SHIFTING FOCUS TO ISRAEL

Saddam Hussein knows that if he can draw Israel into the war, he will automatically win the sympathy, if not the military support, of many Arabs. The rulers of such U.S. allies as Egypt and Syria may well stick with the coalition despite an Israeli entry, knowing that it resulted from a calculated provocation by the Iraqi leader. But the populations of those countries, as well as most others in the Arab world, undoubtedly support any Arab leader ready to take on Jewish states.

HISTORY: Technically, most of the Arab world--including Iraq--has been at war with Israel since 1948, when an Arab coalition attacked the newly formed Jewish state in support of the Palestinians. Anti-Israeli sentiment is particularly high in those Arab countries that have significant Palestinian populations--Jordan, Lebanon, Syria.

INTIFADA: Since December, 1987, an overwhelming majority of the 1.7 million Palestinians living on the occupied West Bank of the Jordan River and in the Gaza Strip have supported the so-called intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 1,000 Palestinians and about 60 Israelis and Jewish tourists.

IMMIGRATION: With Soviet Jews now pouring into Israel at the rate of some 200,000 or more per year, there is Arab concern that the Jewish populaton of the occupied territories will increase sharply from the current 70,000, putting even more pressure on the Palestinians still there.

HEROES: The issues have changed little during much of the last century in a land that two peoples see as theirs by historic right. And Saddam Hussein understands better than most that the leaders his people recognize as heroes--from the 12th Century sultan Saladin to Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser--enjoy their stature because they stood up to outside influences.

PALESTINIAN ARABS AROUND THE WORLD

Country/Region Estimated Population Israel and the Occupied Territories 2,300,000 Jordan 1,297,550 Lebanon 492,240 Syria 245,288 Kuwait 336,530 Saudi Arabia 171,145 United States 114,402 Egypt 37,668 Iraq 22,712 Other areas: 297,237

ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN PEACE PROPOSALS Here are some of the peace proposals that have been offered in recent years to resolve Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

NOV. 29, 1947: U.N. VOTES FOR PARTITION OF PALESTINE: After World War II, the British, frustrated by their attempts to reach a compromise in the region, turned the issue over the United Nations. Despite strong Arab opposition, the U.N. voted in favor of partition.

Result: The British remained in Palestine until May 14, 1948, the day the Mandate expired. The same day, the Jewish National Council proclaimed the State of Israel. The next day, Egypt and Jordan invaded the new state.

NOVEMBER, 1967: U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION 242: After Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six Day War, the United Nations Security Council adopted the resolution which has formed the basis of virtually every Mideast peace proposal ever since. It called for withdrawal of Israeli forces from territories occupied in the war and respect for the right of all states in the region to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries.

SEPTEMBER, 1978: CAMP DAVID ACCORDS: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed an agreement providing for a five-year transition during which inhabitants of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip would obtain full autonomy and self-government.

Result: Negotiations fell apart because of conflicting definitions of what Palestinian autonomy should be, with Israel opting for an administrative self-governing plan of limited autonomy, while Egypt and the Palestinians called for an independent Palestinian state.

APRIL, 1989: ISRAELI PROPOSALS: Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir proposed free elections in the West Bank and Gaza to elect delegates who would then be empowered to negotiate the terms of self-rule under Israeli authority--all contingent on an end to ongoing violence in the occupied territories.

Result: The proposal was rejected by many Palestinian activists because it excluded the Palestine Liberation Organizaion. However some observers thought that there was hope that meaningful negotiations could come out of it. These hopes were soon dampened, when in July Shamir added conditions that ruled out the possibility of a Palestinian state on the West Bank and contained provisions for a continuation of Jewish settlement in the occupied territories.

Source: Palestine Yearbook