40 years of Peace Talks 1977 Menachem Begin became Prime Minister in Israel
Jan 16, 2015
40 years of Peace Talks
1977 Menachem Begin became Prime Minister in Israel
40 years of Peace Talks
Begin – led the Israeli opposition fo 30 years Wanted to make deal with Egypt over Sinai
Desert Did not want to let go of West Bank Egyptian President Anwar Sadat wanted to end
war with Israel and was willing to give up Sinai Penninsula
Sadat shocked the world and announced he would go personally to Knesset to seek peace
Syrian Leader Assad and PLO’s Arafat were very upset by this announcement.
40 years of Peace Talks
Begin did not want to destroy Israeli Sinai Settlements
Sadat was determined to get rid of settlements in the Sinai desert
Sadat thought this would be the first step to peace between all Jews, Arabs, and Palestinians
40 years of Peace Talks
President Jimmy Carter got involved in Peace Talks
40 YEARS OF PEACE TALKS
September 1978 President Carter hosted Sadat and Begin at Camp David
13 days of negotiating to reach Agreement
40 Years of Peace Talks
Egypt agreed to make Peace with Israel Israel would return Sinai to Egypt Israel would close the Israeli Settlements in
the Sinai desert Sadat and Begin agreed to give autonomy
and limited local power to Palestinians in West Bank and Gaza This was rejected by the PLO
This brought an end to 30 years of conflict between Egypt and Israel
40 YEARS OF PEACE TALKS
After peace agreement, Begin was free to act without fear of Egypt attacking
Increased settlements in West Bank from 45 to 112
Begin was worried about PLO in Lebanon and was now free to attack
1975 Israelis set up South Lebanon Army (SLA) Made up of Lebanese Christians whom Israel saw as
allies March, 1978 Israel invaded southern Lebanon
Following a bus bombing by the PLO
40 Years of Peace Talks
Bus Bombing in 1978
40 Years of Peace Talks
Large number of Palestinians and Israelis were killed because of the invasion.
Israel withdrew from most of the border but kept some troops on a small plot of land
June, 1982 Israel again invaded Lebanon Operation Peace of Galilee
Took 3 years for Israelis to withdraw from Lebanon
Arafat and the PLO finally pulled out of Lebanon in August
40 Years of Peace Talks
DIVISIONS IN THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETY RELIGIOUS JEWS JEWS WHO PAY LITTLE ATTENTION TO JEWISH FAITH ISRAELI JEWS FROM EUROPEAN BACKGROUND JEWS FROM AFRICA AND ASIAN BACKGROUNDS SUPPORTERS OF THE LEFT-WING LABOUR PARTY SUPPORTERS OF THE RIGHT-WING LIKUD ISRAELI JEWS WHO WANT TO COMPROMISE WITH
PALESTINIANS ISRAELI JEWS WHO WANT THE GOVERHMENT TO
TAKE A TOUGH LINE WITH PALESTINIANS
40 YEARS OF PEACE TALKS
LABOUR PARTY –Sees itself caring on the work of early left wing socialists. Socialists wanted good relations with their Arab
neighbors as far back as 1920 Dominated Israeli government for 30 years
Many Jews wanted nothing to do with the Arabs and thought Force should be used Vladimir Jabotinsky – leader of the hardliners “What is needed is an Iron Wall of Armed
force….No agreement was possible with the Palestinian Arab.”
40 Years of Peace Talks
Ben Gurion was the Socialist leader that disagreed with Jabotinsky and the hardline approach.
Ben Gurion called for Havlaga Hebrew term meaning “self restraint”
Divisions among Jews increased in the 1940’s 2 armies one for the left wing and one for
the right wing. Haganah – left wing Irgun – Right wing
40 Years of Peace Talks
Left Wing was much more popular and Ben Gurion was the first Prime Minister 1948
Right Wing leader = Menachim Begin Ben Gurion accepted the UN Partition
Plan Begin rejected Partition Plan and said
that all of Palestine should be under Jewish Control 1948
Ben Gurion attacked a Irgun ship and sunk it.
