Israeli-Palestinian conflict/fr

Le 6 juin 1982, Israël envahit le sud du Liban et attaque les bases de l'OLP qui s'y trouvent. Cette opération a d'abord été présentée comme une tentative visant à établir une zone de sécurité élargie à 40 km de la frontière afin de mettre le nord d'Israël hors de portée des roquettes de l'OLP, mais les forces israéliennes ont rapidement avancé jusqu'à Beyrouth. Elizabeth Clare Prophet a fait des présentations sur cette situation les 1er et 18 juillet, retraçant l'histoire du conflit israélo-palestinien jusqu'à cette date. Ces conférences sont reproduites ici sous forme d'extraits. »

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Les racines du conflit

Le conflit actuel entre Israéliens et Palestiniens tourne autour des revendications territoriales que chaque groupe considère comme sa patrie : la Palestine. Connue des anciens Hébreux sous le nom de « Terre de Canaan », la Palestine tire son nom des Philistins, un peuple qui occupait la partie côtière sud du pays au XIIe siècle B.C. Vers 1250 B. C. sous la conduite de Josué, les Israélites ont conquis et habité Canaan. C'était l'accomplissement de la promesse faite par Dieu à Abraham. Un royaume hébreu, établi en 1000 B.C, a été divisé en deux royaumes, Israël (au nord) et Juda (au sud), après le règne de Salomon.

Israël et Juda ont ensuite été envahis par les Assyriens, les Babyloniens, les Égyptiens, les Perses, les Macédoniens, les Romains et les Byzantins. Lorsque Israël a été annexé par l'Assyrie en 722 B.C., les dix tribus du royaume du Nord ont été exilées et se sont ensuite dispersées pour ne plus jamais être retrouvées en tant que Juifs.

Avec la destruction du temple en 70 A.D., les Juifs, ou les descendants de Juda, l'une des douze tribus, se sont dispersés à travers le monde. Par la suite, les Juifs ont toujours souhaité être rétablis en Palestine. Le mouvement visant à reconstituer un État national juif en Palestine a ensuite été connu sous le nom de sionisme. Mais il a fallu des siècles avant que cet objectif ne devienne même vaguement réalisable.

Entre 634 et 640 A.D. les Arabes ont pris la Palestine à l'Empire byzantin. À l'exception d'un royaume croisé franc de 1099 à 1187, la Palestine est restée sous domination musulmane jusqu'au XXe siècle. Puis les forces britanniques, sous le commandement du général Sir Edmund Allenbey, ont vaincu les Turcs et pris Jérusalem le 17 décembre 1917.

La déclaration Balfour et le sionisme

En 1897, après que Théodore Herzl eut lancé un appel en faveur d'un État juif, les Juifs commencèrent à coloniser le territoire palestinien. Herzl, journaliste autrichien, donna au sionisme son caractère politique. En 1914, la Palestine comptait 90 000 Juifs, dont 13 000 vivaient dans des colonies agricoles soutenues par le baron Edmond de Rothschild, de France.

Le 2 novembre 1917, le mouvement sioniste reçut l'approbation officielle du gouvernement britannique avec la publication d'une lettre d'Arthur Balfour, ministre britannique des Affaires étrangères, adressée à Lord Lionel Rothschild, cousin du baron Rothschild et l'une des figures de proue du mouvement sioniste britannique. Connue sous le nom de déclaration Balfour, cette lettre promettait le soutien britannique à la création d'un foyer national juif en Palestine, étant entendu que les droits civils et religieux des Palestiniens non juifs seraient préservés.

En proie à la Première Guerre mondiale, les Britanniques espéraient que la déclaration Balfour rallierait l'opinion juive à leur cause, en particulier aux États-Unis. La Grande-Bretagne espérait que les sionistes américains useraient de leur influence pour garantir le maintien du soutien financier américain pendant la guerre.

La colonisation juive en Palestine était essentielle à la défense du flanc sud du théâtre moyen-oriental. Les Britanniques estimaient que si les Juifs palestiniens s'alliaient à la Grande-Bretagne, les Juifs américains, liés par des sentiments et des intérêts communs, se rallieraient pour soutenir les Alliés. Il en résulterait une aide américaine pour protéger les abords du canal de Suez.

