1. Islarel & Palestine

2. Conflicts

3. History of Conflict

4. Rebels

5. The West Barriers

Islael

Official Name of State : The State of Israel

Size : 20,770㎢

Capital : Jerusalem
However, the city of Jerusalem is not formally accepted as capital by the international society. The embassies are located in Tel-Aviv Jaffa.

Population : approximately 6.78million (2004)   
                   Jews(80%) / Arabic Israeli(14%)
                   Jews residing in Foreign Nations
                          8million(approx. 6 mil. In US)

Language : Hebrew, Arabic, English

Religion : Jewish(77%), Islam(15%), Christianity, etc.

Palestine

Official Name of State : Palestinian Authority (PA)

Size : 6,170㎢ (WestBank: 5,800㎢ / Gaza Strip: 365㎢)

Capital : Ramallah
       PA claims its capital as Eastern Jerusalem

Population : approx. 3.68million(2003)
        Palestinian(75%) / Jewish Palestinian(17%)
        Palestinian residing in foreign  

Nations: 4.5million(mostly war refugees)

Language: Arabic

Religion : Islam(75%), Jewish(17%), Christianity, etc.

Israel-Palestine Conflict Area

Gaza Strip, and Western Bank

.......

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinians.

The biggest conflicts exist in the Gaza Strip, and The Palestinian West Bank

Serious Arms Battle : ISRAEL launched air strikes in the Gaza Strip in response to Palestinian rocket attacks, in the worst violence since Israeli troops quit the territory nearly two weeks ago

The conflict between Israel and Palestine is still on-going

Palestinian Rebels are fighting against the authorities of the Israeli Government through military aggression.

Palestine Liberation Organization

  The official PLO emblem shows the Palestinian flag above a map of the land they claim as Palestine (roughly, present-day Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip)

  The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) (Arabic: Munazzamat al-Tahrir al-Filastiniyyah منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية ) is a political and paramilitary organization of Palestinian Arabs dedicated to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the area historically known as Palestine. In 1969, Yasser Arafat became the Chairman of the PLO Executive Committee and remained so until his death in 2004. He was succeeded by Mahmoud Abbas (also known as Abu Mazen.)

Hamas

  The Hamas emblem consists of the Dome of the Rock, two crossed swords, and two Palestinian flags embracing the Dome with the phrases, "There is no god but Allah", and "Muhammad is the messenger of Allah." At the top is a map encompassing the boundaries of the State of Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with "Palestine" written under the picture and a strip at the bottom stating "Islamic Resistance Movement-Hamas."

  Hamas, acronym of Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyyah (Arabic: حركة المقاومة الاسلامية, literally "Islamic Resistance Movement" and Arabic for 'zeal' or 'courage'), is a Palestinian Islamist paramilitary organization closely related to the Muslim Brotherhood. Its stated goal is to conquer all of the State of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza and replace it with an Islamic theocracy.

  It is listed as a terrorist group by the European Union, Canada, the United States, and Israel, and its attacks targeting Israeli civilians and other human rights abuses have been condemned by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and by Human Rights Watch.

Fatha

  The Fatah official emblem shows two fists holding rifles and a hand grenade superimposed on a map of the land they claimed as Palestine The signs in Arabic language: Al-Asifa ("The Storm", another name of the group) : The Palestinian National Liberation Movement : Revolution until victory

  Fatah (Arabic: فتح); a reverse acronym from the Arabic name Harakat al-Tahrir al-Watani al-Filastini (literally: "Palestinian National Liberation Movement") is a major Palestinian faction and the largest constituency of the PLO, a multi-party confederation.

  The reverse acronym "FATAH" means "conquest" or "victory through holy struggle" in Arabic. The meaning of this acronym spelled straight forward, as "HATAF", is "death".

PIJ (Palestinian Islamic Jihad)

  The emblem of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad shows a map of the land they claim as Palestine superimposed on the images of the Dome of the Rock, two fists and two rifles. "Allahu Akbar". Harakat-ul-Jihad-il-Islami fi Filastin (name of group). Qur'an verse 29:69 related to jihaad

   Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ, Arabic الجهاد الإسلامي الفلسطيني - Harakat al-Jihād al-Islāmi al-Filastīni) is a militant group, regarded as terrorist by Israel, the United States and the European Union, whose goal is the "liberation" of historical Palestine, destruction of the State of Israel and its replacement with an Islamist state for Palestinians.