40 Years of Peace Talks
European Jews = Ashkenazi JewsArab Jews = Sephardic Jews
Sephardic Jews had trouble intergrading into Israeli Life.
Trouble finding workLanguage Problemsstarted to turn against the Labour
Party and joined the Likud Party
40 Years of Peace Talks
Sephardic Jews helped get Begin elected to Prime Minister
Fast Forward to 1989 – Soviets allow Jews to leave the country and huge migration to Israel
More than 700,000 immigrants by 1996 and they created a new party – Yisrael Bealiya
This new party alligned with hard liners and Likud
40 Years of Peace Talks
THE SETTLEMENT MOVEMENT Orthodox believe it is God’s Plan to have all
Jews live in Israel The Orthodox are huge supporters of the
Settlement movement. Hebrew Gush Emunim (Bloc of the Faithful)
1967 1967 – Labour Party established a small
number of Israeli settlements in West Bank for defensive reasons
Likud wanted many more settlements established
40 YEARS OF PEACE TALKS
1977LIKUD TAKES POWER Huge expansion in settlements 1976 – 1996 Increase in settlers from
4,000 to over 100,000 Middle of 1990’s settlers constituted about
10% of population of the West Bank West Bank town of Hebron – tension
between settlers and Palestinian Settlers have to be protected by Armed
Israeli Guards
40 YEARS OF PEACE TALKS
One of many West Bank Settlements
40 YEARS OF PEACE TALKS
ARMED GUARDS IN THE 1980’S
40 YEARS OF PEACE TALKS
40 YEARS OF PEACE TALKS
Palestinian merchant in West Bank
40 YEARS OF PEACE TALKS
AMERICAN INFLUENCE ON ISRAEL 1951 Israel and US signed a treaty of
Friendship US has tried to influence Israel to
negotiate a peace deal Madrid Peace Conference 1991 1992 President Bush told Israel to stop
expanding Settlements in the West Bank but Israelis refused to change.
1993 – American Pressure lead to an agreement Bill Clinton elected President in 1992 PLO and Israeli peace deal was signed in
Washington, DC
40 YEARS OF PEACE TALKS
40 YEARS OF UNREST
INTIFADA PALESTINIAN UPRISING FROM 1987 TO
1991 Started in a refugee camp, and then spread
to the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem
Civil unrest and disobedience and boycotting of Israeli products
Israeli’s started to look to government to do something
40 YEARS OF PEACE TALKS
WHAT WAS AGREED TO? Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-
Government Arrangements it was the first direct, face-to-face agreement
between the government of Israel and the PLO. the Israeli government recognized the PLO as the
legitimate representative of the Palestinian people
PLO recognized the right of the state of Israel to exist and renounced terrorism as well as other violence, and its desire for the destruction of the Israeli state.
40 YEARS OF NEGOTIATIONS Palestinian Interim Self-Government
Authority, an elected Council, for the Palestinian
people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip,
a transitional period not exceeding five years, leading to a permanent settlement
based on UN Security Council Resolution 242 and 338
Israel withdraw from Gaza Strip and Jericho area
Arafat took control of Gaza and West Bank
40 YEARS OF NEGOTIATIONS PEACE AGREEMENT WITH JORDAN
SIGNED IN 1993 PALESTINIANS REACTION TO THE PEACE
DEALS It did not remove settlements from the
West Bank Israeli settlers not under Palestinian Rule Arab East Jerusalem was excluded from
deal Israeli forces still present in Palestinian
territories Nothing regarding refugees
40 YEARS OF PEACE NEGOTIATIONS
ISRAELI REACTION Right Wing and religious Israelis were not
happy Give up West Bank which had historical
significance Did not trust PLO Tried to stop the peace agreements
Israeli settler killed 29 in the West Bank in the center of Hebron
1994 – Hamas suicide bombings of buses 1995 – Jewish extremist killed Rabin Showed the divided nature of Israeli society
40 YEARS OF PEACE TALKS
RABIN ASSASINATION Turning point of Israeli history Would have won 1996 election More attacks by Hamas and thus Israelis
thought peace deal was not working