Les Britanniques pensaient également que la plupart des dirigeants de la première révolution russe de 1917 étaient juifs et sympathisants du sionisme. Ils espéraient donc que la déclaration Balfour inciterait également les Russes à rester dans la Première Guerre mondiale et à se ranger du côté de la Grande-Bretagne.

Vous remarquerez que les démunis n'agissent jamais pour de bonnes raisons, avec de bonnes intentions ou pour de bonnes causes. Ils ont toujours des arrière-pensées lorsqu'ils agissent.

Domination britannique de la Palestine

En 1921, la Société des Nations accorda à la Grande-Bretagne un mandat pour gouverner la Palestine, qui entra en vigueur en 1923. Les Britanniques tentèrent de créer un gouvernement de coalition en proposant aux Juifs et aux Arabes de créer une agence gouvernementale. Les Juifs acceptèrent et formèrent l'« Agence juive », mais les Arabes refusèrent l'offre. À partir de ce moment et jusqu'en 1936, il y eut peu d'action politique arabe.

Le choc économique de 1929 a inversé une tendance temporaire à l'émigration juive de Palestine, principalement vers l'Europe et les États-Unis. Et les premières attaques à grande échelle contre les Juifs par les Arabes ont commencé. Une commission britannique a enquêté sur le conflit et a conclu que les attaques étaient motivées par la déception des Arabes palestiniens de ne pas avoir obtenu un État palestinien indépendant, et par l'expansion juive qui avait créé une classe arabe « sans terre et mécontente » dans le pays. La commission a appelé à l'arrêt immédiat de l'immigration juive. Le gouvernement britannique a accepté cette recommandation et a publié le Livre blanc Passfield pour la mettre en œuvre. Mais la réaction sioniste a forcé son annulation.

En 1933, l'intensification de la persécution nazie accrut le flux de réfugiés juifs vers la Palestine. Les Arabes, qui ignoraient largement la politique nazie, s'en tinrent fermement aux dispositions du Livre blanc Passfield. Ils réagirent à l'arrivée de nouveaux réfugiés en se livrant à une non-coopération maussade avec le gouvernement et en boycottant les produits britanniques. Les Juifs, craignant le nazisme et irrités par les restrictions britanniques en matière d'immigration, protestèrent et se révoltèrent également. Les Britanniques se trouvaient dans une impasse.

En 1936, le Haut Comité arabe fut créé par les Arabes afin d'unir les Arabes palestiniens contre les Juifs. Sa création fut suivie d'attaques qui conduisirent à trois années de guerre civile entre les Juifs et les Arabes. Une proposition britannique de 1937 appelait à la création d'un État arabe et d'un État juif séparés par une zone sous mandat intégrant Jérusalem et Nazareth. Les Arabes s'y opposèrent, exigeant un seul État avec des droits minoritaires pour les Juifs.

Un livre blanc britannique publié en 1939 revenait sur la proposition de 1937. Il recommandait la création d'un seul « État palestinien » indépendant, qui ne serait ni arabe ni juif, et qui limiterait l'immigration juive à 75 000 personnes. Bien que le livre blanc ne satisfît aucune des deux parties, les discussions prirent fin avec le déclenchement de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. À cette époque, la population juive de Palestine était de près de 500 000 personnes, soit 30 % de la population totale.

L'intermède de la Seconde Guerre mondiale

Lorsque le massacre systématique des Juifs par les nazis commença en 1942, le flux d'immigrants se transforma en véritable déferlement. L'immigration illégale et légale pendant la guerre porta la population juive à 678 000 personnes en 1946. La population arabe était alors de 1 269 000 personnes. En 1921, les Juifs formèrent une armée secrète appelée la Haganah (« défense »). En 1936, elle passa d'une force purement défensive à une force offensive. À mesure que la population juive augmentait, les sionistes devenaient plus violents.

