NationStates Jolt Archive

The Past ten years have seen some change for the Palestinian populace in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. However, much has remained the same. Little progress was made after the historical movement in 2005 in Ariel Sharon to remove Israeli settlers in the Gaza strip. However, there is new hope for the liberation movement as younger leaders begin to move into power. Recently the PLA and Hamas' militant arm have begun clashing as Ahmad Abbas, the new President and a rising star in the Palestinian Authority, has ordered the PLA to crack down on suicide bombers in order to garner trust with the Isreali government. As of 2016, Palestine is divided into several groups.

The Palestine Liberation Organization

A coalition of various political parties and movements, the PLO is generally seen as the legitimate Palestinian governemnt. It's military arm, the Palestinian Liberation Army, provides most of the police and military power for the Gaza Strip and West Bank (Also known as the Palestinian Authority). Recently they have clashed with Hamas. The PLO is currently split, with a majority wishing to work with Israel towards an indepdent Palestine, while a minority still believe in using militant action against Israel. The PLO has recognized Israel as a soverign country.

Includes the following organizations:

-Fatah - Largest faction, centrist/nationalist.

-The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) - Second largest, radically militant and Communist

-The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) - Third largest, Communist

-The Palestinian People's Party (PPP) - Ex-Communist, non-militant.

-The Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) - Minor left-wing faction.

-The Arab Liberation Front (ALF) - Minor Iraqi-controlled Ba'thist faction.

-As-Sa'iqa - Syrian-controlled Ba'thist faction.

-The Palestine Democratic Union (Fida) - Minor left-wing faction, non-militant

-The Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (PPSF) - minor left-wing faction.

Hamas

Hamas regards the land that it calls Palestine, including present-day Israel (without the Golan Heights), as an Islamic homeland that can never be surrendered to non-Muslims, and asserts that individual and community struggle to wrest control of the land from Israel is a religious duty for all Muslims. This position is more radical than that of the PLO, which in 1988 recognized Israel's sovereignty. Hamas does not recognize Israel as a sovereign state and refers to Israel as the "Zionist entity".

Radical and religious fundementalists, Hamas calls for the total destruction of Israel. Over the past few years, suicide bombings have dropped off as the younger Palestinians gravitate towards the OPLP (see below). However, sniper, mortar, and rocket attacks continue against both IDF units and Israeli civilians. They have clashed with the PLA in recent years as the PLO attempts to rebuild trust with the Israeli government. Khaled Mashal continues to lead Hamas from somewhere in IRan.

Organization for the Peaceful Liberation of Palestine

A new faction, in fact a splinter from the PLO, the OPLP formed about four years ago under the leadership of Abdel Yassin, a young Palestinian lawyer who attended college in the United States. Yassin believes in a free and independent Palestine, but also believes that it must come about through peaceful. means. He sees the PLO as ineffective and as such formed his own group. The OPLP uses protest, petition, civil disobedience, and the media to the utmost effect in order to bring the plight of the Palestinian people to the forefront. Yassin has studied the methods of Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr.

They demand that Israel recognize the Republic of Palestine as a soverign country and totally withdraw all military units, settlers, and other Israeli intrusions from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. They also demand a return to the 1947 border, as dictated by the United Nations. They pursue IDF attacks against civilians with lawyers and the media. Many young Palestinians, seeing an alternative to violence and death, have joined with the OPLP.

The OPLP uses the Palestinian flag as it's symbol, along with a white crescent and dove on a green field.

The OPLP (See this (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=10208385#post10208385) thread) marches in Jeruseleum, petitioning the Israeli government to allow the formation of a soverign Palestinian Republic. Abdel Yassin made a speech, listing a series of demands that he said would bring an end to the seventy year conflict. The demands included returning military control of the West Bank over to Palestine, the formation of a Palestinian Republic, and control over the airspace and sea along the Gaza Strip. He also hinted that Israel should revert to the 1947 borders dictated by the UN.

Ahmad Abbas, the newly elected Palestinian President has begun spending what little money the PLO does have on improving the social and economic conditions in the West Bank. Plans include an expansion of port facilities, more railyways, and social programs.

