BIS 300 – Research Project (Fall 2022), University of Washington
by Shayma Parveen
Abstract
Since Israel has been established as a state, Palestinian lives have been affected drastically. In the interest of fulfilling biblical prophecies, the unforgettable decision by the British government to place Jews in Palestine has consequences lasting until today. However, the two-state solution is still an entertained notion, yet with no substance after a history of abuse and murder of Palestinians that still continues. This project explores how Jews came to Palestine and gained the power to oppress Palestinians in various methods. The exploration of Israel’s actions, past and present, will be utilized to determine the impracticality of the two-state solution in this project.
Keywords
Palestine, Israel, Masjid-al-Aqsa, United Nations, Nakba, Gaza Strip, Two-State Solution
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Considering Israel’s past and currently ongoing history of cruel violence against Palestinians, why exactly is a two state solution not the answer for Israelis and Palestinians?
Introduction
“Glorified be He Who took His slave for a journey at night from Al-Masjid-al-Haram to Masjid-al-Aqsa, the neighborhood whereof We have blessed …” (Quran, 17:1)
Early September of 2022, I was finally able to fulfill a dream I had not even known I had. A tour group organized a one week trip to Jordan and Jerusalem, and the majority of the trip would be spent at Jerusalem. All members of the group– including myself – were excited and thrilled, because we would be able to visit a location holy to Islam: Masjid-Al-Aqsa. I had only ever seen pictures of the beautiful mosque with the golden dome, the Dome of the Rock, which is located near Masjid-Al-Aqsa, but I could not remember seeing pictures of Masjid-Al-Aqsa itself. Masjid-Al-Aqsa is an important landmark in Islamic history, and to visit it was a rare opportunity.
This opportunity was made harder by the Israeli government taking control of what was once originally Palestinian territory only. To visit an important mosque and be able to pray inside it was like a breath of fresh air, when I had not even been aware of the stale air I had been inhaling all my life. However, it was an experience tainted by the Israeli checkpoint hindering our group from entering Jerusalem without problem, and the officers located all around the Bayt al-Maqdis – within which Masjid-al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock are located. Our group was stopped for hours at the checkpoint to enter Jerusalem, Israeli officers were often stopping our group from entering Masjid-al-Aqsa, and our group subconsciously learned not to make eye contact with the officers, keeping our eyes averted whenever we passed the Israeli officers. As Americans, our tour group was eventually allowed into Masjid-al-Aqsa – but the people behind us, claiming to be Palestinians, were given more rigorous questioning. The members of our group were wearing our tour badges as protection, but Palestinians had nothing to protect themselves from the Israeli officers – as attested by our group witnessing an innocent Palestinian man being arrested in public for seemingly no reason.
Despite all these troubling moments, our group was grateful that nothing extreme had happened during our stay there, yet we were all too aware that at any given moment, Israelis could choose to attack Palestinians, which is exactly what occurred after we left. On the Jewish New Year, officers attacked Palestinians as they forcefully entered Masjid-al-Aqsa with settlers on a Monday, outside of the time allotted for Jews to enter and when the Masjid was open for Muslims specifically. This incident was not just a one-off, but occurs during every Jewish holiday, with Israelis breaking the schedule and attacking Palestinians to take over Masjid-al-Aqsa for the duration of the holiday.
These recurring events of violence becoming the point of normalcy for Palestinians is why I will argue that a two-state solution is not the answer for Palestinians, because Israelis have long since established themselves incapable of living in peaceful coexistence with Palestinians.
In the following sections, I will start with the methodology utilized for my paper, along with the interdisciplinary statement, before moving onto the literature review section in which I will explain the connection between the sources referenced with my paper. Beyond the literature review, I will commence defending the argument in my thesis statement by covering topics such as the history of Israel, highlights of Israelis’ attacks on Palestinians as told by personal interviews, Israel’s abuse of the judicial system, and the United States’ involvement and support of Israel, despite Human Right issues, before concluding this paper to reiterate why Palestine should not become a two-state.
Methodology
This project initially began with the research of historical reports from a quantitative aspect. Majority of the reports were acquired through databases filtered to provide me with scholarly articles, such as Academic Search Complete and EBSCO. It did take me some time to figure out how to best phrase my searches to eventually locate sources that were credible, accessible, and actually implementable for this paper. Initially, they were only factual reports of political involvement with the Israel government, such as being mostly statistical reports, but some of which were potentially relevant to the paper due to qualitative reasons. However, I had to scrutinize several articles before I was able to select the reports that worked the best with this paper.
