A study guide covering all issues in detail for the 11/10 and 18/10/2011 sessions).

1. KCL Model United Nations
Society 2011/2012
"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict
and the Humanitarian Crisis in
Gaza"

2. KCL Model United Nations Society 2011/2012
"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the
Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza”
1
Table of Contents
An overview of the Conflict ..................................................................................... 2
Issues ................................................................................................................. 4
Areas a Resolution Must Address ............................................................................... 7
Sources for research (optional)................................................................................. 8

3. KCL Model United Nations Society 2011/2012
"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the
Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza”
2
An overview of the Conflict
At the end of World War I, British officials occupied the area that is Zionist: Those who seek an
present-day Israel. Pressured by "Zionist" leaders, the Britain announced independent Jewish homeland
that it would create a state in the Middle East region of Palestine, the
biblical cradle of both Jewish and Arab civilizations. This state, Israel,
would be a national home for the Jewish people.
Resolution 181: The United
Nations Partition Plan for
Palestine was a resolution
Many Jews fleeing Nazi persecution in Europe during the 1920s and 1930s adopted on 29 November 1947
were not permitted to enter other nations, both because these countries by the General Assembly of
were overwhelmed with refugees and because many nations harboured the United Nations. Its title
anti-Semitic feelings. This lack of alternative, coupled with the Zionist was United Nations General
movement, prompted a mass migration of Jews to the new Middle Eastern Assembly Resolution 181 (II)
state. Clashes soon broke out between the immigrating Jews and the Arab Future Government of
population, the Palestinians, who had lived there previous to the Palestine.
establishment of Israel. In 1947, Britain gave control of most of the region
over to the newly formed United Nations. Later that year, General The resolution noted Britain's
planned termination of
Assembly Resolution 181 recommended that Palestine be divided into
the British Mandate for
two separate states, one Jewish and the other Palestinian Arab. Palestine and recommended the
partition of Palestine into two
states, one Jewish and
The city of Jerusalem, a religious one Arab, with the Jerusalem-
centre for both groups, was to be Bethlehem area being under
internationalised and controlled special international protection,
by the UN. The plan, however, administered by the United
was rejected by the Palestinians Nations.
who did not want to lose their
homeland. By 1948, British forces
left the area entirely and Israel
declared itself an independent
nation—an action that angered
neighbouring Arab countries.
Several of these Arab states
staged attacks to regain the land
Israel had claimed as its own.
These attacks ended with
armistices that, among other
things, redrew the boundaries of
Palestine. In 1949, Israel signed
separate Armistices with Egypt, Armistice: An agreement
Lebanon, Jordon and Syria. The made by opposing sides in a
Armistice Demarcation Lines war to stop fighting for a
afterwards known as the ‘Green certain time; a truce.
Line’, as set by the agreements,
saw the territory under Israeli
control encompassing
Figure 1: UN 1947 partition plan for Palestine

4. KCL Model United Nations Society 2011/2012
"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the
Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza”
3
approximately three-quarters of Mandate Palestine. This was about one-
third more than was allocated to the Jewish State under the UN partition
proposal. Egypt and Jordon occupied the Gaza Strip and West Bank
respectively.
Meanwhile, occasional fighting continued along many borders. By 1967,
Egypt and Jordan appeared to be mobilizing troops for an attack, and
Israel launched a pre-emptive strike to defend its land and claim other
disputed areas. The war, which lasted only six days, resulted in Israeli
occupation of all Palestinian territory. Israel refused to acknowledge the Intifada:
Security Council’s calls for withdrawal. The occupied territories are in The Palestinian uprising against
two sections: the West Bank to the East, and the smaller Gaza strip, is Israeli occupation of the West
Bank and Gaza Strip, beginning
along the Mediterranean Coast. The two areas are separated by Israel
in 1987
and Palestinians do not travel freely between them.
Palestinians in the area have retained small sections of land within the
occupied territories. Israelis continued to build new settlements in the
regions they claim as their own, but many nations saw this as an effort to
illegally expand Israel’s territory. The Palestinian Liberation Organization Key points in the conflict:
(PLO), under the leadership of Yasser Arafat, who is now dead, several The division of land, ownership
times declared an intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation, to of major religious sites,
little success. Palestinian suicide bombers ravaged Israeli settlements continued attacks on civilians
while Israeli troops continued to invade Palestinian areas—both parties and terrorist activity in the
are responsible for many civilian deaths. region all complicate the peace
process.
The UN has affirmed the Palestinians' right to an independent state and
has tried to establish peace in the region, but key points in the conflict
remain unsettled.