De manière générale, Juifs et Arabes coopérèrent avec les Britanniques pendant la guerre, bien que des extrémistes des deux camps aient mené des actions hostiles à la Grande-Bretagne. Durant le conflit, deux groupes juifs – l’Irgoun Zvai Leumi, l’Organisation militaire nationale à laquelle appartenait Menahem Begin, et le Groupe Stern, du nom de son chef fanatique Abraham Stern – étaient convaincus que la Grande-Bretagne avait trahi la cause sioniste. Afin de rappeler aux Britanniques leur engagement, ces deux groupes eurent recours à des attentats terroristes et à des assassinats politiques.

La formation de l'Israël moderne

À la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, les sionistes avaient obtenu le soutien du gouvernement américain. La Grande-Bretagne, incapable de résoudre ses problèmes en Palestine, se félicitait de l'implication des États-Unis. Harry Truman insista pour que les réfugiés juifs européens soient immédiatement admis en Palestine.

Les Britanniques n'étaient pas enthousiastes à l'idée. Faute de mieux, ils participèrent à une autre commission : le Comité d'enquête anglo-américain. Ce comité recommanda l'admission immédiate de 100 000 réfugiés juifs en Palestine et l'intégration progressive des communautés juive et palestinienne au sein d'un État binational sous tutelle de l'ONU.

Les Britanniques rejetèrent la disposition relative aux réfugiés. Ayant épuisé toutes leurs manœuvres politiques et diplomatiques, ils saisirent l'ONU en 1947. L'ONU proposa un partage de la Palestine en deux États distincts : Israël et la Palestine. Elle insista toutefois sur la nécessité d'atténuer les conséquences d'un tel partage en maintenant une union économique.

The U.N. decision was a major Zionist victory. It affirmed the right of a Jewish state in Palestine and gave it territory far out of proportion to the relative numbers of Jews to Arabs in the area—more than half of Palestine including the valuable coastal area. Shocked and angry, the Arabs rejected the U.N. decision and decided to oppose it by force. Volunteers began arriving from all Arab countries to help Palestinian Arabs. But the Arabs were highly disorganized and poorly trained, led, and equipped.

On May 13, 1948, the day before the State of Israel was proclaimed, Zionist forces secured full control of the Jewish share of Palestine—and they captured important positions in areas allotted to the Arabs. The Irgun Zvai Leumi (the National Military Organization to which Menachem Begin belonged) stormed and captured the village of Deir Yasin and massacred much of the population, terrorizing Arab villagers, who began a mass exodus from Palestine.

Britain did not help implement the U.N. decision. On May 14, 1948, their mandate to govern Palestine expired and they withdrew. On the day of British departure, the Jewish National Council proclaimed the State of Israel. United States and Soviet recognition came within hours. The following day, the uncoordinated armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq invaded the new nation. But they were no match for Israeli troops. Israel defeated the Arabs.

On January 7, 1949, the defeated Arab states signed armistice agreements that left Israel in possession of all the areas it won by conquest: the whole of the Palestinian coast minus a reduced Gaza Strip, the whole of Galilee, all of the Negev, and a strip connecting the coastal region to Jerusalem including the northwestern section of the city. Israel had increased its original territory by fifty percent.

The U.N. Assembly voted on November 29 to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. Trouble flared immediately. Syrian demonstrators attack U.S., Soviet and French Legations in Damascus; November 30, as Abdul Rahman Azzam Pasha, Arab League secretary general, declares that the U.N. decision will be resisted “by force.” At Acre Prison guards open fire when Arab prisoners attack Jewish inmates. Five Jews are killed in two gunfire attacks on buses near Tel Aviv. A general strike begins in Nablus while police break up protest meeting of 300 Arabs in Jenin.

Early conflicts with Israel

After the January 1949 armistice, no entity remained that was officially called Palestine. One million Palestinian Arabs left Israel, leaving the Jews with the majority they required. The humiliating failure of the Arab intervention left the Arab governments in serious trouble and drastically increased the instability in the region.