I did refer to other news articles, such as The New York Times and AlJazeera, and was able to locate useful reports from the Humans Rights Council of the United Nations. Again, the reports from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) were mostly statistical, but still contained valuable information, as I will be able to utilize some of the OHCHR’s data to cement how much Israelis’ have affected Palestinians.
While looking through other organizations to see how Palestinians are supported locally, there was a website of an organization which, while supporting Palestine, was still able to provide me with resources which will supplement my counter argument.
As this paper will delve deeply into the human rights issues that Palestinians face from Israelis, I will be referencing historical accounts combined with the analysis of discourse via interviews that were personally conducted. Some interviews will be from family friends, who are of Palestinian origin, but had to change their identification to Jordanian, before moving to the United States. One source, however, is still currently a Palestinian resident – our tour group’s tour guide while in Jerusalem – and will be able to give a detailed account of current events from a personal perspective.
Ultimately, if this research project were to be funded, I would return to Palestine for more in-depth and personal research, especially by conducting more personal interviews to obtain personal recounting of how Palestinians are affected by Israelis. Additionally, I would want to research more about the criminalization of Palestinians, and the depths of how Israeli officers avoid giving concrete and authentic reasoning to arrest and hold Palestinians as prisoners.
Interdisciplinary Statement
This project will begin from a historical standpoint, analyzing the basis of Israel and how they began to transgress the two-state solution, and how the transgressions progressed. This will be reinforced with information from a study provided by a page of the United Nations’ specifically dedicated to Palestine. All the while, the historical reports, as supported by the United Nations’ study, will be combined with Human Rights infringements, bringing in the topic of continuous lapses in justice. Reports of the Human Rights infringements will be backed up by evidence from another section of the United Nations’ website, as provided by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The absence of justice extends to Israel’s portrayal of criminalizing Palestinians by inconsistent records to feed into the stigmatization of Palestinians. The information of this stigmatization was fed by a study retrieved from EBSCO. The issue of human rights and injustice will be connected to a political aspect, what with the United States government – along with various other countries – continuous support of Israel, despite public condemnation of Israel’s actions, which returns the paper’s focus to human rights issues.
Throughout the paper, I will also be referring to personal interviews, to continuously touch base with the human rights aspect of my paper. The intention of these interviews, along with begging the reader to understand the emotional gravity of the Palestinians’ plight, is to give personal insights as to how Palestinians have been affected by Israelis’ actions, to further dig into Israel’s violation of Palestinians’ rights.
The fields of interest I have mentioned that I will be covering in this paper – which were history, justice, politics, and human rights – will ultimately all come together to collectively address the issue of Israel’s incapability of being a two-state with Palestine. Knowledge of Israel’s history is crucial to understanding the current predicament for Palestinian rights, and how it is only exacerbated by political support for Israel.
Literature Review
My project predominantly included articles and interviews I have conducted which provided heavy material for this project, in regards to Palestinians over the course of history, but mostly the situation for Palestinians today. I was also able to utilize some statistical information garnered from reports to give this project a quantitative aspect. The sources I will list below will analyze how various articles, despite varying perspectives and focuses, still ultimately point to the oppression Palestinians face.
There were a few articles that favored Israel’s position, which translated to a complete dismissal of Palestine’s existence. Rather, Parsons focuses on Israel’s biblical roots, and how Israel has been flourishing since Israel’s establishment as a state. The information is nonetheless accurate, as Jews initially struggled to establish Israel without the ability to buy land. However, once the Palestine Mandate allowed for Jews to begin buying land, “the transformation of the … people of Israel in just a few generations is nothing short of miraculous” (Parsons). On the other hand, Palestinians have been fighting against such mandates and partition plans mostly due to Jews being given too much favoritism in regards to land proportioning. A greater population of Jews would inevitably lead to outnumbering the Muslim population and creating tension over a previously “Arab Palestine” (Ma’oz 16).
Some articles have taken a neutral stance when describing the conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians over the course of history. With a neutral stance, both Israel’s attacks and Palestine’s retaliations are noted, albeit sometimes lacking explicit details, such as the statistics of Palestinians – or even Israelis – killed. Even then, it is hard to dismiss how Palestinian lives have been affected when millions of Palestinians have been made to be refugees, which Robinson still mentions.
