permanent settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in 3 stages in accordance with the principle of coexistence of two states. The ultimate goal of the plan is a final and comprehensive settlement of the conflict by 2005. Stage I: the end of terror and violence, the normalization of living conditions for Palestinians, the formation of Palestinian institutions. Stage II: Establishment of an independent Palestinian state with temporary borders and attributes of sovereignty based on the new Constitution. Phase III: permanent status agreement and the end of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
The logical continuation of the consistent efforts of the international community to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was the adoption on November 19, 2003 by the UN Security Council of Resolution No. 1515 proposed by Russia, which expresses support for the Road Map project and calls on the parties to implement its provisions in cooperation with the Quartet.
