Also known as the Western or Wailing Wall Disturbances, these were the first large-scale occurrences of fighting among Arabs, Jews, and the British mandatory administration. Though the deeper causes can be linked to greater tensions between the Jewish immigration furthering the Zionist movement’s goal of a Jewish national homeland and the Palestinians’ nationalist aspirations, the fighting began over Jewish access to the Western Wall, known as Al Buraq in Arabic or HaKotel in Hebrew. Jews believe it to be the remnants of the Second Temple destroyed by the Roman Empire, which most historians and archaeologists concur with. It is at the base of the Haram Al-Sharif (The Noble Sanctuary), one of Islam’s holiest sites. Rumors of a Jewish plot to seize control of the holy places began to spread in the late 1920s, and violence erupted by 1929, causing extensive damage. 116 Palestinians and 133 Jews were killed in incidents reaching from Jerusalem, to Hebron, Jaffa and Safad. See: Pappe, Ilan. The Aristocracy of the Land: The Husayni Family. Jerusalem: Mossad Bialik, 2003 and Mattar, Philip. “Western (Wailing) Wall Disturbances.” Philip Mattar, ed. Encyclopedia of the Palestinians. New York: Facts on File, 2005. See also online: A country study: Israel. 8 November 2005. Library of Congress. June 14, 2007 http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/iltoc.html
Glossary
Glossary search
Just Vision's glossary is gleaned from terms used with frequency by interviewees in our Visionaries section. In defining terms, we strive to provide insight into the varying narratives surrounding issues, figures, historical events, and locations, as these differences in definition reflect the conflict itself. Each definition has been reviewed by both Arab and Jewish scholars of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Described by some as the first intifada (“shaking off”), this Palestinian Arab uprising was the longest sustained movement of opposition to Zionism during British mandatory control of Palestine. Local rioting erupted on 19 April 1936 in Jaffa but quickly spread throughout Palestine, coordinated with an extensive general strike. The riots followed a massive influx of Jews to Palestine who fled the rise of Nazism in pre-war Germany. By 1936 the increase in Jewish immigration and land acquisition in Palestine, the growing power of Palestinian Muslim leader Hajj Amin al Husseini, and impatience with colonial rule over local Arab populations prompted Palestinian Arabs to act. The goals of the revolt were to shift British policy against Zionism by limiting or ending the influx of Jews, to ban land transfers to Jews, and to enable Arabs to establish their own representative national government. Britain empowered the Peel Commission to investigate the disturbances, which was seriously threatening the stability of British rule in Palestine. The Commission recommended “partition”, i.e., a two-state solution with an altered British mandate. The suggested boundaries showed a small Jewish state on the coast and in the Galilee, a British enclave around Jerusalem with a corridor to the sea, and the rest to an Arab state. The Commission’s report was accepted at the 20th Zionist Congress, but rejected by the Arab Higher Committee (AHC), leading to a resumption of riots. They were ultimately suppressed by harsh British measures, including the exiling of many Palestinian Arab leaders and the flight of many upper class families. See P Kumaraswamy, P.R. “Arab Revolt.”Historical Dictionary of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Oxford: The Scarecrow Press, 2006 and “Arab Revolt.” Bernard Reich, ed. An Historical Encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1996. Farsoun, Samih K. and Naseer H. Aruri. Palestine and the Palestinians, 2nd ed. Boulder: Westview Press, 2006. See online A country study: Israel. 8 November 2005. Library of Congress. June 14, 2007 http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/iltoc.html
The year 1948 is the crucial year of the conflict, encompassing fighting between Palestinians and Zionists before Israel’s establishment on May 14, and followed by the entry into Palestine of troops from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan (then known as Transjordan), and fighting between these Arab troops and the new Israeli army. It is referred to in Israel as the “War of Independence” and by Arabs, especially among Palestinians, as Al-Nakba, “the catastrophe.” Accompanying Israel’s independence, 1948 saw the flight and expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the area that became the State of Israel. For details and sources see War of 1948, Al-Nakba, and Ha’atzmaut/Independence Day.
Refers to the borders of Israel with Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and Syria prior to the War of 1967. The "1967 Borders" became the political term used in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority to describe the borders of a future Palestinian state. The war is referred to by Palestinians and Arabs as the “June War” and by Israelis as the “1967 War” or the “Six-Day War” on account of its duration. Israel captured the Egyptian Sinai, the Syrian Golan Heights, East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, then under respective Jordanian and Egyptian control. See also War of 1967 and Green Line.