Majority of my articles were from AlJazeera, which admittedly sympathizes with Palestine over Israel. However, the articles from AlJazeera were more abundant in details when explaining how Palestinians have been affected by Israel’s attacks. For example, since the Nakba, as in the “catastrophe” for Palestinians, innumerable Palestinians have lost ownership of homes, land, or even lives, but the date of the Nakba, May 15, is memorialized as a celebration of independence day for Israelis (“The Nakba Did Not Start or End in 1948”). Palestinians, meanwhile, continue to try and fight against the injustice of Israeli colonialism, despite being forced to submit to Israeli governed rules – try, being the operative term. Palestinians can fight to delay losing ownership of land, despite having to undergo the Israeli judicial system while knowing the unfairness of the inevitable ruling when passed (Hawari). Palestinians that are arrested, however, have no means of fighting when Israel has the power to criminalize Palestinians with no valid reasoning.
The New York Times gives an article of a director of a human rights organization within Palestine that was forcefully shut down by Israeli officers. At best, the reasoning Israel gives – for storming into the building, wreaking havoc, and shutting down the organization along with arresting the director – are blatantly “false claims.” In reality, as the article’s title states, “Israel wants to silence” the voice of Palestinians (Jabarin).
The Humans Rights Council of the United Nations reports of Israel’s abuse of the judicial system when imprisoning Palestinians. Whether or not faulty explanations are provided by the Israelis as to reason the arrest of Palestinians, the Israelis’ treatment of Palestinian prisoners are nonetheless inhuman. The United Nations condemns Israel’s violations of human rights (United Nations General Assembly), but Israel shows no need to change the treatment of Palestinian prisoners when the United States is a powerful supporter of Israel and silent to the actual atrocities committed against Palestinians. Instead, the United States justifies Israel’s attacks based on incidents of Palestinians being pushed to acts of retaliation. An AlJazeera article details through the United States’ support of Israel and ultimately, “support for Israel’s right to self-defence” (Roberts).
And while there are those aware of Israel’s injustice against Palestinians, especially the United Nations, the United States’ unapologetic support for Israel has translated to other nations showing Israel support as well. Therefore, as Rahman states, Palestinians are distanced by other nations who prefer to avoid alienation from the United States via public condemnation of Israel.
Defense of Argument
The history of Israel’s establishment in Palestine
There had been support by the British for establishing Jews in Palestine as early as the 1700s and to the 1800s, due to biblical explanations. The British believed that establishing Israel and having Jews convert to Christianity was a promise from God, and to establish Israel is part of fulfilling a biblical prophecy (Parsons). However, the Jewish population was well below 10% until the late 1800s (“Jewish & Non-Jewish Population of Israel/Palestine”), whereas the envisioned land Israel was Palestine, under the Ottoman’s regime until the end of World War I, after which the British government took the reign of Palestine upon driving out the Turks (“The Status of Jerusalem – Study – Question of Palestine”). With control over the Palestinian land, the League of Nations, which involved “four permanent members (Britain, France, Italy and Japan)” (“Oxford Libguides: League of Nations: Structure of the League of Nations”), implemented the Balfour Declaration from 1917 in the Palestine Mandate in 1922. The Balfour Declaration was essentially a request for “sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations” and to “favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people” (“Balfour Declaration 1917”), which was initially postponed due to “difficulty” (“Mandate for Palestine – League of Nations Official Journal (Excerpts) – Question of Palestine”), the primary cause of postponement being financial constraints the British government would face by trying to increase the population of the land.
This mandate allowed the Jews to begin buying land, increasing the population to above 10% in the 1900s (“Jewish & Non-Jewish Population of Israel/Palestine”). However, the increase in the Jewish population also led to an increase in tension and conflicts between Palestinian Arabs and the Jewish. The main cause of conflict between the Jews and Arabs was over the Wailing Wall and Haram al-Sharif, the respective religious landmarks sharing a close location. With the increase of tension and conflicts, in 1937, the mandate was to be “terminated” (“The Status of Jerusalem – Study – Question of Palestine”) and to be replaced with the Partition Plan to – ideally – allow Jews and Muslims to coexist. The Partition Plan failed to be implemented due to the Arabs’ refusal (Luxenberg), and once again the Arabs refused a similar plan in 1947 by the United Nations trying to implement the Partition Resolution. The concept of both Partitions’ was to divide the land between the Arabs and Jews, with Jews getting the majority of the land while only amounting to less than a third of the total population (Ma’oz). However, despite the Arab’s refusal, the fact that the United Nations was accepting plans for unjust partition triggered a civil war between the Arabs and Jews, ending with the official establishment of Israel on 15 May 1948 (Winder), with the Jews eventually displacing Palestinians by taking more land than allotted, and causing the Nakba (Ma’oz).
