Understanding the Israel-Palestine Conflict

The Position of the PCUSA

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) stands firm in its support of Palestinians and their right to live free in their land, without occupation, aggression, and bloodshed. We support and protect Israel’s right to exist as a free and sovereign nation.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) urges the Israeli government to honor the Palestinian people with the same freedom they offer their own citizens and continue to do so amid this crisis. We also urge HAMAS to release the hostages and refrain from additional violence. Regardless of our differences and strong views on matters of human rights, bombing innocent people, killing, and kidnapping children are never acceptable.

The PCUSA urges all leaders to immediately put an end to the bloodshed, release those who are captured and held hostage, end the fighting, and open humanitarian corridors to get medical attention to everyone who is in need. www.pcusa.org/news/2023/10/13/acting-stated-clrk-condemns-violence-israel-palest/

Although it has spoken out, the church is often accused of being silent. Its call for justice and peace has continued to go unheeded. Now it must speak up and speak out again, perhaps in stronger language. Its message is clear, consistent, and straightforward: it calls for the broad goal of ending the occupation, appeals with a most urgent priority for international protection for Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation, and the protection of innocent Israeli citizens. The United States and the international community must act now to end the conflict and the occupation.

Therefore, General Assembly asks pastors, lay leaders, sessions and individual members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to:

1. Pray, and invite others to pray, to the God of Peace to direct the hearts, minds, wills, and actions of those in positions of authority or influence in the Middle East, as well as those who know only aggression and violence, to seek the ways of peace.

2. Avail themselves of study resources that help them understand the history, nature, and dimensions of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

3. Seek out other Christians, Jews, and Muslims, in their own areas, to work together through interfaith peacebuilding, and in support of every effort made, whether by Israelis, Palestinians, the U.S. government, the United Nations, the Christian churches, and/or other religious and secular organizations that aim toward bringing about a just, honorable, secure, and viable peace in the Middle East.

4. Take individual and collective initiatives to tell the truth, having “listened with both ears,” and to advocate for a just peace in the Middle East with their representatives in Congress, the administration, United Nations officials, local/regional/national newspaper editors and other opinion makers. 

PCUSA has officially affirmed this position. The complete document can be accessed via www.pcusa.org/site_media/media/uploads/_resolutions/endoccupation03.pdf

A History of Conflict

In an effort for us to address number 2 of as suggested by the General Assembly, here is a historical outline of the establishment and growth of Israel, and the subsequent conflicts.

The Balfour Declaration

The Israeli-Palestinian issue goes back nearly a century when Britain, during World War I, pledged to establish a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine under the Balfour Declaration.  British troops took control of the territory from the Ottoman Empire at the end of October 1917.

Though the Balfour Declaration included the caveat that “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine”, the British mandate was set up in a way to equip Jews with the tools to establish rule, at the expense of other Palestinian residents.

Jewish immigration to Palestine

A large-scale Jewish migration to Palestine began after the Balfour Declaration, accelerated by people fleeing Nazism in Europe. An estimated 375,000 Jews settled in the region between 1918 and 1947.  The Jewish population in Palestine increased from 6 percent to 33 percent.

Palestinians were alarmed by the demographic change and tensions rose, leading to the Palestinian revolt from 1936 to 1939.  Meanwhile, Zionist organizations continued to campaign for a homeland for Jews in Palestine. Zionism, which emerged as a political ideology in the late 19th century, called for the creation of a Jewish homeland.

The UN Partition Plan

As violence ravaged the region, the matter was referred to the newly formed United Nations. In 1947, the UN adopted Resolution 181, which called for the partition of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states, handing over about 55 percent of the land to Jews. Arabs were granted 45 percent of the land, while Jerusalem was declared a separate international territory that would be overseen by the United Nations.  Unfortunately, this plan was never implemented as the UN had no means to support it on the ground.  The plan was accepted by Palestine's Jewish leadership but rejected by Arab leaders.