(January 16, 1991–February 28, 1991) Military action by a US-led coalition of 32 states to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990, and claimed it as an Iraqi province. Saddam Hussein had threatened to “burn half of Israel” but, in fact, the war had disastrous consequences for Palestinians. Kuwaitis expelled most of the large Palestinian community in Kuwait, many of whom had lived there for decades, accusing them of support for the Iraqi invasion. Likewise, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which had, unlike most of the Arab world, supported Saddam Hussein, lost vital diplomatic and financial support from the Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States.. On January 18, two days after the American air campaign against Iraq began, Iraqi scud missiles first hit Israel . In total, approximately 40 scuds were launched against Israel in the month that followed. See Mattar, Philip. “Gulf Crisis.” Philip Mattar, ed. Encyclopedia of the Palestinians. New York: Facts on File, 2005. See online The Gulf War: Chronology. PBS. 19 June 2007 and “Persian Gulf War.” Encyclopedia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 19 June 2007
(1935-) PNA President, also known as Abu Mazen. He has been a leading figure in the Fatah movement (aside from a brief resignation from the Central Committee in 2003) and the PLO since the 1960’s. He has been involved throughout his career in negotiations between Palestinians and the Israeli government, most notably as the leading Palestinian negotiator of the Oslo Accords and as the signatory of the Declaration of Principles in September 1993 on behalf of the PLO. The PLO executive committee appointed Abbas as Chairman of the PLO on November 11, 2004, and in January 2005, he was elected President of the Palestinian Authority (PA) with 62.7 percent of the popular vote. He maintained that position in the short-lived unity government formed in 2007 as part of the Mecca Agreement. For a brief biography see http://www.passia.org and Fischbach, Michael R. “Abbas, Mahmud.” Philip Mattar, ed. Encyclopedia of the Palestinians. New York: Facts on File, 2005.
A Palestinian neighborhood within the municipal boundary of Jerusalem. Abu Dis is divided by the separation barrier.
(Akko in Hebrew and Akka in Arabic) A city in Israel on the Mediterranean coast north of Haifa. Its population is an estimated 45,000, including Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Founded in 1986 in memory of Emil Greenzweig, an Israeli peace activist killed by a grenade by a fellow Israeli while marching against the war in Lebanon, this nonprofit organization develops and implements programs to promote democracy, peace and civic education as well as methods of conflict resolution. See: the Adam Institute for Peace and Democracy.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) was founded in the 1950s. It is an American lobby group located in Washington, DC seeking to promote the passing of American legislation and government budgetary allocations that they deem favorable to Israel. AIPAC often, though not always, tend to support the Israeli government policies. AIPAC is today one of the most influential foreign lobby groups in the United States. See the AIPAC website at http://www.aipac.org/documents/whoweare.html
(Arabic for "the furthest mosque") A mosque located in the Old City of Jerusalem, adjacent to the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount or Haram al-Sharif (The Noble Sanctuary). The structure was completed in the 7th century, destroyed by an earthquake in the 8th century, and restored to its current structure in the 11th century. While the Dome of the Rock was constructed as a mosque to commemorate the Muslim prophet Mohammad’s Night Journey described in the Qur’an, the building known as al-Aqsa mosque became a center of worship and learning, attracting great teachers from all over the world. The mosque is currently under the supervision and authority of the Waqf (Islamic Endowment). The Aqsa Mosque was built on the Temple Mount, the holiest place in Judaism. For Muslims, it is considered the third holiest site. See http://www.noblesanctuary.com/index.html
International news organization broadcast in Arabic with a primary focus on the politics and society of the Arab World. See Al Jazeera's homepage in English at http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage.
(Arabic) The catastrophe. Refers to the uprooting and displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians (most estimates fall between 700,000 and 800,000) concurrently with the establishment of the State of Israel on 78% of pre-1948 Palestine, and the subsequent regional war. Israel’s establishment led to the creation of a large, displaced, impoverished Palestinian refugee population scattered throughout the world, especially in the Arab Middle East. The appropriation or destruction of many Palestinian villages and properties by Israeli forces and the seizure of remaining territories by Jordanian and Egyptian forces in the war of 1948, impacted virtually all Palestinians, leading to the coining of the term al-Nakba. Israel considers the same events its War of Independence, rejects the term “Nakba”, and maintains that Israel acted in self-defence and that Palestinians were not expelled. Nakba Day is commemorated annually on the 15th of May. See also, 1948, the War of 1948, and Independence Day. See Morris, Benny. The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004, Pappe Ilan. The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. Oneworld Publications, 2006 and Mattar, Philip. “al-Nakba.” Philip Mattar, ed. Encyclopedia of the Palestinians. New York: Facts on File, 2005. Khalidi, Walid All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948, Institute for Palestine Studies, 2006.