Israel’s attacks on Palestinians over history
For Jews, the Nakba was a victory for Zionism, the idea of Israel being a state reserved for Jews. However, the Nakba, which is an Arabic word that translates to catastrophe, was an event that forced at least 750,000 Palestinians to flee their homes and become refugees by 1949. Palestinian-owned homes were replaced with Jews, and meanwhile, Palestinians were displaced without chances to return, imprisoned, tortured, sexually abused, and thousands killed (“The Nakba Did Not Start or End in 1948”). When in the 1920s, the Jewish population had barely been above 10%, the Jewish population skyrocketed two to three decades later to 80% and has been at a constant 70-80% since then and until today (“Jewish & Non-Jewish Population of Israel/Palestine”). Most of the Palestinian population was forced to the Gaza Strip, a western point of Palestine – now Israel – and currently reside there. The location with the second highest concentrated population of refugees is the West Bank, which borders Jordan. Albeit larger, the West Bank has above 871,000 Palestinian refugees in comparison to the refugees in the Gaza Strip numbering well above a million (“Where We Work”). Even taking refuge in the Gaza Strip has not guaranteed peace and safety for Palestinians however. Israel maintains tight control over the land, restricting Palestinians’ access to food, clean water, and electricity. Beyond restrictions, Israel continues to attack the Palestinians taking refuge in the Gaza Strip as well, via bombardment, ammunition, and dropping rockets on the Palestinian people (“Gaza Strip”). Children are not exempted from the Israelis’ brutality, as one Palestinian, Wael Shahen, who currently resides on the East Coast, told me, “there is no child in Palestine that doesn’t have PTSD” (Shahen, Wael. Personal interview. 23 Nov. 2022). And the trauma is not unexplainable. Shahen goes on to explain about his family living in the Gaza Strip, and how his cousin lost “chunks” of his organs, due to propeller pieces of a rocket that did not explode but still proved destructive regardless. Still, about the cousin that lost parts of his organs, cannot speak, and is barely alive – Shahen calls him lucky because incidents like what occurred to his cousin are not unusual (Shahen, Wael. Personal interview. 23 Nov. 2022). Shahen, as a U.S. citizen, could potentially go to Jerusalem – not that it would be an easy feat, and going to the Gaza Strip would be even harder.
As another interviewee explains, they were “harassed,” “interrogated,” and “separated” by the Israeli soldiers before a superior officer would eventually come over and grant them entry into Palestine (Aburabie, Maryam. Personal interview. 22 Nov. 2022). However, Aburabie and her family were allowed entrance into Palestine eventually due to their American citizenship status. Aburabie’s grandmother, on the other hand, as a Jordanian citizen, is not allowed to enter (Omar, Ezdihar. Personal interview. 22 Nov. 2022). Ultimately, as Shahen says, “everything is controlled,” which includes not just what goes into the Gaza Strip, but that people stay in there with no way out or in, not without the Israeli government’s saying, at least. Most of the country is firmly under the control of the Israeli government, which allows them to deny entrance to whoever they choose to – and the Israeli government is aware of their power and takes advantage of it (Shahen, Wael. Personal interview. 23 Nov. 2022).
Palestinians today
Furthermore, the Israeli officers do not limit themselves to harassing Palestinians trying to enter Palestine, but also the citizens within them – as evidenced by the incidents occurring in the Gaza Strip. Furthermore, Israelis encourage stigma against Arabs to diminish sympathy from outsiders for Arabs. Over three decades and the subsequent process of changes, one such significant change included categorizing convicted criminals as Arabs, focusing on the Arabs’ ethnicity as the distinctive marker for their “criminality,” while Jews are not equally and correctly scrutinized (Zanger-Tishler). However, Palestinians are arrested without “charge or trial” with no knowledge of potential release, and “as of early August 2021, 550 Palestinians continue to be held indefinitely … in Israeli prisons (United Nations General Assembly). Palestinian prisoners are threatened and abused, those who were merely innocent civilians, and even human rights groups within Palestine are criminalized and shut down by the Israeli government (Jabarin).