In April 1950, King Abdullah of Jordan concluded his armistice with Israel by annexing into his kingdom the areas of eastern and central Palestine that had been designated by the U.N. for an Arab state, together with the old city of Jerusalem. Many Palestinians, now under Jordanian rule, viewed Abdullah as the ultimate enemy. On July 20, 1951, he was assassinated in Jerusalem by a Palestinian terrorist. Two years later King Hussein came to power.

There was a great deal of tension between the Palestinians and the other Arab states. According to General George Keegan, prior to the 1948 Arab attack on Israel, the Palestinians were subjected to a massive propaganda campaign from Arab newspapers and radio. The Arabs told the Palestinians to leave the Jewish sections of Palestine because Arab armies were going to crush the Jews. When the war was over, the Palestinians could return and take the lands and houses occupied by the Jews.

Many Palestinians left and the Arabs, of course, were defeated. Thereafter, the Palestinian Arab relations were strained at best, hostile at worst. Most Arab nations view the Palestinians as a potential security threat, treat them as second class citizens, and under no circumstances would consider giving them a piece of land. That, and the treatment by the Israelis, eventually helped to radicalize them. There are now large Palestinian communities in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, the Gulf states, and Israel.

Until 1964, the displaced Palestinians were unorganized and largely leaderless. They received U.N. aid and were a source of cheap labor for “host countries.” Then, in 1964, the PLO and a secret movement called the Palestine National Liberation Movement, better known as al-Fatah (“the Conquest”) were organized and began training guerrillas for raids on Israel. Until 1970, these were launched from Jordan.

In 1967, war broke out between Israel and the Arab states. The 1967 war was really an extension of the wars of 1948 and 1956. It focused on the issue of Israel’s right to exist. And it also brought the U.S. and the Soviet Union into near confrontation.

When the 1967 war broke out, Jordan had just signed a defense pact with Egypt. Thus, Jordan was forced to take part in the war by a five-day-old pact. Israel offered Jordan an informal separate peace. But King Hussein could not accept it and survive. As a result, he lost most of his kingdom to Israel, including the whole of the West Bank of the Jordan River. The West Bank is heavily populated by Palestinians.

By the June 11th, 1967 cease-fire, the Arab states had lost huge territories, much of their productive capacity, five percent of their best labor force, millions of dollars in productive equipment and tourist revenues. Of greater importance were the psychological and political loss, which gave a powerful impetus to the Palestine guerrilla movement.

The rise of the PLO

Following the 1967 cease-fire, the more militant members of the PLO took control of the leadership and began making guerrilla raids into Israel and its controlled territory. In retaliation, Israel attacked the host countries—Lebanon and Jordan.

Friction grew between the PLO and their host countries, particularly Jordan. The PLO insisted on the right to act as an independent state. They also humiliated and tried to assassinate King Hussein.

In “Black September” of 1970, the Jordanian army swept through the refugee camps, disarmed the guerrillas, wiped out the resistance, and deported the leaders. Driven from Jordan, the PLO focused its activities in Lebanon.

In 1974, one of the most destructive civil wars in modern history broke out in Lebanon. It was caused by a schism between urban Christians and rural Muslims, Syria’s historic claims to Lebanon, and the Palestinians who considered Lebanon their last refuge. Although the Palestinians comprised ten percent of the population, they were constantly aware of their separate and inferior status. Landless and mostly poor, they were exploited as cheap labor. They became increasingly radicalized and threw their lot in with the Lebanese poor, who were rural and mainly Muslim. As the Palestinians gained form, structure, and arms, they were sought out as allies by other radical groups in Lebanon.

The PLO encountered increasing difficulty controlling its more radical factions. When Israel and Egypt concluded an interim agreement in 1975, the Palestinians concluded that the Arab states were deserting them and that they would be suppressed in Lebanon as they were in Jordan. Tension rose and the PLO began to clash with Lebanese security forces.

Lebanon and the PLO made a deal: Lebanon gave the PLO a free hand in the refugee camps and a forward post along the Israeli frontier; in return the PLO promised not to meddle in Lebanese politics. Established in Lebanon, the PLO attacked Israel. The Israelis responded by raiding Lebanon with increasing severity. This encouraged Lebanon’s Christian Right, particularly the Phalangist Party, to attack the Palestinians with its well-organized, well-equipped militia.

