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PALESTINE
1. Introduction. Palestine has long been known as a country
where men and women, boys and girls, old and young are struggling
against Israel for freedom, liberation, sovereignty and independence.
Palestine is a country, where every person is striving hard for
Jerusalem, which is as old as history. It is the first “QIBBLAH” and
third shrine towards which Muslims turn. The Apostle of ALLAH
(PEACE BE UPON HIM) said “Journeys are not to be made except to
three mosques, this Mosque of Mine, the Sacred Mosque and Al-
Aqsa Mosque”.
2. Aim. To aquaint you with the details of palestine issue and
peace proposals.
3. Sequence
a. Geography
b. Historical Perspective of the issue.
c. Current Issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
d. Peace proposals.
e. Role of USA and Pakistan.
4. Geography. Palestine is located in the West of Asian
continent. Palestine is surrounded by Mediterranean sea in west with
224 km sea beach, Syria is in North-east with border of 70 km.
Jordan is in East with border of 360 km, and also Dead sea is located
in the East. Lebanon is in North with border of 79 km, The Gulf of al-
aqbaa is in south with 10.5 km beach, Egypt is in southwest with
border of 240 km.The total area of Palestine is 27,000 sq km.
5. Holy Places at a Glance. Palestine is rich with old history
with many holy places like Al-Masjid Alaqsa, Doma of Al- masjid
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aqsa, holy rock, Church of Nativity, Grave of Prophet of Mousa (A-S)

and many more shown on the screen
6. Religion. The majority of the people are Muslims; the
remaining people are Christian, generally Greek Orthodox or Roman
Catholic, very few Protestan.
7. Historical Perspective of the Issue
a. History's legacy created divisive issues between
Palestinians and Israelis. Judea, home of the Jews in
ancient times, was conquered by the Romans and
renamed Palestine. Palestine was later conquered and
inhabited by Arabs for over a thousand years.
b. Zionist Mov
1) In 1896 the founder of political Zionism Theodore Herzl
an Austrian Jew journalist advocated the idea of the
creation of Jewish State either in Palestine or in
Argentina.
2) In 1897, Herzl convened a Zionist congress at Basle,
but the idea of the creation of a Jewish state was
not accepted by the congress which instead
recommended the creation of a “home” for the
Jewish people at the place of Palestine.
3) 2nd November 1917, a contradictory pledge was given
to the Zionist Jews in a letter addressed by Arthur
James Balfour. Later known as “the Balfour
declaration” (establishment of a national home for
the Jewish people in Palestine).
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c. From 1922 to 1947, large-scale Jewish immigration took

place, mainly from Eastern Europe. Palestinian demands
for independence and resistance to Jewish immigration
led to a rebellion in 1937, followed by continuing terrorism
and violence from both sides during and immediately after
World War II. Great Britain tried to implement various
formulas to bring independence to a land ravaged by
violence. In 1947, Great Britain turned the problem over
to the United Nations.
d. In 1947 after looking at various alternatives, the UN
proposed the partitioning of Palestine into two
independent States, one Palestinian Arab and the other
Jewish, with Jerusalem internationalized.  One of the two
States envisaged in the partition plan proclaimed its
independence as Israel and in the 1948 war expanded to
occupy 77 per cent of the territory of Palestine. Israel also
occupied the larger part of Jerusalem. Over half of the
indigenous Palestinian population fled or were expelled.
Jordan and Egypt occupied the other parts of the territory
assigned by the partition resolution to the Palestinian
Arab State which did not come into being.
e. In the 1967 war, Israel occupied the remaining territory of
Palestine, until then under Jordanian and Egyptian control
(the West Bank and Gaza Strip). This included the
remaining part of Jerusalem, which was subsequently
annexed by Israel. The war brought about a second
exodus of Palestinians, estimated at half a million.
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Security Council resolution 242 (1967) of 22 November