As for the judicial system itself, Palestinians do not trust a court system powered by Israelis. The court system, for Palestinians, is not a means for justice. Oftentimes, the court system is a method to delay losing ownership of land and being forced to hand over the land to Israelis (Hawari). When a Palestinian is forced to give up ownership of their land, the loss of their land is a gain for Israelis, the inevitable buyers, which enables Israelis to capture more land for Jews and eventually reduce the Palestinian population into nonexistence. Another form of Israelis manipulating Palestinians’ ability to maintain land ownership is to affect the Palestinians’ source of income, one such example being via tourism.
Tourists are a fundamental source of income for Palestinian businesses. Tourists in Palestine, especially Muslim tourists, shop at Palestinian-owned businesses which allows Palestinians to earn the money that helps maintain ownership of their homes and land. When the Israeli government prevents tourists from entering Palestine or severely limits entrance, Palestinian business owners are soon forced to go out of business and give up their homes, and the only buyers are inevitably Jews. By this, Palestinians are continued to be driven out of their homes, allowing more Jews to gain ownership of the land, which ultimately culminates in further colonization as the Palestinian population decreases while the Jewish population increases (Khawaled, Hasan. Personal interview. 24 Nov. 2022).
Israel’s support from the United States, and other countries
The world is aware of Israel’s actions – somewhat. And yet, Israel continues to hold so much power over Palestinians, mostly due to the unwavering support from the United States. Starting from President Harry Truman, through the Obama administration, and especially during the Trump administration, the United States has been deflecting criticism from Israel (Robinson). The United States aids Israel’s military power, and in return, the two countries form a beneficial partnership when sharing common enemies – specifically, Arab nations, such as the 1973 war involving Egypt and Syria, for example (Roberts). The negative side effect of the United States supporting Israel means that Arab nations have begun to support Israel as well to ensure their own “ties with the United States” despite the “taboo” of Arabs supporting Israel “while the Palestinian people remain under Israeli occupation” (Rahman). Of course, the continuous support for Israel, but especially from the Arab nations, has not been taken lightly by Palestinians, considering the attacks on Masjid-al-Aqsa, a religious site for Muslims not just in Palestine, but in aforementioned Arab nations as well. Admittedly, Israel raiding Masjid-al-Aqsa, killing children, and launching “grenades and tear gas into the mosque” did put a mild strain on the Arab nations’ support to Israel, but has not encouraged the Arab nations to sever ties with Israel entirely, just as much as the United States continues to stand by Israel. The United States does not outright criminalize Israel for such actions, although protests within the United States, and even communities within the Arab nations outraged at the government’s standing with Israel, have begun to increase as awareness is increased by organizations, such as the United Nations, are intent on reporting Israel’s attacks (Rahman). Additionally, public figures, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, showing support for Palestine encourages more public awareness of the Palestine-Israel conflict, especially the human rights violations committed by Israelis while the United States refuses to condemn Israel for such actions, but instead continues to stand by Israel (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez).
Counterarguments
While a significant number of people stand by Israel’s rights to establish Palestine as an Israeli state, a true analysis of Israel’s actions will cancel the chances of sympathy for Israelis over Palestinians. Despite Palestinians attacks against Israelis, such as when Palestinians in the Gaza Strip attacked the Israeli border (Monitor), Palestinians are the ones who continuously suffer greater losses – hundreds of Palestinians killed, with 61 of the deaths of children, versus the fatality of ten Israelis during one attack (Roberts) – and the Palestinians’ attacks are acts of retaliation against Israel’s unjust attacks occurring first. The constant conflict with Palestine refusing to maintain peace may negate their chances of a two-state solution that other countries see as the best option. However, the conflict between Israel and Palestine has by now become too deeply embedded with violence for a two-state solution to ever be an answer. Palestinians have been fighting because of the unequal proportioning of land since the beginning of the Partition Plans, and the proportioning of land for Palestine has only continued to worsen with Israel demanding and taking more land instead of equal division. With reduced chances of Palestinians gaining proper rights back to the land Israel has since colonized, a two-state solution is the furthest action to be deemed satisfactory within many Palestinians’ minds.