As the civil war progressed, the Christians were close to defeat. Then Israel and Syria came to the aid of the Christians: Syria, because it was afraid of an Israeli intervention if the Palestinians won; Israel, because it would not tolerate a partitioned or Left-dominated, Palestine-oriented state.

The civil war in Lebanon lasted through 1976 and set the stage for the later rounds of violence. The nation was in ruins. Twenty thousand Palestinians lost their lives and twice as many were injured.

Background to the 1982 invasion of Lebanon by Israel

From its inception, Israel has never known a lasting peace. Its history has been a search for security combined with steady territorial acquisition. The siege mentality that pervades the Middle East today can be understood by reviewing the major events since 1956.

In 1956, Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal and barred Israeli shipping. On October 29, Israeli troops, backed by an Anglo French force, invaded Egypt in a “preemptive attack,” seizing the Gaza Strip and driving through the Sinai to the east bank of the Suez Canal.

In 1957, under American and Soviet pressure, Israel withdrew from its occupied territory in Egypt to its borders. The United States guaranteed Israeli passage into the Red Sea through the previously blockaded Strait of Tiran.

In 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization came into being. It vowed to destroy the State of Israel.

In 1967, Israel threatened retaliation against Syrian border raids, and Syria asked for Egyptian aid. Egypt demanded the removal of U.N. peace-keeping forces from Suez, staged a national mobilization, closed the Gulf of Aqaba, and moved troops into the Sinai.

On June 5, 1967, with a simultaneous air attack against Syrian, Jordanian, and Egyptian bases, Israel totally defeated its Arab enemies in the Six Day War. By the cease fire, Israel held the Golan Heights, the West Bank of the Jordan River, the Old City of Jerusalem, all of the Sinai, and the east bank of the Suez Canal. It had expanded its territory two hundred percent.

As a term for peace, Israel demanded a guarantee that any occupied territory returned would never be used as a base for aggression. Israel also insisted that Jerusalem remain a unified city and that peace negotiations be conducted directly with them—something the Arab states had refused to do because it would constitute a recognition of their Jewish neighbor.

In 1969, Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser renounced the 1967 cease fire and began a “war of attrition” against Israel. Egypt began firing Soviet artillery at Israeli forces on the east bank of the Suez Canal.

In 1972, terrorist activity against Israel by the PLO sympathizers increased. This included a random massacre at Lod Airport and the kidnapping and subsequent death of Israeli athletes at the Olympic games in Munich. In retaliation, Israel began assassinating PLO leaders and carried out raids on guerrilla settlements in Lebanon that sparked a terrorist campaign between the Israelis and Palestinians.

On October 6, 1973, Yom Kippur—the holiest day of the year for Jews—The fourth Arab Israeli war broke out when Egyptian, Syrian, and Iraqi forces launched a surprise attack on Israel. In January 1974, Israel and Egypt agreed on the disengagement of forces. Fighting with Syria continued through May 31, 1974, when the U.S. Secretary of State Kissinger arranged a cease fire.

In November of 1974, the U.N. General Assembly voted Palestinians should be entitled to return to their land and property in the West Bank and granted the PLO permanent observer status. Israel ignored the vote.

In 1975, sporadic raids and bombing incidents, carried out chiefly by the PLO, were followed by Israeli reprisals on PLO camps in Syria. Tension generated by the violence made settlement of Arab Israeli differences difficult.

In 1977, Israeli troops crossed into southern Lebanon and fought with Palestinians in the first direct clash between the two sides in more than two years. Menachem Begin became prime minister of Israel and conferred with President Carter in Washington. President Anwar Sadat made his historic visit to Israel. Sadat’s “peace initiative” spurred a round of Egyptian Israeli talks. Begin returned his visit and peace negotiations began.

In 1978, a PLO terrorist attack—the worst in Israel’s history—left thirty seven dead and eighty two wounded. Israel forces retaliated by invading southern Lebanon, and occupying the area for three months.

In March of 1979, Egypt and Israel signed the Camp David peace treaty. The treaty required Israel to withdraw from Egypt within three years and from the occupied oil fields within one year, and required Egypt to sell oil to Israel.