1967 called on Israel to withdraw from territories it had
occupied in the 1967 conflict.
f. In 1973, Egypt and Syria attacked Israel on the Jewish
holy day of Yom Kippur to attempt to regain their lost
land, but failed.
g. In 1974, the General Assembly reaffirmed the 
inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to  self-
determination,  national independence and sovereignty,
and to return. The following year, the General Assembly
established the Committee on the Exercise of the
Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. The General
Assembly conferred on the PLO the status of observer in
the Assembly and in other international conferences held
under United Nations auspices. 
h. Events on the ground, however, remained on a negative
course. In June 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon with the
declared intention to eliminate the PLO. A cease-fire
was   arranged. PLO troops withdrew from Beirut and
were transferred to neighboring countries after
guarantees of safety were provided for thousands of
Palestinian refugees  left behind. Subsequently, a large-
scale massacre of refugees took place in the camps of
Sabra and Shatila.
J. In September 1983, the International Conference on the
Question of Palestine, which was widely attended,
adopted inter alia the Geneva Declaration containing the
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principles:   the need to oppose and reject  the

establishment of settlements in the occupied territory and
actions taken by Israel to change the status of 
Jerusalem,  the right of all States in the region to
existence within secure and internationally recognized
boundaries, with justice and security for all the people,
and the attainment of the legitimate, inalienable rights of
the Palestinian people. 
j. In December 1987, a mass uprising against the Israeli
occupation began in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
(the intifada). Intifada means uprising. The massive
popular revolution inside the occupied homeland is not a
passionate outburst; it is an accumulation of the
experience in the struggle over the years and eruption of
compressed pain and sufferings. The Intifada showed the
world that civilians could face the Israeli armed forces and
reaffirmed the fact that Palestinians are brave people.
The Intifada was the turning point and received significant
attention from the world public opinion.
k. A  Peace Conference on the Middle East was convened in
Madrid on 30 October 1991, with the aim of achieving a
just, lasting and comprehensive peace settlement through
direct negotiations along 2 tracks: between Israel and the
Arab States, and between Israel and the Palestinians,
based on  Security Council resolutions (the "land for
peace" formula). A series of  subsequent negotiations
culminated in the mutual recognition between the
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Government of the State of Israel and the Palestine

Liberation Organization, the representative of the
Palestinian People, and the signing by the two parties of 
the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government 
Arrangements in Washington on 13 September 1993, as
well as the subsequent implementation agreements,
which led to several other positive developments, such as
the partial withdrawal of Israeli forces, the elections to the
Palestinian  Council and the Presidency of the Palestinian
Authority, the partial release of prisoners and the
establishment of a functioning administration in the areas
under Palestinian self-rule.
l. In 2000 and 2001, Israelis and Palestinians held talks on a
final status agreement, which proved inconclusive.
8. Current Issues in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
a. Death of Yasser Arafat. Following the death of Yasser
Arafat a new era began in Palestinian history and in
Israeli-Palestinian relations. Mahmoud Abbas (Abu
Mazen) was elected President ("Rais") of the Palestinian
National Authority with a comfortable majority in free and
democratic elections. Abbas vowed to put put an end to
terror and to negotiate peace based on Israeli withdrawal
from all the lands of the West Bank and Gaza, a
Palestinian capital in Jerusalem, and "return of the
Palestinian refugees."
b. Hamas election victory. In elections held in January
2006, the Hamas movement won a majority of seats in
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the Palestinian Legislative Council and formed a

