FAIR TRADE PRODUCTS

FOR IFPB DELEGATES

Background Readings, Resources, and Timeline

New Resources (2017):

• Israel Transitions to Biometric Passports and IDs
• Fatah & Hamas to form a unity government (January 2017)
• Fatah & Hamas to form a unity government (September 2017)
  
  
• The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was established by the Arab League in 1964 as an effort to control Palestinian nationalism while appearing to champion the cause. The Arab defeat in the 1967 war enabled younger, more militant Palestinians to take over the PLO and gain some independence from the Arab regimes.
  
  The PLO includes different political and armed groups with varying ideological orientations. Yasser Arafat was PLO chairman from 1968 until his death in 2004.  He was also the leader of Fatah, the largest PLO group. The other major groups are the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and, in the Occupied Territories, the Palestine Peoples Party (PPP, formerly the Communist Party). Despite these factional differences, the majority of Palestinians regarded the PLO as their representative until it began to lose significance after the 1993 Oslo accords and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994. Hamas, which is an Islamist group and not a component of the PLO, emerged in the late 1980s. The rise of Hamas, especially in the 2000s, further diminished the authority of the PLO.
  
  Until 1993, Israel did not acknowledge Palestinian national rights or recognize the Palestinians as an independent party to the conflict. Israel refused to negotiate with the PLO and rejected the establishment of a Palestinian state, demanding that Palestinians be incorporated into the existing Arab states. This intransigence ended when Israeli representatives entered into secret negotiations with the PLO, which led to the (September) 1993 Oslo Declaration of Principles.
  
  * included in your physical reading packet as well. Highlighted here for context on current events around the Unity Government Discussions (Source MERIP.org)
  
  
• Palestine: For Land and Life offers a glimpse of everyday life for the people in Palestine and the monumental issues that stand in the way of peace and justice in the region. The series began as a project examining the impact of the occupation on agricultural livelihoods, with a special focus on land, water, and seeds. But the research quickly became about everyday life under occupation, the use of laws and military orders which subjugate Palestinians, and the struggle to sustain livelihoods in this context. 
  
  
• A Report from the Olive Farmers Themselves

• Men in the Sun: Stories from Palestine is a slight volume of 7 short stories, the longest only 52 pages. Written by Ghassan Kanafani in Arabic and published in an English translation by Hilary Kilpatrick in 1999.
  
  
• Uncovering the Lost Palestinian Villages Underneath Glitzy Tel Aviv
  
  
  

Resources for Maps:

• De-Colonizer: Mapping Erased Palestinian Villages
  
• iNakba: Zochrot’s detailed mapping tool
• B’Tselem maps 
• UN Office for the Coordination of Humantarian Affairs maps 

Additional Articles/ Multi Media Resources (2012-2014):

• Recognizing Palestine, BDS and the survival of Israel, Joseph Massad (December 16, 2014)
• Ferguson to Palestine, Steve Tamari (December 1, 2014)
• The Catastrophe inflicted on Gaza - and the cost to Israel's Standing, Saree Makdisi (August 15, 2014)
• When the Smoke Clears in Gaza, Robin D.G. Kelley (August 8, 2014)
• Willing the impossible: an interview with Judith Butler, Ray Filar (July 25, 2014)
• US Plays Deceisive role in Israel's Attach on Gaza, Jonathan Cook (July 23, 2014)
• Can Palestinian Men be Victims? Gendering Israel's War on Gaza, Maya Mikdashi (July 23, 2014)
• Gaza Is, MERIP Editors (July 14, 2014)
• 'Price Tag' Attacks, Land Confesction and plans for Transfer, Alex Kane (May 12, 2014)
• Yes, Gaza is still under siege, Ali Abunimah (May 20, 2013)
• From Al–Araqib to Susiya, Adalah Movie Production (May 14, 2013)
• Seeing How the Natives Live:  On the Pitfalls and Potential of Alternative Tourism, Rybka Bernard (April 16, 2013)
• Is This Where the Third Intifada Will Start?, Ben Ehrenreich (March 15, 2013)
• The Death of Fatah and the Future of Palestine, Dalia Hatuqa (January 18, 2013)
  
• When the Boys Return, Aljazeera Witness (January 10, 2013)
  
• Gaza to Galilee: The colonial context, Ben White (December 16, 2012)
• Fact Sheet:  25th Anniversary of the First Intifada, IMEU (December 6, 2012)
• Four More Years, Mouin Rabbani (December 5, 2012)
  
• Palestine activism on campus and beyond, Abraham Greenhouse (November 8, 2013)
• Palestine’s Economic Hallucination, Sam Bahour (January 2012):
  
  

Israel/Palestine Timeline: 1880 to 2013

• 1880 First Zionist colony in Palestine established and funded by British Zionists.
• 1896 Der Judenstaat is published by Theodore Herzl. 
• 1897 First Zionist Congress held in Switzerland issued the Basle program on the colonization of Palestine and the establishment of the World Zionist Organization (WZO).
• 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement is reached (in secrecy) between the British and French on how to divide the Middle East between them after World War I.  This secret agreement contradicts public promises to allow Arab people to have independence and self determination after WWI.
• 1917 France and Britain issue declarations in support of establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The French sign the Jules Cambion Declaration in June and in November the British sign the Balfour Declaration. 
• 1920 League of Nations divides Arab lands gained in World War I between Britain and France.  Ownership of this land is supposed to be temporary—a “mandate” to rule the countries until they are “ready” for independence.   Britain rules a mandate over what it today Israel/Palestine, Jordan, and Iraq.  France becomes the Mandatory power of what is today Lebanon and Syria.
• 1933 Hitler rises to power in Germany and persecution of Jews increases. Jewish migration to Palestine increases.
• 1936-1939 Palestinians stage the first major uprising against British and Zionist colonial projects.  The uprising is brutally put down by the British occupation forces. 
• 1937 The revolt leads to the Peel Commission “White Paper” which recognizes increased Jewish immigration over native Palestinian objections as a major cause of problems. The White Paper recommends partitioning Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. The Jewish leadership accepts this plan but wants more land and Arab leadership rejects it. Britain attempts to limit immigration but ultimately the effort fails.
• 1939 – 1945 WWII Holocaust; Jewish migration to Palestine intensifies (680,000 Jews in Palestine in 1946). Lebanon becomes independent in 1943; Syria in 1944; Jordan in 1946.
• 1946 Hostilities in Palestine escalate including Jewish terrorism against Britain. President Truman expresses support for partition and a “viable Jewish state”.
• November 29, 1947 The General Assembly of the United Nations issues Resolution 181 (by a vote of 33 to 13) that recommends partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states.  55% of the land was to make up a Jewish state and 44% for a Palestinian state with Jerusalem and Bethlehem area (1%) being an international zone .  Part of the Zionist movement (Labor Zionists led by Ben-Gurion) accepted the idea of a Jewish state while explaining clearly that they did not accept the idea of economic unions or other parts of the recommendation.  Palestinian leaders rejected the partition, arguing that it violated the rights of the majority of the people in Palestine, which at the time was 67% non-Jewish (1,237,000) and 33% Jewish (608,000). Arab leaders also argued a large number of Arabs would be trapped in the Jewish State as a minority.
• November 1947-April 1949. The War of Independence / Al-Nakba. From November to May, fighting breaks out between Palestinians, Jews, and British forces.  The British mandate comes to an end and Israel declares statehood (May 15, 1948). After May 15, surrounding Arab armies attack. The war results in a divided Jerusalem and Israel and adjoining states sign armistice agreements in 1949. Israel ends up with 50% more territory than was originally proposed by the UN Partition Plan.  Egypt rules the impoverished Gaza Strip. Jordan gains what becomes known as the West Bank. Over 530 Palestinian villages and towns are depopulated and mostly destroyed.  Around 700,000 Palestinians are displaced—some through forced transfer by proto-Israeli armies and militias, some fleeing out of fear—and become refugees.  A majority of these 700,000 left or were expelled before the combined Arab attack on the new Israeli state on May 15, 1948.  
• December 11, 1948 UNGA passes Resolution 194, the basis of the Right of Return for Palestinian refugees.
• October 29, 1956 Egyptian leader Gamal Abdul Nasser’s nationalization of the Suez Canal leads to military action by France, Britain and Israel. Israel invades and occupies the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula with French and British collaboration. Under heavy US pressure, Britain and France back down and Israel withdraws its troops from Gaza in March 1957. 
• May, 1964 The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is founded with the aim of establishing a secular state in Palestine for Jews, Christians, and Muslims. It aims to challenge the Zionist conception of preventing Palestinian refugees from returning to their homes and lands. Palestinian armed resistance initiated by factions of PLO begins in January 1965.
  
• June 5-10, 1967 Six-day war. After Gamal Abdul Nasser closes the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping and demands the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers from the Egyptian-Israeli border, Israel launches an attack against the armies of Egypt and Syria. In six days the Israeli army devastates the Egyptian, Syrian, and Jordanian armies and occupies the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, the Syrian Golan Heights, and the 22% of Palestine not already under Israeli control (the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem). UN resolution 242 calls for Israeli withdrawal (“recognizing the inadmissibility of acquisition of territory by war”), a just resolution to the Palestinian refugee problem, and introduces the “land for peace” concept.
  
• 1967 By the end of 1967, Israel has begun building settlements in occupied East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank in the Gush Etzion Block.
  
• 1969-1970 Egypt stages War of Attrition against Israel with help from the Soviet Union in an attempt to regain the Sinai Peninsula. The war ended with a ceasefire with the borders at the same place as before the war.
  
• 1970 “Black September:” Jordanian government clashes with Palestinian factions in Jordan which leads to the expulsion of Palestinian factions from Jordan.  Most go to Lebanon.
  
• October 6, 1973 Egypt and Syria initiate a war to reclaim the land occupied by Israel in 1967, known as the “Yom Kippur War.”  US intervention—including massive arms airlifts from the US to Israel— forces an end to the war. Egypt and Syria are not successful in reclaiming their lands.  International reaction (especially due to an Arab oil embargo) forces the beginning of a “peace process” between Egypt and Israel.
  
• March 30, 1976 Palestinians citizens of Israel protest continued government land confiscation declaring an annual “Land Day” which becomes a unifying call among all Palestinians to stop the land confiscation and Israeli settlement building on Palestinian lands.
  
• 1977 Menachem Begin and Likud coalition win Israeli elections. Settlements in occupied territories continue to increase and expand. Egypt’s President Sadat goes to Israel’s Knesset and expresses desire for Egypt and Israel to live together in “permanent peace based on justice” and calls for Palestinian rights to their own state.
  
• 1978 Israel invades Lebanon and occupies a strip along their southern border.
  
• March 26, 1979 Peace treaty signed between Egypt and Israel at Camp David.  Israel leaves the Sinai Peninsula in return for recognition by Egypt. The Arab League expels Egypt for its recognition of Israel. In a separate Israel-US Memorandum of Agreement on the same day, the United States spells out its commitments to Israel in case the treaty is violated. In the treaty, Israel is guaranteed billions of dollars in unconditional aid from the US as well as economic and military support. Egypt is promised a smaller amount of conditional US aid.
  
• 1980 Israeli government formally declares Jerusalem its eternal, undivided capital, affirming the de facto annexation of the West Bank environs and East Jerusalem that began in 1967.
  
• 1981 Israel formally annexes the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in 1967.
  
• June 6, 1982 Massive Israeli invasion of Lebanon results in tens of thousands of civilian deaths due to carpet bombings of civilian areas and refugee camps. The PLO is removed from Lebanon and moves to Tunis with promises by the US administration to protect Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.  Once the PLO leaves, Lebanese Christian militias (supported and financed by Israel) massacre Palestinian refugees in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in September 1982 .
  
• 1987-1993 The first intifada, a popular Palestinian uprising, begins in the occupied territories in 1987.  Although the uprising is largely nonviolent, The Israeli Defense Force responds with force (the “Iron Fist” policy). Yitzhak Rabin, then Israeli defense minister, instructs his troops to break the bones of any Palestinian caught throwing stones at Israeli occupation forces.  Hundreds of Palestinians, including children as young as nine, had their limbs broken.
  
• November 15, 1988 The Palestinian National Council (PNC), the highest decision-making body of the PLO, declares Palestinian statehood in compliance with UN resolutions (including recognition of UN Resolution 181 which recognizes the state of Israel). The United States opens dialogue with the PLO.
  
• January 12, 1991 The US-led Gulf War begins in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
  
• 1992 The US government holds up $10 billion in U.S. loan guarantees to Israel (fiscal years 1993-1997) in an attempted to limit Israeli settlement building.
  
• September 13, 1993 The Oslo peace process, which began as a series of secret meetings between Israeli and Palestinian academics and diplomats in Norway, becomes public with the PLO and Israel signing the “Declaration of Principles.”   The Oslo Accords divided control of the West Bank and Gaza between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. The accords also contain the “Letters of Recognition,” where Israel recognized the PLO as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and the PLO renounces terrorism and recognizes Israel’s right to exist.
• 1994-2000 As a result of Oslo Israel gains a peace treaty with Jordan, normalization with a number of other states and increase in trade and commerce.  There are the trappings of immediate rewards for Palestinians: establishment of the Palestinian Authority (PA) as an interim governing body, armed police forces, limited US aid, and civil responsibility (taxes, post office, utility services, etc) for the PA in parts of the West Bank and Gaza.  However, at the same time, Palestinians are subjected to new restrictions on movement, checkpoints, isolation from Jerusalem and increased settlement activity (including land confiscation). Israel doubles its settler population in the occupied West Bank (including East Jerusalem) in the 7 years following the agreement, although the agreement specifically called for not altering the status of the West Bank or taking unilateral actions.  The number of settlers increased from roughly 220,000 in 1993 to over 450,000 in 2000.
  
• November 4, 1995 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated in Tel Aviv.
  
• April 11, 1996 Israel launches “Operation Grapes of Wrath” in Southern Lebanon. Israel bombs Lebanon heavily and kills hundreds of refugees at a UN compound in Qana.
  
• 1996 Benjamin Netanyahu elected Prime Minister of Israel.  Yasir Arafat elected President of the Palestinian Authority
  
• 1997 The construction of the Har Homa settlement overlooking East Jerusalem results in widespread protests and freezes the peace process.
  
• 1999 Ehud Barak is elected as Prime Minister of Israel.
  
• May 24, 2000 Israeli withdrawal from most of Southern Lebanon occupied since 1982 invasion.
  
• September 28, 2000 Ariel Sharon gets Israeli government permission to visit the Al-Aqsa/Dome of the Rock area. This provocative visit sparks the second intifada, which begins largely as stone-throwing at checkpoints.  A harsh Israeli response leaves 140 Palestinians killed in the first month of the Intifada. 
  
• November 2, 2000  The first Palestinian suicide bombing of this intifada kills two Israelis in Jerusalem.  Suicide bombings continue from 2000-2005.  The BBC catalogs over 70 suicide attacks, the Israeli Foreign Ministry records 121 ‘mass murder attacks.’  
  
• June 2001 Ariel Sharon elected the Prime Minister of Israel.
  
• April 2002 After a Passover suicide bombing in Israel, the Israeli Defense Force reoccupies areas of the West Bank that had been placed under Palestinian control. Yasir Arafat is placed under house arrest. Israel begins construction of what it calls a “security fence” around the West Bank.  (Gaza has been surrounded by an electronic fence with sensors since the mid-1990s.)
  
• July 9, 2004 International court of Justice (ICJ) rules that the Israeli Wall built on Palestinian land violates international law and must be torn down.
  
• November 11, 2004 Palestinian Authority President Yasir Arafat dies.
  
• January 9, 2005 Mahmoud Abbas is elected President of the Palestinian Authority.
  
• July 9, 2005 Palestinian Civil Society call for boycotts, divestments and sanctions akin to the treatment of Apartheid South Africa until Israel respects human rights and International law. This includes full withdrawal from all areas occupied in 1967 and implementing the rights of refugees to return to their homes and lands.
  
• August 2005 Israel removes 2% of settlers (Gaza and four settlements in the West Bank) but had already added 4% more in the settlement blocks in the West Bank.  Dov Weissglass (advisor to Ariel Sharon) explains that this move helps freeze the peace process and the idea of a Palestinian state. 
  
• January 25, 2006 Hamas wins a majority of the seats in the Palestinian elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), the parliament of the Palestinian Authority. The United States, the EU, and other Western Nations freeze aid to Palestinian Authority.
  
• June 24, 2006 Israeli army raids Gaza and kidnaps two civilians they claim to be Hamas supporters, Osama and Mustafa Abu Muamar.  The brothers are detained and questioned in Israel.
  
• June 25, 2006 Palestinian militants kidnap Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, kill two soldiers and wound four others. Israel launches Operation Summer Rains and heavily punishes Gaza by isolation and destruction of infrastructure
  
• June 29, 2006 Israeli forces arrest 64 Hamas officials, including 7 members of the Palestinian and 20 members of the Palestinian legislative Council (the 72-seat parliament of the Palestinian Authority).  The Palestinian Legislative Council ceases to function leaving no legislative branch in the Palestinian Authority.
  
• July 12, 2006 Hizbullah captures two Israeli soliders along the Israel – Lebanon border. Israel responds by bombarding Lebanon, focusing on Beirut’s southern suburbs and areas south of the Litani River.  Hizbullah responds with Katyusha rocket attacks on Israel.  The war lasts a month; between 1000-1200 Lebanese are killed (most of whom were civilians—many estimates include over 1000 dead Lebanese civilians) and 163 Israelis are killed (between 36-43 Israelis killed were civilians).
  
• August 12, 2006 Israeli and Lebanese parties agree a cease-fire in UN Resolution 1701.
  
• September 26, 2006 A UN study declares the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip "intolerable", with 75% of the population dependent on food aid, and an estimated 80% of the population living below the poverty line. The Palestinian economy had largely relied on Israeli, European, and Western aid, which has been greatly diminished since Hamas's victory.
  
• December 14, 2006 Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas party leader, survives an assassination attempt while returning to Gaza from Egypt.  Hamas blames Fatah party warlord Mohammad Dahlan for the attack.
  
• March 17, 2007 Palestinian officials announce that a deal for a unity government with members from both Hamas and Fatah has been reached. Israel's vice-premier Shimon Peres says his government will not deal with the new Palestinian body because it refuses to renounce violence or recognize Israel's right to exist.
  
• June 14, 2007 Following weeks of violence between Hamas and Fatah militants in Gaza, Hamas violently seizes power in Gaza and drives out the warlords who led the Fatah attacks.  Militants declare a new "liberation" of the Gaza Strip. President Abbas dismisses the Palestinian unity government and declares a state of emergency.
  
• June 18, 2007 President Abbas issues a decree outlawing the Hamas militia and swears in a temporary cabinet for his emergency government, a move described by a Hamas official as "illegal" and outside Abbas' authority.
  