In 1980, Israeli forces completed their withdrawal from Sinai oil fields, and Israeli government opened its borders to Egypt, and the two nations exchanged ambassadors. But Israeli-Egyptian talks on Palestinian autonomy were suspended. And a Knesset bill reaffirmed all of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.

In April, 1981, Arab Israeli relations worsened when Israeli jets shot down two Syrian military helicopters in Lebanon. Syria responded by deploying Soviet made anti aircraft missiles in Lebanon in wait of Israeli planes.

On June 7th, 1981, Israeli aircraft bombed a nearly-completed Iraqi nuclear reactor station near Baghdad, Iraq. The bombing increased Arab Israeli tensions. According to Israel, the bombing was preemptive. Israel claimed the real purpose of the nuclear facility was to produce atomic bombs to attack them.

On July 17th, 1981, Lebanon based PLO units fired rockets at Israeli towns. Israeli planes then bombed Palestinian targets, including the PLO headquarters in Beirut, killing 300 and wounding 800, mostly Lebanese civilians. A cease fire was arranged on July 24.

On December 14th, 1981, Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights threatened the stability of U.S. Israeli relations.

In 1982, a sporadic conflict between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers raised tensions on the West Bank and Golan Heights. Exchanges between Israeli and PLO forces across the Israeli-Lebanon border broke the ten-month cease fire.

In April 1982, Israel completed the withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula to comply with the terms of the Camp David agreement, destroying settlements and forcibly evacuating Jewish settlers.

Invasion of Lebanon

On June 6th, 1982, on June 6th, Israeli tanks rolled into Lebanon in pursuit of the PLO. The attack came as no surprise. The PLO had been expecting the attack for a year. U.S. officials reportedly stopped Israel from invading Lebanon three times this winter.

Then on April 21 and May 9, Israel bombed PLO positions in Lebanon. Some said the raids were an attempt to provoke a PLO response and thus start a war. But the PLO did not respond.

Former chief of staff, General David Jones said that the United States military tried to talk the Israelis out of the invasion just prior to their June 6th advance into Lebanon, but to no avail.

This pursuit of the PLO was nominally based on their attempted assassination of the top Israeli diplomat, but their repeated shelling of Israeli settlements along the Lebanese border was what essentially provoked the Israeli retaliatory attack. What began as a drive, supposedly, to secure a twenty-five mile buffer zone between Israel’s border and the PLO developed into a major assault on West Beirut, the PLO’s stronghold.

In the first 48 hours of its advance into Lebanon, the Israeli army had apparently crushed most of the Palestinian military forces between Beirut and the Israeli frontier, and the PLO operation command in West Beirut was knocked out. But Israel continued its attack, penetrating deeper and deeper into the Lebanese territory. Israel bombed West Beirut repeatedly, devastating large parts of the city, leaving between 600,000 and a million people homeless.

The type of campaign the Israelis waged requires a lot of advanced planning. It is obvious that this operation—including the push to Beirut—was the real plan all along.

A Palestinian homeland

The Palestinians are displaced persons. And so they were living in Syria, in Jordan. They have been kicked out of these areas and they have made their home in Lebanon, where they have built their stronghold in defense of their cause, which is a just cause. And this is the problem of the entire situation.

The Palestinians need a homeland. Their homeland has been stripped from them by the people of Israel. And therefore, because the whole world has neglected to hear their cause or give a just and lasting answer, they have taken it upon themselves to form their Palestine Liberation Organization with Yasser Arafat at the head, which has become militant. You always get fallen ones in the midst who will then ruin the very cause and image of the just cause of the people. And therefore, on all sides there is right and wrong—human relativity.

See also

Middle East

Israel (esoteric meaning of the term)

Twelve tribes of Israel (ancient history of the twelve tribes and their place in the world today)

For more information

This article is excerpted from an audio album by Elizabeth Clare Prophet Forces on the Move in the Middle East (1982) (available from Ascended Master Library)

Sources

Lectures by Elizabeth Clare Prophet, July 1, 1982; July 18, 1982.