Conclusion
“People in Gaza are not living. They’re alive. There’s a huge difference.” (Shahen)
Since the late 1940s, Palestinians have engaged in conflict with Jews due to the unfair conditions Palestinians were assigned without the Palestinians’ own opinions being taken into proper consideration. The initial decision for Jews to be established in Palestine was enforced by the British government aiming to fulfill biblical beliefs. However, when Britain withdrew from Palestine, conflicts centered between Jews and Palestinians, as Jews fought to own the land, while the Palestinians fought to keep their homes. Ultimately, Jews not only established themselves as a state but also drove out hundreds of thousands of Palestinians as Jews took control. Since Israel has been declared a state, Israel has been flourishing with the support of the United States and other nations. All the while, Palestinians have undergone the removal of their homes, peace, and lives, and are constantly attacked, arrested under false reasonings, and abused, to the point of barely living even if still alive, as Israelis actively oppress Palestinians. With Israel’s blatant disregard for the basic human rights of Palestinians, a two-state solution is impossible to implement when there continues to be no signs of Israel stopping the colonization of Palestinian land, instead using various underhanded methods to obtain more land.
If this research was funded, I would be able to delve further into the topic of Palestinians being criminalized specifically, to magnify Israel’s violation of Palestinian human rights by corruptive use of the judicial system.
As Israel continues to colonize Palestinian land and wipe out hundreds and thousands of homes and livelihoods with no thoughts of reparations, the genuineness of concerns for and proclamations of defending human rights in other nations begs to be questioned.
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Annotated Bibliography
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez [@AOC]. “This is happening with the support of the United States. I don’t care how any spokesperson tries to spin this. The US vetoed the UN call for ceasefire. If the Biden admin can’t stand up to an ally, who can it stand up to? How can they credibly claim to stand for human rights?” Twitter, 15 May 2021, 1:59 p.m., https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1393672450928480262?s=20&t=c5sBbU29gf783DyGShltGw
“Balfour Declaration 1917.” The Avalon Project : Balfour Declaration November 2, 1917, Yale Law School,
https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/balfour.asp.
This page has published the letter from Arthur James Balfour, written in 1917, requesting the British government to place the Jewish community in Palestine. This site was helpful for my project in providing context as to what the Balfour Declaration entailed, as the Balfour declaration was used to heavily influence the Palestine Mandate in 1922.
“Gaza Strip.” UNRWA, May 2021,
https://www.unrwa.org/where-we-work/gaza-strip.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency is a nonprofit organization aimed towards aiding Palestinian refugees. The Gaza Strip site was a quantitative resource I utilized for my project by providing specific details to the amount of Palestinians taking refuge in the Gaza Strip. Other details specified how the abundance of Palestinians in a small stretch of land has made for harsh conditions. The site took a qualitative aspect when including the exacerbation of the Gaza Strip’s deterioration by Israel’s control and restrictions assigned for the area, as well as Israel’s attacks against the Palestinians taking refuge in the Gaza Strip.
Hawari, Yara. “The Israeli Legal System: No Place For Justice.” Israel-Palestine Conflict | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 5 Aug. 2021,
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/8/5/the-israeli-legal-system-no-place-for-justice.
This article gave an insight into the corruption of Israel’s judicial system when Palestinians are forced to come to court. This article specifically focuses on the fight for land ownership that brings Palestinians to the court. Israel initiates the threat of removing Palestinians as owners of land, and Palestinians have to resort to the Israeli court to postpone losing land. This article states that Palestinians will still lose the cases governed by Israelis notoriously favoring Jews, but for Palestinians, the court cases are an attempt to buy time by finding other means to maintain ownership of land. In my project, I use this article to show the unfairness and corruption of the Israeli judicial system utilized as a means of Israel further colonizing Palestine.
Jabarin, Shawan. “We Document Human Rights Violations. Israel Wants to Silence Us.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Sept. 2022,
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/23/opinion/international-world/al-haq-raid-human-rights-israel.html.
This article is a personal report detailing one incident of how Israelis attack Palestinians with unfounded allegations. Specifically, the article is from the perspective of a human rights organization director in Palestine being a direct victim of the Israel government’s abuse of authority, violence, and tendency to criminalize innocent Palestinians. I was able to use this source, combined with others, to establish how Israelis continuously slander Palestinians to justify their violent actions in the process of oppression.
“Jewish & Non-Jewish Population of Israel/Palestine.” Jewish & Non-Jewish Population of Israel/Palestine (1517-Present), 20 Sept. 2022,
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jewish-and-non-jewish-population-of-israel-palestine-1517-present.
This site is a compilation of the Jewish population spanning the years from 1517 to 2022. The recorded data in this site exposed my project to more qualitative features. The usage of the data in this site was implemented primarily to cement the increase of the Jewish population since Israel’s establishment. The rise in the Jewish population goes hand in hand with the decrease of Palestinians as Israel caused many Palestinians to become refugees, namely during the Nakba.