5. KCL Model United Nations Society 2011/2012
"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the
Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza”
4
Issues
‘Two State Solution’
The two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the consensus
solution that is currently under discussion by the key parties to the
conflict, most recently at the Annapolis Conference in November 2007.
The proposal is supported by many international figures and agencies.
A two-state solution is in practice a proposal for the establishment of an
independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. The main point on which
the two-state solution formula differs from those for an independent
Palestinian state is that the two-state solution calls for direct
negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. To achieve a
two-state solution, a number of difficult issues need to be resolved,
including the borders of the Palestinian state, the citizenship of the new
Palestinian state, the status of Palestinian refugees outside the final
borders, and the status of Arab citizens of present-day Israel, besides the
future of East Jerusalem.
The refugee crisis
Figure 2: Palestinian refugees in 1948
Palestinian refugees or Palestine refugees are the people and their
descendants, predominantly Palestinian Arabic-speakers, who fled or
were expelled from their homes during and after the 1948 Palestine War,
within that part of the British Mandate of Palestine, that after that war
became the territory of the State of Israel, and Egypt and Jordan who
took control of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank respectively.
Some displaced Palestinians resettled in other countries where their
situation is often precarious. Many retained the refugee status and
continue to reside in refugee camps, including in the Palestinian
territories. Palestinian refugees and their descendants form a sizable
portion of the Palestinian diaspora.

6. KCL Model United Nations Society 2011/2012
"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the
Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza”
5
The potential for terrorism: Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or political party that governs
the Gaza Strip. Based on the principles of Islamic fundamentalism gaining
momentum throughout the Arab world in the 1980s, Hamas was founded
in 1987 (during the First Intifada) as an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim
Brotherhood. Since June 2007 Hamas has governed the Gaza portion of
the Palestinian Territories, after it won a majority of seats in
the Palestinian Parliament in the January 2006 Palestinian parliamentary
elections and then defeated the Fatah political organization in a series of
violent clashes.
More controversially, Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-
Qassam Brigades. From 2000 to 2004, Hamas was responsible for killing
nearly 400 Israelis and wounding more than 2,000 in 425 attacks,
according to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 2001 through May
2008, Hamas launched more than 3,000 Qassam rockets and 2,500 mortar
attacks into Israel
Hamas uses both political activities and violence in pursuit of its goals.
For example, while politically engaged in the 2006 Palestinian Territories
parliamentary election campaign, Hamas stated in its election manifesto
that it was prepared to use "armed resistance to end the occupation".
Because of this, several major international actors (including
the European Union, the United States ,Canada, Israel and Japan) classify
Hamas as a terrorist organization,while nations such as Russia, Turkey
and Switzerland do not.
Jerusalem
Under the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine passed by the UN in
1947, Jerusalem was envisaged to become a corpus separatum
administered by the United Nations. In the war of 1948, the western part
of the city was occupied by forces of the nascent state of Israel, while the
eastern part was occupied by Jordan. The international community
largely considers the legal status of Jerusalem to derive from the
partition plan, and correspondingly refuses to recognize Israeli
sovereignty in the city. On 5 December 1949, the State of Israel's first
Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, proclaimed Jerusalem as Israel's
capital, and since then all branches of the Israeli government—
legislative, judicial, and executive—have resided there. At the time of the
proclamation, Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan and thus
only West Jerusalem was proclaimed Israel's capital. Following the Six-Day
War, Israel annexed East Jerusalem, and a provision stipulating that the
city was the united capital of Israel was added to the country's Basic Law.
The status of a "united Jerusalem" as Israel's "eternal capital" has been a
matter of immense controversy within the international community.
On 28 October 2009, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-
moon warned that Jerusalem must be the capital of both Israel and

