Establishing peace in Israel and the Palestine Authority
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is older than the United Nations itself. It has a long, controversial history, which is too broad in scope to cover in a single background guide – that is the subject of entire books. The purpose of this guide is not to describe the conflict in its entirety, but to provide a starting point for research by introducing key terms, events, and actors, and to help delegates focus on the key issues underlying the conflict. The roots of Palestinian self-determination – a nation’s right to political sovereignty and recognition – can be traced to the end of the First World War. Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, an early expression of the equal right to self-determination in international law, was later reinforced by the United Nations’ General Assembly in its Resolution 181 of 1947, which recommended the division of the British Mandate of Palestine into separate Jewish and Palestinian states. The resolution itself was not binding, instead outlining the GA’s majority opinion supporting a legitimate two-state solution. By the 1949 Armistice Agreement with Egypt following the first Arab-Israeli war, Israel had demonstrated a sufficient level of stable and functional government to secede from the Mandate of Palestine, attain international recognition, and diminish international hopes for a two-state solution. Five decades later, a state for the Palestinians living in the former Mandate has never been created. Still calling for the implementation of the right to govern themselves, modern-day Palestinians confirm the fact that the self-determination question remains all but answered. Enclaves in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have emerged as hotbeds of terrorist activities and questionable human rights violations. The intense conflict and various internal pressures of both sides means that the peace process requires help from the international community in order to move forward. The United Nations, the European Union, the United States, and Russia have been particularly involved in the peace process, and the four of them are referred to as the “Quartet.” The Arab League has also been involved in the peace process. A recent surge of instability in the region, as Israel launched Operation Protective Edge in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip with very contradictory consequences, has evoked a pressing question: to what extent is the State of Palestine a problem and a solution to a century-old question? Can Israel and its allies come to recognize Palestine’s statehood? It is our duty as the Security Council to decide how to properly uphold the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity enshrined in the UN Charter.
Sources
http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2014/country-chapters/israel-and-palestine
http://connection.ebscohost.com/politics/israel-palestinians/overview-relations-between-israel-and-palestine
http://www.ochaopt.org/content.aspx?id=1010361
http://israelipalestinian.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000635
http://www.merip.org/sites/default/files/Primer_on_Palestine-Israel(MERIP_February2014)final.pdf
http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2014/country-chapters/israel-and-palestine
http://connection.ebscohost.com/politics/israel-palestinians/overview-relations-between-israel-and-palestine
http://www.ochaopt.org/content.aspx?id=1010361
http://israelipalestinian.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000635
http://www.merip.org/sites/default/files/Primer_on_Palestine-Israel(MERIP_February2014)final.pdf