Jerusalem is currently divided between West Jerusalem, which is predominantly Jewish, and East Jerusalem with a majority Palestinian population. Israel captured East Jerusalem after the Six-Day War in 1967 along with the West Bank – a step not recognized by the international community.

The Old City in occupied East Jerusalem holds religious significance for Christians, Muslims, and Jews. It is home to the Temple Mount, known in Arabic as al-Haram al-Sharif (The Noble Sanctuary), and in Hebrew as Har ha'Bayit (The Mount of the House/Temple).  It is one of the most important religious sites in the world, to Muslims, Jews and Christians.

Israel declared the annexation of East Jerusalem in 1980, but the international community still considers it an occupied territory. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their hoped-for future state.

In 1981, the UN designated The Old City and Ramparts of Jerusalem, including Mount Zion, a World Heritage Site.  The Ramparts represent the Ottoman boundaries of the 16th century and enclose within it the sites of the Temple Mount, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Via Dolorosa.

Historical Role of the United States

Although the United States backed Resolution 181, the U.S. Department of State recommended the creation of a United Nations trusteeship with limits on Jewish immigration and a division of Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab provinces but not states.

As the date for British departure from Palestine drew near, the Department of State grew concerned about the possibility of an all-out war in Palestine as Arab countires threatened to attack almost as soon as the UN passed the partition resolution.  Despite growing conflict between Palestinian Arabs and Palestinian Jews and despite the Department of State’s endorsement of a trusteeship, Truman ultimately decided to recognize the state of Israel.

 On the day the Balfour Declaration expired, May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency, proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel. U.S. President Harry S. Truman recognized the new nation on the same day.  https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/creation-israel   

Israel’s War of Independence

On May 15, 1948, Israel was invaded by five Arab armies, marking the start of Israel's War of Independence.

The fighting ended in 1949 with a series of ceasefires, producing armistice lines along Israel's frontiers with neighboring countries, and creating the boundaries of what became known as the Gaza Strip (occupied by Egypt) and East Jerusalem and the West Bank (occupied by Jordan).  The surrounding Arab countries refused to recognize the armistice.  As a result, its borders remained unset. 

Zionist military forces caused the displacement of over one million Palestinian Arabs between roughly1930 and 1949.  Many left the region for surrounding Arab nations, but many stayed in regions identified in the 1949 armistice.

The Six-Day War of 1967

The biggest change to Israel's frontiers came in 1967, when the conflict known as the Six Day War left Israel in occupation of the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and most of the Syrian Golan Heights - effectively tripling the size of territory under Israel's control. Israel annexed East Jerusalem, claiming the whole of the city as its capital.

These moves were not recognized by the international community, until the US changed its official position on the matter under the Trump administration (becoming the first major power to do so).

Overwhelmingly, international opinion continues to consider East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights as occupied territory. Despite this, Israel has built settlements, farms and villages in the occupied territories, including the border regions of the West Bank.  A 2005 agreement withdrew settlements from Gaza.

Formalizing National Borders

The first of Israel's land borders was formalized in 1979, when Egypt became the first Arab country to recognize the Jewish state. Under the treaty, Israel's border with Egypt was set and Israel withdrew all its forces and settlers from the Sinai, a process which was completed in 1982.

This left Israel in occupation of the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, with its frontiers (excluding that of Egypt) still delineated by the 1949 armistice lines.

In 1994, Jordan became the second Arab state to recognize Israel, formalizing its long border with the Jewish state in the process. While there has not yet been a peace treaty between Israel and Lebanon, the two countries' 1949 armistice line serves as Israel's de facto northern border. Israel's border with Syria remains unsettled.

Gaza and the West Bank are considered a single occupied entity by the UN, and the official borders have not yet been determined.  The final status and contours of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem are meant to be decided in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians living there under Israeli occupation, but decades of on-off talks have so far proved fruitless.