7. KCL Model United Nations Society 2011/2012
"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the
Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza”
6
Palestine if peace is to be achieved. In 2010, Israel approved legislation
giving Jerusalem the highest national priority status in Israel. The law
prioritized construction throughout the city, and offered grants and tax
benefits to residents to make housing, infrastructure, education,
employment, business, tourism, and cultural events more affordable.
Settlements in the West Bank
The West bank of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern
part of the Palestinian territories - to the west, north, and south, the
West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. Since 1967, most of the
West Bank has been under Israeli military occupation and is referred to
as Judea and Samaria Area by Israel.
Legal arguments
The United Nations Security Council, the United Nations General
Assembly, the United States, the EU, the International Court of
Justice, and the International Committee of the Red Cross refer to it as
Palestinian territory occupied by Israel. General Assembly resolution
58/292 (17 May 2004) affirmed that the Palestinian people have the right
to sovereignty over the area. According to supporters of Israel's rights,
since the area has never in modern times been an independent state,
there is no legitimate claimant to the area other than the present
occupier, which is Israel. This argument however is not accepted by the
international community and international lawmaking bodies, virtually all
of whom regard Israel's activities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as an
occupation that denies the fundamental principle of self-determination
found in the Article One of the United Nations Charter.
Political Positions
The future status of the West Bank, together with the Gaza Strip on the
Mediterranean shore, has been the subject of negotiation between the
Palestinians and Israelis, although the current Road Map for Peace,
proposed by the "Quartet" comprising the United States, Russia,
the European Union, and the United Nations, envisions an independent
Palestinian state in these territories living side by side with Israel.
The Palestinian Authority believes that the West Bank ought to be a part
of their sovereign nation, and that the presence of Israeli military control
is a violation of their right to Palestinian Authority rule. The United
Nations calls the West Bank and Gaza Strip Israeli-occupied territories.
The United States State Department also refers to the territories
asoccupied. Many Israelis and their supporters prefer the term disputed
territories, because they claim part of the territory for themselves, and
state the land has not, in 2000 years, been sovereign.

8. KCL Model United Nations Society 2011/2012
"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the
Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza”
7
Areas a Resolution Must Address
• The committee must assess the legitimacy of Hamas as a
government.
• The potential for terrorism to rise in areas such as Gaza are high,
and it is necessary to address how this can be stopped.
• The blockade on Gaza
• Previous attacks against Hamas in Gaza by Israel
• What steps must be taken to initiate the peace process overall?

9. KCL Model United Nations Society 2011/2012
"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the
Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza”
8
Sources for research (optional)
Official Sources
• UN Security Council - www.un.org/Docs/sc
• CIA World Factbook - www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook
• Federation of American Scientists: Military Analysis Network - www.fas.org/man/dod-
101/ops/war
• UN Integrated Regional Information Networks – News - www.irinnews.org
• UN News Centre - www.un.org/News
News Sources Online
Delegates are encouraged to follow news sources regularly for up-to-date information on the
topic areas.
• The New York Times - www.nytimes.com
• CNN.com - www.cnn.com
• BBC Online - www.bbc.com
• Guardian News - http://www.guardian.co.uk
In-depth News and Information on the Situation in Israel /Palestine
• UN - Question of Palestine: Overview - www.un.org/Depts/dpa/qpalnew/overview.htm
• BBC Profile of Israel and Palestinian Autonomous Areas -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/country_profiles/803257.stm