In the Gaza Strip, PLA troops and Hamas militias clashed in a two-hour gunbattle, leaving four PLA soldiers dead and six wounded, as well as three dead Hamas; militants and another four in custody.

Message to Palestinian Leadership

There will be no sovereign Palestinian State until every member of Hamas has been rounded up and brought to justice in Israel. Should Hamas continue to run free, we will see it as an act of war on the part of the PLO against Israel. Do not make us destroy you.

PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

Message to Palestinian Leadership

There will be no sovereign Palestinian State until every member of Hamas has been rounded up and brought to justice in Israel. Should Hamas continue to run free, we will see it as an act of war on the part of the PLO against Israel. Do not make us destroy you.

PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

To Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

What you ask is impossible and deplorable. We do not have the resources to effectively hunt down and arrest every member of Hamas. And even if we did set out on such an endeavor, the loss of manpower and resources along with the resulting power struggle would be crippling to the Palestinian Authority. We can only do what we can. We will try to arrest militant Hamas members, but we cannot legally arrest their political speakers if they have not broken the law.

We also cannot see the sense of declaring war on the PLO for something the PLO cannot control. My people are not responsible for the destruction Hamas has wrought. If you declare war on us because of things Hamas does, you will face even greater anger and resentment from the Palestinian people. We are just now beginning to convince them that we can make peace with Israel. Do not mire us by making impossible demands.

President Ahmed Abbas.

Message to President Ahmed Abbas

Greetings, i find your peaceful attempts to establish a Palestinian state as applaudable, and am fully behind the effort. I also wish to state that while Gaza is full of your people, the national boundries just seem to space Gaza and the west bank to much, and that i doubt israel will give up its claims such as Sinai and the Golan Heights. I propose the creation of a Palestinian state, including the west bank, along with all land 10 miles south of Nazereth, and land 15 miles south of the west bank, up to the cities of Dimona and Oron.

Feel free to contact me at any time.
President Danny Jordaan, South Africa

Message to President Ahmed Abbas

Greetings, i find your peaceful attempts to establish a Palestinian state as applaudable, and am fully behind the effort. I also wish to state that while Gaza is full of your people, the national boundries just seem to space Gaza and the west bank to much, and that i doubt israel will give up its claims such as Sinai and the Golan Heights. I propose the creation of a Palestinian state, including the west bank, along with all land 10 miles south of Nazereth, and land 15 miles south of the west bank, up to the cities of Dimona and Oron.

Feel free to contact me at any time.
President Danny Jordaan, South Africa

Re: Message to President Ahmed Abbas

Greetings,

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support and your suggestions. We hope that ISrael will accept your suggestions and that an independent Palestine will finally become a reality.

Salaam,

President Ahmed Abbas

The Israeli Goverment has now turned to the offical endorsing of vigilante organizations inside of the Israeli state. The United Kingdom's backing remains fully behind the Israeli Goverment however such aggressive activites require a more delicate handling of the situation. In leu of the tension facing the entire region the United Kingdom would like to intervene via the application of a UK Inspection Team to access the current situation in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Golem Heights.

The Israeli Goverment has now turned to the offical endorsing of vigilante organizations inside of the Israeli state. The United Kingdom's backing remains fully behind the Israeli Goverment however such aggressive activites require a more delicate handling of the situation. In leu of the tension facing the entire region the United Kingdom would like to intervene via the application of a UK Inspection Team to access the current situation in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Golem Heights.

The Palestinian Authority would have no trouble with allowing UK Inspection teams into the West Bank and Gaza. They have nothing to hide.

The Israeli Goverment has now turned to the offical endorsing of vigilante organizations inside of the Israeli state. The United Kingdom's backing remains fully behind the Israeli Goverment however such aggressive activites require a more delicate handling of the situation. In leu of the tension facing the entire region the United Kingdom would like to intervene via the application of a UK Inspection Team to access the current situation in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Golem Heights.
From Foreign Minister Kenny Williams
We welcome British interest here and welcome them to Israel.