  This group defines jihad as acts of war against Israelis. Palestinian Islamic Jihad also opposes many other Arab governments, who they see as being insufficiently Islamic and too western. The PIJ's armed wing , the Al-Quds brigades, has claimed responsibility for numerous militant attacks in Israel, including suicide bombings.

The Israeli West Bank barrier (commonly referred to as a "fence" by its supporters and a "wall" by its opponents) is a physical barrier consisting of a network of fences, walls, and trenches, which is being constructed by Israel.

The constructed and approved extents of the barrier roughly follow the 1949 Jordanian-Israeli armistice line, also known as the "Green Line". In some areas the route diverges from this line, particularly in areas with a high concentration of Jewish settlements: East Jerusalem, Ariel, Beitar Illit, Efrat, Gush Etzion, Emmanuel Karnei Shomron, Givat Ze'ev, Oranit, and Maale Adumim. These divergences may be as much as 20 kilometers.

The name of the barrier is itself a political issue. The most common names used by Israel are "separation fence" and "security fence" or "anti-terrorist fence" in English, with "seam zone" referring to the land between the fence and the 1949 armistice lines. Palestinians (including the media) most commonly refer to the barrier “racial segregation wall”, and some opponents of the barrier refer to it in English as an "apartheid wall". The United Nations and the international community use inconsistent wording, including separation/security and fence/wall/barrier.

Gate into the Bethlehem

Entrance to most of the crucial cities within the so-called “unsafe” regions are being guarded as in the picture.

This is how the division looks like when seen from above. The settlements are being fenced so that they can be kept separated from the “unsafe” grounds.

  The "road map" for peace is a plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict proposed by a "quartet" of international entities: the United States, the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations. The principles of the plan were first outlined by U.S. President George W. Bush in a speech on June 24, 2002, in which he called for an independent Palestinian state living side by side with the Israeli state in peace. Bush was the first U.S. President to explicitly call for such a Palestinian state.

  In exchange for statehood, the road map requires the Palestinian Authority to make democratic reforms and abandon the use of terrorism. Israel, for its part, must support and accept the emergence of a reformed Palestinian government and end settlement activity of the Gaza Strip and West Bank as the Palestinian terrorist threat is removed.

 The road map comprises three goal-driven phases with the ultimate goal of ending the conflict as early as 2005.
 

 →Phase I (as early as May 2003): End to Palestinian violence; Palestinian political reform; Israeli withdrawal and freeze on settlement expansion; Palestinian elections

 →Phase II (as early as June-Dec 2003): Creation of an independent Palestinian state; international conference and international monitoring of compliance with the road map

 →Phase III (as early as 2004-2005): Second international conference; permanent status agreement and end of conflict; agreement on final borders, clarification of the highly controversial question of the fate of Jerusalem, refugees and settlements; Arab states to agree to peace deals with Israel

  Israel's unilateral disengagement plan (Hebrew: תוכנית ההתנתקות (the official name) or תוכנית ההינתקות or תוכנית ההנתקות), also known as the "disengagement plan," "Gaza Pull-Out plan," and "Gaza Expulsion plan" was a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adopted by the government and enacted in August 2005, to remove all permanent Israeli presence in the Gaza Strip and from 4 settlements in the Northern West Bank. The civilian settlements were evacuated and the residential buildings demolished after 15 August, and the pullout was completed from the Gaza Strip on September 12 2005, when the last Israeli soldier left the strip. The military pullout from the northern West Bank is expected to be completed several weeks later.

U.S. government

United Nations

  U.S. president George W. Bush endorsed the plan as a positive step towards the Road map for peace.

  Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, commended on August 18, 2005 Sharon’s "courageous decision" to carry through with the painful process of disengagement, and that he believes that a successful disengagement should be the first step towards a resumption of the peace process, in accordance with the Road Map," referring to the plan sponsored by the diplomatic Quartet – UN, European Union, Russia and United States

European Union

  Javier Solana, European Union High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy stated that Sharon’s attempt represents an opportunity to restart the implementation of the Road Map as endorsed by the UNSC

 The Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowen (Ireland having Presidency of the EU at the time), announced the European Union's disapproval of the plan's limited scope in that it does not address withdrawal from the entire West Bank.

Israeli-Palestinian United Soccer Team