Luxenberg, Alan H. Ten Things Students Need To Know About the Origins of Israel and Palestine. Foreign Policy Research Institute, Apr. 2008, https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED505423.pdf.
This essay was helpful in summarizing the history of Israel, including establishing time periods via usage of historical events, such as with the Palestinian and Jews’ involvement in the World War. While the article was mostly from a neutral perspective, the essay favors the two-state solution and the possibilities and requirements of implementing the two-state solution. The main point of reference to this article in my project, however, was the essay’s historical information, which I was able to back up with references from other sources.
“Mandate for Palestine – League of Nations Official Journal (Excerpts) – Question of Palestine.” United Nations, United Nations, https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-201333/.
This site went hand in hand with the information regarding the Balfour Declaration. While the Balfour Declaration was only implemented in the form of the Palestine Mandate, this site explains why Britain did not immediately put the Balfour Declaration into action. Later, the site begins to explain how the Balfour Declaration was incorporated into the Palestine Mandate, with relevant crediting towards and responses from the creator of the Balfour Declaration, Lord Balfour himself. The information from this site went into the historical section of my project as context for how the Jews were able to begin gaining more power in Palestine with the ability to have the rights of buying land.
Ma’oz, Moshe. “The UN Partition Resolution of 1947: Why Was It Not Implemented?” Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture, vol. 9, no. 4, Dec. 2002, p. 15. EBSCOhost,
https://search-ebscohost-com.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9200236&site=ehost-live.
This article detailed the Palestinians’ reasonings behind refusing implementation of partition plans, and the Jews’ reasons for agreeing to the plans. Additionally, the article explains Britain’s involvement in the plans. However, despite Britain’s initial interest in establishing Israel as a state, this article explores the side of Britain wishing to maintain relations with the Arabs once the tension between Palestinians and the incoming Jews began to escalate into conflicts. The main relation between this article and my project involves the reasoning for Palestinians to refuse the Partition plan and how it culminated in the Nakba.
Monitor, NGO. “American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) ” Ngomonitor.” Ngomonitor, 5 Apr. 2022,
https://www.ngo-monitor.org/ngos/american-muslims-for-palestine-amp/.
The AMP is an extremely pro-Palestine organization, posting papers, reports, interviews, and release statements, often calling out Israel’s actions and operations that fund Israel’s government. The AMP’s stance of vehemently villainizing Israel actually helped point out a counterargument I pose in my project.
“Oxford Libguides: League of Nations: Structure of the League of Nations.” Structure of the League of Nations – League of Nations – Oxford LibGuides at Oxford University, 12 Aug. 2022,
https://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/ln/lnstruc.
This site defines the League of Nations in the 1900s. The site explains the nations involved to consist of the league, summarizes the duties carried out by the league, and the league’s main objective. I refer to this site to briefly explain which of the nations were involved with the dubious decision of establishing Jews in a predominantly Arab dominated Palestine.
Parsons, David. “The Restoration of Israel: Commentary.” ICEJ,
https://www.icej.org/understand-israel/biblical-teachings/the-restoration-of-israel/.
This site is completely in favor of Israel to the point of denying any mentions of Palestine. Rather, the site praises Israel’s development since the establishment of Israel as a state. Furthermore, the site incorporates Israel and Jews’ biblical importance and sees Israel’s evolution as a triumph for biblical prophecies. The biblical themes specified in this site is what is mentioned in my project, exploring how biblical reasoning has given Israel priority over Palestinians’ pre-established ownership of the land.
Rahman, Omar. “The Emergence of GCC-Israel Relations in a Changing Middle East.” Brookings, Brookings, 28 July 2021,
https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-emergence-of-gcc-israel-relations-in-a-changing-middle-east/.
This article explores how Arab nations have begun to support Israel – and subsequently, Israel’s oppression of Palestinians – instead of fellow Arabs in Palestine, due to prioritization of maintaining political ties with the United States. Admittedly, the article makes note of how not all the nations are blindly supporting Israel in all of its endeavors, and in one section of the article is the more appraising mention of Kuwait’s refusal to support Israel due to their steadfast loyalty to Palestinians. However, this article is incorporated into my project due to the explanations of why other nations have begun to support Israel despite the continuous violation of human rights.
