Statehood guide
Palestinian statehood is shaped by territory, sovereignty, security, settlements, Jerusalem, refugees and political division. This guide brings those connected questions together without pretending there is a simple unresolved detail.
29 NOVEMBER 1947
Chapter 7
UN General Assembly Resolution 181 recommended a Jewish state, an Arab state and an international regime for Jerusalem. Mainstream Zionist leaders accepted the plan as a basis for statehood. Palestinian Arab leaders and neighbouring Arab governments rejected it.
1947–1949
Chapter 8
War began between Palestinian Arab and Jewish forces after the partition vote, months before neighbouring Arab armies entered. Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948. Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon intervened after the British Mandate ended. Israel survived, defeated the Arab armies and expanded beyond the UN’s proposed borders. No Palestinian Arab state emerged. Israel remembers national survival and independence. Palestinians remember the Nakba, Arabic for catastrophe.
JUNE 1967
Chapter 11
In six days, Israel defeated Egypt, Jordan and Syria and captured the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank, East Jerusalem and Golan Heights. Israel’s territory under military control became more than three times larger.
1967–1987
Chapter 12
Israel established military rule over millions of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. It annexed East Jerusalem in measures not recognised internationally and began building civilian settlements in occupied territory.
1993–1995
Chapter 15
Israel and the PLO formally recognised each other. The Oslo Accords created the Palestinian Authority and divided the West Bank into Areas A, B and C under different degrees of Palestinian and Israeli control.
2000–2005
Chapter 17
After years of failed negotiations and rising frustration, Ariel Sharon’s visit to the contested holy site known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as the Temple Mount helped trigger protests in September 2000. Israeli forces used lethal force; the uprising rapidly escalated.
TODAY
Chapter 24
Because every proposed route has collided with unresolved rights, incompatible security demands, unequal power and leaders who either could not or would not make an enforceable agreement.
Donate directly to organisations providing medical care and humanitarian assistance.
100% independent from this website. Donations are made directly through the organisations.