aliyah
Hebrew for “ascent”; commonly used for Jewish immigration to the Land of Israel.
Plain English
Glossary
The key words, organisations and legal terms you will meet in the story.
annexation
A state’s claimed incorporation of territory into its sovereign domain. Acquisition of territory by force is prohibited under modern international law.
antisemitism
Prejudice, hostility or discrimination against Jewish people as Jews.
Area C
Roughly 60 per cent of the West Bank under full Israeli civil and security control under Oslo’s interim arrangements.
blockade
A system of restrictions intended to prevent people or goods entering or leaving an area through land, sea or air routes.
confederation
Two sovereign states linked by agreed shared institutions, potentially including movement or residency arrangements.
East Jerusalem
The eastern part of Jerusalem captured by Israel in 1967 and later annexed in a move not recognised internationally.
Fatah
A Palestinian nationalist movement and the largest faction within the PLO.
Gaza Strip
A coastal territory bordered by Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. It had about 2.3 million residents before the 2023 war.
genocide
Prohibited acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a protected national, ethnic, racial or religious group as such.
Green Line
The 1949 armistice line separating Israel from the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza until 1967.
Hamas
An Islamist Palestinian movement founded in 1987 with political, social and military components. Hamas is not synonymous with Palestinians.
Intifada
Arabic for “uprising”; usually refers here to Palestinian uprisings beginning in 1987 and 2000.
Levant
A broad geographic term for the eastern Mediterranean region. It is not a state or a fixed political border.
Nakba
Arabic for “catastrophe”; the Palestinian term for mass displacement, dispossession and loss of homeland during the 1947–49 war.
occupation
Effective military control of territory outside a state’s sovereign territory, regulated by international humanitarian law.
one-state solution
A family of proposals for one sovereign state across Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. Models differ radically over citizenship, national identity and equality.
Palestine
A geographic and political name used in different ways across history. Today it commonly refers to the Palestinian territories and the claimed State of Palestine.
Palestinian Authority
The interim self-government institution created by the Oslo process. It administers parts of the West Bank.
PLO
The Palestine Liberation Organization, an umbrella body recognised internationally as representing the Palestinian people.
provisional measures
Binding urgent measures issued by the ICJ to protect claimed rights while a case is pending. They are not a final ruling on the merits.
right of return
The Palestinian claim that refugees and descendants should be able to return to homes or lands from which they were displaced. Its legal scope and implementation are deeply contested.
settlement
An Israeli civilian community established in territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
two-state solution
Israel and an independent Palestine existing alongside each other.
West Bank
Territory west of the River Jordan captured by Israel from Jordan in 1967 and claimed as a central part of a future Palestinian state.
Zionism
The movement supporting Jewish national self-determination in the historic Land of Israel or Palestine. It includes different and sometimes conflicting traditions.
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