government. This was eventually expanded into a unity
government that included the Fatah, until June of 2007.
The Hamas refuse to recognize the right of Israel to exist
or to make peace with Israel.
c. Palestinian Unity. In March of 2007, Hamas and
Fateh concluded a unity agreement in Mecca, allowing for
formation of a unity government . Israel insisted it would
maintain relations only with Mr. Abbas, who is President
and not part of the government.
d. Collapse of the Palestinian authority. In June of 2007
tensions between Hamas and Fatah rose to an extent that
Fatah was driven out of the Gaza strip. Palestinian PM
Mahmoud Abbas dissolved the unity government. In the
West Bank, Fatah militants arrested Hamas officials and
Hamas fighters. This makes the future of any peace
process very uncertain. 
e. Provisional State Versus Final Status. The quartet
roadmap calls for considering a Palestinian state within
provisional borders as an option, which is favored by
Israelis and the United States, while Abbas insisted on
final status negotiations and claims he does not want a
state with provisional borders.
f. Kidnapped Soldier. In June of 2006, Corporal Gilad
Shalit was kidnapped. Hamas demanded release of
Palestinian prisioners in return for Shalit. Israel insisted
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that serious negotiations about final status issues cannot

be restarted until Shalit is returned.
g. Israeli Security Handover. Israel is supposed to hand
over security responsibilities in West Bank cities,
gradually lifting the siege and returning conditions to what
they were before the start of the violence in 2000. 
h. The "security barrier" (Apartheid Wall). A "security
barrier" being built inside the West Bank cuts off
Palestinians from their lands and from other towns. The
route of the fence has been changed several times under
international pressure. By October 2005 it included about
7% of West Bank territory on the Israeli side of the
barrier.  An International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory
ruling declares the barrier to be in violation of international
law.
j. Prisoners. Israel holds thousands of Palestinian
prisoners, of whom about 500 were released in February
of 2005. Palestinians want release of all prisoners,
especially women and minors.
k. Disengagement. The Israeli Government decided to
unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip and from 4
settlements in the West Bank, evacuating about 8,000
settlers in September 2005.
l. Safe Passage and open borders . Palestinians living in
Gaza have very restricted access to the outside world. A
safe passage for Gazans to the West Bank was supposed
to have been implemented under the Oslo accords but
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never came into being. Israel favors a rail link, while

Palestinians want a motor road.
m. Israeli Outposts. Under the roadmap, Israel had
undertaken to evacuate  illegal "outposts" set up by
settlers with government knowledge, but without formal
approval, after March 2001. There are estimated to be
about 28 such outposts by the government. In all, there
are over 100 outposts. Israeli PM promised once again to
evacuate the outposts. No substantial progress was
made, however, as late as June 2007.
9. Peace Proposals Official peace plans include the quartet
roadmap, and the Arab League initiative for Arab-Israeli peace.
Various informal initiatives for solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
have been proposed. The most popular is the Geneva Accord, under
which Israel would return the territories outside the current route of
the security fence, cede parts of Jerusalem to the Palestinians and
Palestinian refugees would return to the Palestinian state, but not to
Israel. However, the outcome was not as suggested :-
a) Isreal had blocked natural resources leading to palestine
and illegal occupation and bombing remains unchecked.
b) It is now more depressing to see that after a long fighting
for peace and freedom Hamas and Al-Fateh have started
fighting among themselves. Isreal is taking adv of the sit
and is widening the divide it had created.

10. Role of USA

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a. U.S. involvement in the Middle East has also been seen

as a critical issue. The U.S. and West's interests in the
region have been due to oil. Strong military and financial
support of Israel lends well to a powerful ally in the region
b. While the UN Security Council has attempted to pass
numerous resolutions critical of Israel the United States
has vetoed almost all of them.
c. The US has also provided Israel with enormous military
aid, to the extent that in the Middle East, Israel has the
most advanced and superior military. Their high tech /
military industries are also very advanced. Israel also has
nuclear weapons capabilities.
11. Role of Pakistan. Pakistan’s support for Palestinian cause
has been constant. Pakistan always stood up for Palestinians at the
time of need. Pakistan was amongst the first countries that
recognized the PLO’s struggle for freedom, independence and has
continuously supported their cause.
12. Conclusion. Palestine is a story of immense sacrifices,
story of millions of deprived people who have been expelled from
their homes in this civilized world. Palestinians had to pay a high
price in tears, blood, and banishment. Pakistan will continue to
support the Palestinian cause.