A Basic Primer on the Israel-Palestine Conflict

I recently read a primer on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. I have to admit, this was the first of in-depth information I had read on the conflict, and I was appalled by the consistent actions that the US has taken in the past 40 years to undermine real chances at an end to the violence and democratic change. In the process, we have created one of the largest and dangerous nuclear and otherwise military powers in the world. I was also shocked to learn about the consistent killing, including massacres, of innocent Palestinians. We have probably all seen news footage about Palestinian suicide bombers. This is of course wrong and unfortunate, and many innocent Israeli Jewish inviduals have died because of this. However, the impression I'm getting from various sources is that the Israeli military occupation and related actions have been responsible for the majority of violence over the years, and have sparked retaliation from a desparate community lacking sufficient resources to play by the same military rules as the military superpower that is Israel.

The primer is free online and is written in the format of Frequently Asked Questions and answers. It's written in language that makes it easily understandable even for someone completely new to reading about the conflict. It is written from the perspective of international law, but clearly leans towards the Palestinian viewpoint. However, the information is grounded in events that have passed and international law that is verifiable. It's a great start. Below is an example of one of the questions and answers.

Question
Why is there so much violence in the Middle East? Isn't there violence on both sides?

Answer
The violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories has come from both sides. Its human tragedies are equally devastating for all victims and all their families. Innocents, including children, have been killed on and by both sides, and both sides have violated international law. But the violence by Israelis and by Palestinians is not an equal opportunity killer, it does not have the same roots, nor are the two sides culpable in the same way.

Palestinians in the territories live under Israeli military occupation. They are not citizens of Israel or of any state, and have no rights of protest or redress. The occupation is a violent daily reality, in which Israeli soldiers, checkpoints, tanks, helicopter gunships, and F-16 fighter jets control every aspect of Palestinian lives, and have recently brought social, family and economic life to a virtual halt. In summer 2002 the U.S. Agency for International Development determined that Palestinian children living in the occupied territories faced malnutrition at one of the highest levels in the world--higher than in Somalia and Bangladesh. The occupation has been in place since 1967, although the current period has seen perhaps the most intense Israeli stranglehold on Palestinian life, and the highest levels of violence. What we often hear described simply as "the violence" in the Middle East cannot be understood without an understanding of what military occupation means.

Violence is central to maintaining Israel's military occupation. It is carried out primarily by Israeli military forces and Israeli settlers in the occupied territories who are themselves armed by the Israeli military, and its victims include some Palestinian militants and a large majority of Palestinian civilians, including many children. Because military occupation is itself illegal, all Israeli violence in the occupied territories stands in violation of international law--specifically the Geneva Conventions that identify the obligations of an occupying power to protect the occupied population.

Palestinian violence is the violence of resistance, and has escalated as conditions of life and loss of hope breed greater desperation. It is carried out primarily by individual Palestinians and those linked to small armed factions, and is aimed mostly at military checkpoints, soldiers, and settlers in the occupied territories; recently more attacks, particularly suicide bombings, have been launched inside Israel, many of which have targeted civilian gathering places. Those attacks, targeting civilians, are themselves a violation of international law. But the overall right of an occupied population to resist a foreign military occupation, including through use of arms against military targets, is recognized as lawful under international law.