The Oslo Accords

In 1993, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signed the Oslo Accords, which aimed to achieve peace within five years. It was the first time the two sides recognized each other.

To meet that goal several steps would need to be taken, including the phased withdrawal of the Israeli military from the Palestinian territories it occupied since 1967, and the transfer of authority to a Palestinian administration, except for final status issues, including the status of Jerusalem (the eastern half of which is occupied Palestinian land) and Israel’s illegal settlements, which would be negotiated at a later date.

The accords led to the creation of the supposedly temporary Palestinian Authority.  A second agreement in 1995 divided the occupied West Bank into three parts – Area A, B and C. The Palestinian Authority was offered limited rule on 18 percent of the land as Israel effectively continued to control the West Bank. 

Israeli settlements, built on Palestinian land have grown at a rapid pace. Settlers are Israeli citizens who live on mostly private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.  More than 700,000 settlers now live in these regions.

The Oslo Accords are breaking down as settlement continues, the Palestinian Authority seeks greater control over the region, the building of separation walls, the rise of HAMAS in the politics of Gaza and decades of frustrating on-off talks.

Overview of the Current Incursion in Gaza

This is the fifth incursion into Gaza by Israel since 2006 for various reasons. This is the second incursion in response to actions by HAMAS.  HAMAS–the acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya (Islamic Resistance Movement)—is the largest militant group in the Palestinian territories and one of the territories’ two major political parties.

HAMAS has been the de facto governing body in the Gaza Strip since 2007, when it ousted the Palestinian Authority from power.  (The moderate Palestinian Authority remains in control with Israel of the West Bank)  HAMAS is committed to armed resistance against Israel and the creation of an Islamic Palestinian state in Israel’s place.  They are designated terrorists by the United States, European Union, Austrailia, Canada, United Kingdom, Japan and Paraguay.

HAMAS gunmen launched an assault on Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages.  The Israeli military responded with air strikes on Gaza and launched a ground offensive.  Since the October attacks, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) warplanes have carried out air strikes across Gaza while its troops have moved through the territory.  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had a "clear goal of destroying HAMAS's military and governing capabilities", as well as freeing the hostages.  Netanyahu also declared that Israel would have "overall security responsibility" for Gaza "for an indefinite period" after the conflict. However, he later said Israel had no plans to reoccupy the territory.

Under a deal brokered by Qatar, a seven-day pause in fighting began on November 24, 2023.  During the truce, 81 Israelis and dual nationals were released, along with 24 foreigners. In return for the Israeli hostages, 240 Palestinians were free from Israeli jails.  Each side blamed the other for the collapse of the truce and the resumption of fighting on December first.  Current international efforts to broker a cease-fire had a setback as Israel reportedly recalled its negotiating team and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of hobbling the high-stakes negotiations by sticking to “delusional” demands.

The war's deaths, destruction and displacement are without precedent in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The war has divided Israelis while the offensive threatens to ignite a wider conflict involving Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen that support the Palestinians. In recent days bombings are occurring on the West Bank/Israel borders.

The war has killed approximately 3,000 Israelis and over 28,000 Gaza residents.  It has displaced some 85% of Gaza's residents, with hundreds of thousands packing U.N.-run shelters and camps in the south. U.N. officials say a quarter of the population of 2.3 million is starving as a trickle of humanitarian aid reaches them because of the fighting and Israeli restrictions.

In power for most of the past 16 years, Netanyahu has long portrayed himself as tough on security. Netanyahu rejects calls from the U.S, its closest ally, for postwar plans that would include a path to Palestinian statehood. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the refusal to accept a two-state solution unacceptable.  "The Middle East is a tinderbox. We must do all we can to prevent conflict igniting across the region," Guterres has stated. "And that starts with an immediate humanitarian cease-fire to relieve the suffering in Gaza."

Sources for entire history: Associated Press, Encyclopedia Britannica, Al Jazzera, BBC and NPR                  
 Nov. 24,2023 through February 13, 2024