(1965-) President of Syrian Arab Republic, 2000-Present. Bashar al-Assad assumed the presidency upon the death of his father and former Syrian president, Hafez al-Assad. Bashar al-Assad has largely continued his father’s policies despite a brief period of liberalization in 2000. Since 2007, his regime has engaged in indirect negotiations with Israel in an attempt to outline the details of a peace agreement, which would include the return of all or part of the occupied Golan Heights. See “Profile: Syria’s Bashar al-Assad.” 10 March 2005. BBC News. 14 July 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2579331.stm
(October 6, 1930- June 10, 2000) President of the Syrian Arab Republic from early 1971 until his death in 2000. In 1970 Hafez al-Assad, then Minister of Defense, a general in the Syrian Air Force, and a member of the pragmatic, military wing of the Ba’ath party, wrested control of the government in a military coup. The coup was a reaction to years of dissatisfaction with the government of Salah Jadid, first expressed in the failure of the War of 1967 in which Syria lost the Golan Heights, and later in Syria’s aborted intervention in the Jordanian-Palestinian Black September. Assad’s centralization of power ended years of political instability and a series of successive coups. Assad consolidated his power and popularity in the War of 1973 when Egyptian and Syrian forces, backed by Jordan and Iraq, threatened Israel with significant military advances. Syria did not succeed in regaining the occupied Golan Heights, although the war was considered a political victory. Assad continued to try to find ways to return the Golan to Syria until his death in 2000, including brief negotiations with Israel in the early 1990s. He was staunchly anti-Zionist and Arab nationalist throughout his career. Hafez al-Assad was succeeded by his son, Bashar al-Assad. See “Hafez al-Assad.” The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. 14 July 2008. http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Assad-Ha.html
A twelve-year-old Palestinian boy who was shot dead by the Israeli army in Gaza at the beginning of the second intifada in September 2000. The boy was killed next to his father during an exchange of fire between Palestinian militants and the Israeli army at Netzarim junction in Gaza, an event captured on camera and publicized extensively. Muhammad al-Dura was quickly deemed within Palestinian society as a martyr and symbol for all Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces.
(1940-2001) Palestinian leader who was active in Fatah, the largest PLO faction after 1967, as well as numerous other organizations including the Arab Studies Society, the Higher Islamic Council and the Orient House. Husseini was long engaged in protesting Israeli occupation, which resulted in travel bans, imprisonment, and administrative detention by successive Israeli governments. He was the first prominent Palestinian to hold talks with a senior Likud politician (Moshe Amirav) in Sept. 1987, and was instrumental in launching the Madrid Peace Process. As PLO representative to Jerusalem, he became one of the most active members of the Palestinian leadership engaged in promoting Palestinian-Israeli dialogue in the 1990s. See “al-Husseini, Faisal.” Palestinian Personalities. June 2006. PASSIA. 29 August, 2007 http://www.passia.org/index_pfacts.htm
(1895-1974) Born in Jerusalem in 1895, this Arab resistance leader opposed British mandatory control of and Jewish immigration to Palestine. He studied religious law at al-Azhar university, Cairo, and at the Istanbul School of Administration. In 1920, he returned to Jerusalem calling for the incorporation of Palestine into Syria. Appointed Grand Mufti of Jerusalem in May 1921 (until 1948), he led the 1928-29 campaign against the perceived threat to the Muslim holy places of Jerusalem posed by Zionists. He was elected president of the Arab Higher Committee in 1936 and as such was the chief architect of the 1936-1939 Arab Revolt/Riots, and the internal Arab conflicts of 1937. Ordered by the British authorities to be deported for inciting violence in 1937, he fled to Germany where he ran the National Leadership in exile in the late 1930s. His influence diminished by the 1940s, although he remained a voice of resistance through to 1948. He died on 5 July 1974 in Beirut. See “Palestinian Personalities.” June 2006. PASSIA. 10 November 2007 http://www.passia.org/palestine_facts/personalities/alpha_h.htm
(1947-2004) Rantisi was one of the leading figures in Hamas during the first intifada, and the co-founder of the organization along with Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. He was detained numerous times by Israeli security forces, before being expelled to Lebanon. He returned to PA administered territories after the Oslo process began in the 1990s, and by 1999 was the effective political head of Hamas. He was appointed as the leader of Hamas after Sheikh Ahmad Yassin was assassinated by an Israeli missile strike in March of 2004. Rantisi was a fierce proponent of suicide bombings against Israel, and frequently called for the destruction of the State of Israel. He was assassinated by Israel in April 2004. See Hartley, Cathy, ed. A Survey of Arab-Israeli Relations, 2nd ed. London and New York: Europa Publications, 2004.
Also known as Abu Jihad. Long time high-ranking member of the PLO and Arafat deputy. He was killed in Tunis, Tunisia in 1988. For a brief biography of Abu Jihad see The Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs (PASSIA) website: http://www.passia.org/palestine_facts/personalities/alpha_w.htm.