Roberts, William. “Why Is the US Unequivocal in Its Support for Israel?” Israel-Palestine Conflict News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 19 May 2021,
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/18/short-answer-why-is-the-united-states-so-pro-israel.
This article goes through the history of the United States’ support of Israel, despite the countless incidents resulting in Palestinians mortality – which are given with exact data. This article has both qualitative and quantitative aspects which are both equally valuable for my project. The main use of this article in my project was as reference to the exploration of the United States’ reasons for supporting Israel. However, the quantitative information in this article was also utilized to further cement the dubious intentions of the United States in supporting Israel when faced with numbers of Palestinians killed by Israelis.
Robinson, Kali. “What Is U.S. Policy on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict?” Council on Foreign Relations, Council on Foreign Relations, 20 July 2022,
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-us-policy-israeli-palestinian-conflict.
This essay goes into detail as to how the United States has been supporting Israel throughout history, while attempting neutral diplomacy in the form of encouraging the ideal of a peaceful two-state solution. The essay explores how certain administrations have differed in the extent of supporting Israel, for example, comparing the Trump administration’s strong pro-Israel stance to Biden’s awareness of the need for a balance of rights. Nonetheless, this essay establishes the United States’ ultimate support for Israel regardless. The resolute support for Israel by the United States in this essay is what I refer to in my project when exploring the United States’ investment in Israel.
“The Nakba Did Not Start or End in 1948.” Features | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 23 May 2017,
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2017/5/23/the-nakba-did-not-start-or-end-in-1948.
This article gives ample data on Palestinians affected during the Nakba by the Israelis. The quantitative information in this essay was heavily impactful for my project when elaborating on the severity of the situation of the Nakba by referring to an approximate number of Palestinians killed or abused.
“The Status of Jerusalem – Study – Question of Palestine.” United Nations, United Nations, 1 July 1997,
https://www.un.org/unispal/document/the-status-of-jerusalem/.
This study includes the history of Palestine, the involvement of the British and United Nations with the Partition Plan, and subsequent events leading until the publishing date. Although this study was published in 1997, it has a detailed history of events that occurred until then, global legality issues, maps, and also states the importance of the Holy Land to Jews and Muslims. This study comes in greatly useful for the historical section of my project, which I synchronize with an interview.
The Quran, 17:1. Translated by Shayma Parveen.
United Nations General Assembly, Joint written statement* submitted by Al-Haq, Law in the Service of Man, Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, Human Rights & Democratic Participation Center “SHAMS”, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH), non-governmental organizations in special consultative status, A/HRC/48/NGO/151 (22 August 2021), available from
https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G21/260/36/PDF/G2126036.pdf?OpenElement
In this statement, the Humans Rights Council of the United Nations provides quantitative data along with the human rights violations committed by the Israel government, especially in regards to the corruption of the Israeli judicial system. The statement also makes note of the methods of retaliations by Palestinians. This statement was beneficial to my project in both quantitative and qualitative aspects, due to the data giving evidence to the high number of Palestinians abused by the Israeli judicial system and the ramifications to Palestinians’ human rights respectively.
“Where We Work.” UNRWA, https://www.unrwa.org/where-we-work.
This site is the main page of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Palestine to specific designations of the country and surrounding areas. The data provided through this site was incorporated into my project to initially compare the number of refugees within the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, before transitioning into the situation in the Gaza Strip with more detail.
Winder, Alex. “UN Partition Plan, 1947.” Palquest,
https://www.palquest.org/en/highlight/159/un-partition-plan-1947.
This article goes explicitly over the events revolving the Partition Plans which culminated in the establishment of Israel, and simultaneously, the Nakba. The contents of this article include the history of the conflicts arising between Jews and Palestinians, with mentions of specific locations, which can be used to back up the information in my project. However, the main use for this article in my project is due to specific details included in the article.
Zanger-Tishler, Michael. “Ethnoracial Classification and the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics: Constructing Palestinian Criminality in Israel (1990–2019).” Taylor & Francis Online, 8 Mar. 2022,
https://doi-org.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/10.1080/01419870.2022.2042351.
This article analyzes the creation of the stigma against Arabs by improper recording of crime statistics in Israel. While the article goes into detail over specific Jewish categorization and the lack of proper representation skewing data, the side effect of the misrepresentation results in stigma against Arabs. How this stigma against Arabs based on incorrect facts works in Israel’s favor is what is used for my project.
Shayma Parveen
BIS 300 – Research Project (Fall 2022), University of Washington
Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash
