[ Katharina Britz & Dirk Ortgies ] About 125.000 people have been killed in the conflict between Israelites and Palestinians since 1948.

David Ben-Gurion declared the state of Israel in the year 1948 while Jewish emigrants from Europe were in war with and the Arabs in the British colony Palestine. This happened against the will of the British colonial masters and the UN, who preferred two separated states for the Jewish immigrants and the Arab inhabitants. Up to now Israel has not been recognized by the Arab countries. In 1967 Israel conquered East-Jerusalem, the Gaza strip, the Syrian Golan Heights, the West Bank and the Sinai in the Six-Day War against the Arab neighbours. The government supported Israelites to settle in the occupied areas. In the Yom-Kippur War 1973 Israel lost the Golan Heights which afterwards were re-conquered in 1981.

First attempts for peace in the region were made in 1977 between Egypt and Israel. Quite sensationally, Anwar el Saddat, Egypt’s head of state, held a speech at the Israeli parliament. This speech was followed by the Israel / Egypt meeting at Camp David in 1978. US President Jimmy Carter had invited Saddat and Menachim Begin, Israeli Prime Minister. This developed into the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.

After the 2nd Gulf War 1991 the US government made a new peace-attempt for the Middle-East which resulted in the Oslo-Peace-Treaty of 1993. The Israelites and Palestinians recognized each other and started talks about Palestinian autonomy leading to the 2nd Oslo agreement. The Palestinian people were given the right to elect their own government, the so called Palestinian National Authority (PNA). First leader was the head of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Yasser Arafat. Israel started to retreat troops from the West Bank and Gaza for the stopping of Palestinian terror. After the Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995 the peace-process slowed down and ceased.

The actual conflict between the Israelites and the Palestinians is based on Ariel Scharon’s visit at the Temple Mount on 9-28th 2000. At that time Scharon was the opponent of prime minister Ehud Barak during the elections. His visit of the Temple Mount’s Arabic part with the Al-Aqsa mosque was a provocation for the Palestinians and all Muslims. This incident started new riots by the upset Palestinians, the so called Al-Aqsa Intifada. It stands for “war of stones”. The Palestinians threw stones against heavy-armoured Israeli soldiers.

At the beginning it was a daily routine but it developed more and more into a violent conflict. The Palestinian terrorist organisations (Hamas, Jihad) sent fanatic suicide-bombers into Israel and the new Israeli government under Scharon answered with the liquidation of suspected terrorists and air-strikes against Palestinian buildings and refugee-camps. In November 2000 President Clinton founded a fact-finding commission to present a solution for the actual conflict. The report of this commission is called after its chairman Mitchell, who is also responsible for the Northern Ireland treaty. The Mitchell-report published in May 2001 contains: the stopping of Israeli settlements, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestinian areas and determined actions against terrorists by the Palestinian National Authority. Scharon rejected the proposals because he didn’t want to stop the Israeli settlement-policy. All European and US attempts to reach a peace agreement failed.

After the Israeli tourist minister was killed by a terrorist in October last year Scharon placed Arafat under house arrest. At this point the violence escalated. The Palestinians started using mortars and rockets. The Israeli answers were attacks from helicopters, bombers and ships. Tuesday the Israeli government began the greatest tank offensive after 20 years. The Israel army went into Ramallah and other cities under control of the PNA and caused a stem of refugees. The new hope for the region is a proposal by the Saudi-Arabian prince Abdullah who offered the recognition of the state Israel by the Arab governments on the condition that Israel retreats into the borders held before the Six-Day War (1967) and recognizes the Palestinian state. At the beginning of this week Scharon changed his position and released Arafat from his house arrest. He also offered peace-talks with the Palestinians “under fire”. Is this a new chance for peace in the Middle-East?