Important+Events

__** Balfour Declaration: **__ The Balfour Declaration pledges, "the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people that would not disturb the non-Jewish groups already residing there." After several drafts of the declaration, it had finally been issued on November 2, 1917, during the changes of World War I. It was written by Arthur James Balfour, addressed to Lionel Walter Rothschild. Arthur James Balfour was the president of the British Zionist Federation. Zionism was the belief that through political moving, a Jewish homeland could be settled. When World War I ended in 1918, its winning was allied, and Palestine was placed under British control as a Jewish homeland. Just as people thought things were going well, problems developed with the Arabs; Riots, terror raids, guerrilla attacks, and almost full-scale war followed. The British were upset with their decision to give the Jews a homeland. In the 1930's when Jews were fleeing Hitler they found an entrance into Palestine. The British who were scared of upsetting the Arabs more, set obstacles in their way. [] The New Book of Knowledge, Volume 10 J-K. 2002.

[] Camp David Accord is two agreements that were signed after a conference at Camp David in Maryland in September 1978. After many years of agreements for peace in the Middle East, they were compromised. Jimmy Carter was the major helper in this compromise. In November 1977, when Jimmy visited Israel to help resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict, he brought a powerful speech to the parliament of Israel (Knesset), which talked about the Egyptian- Israeli peace negotiations. He brought together both Egyptian president Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. For doing this, Jimmy Carter then won the Noble Peace Prize. In September 1978 when the conference was held in which Sadat, Begin, Carter, their foreign and defense ministers, and teams of top civilian and military officials attended. Jimmy Carter also, helped resolve the sharp, bitter relationship between Sadat and Begin during this conference, which almost resulted in a halt.
 * __ Camp David Accord: __**

There was two agreements one of which was "A framework for peace in the Middle East." This agreement was accomplished when, Israel would give back the Sinai to Egypt. The Sinai is a triangular peninsula located in northeast, Egypt. Once Egypt got the Sinai back, Egypt would then make peace with Israel. Also, they wanted back to normal, diplomatic, economic, and cultural relations. These expectations were brought in effect soon after.

The other agreement was "A framework for conclusion of a Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel." This one however, was not as easy as the other agreement. At first it was a "dead letter" because it did not get signed. This agreement stated that Egypt and Israel would sign a peace treaty within three months. Also, it stated that there would be "a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Sinai Peninsula and the dismantling of Israeli settlements there. In exchange, Egypt promised to establish normal diplomatic relations with Israel."

Sadat's proposal was considered by many the opposition to sell the Palestinians short by making a separate peace with Israel. The Arab leaders wanted to just have the land, but he decided to negotiate with them. His proposal also stated that Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and representatives of the Palestinians would negotiate a five- year, three- stage plan for the future of Gaza and the West Bank. The people in the West Bank and Gaza would have full freedom, they would withdraw Israeli's military government and civilian administrative, the election of a self-governing Palestinian authority, and the transferring of Israeli forces. Finally, the five-year transitional period would resolve the thoughts of the West Bank and Gaza, the refugee problem, and the whole Israeli- Palestinian issue by recognizing the Palestinian rights and requirements.

The Egyptian- Israeli Peace Treaty of 26 March 1979 was the signing of the two agreements in Washington, DC by Sadat and Begin, hosted by president Carter. This was a historic moment for the Middle East and a major step. Though, there were many complications and disagreements through Sadat and Begin they finally signed it/compromised and then received the Noble Peace Prize for their great efforts. []

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__** Oslo Accord: **__ In 1948 until 1967, the Israeli's fought a long war and gained a large amount of land near the Gaza Strip and the West bank. However, in 1993 the PLO (Palestinian liberation organization) and the Israeli's had secret discussions about the relations between them. They wanted to clear up the harsh relations between each other. The Oslo Accord is named after the country Oslo, Norway. The Norwegian foreign minister, Johan Jorgen Holst acted as an intermederary between the PLO and the Israeli's secretly. Through the DOP (Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements) These three leaders came to an agreement to set out specific steps to come into conclusion. However, it would take 5 years to complete. Israel gave portions of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to the PLO which led to the confidence and trust between them. The Oslo Accord set out a committee to bring about the economic development programs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

When they finally came into an agreement about each others thoughts Bill Clinton came and witnessed the signing of the DOP in 1993. However, just when things got cleared up conflicts began again. There were several assassination in different towns by the Hamas. Because of the reoccurrence of the assassinations people were unable to run the country. Benjamin Netanyahu, set up several obstacles in reaching the accord and 80% of town of Hebron was given back to the Palestinians. There was then no more transfer of land. Until, in 1999 the US pushed Israel to turn over additional land. []

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[[image:Partition_of_1947.JPG]]
[] On the 29th of November in 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations, with a majority rule of 2/3, voted to partition the land of western Palestine into a Jewish and Arab state. On the map above, the blue area is the land that was given to the Jewish people and the salmon pink color is the land given to the Arab people. The Jewish people of Palestine were desperate to find a place to live after the Holocaust, accepted partition despite that about 75% of the land given to them was desert. The Arab people, however, voted against partition in order to keep the Jewish people out of Palestine. The Arab delegates in the United Nations declared partition unacceptable and within two days, the Arab government declared their disagreement to partition. As a result of partition, fighting almost immediately broke out. []  Esther Carciente -   Copyright © 1992 - 2010 The Department for Jewish Zionist Education 