• November 27, 2007 The Bush administration hosts a Middle East summit at Annapolis, Maryland.  Attendees include Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.  Hamas and other Palestinian parties are not invited.  Conference ends with a commitment to the establishment of a Palestinian state by the end of 2008, but with no clear timetable for reaching that objective.
  
• January 20, 2008 The Israeli government cuts fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip and closes the borders to all shipments save a fraction of the previously shipped humanitarian goods, prompting an outcry from humanitarian organizations.  Human Rights Watch concludes that the Israeli closure “amounts to collective punishment of the civilian population, and violate Israel’s obligations under the laws of war.”
  
• January 23, 2008 Palestinian militants blow up sections of the wall along Gaza’s border with Egypt, temporarily breaking the Israeli-imposed siege.  Hundreds of thousands of Gazans stream into Egypt’s northern Sinai towns to by food and medicines.  The border remains open for nearly a week but is eventually closed by Egyptian and Palestinian forces loyal to the de-facto Hamas government in Gaza.
  
• February 29, 2008: Israel launches military campaign, codenamed Operation Hot Winter, in the Gaza Strip.  112 Palestinians and three Israelis were killed.
  
• December 27, 2008 – January 19, 2009: Israel launches Operation Cast Lead, a full scale invasion of the Gaza Strip, killing over 1400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.  After 22 days of fighting, Israel and Hamas each declare separate unilateral ceasefires.
  
• March 31, 2009:  Benjamin Netanyahu takes office as Israeli Prime Minister.
  
• April 3, 2009:  United Nations establishes a fact-finding mission to Gaza, headed by Richard Goldstone.
  
• September 15 – November 3, 2009:  The “Goldstone Report” is released, accusing both Israel and Hamas of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.  US House of Representatives then passes a resolution denouncing the Goldstone Report.
  
• November 25, 2009:  Netanyahu announces settlement construction freeze in the West Bank, which does not include constructions already occurring or settlements in East Jerusalem. 
  
• May 31, 2010:  Israeli Navy violently intercepts a humanitarian aid flotilla enroute to the Gaza Strip.  In a naval assault on the vessels, Israeli forces killed 9 human rights activists aboard the Turkish-flagged ship “Mavi Marmara”.
  
• September 22, 2010:  United Nations Human Rights Council condemns the Israeli attack on the Mavi Marmara as “unacceptable level of brutality” and “disproportionate”. 
  
• January 23, 2011:  Al Jazeera releases The Palestine Papers, revealing documents, emails and minutes of meetings from 10 years of negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian officials.
  
• February 18, 2011:  US vetoes United Nations Security Council resolution declaring Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal.
  
• September 23, 2011:  Abbas submits request for full membership of Palestine in the United Nations.
  
• October 17, 2011:  As part of a prison swap, 1,000 Palestinian prisoners are released by Israel, and Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is released by Hamas after 5 years of imprisonment in the Gaza Strip.
  
• October 31, 2011:  UNESCO votes to accept full Palestinian membership. The US announces it is withholding its contribution to UNESCO’s budget as a result of the vote.
  
• January 25, 2012:  Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks in Jordan End with no Progress.
  
• May 7, 2012:  Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu forms new coalition government, with a pledge to renew the peace process.
  
• November 12, 2012:  Palestinian Authority seeks Non-Member State Status in the United Nations system.
  
• November 14 - 21, 2012:  Israel launches Operation Pillar of Defense in the Gaza Strip, killing over 160 Palestinians.
  
• November 29, 2012:  United Nations General Assembly votes to recognize Palestine within the 1967 borders as a non-member state with observer status, 138 countries voted in favor, 9 against, and 41 abstained.
  
• July 29, 2013:  Israeli- Palestinian Peace Talks Resume in Washington, DC.
  
• August 11, 2013:  Israel announces approval to advance settlement construction of 1,200 new homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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