The Arab-Israeli Conflict and the First Intifada (1948–1989)

Abstract

The Arab-Israeli conflict is a complex clash of historical, cultural, social, religious, and strategic interests. Small wonder that so many writers, especially journalists, have failed to make a comprehensive study of all its details, a fact that helps the interested parties in presenting the picture according to their needs.¹ Disagreement abounds in every aspect of the conflict, even in its roots. The Israelis begin their history in the biblical period and regard Zionism as beginning with the waves of immigration to the Land of Israel in the late nineteenth century, and Palestinian history as starting in the 1930s. However, Palestinians see the Phoenician period as the first stage in their history, and the early twentieth century as a later stage. According to the Palestinians, Zionism is an imperialist movement and Zionist history starts with the 1917 Balfour Declaration.