Masjid Al-Aqsa in Baitul Maqdis (Jerusalem) is the third holiest mosque in Islam after Masjid Al-Haram (in Mecca) and Masjid
An-Nabawi (in Medina), both in Saudi Arabia.
BACKGROUND ON PALESTINE
Palestine is the ancient name of
a Middle Eastern country situated on the eastern coast of the
Mediterranean Sea. Its
size has varied greatly throughout
its history and its exact borders are even now in dispute. its location
at the junction
of trade routes linking three
continents has meant that it was a melting pot for religious and
cultural influences. It has
also, unfortunately, been a natural
battleground for the region's powerful states and thus subject to
domination by them,
the first of these being Egypt in
the third millennium BC. when Egyptian power began to wane in the 14th
century BC, the country
was again invaded: this time by
Hebrews, who were a Semitic tribe from Mesopotamia, and by Philistines
(from whom the country
took its name), an Indo-European
people.
The West Bank is a Palestinian
occupied territories occupied by Israel; it is located west of the
Jordan River. Its area
is about 5900 sq. km (2278 sq. mi.)
and it holds many sites of religious importance to Muslims, Christians
and Jews. The largest
cities of the West Bank are Hebron
(Al-Khaleel) and Nablus. the West Bank was a part of the British Mandate
for Palestine
from 1920-1948. It was formally
annexed by Jordan in 1950 -- an act that was not recognized by the Arab
League, the United
Nations or the United States. Israel
occupied the West Bank in June 1967.
The Gaza Strip is a narrow area
of desert land along the western Mediterranean Sea. It is about 42km (26
miles) long and
6.5 to 8km (4 to 5 miles) wide. It
too, like the West Bank, was a part of the British Mandate from 1917 to
1948. Egypt controlled
the Gaza Strip from 1948 until the
1967 Arab-Israeli War (except for a brief period of Israeli occupation
in 1956-57) until
it was occupied by Israel in the
Arab-Israeli war in June 1967.
The Gaza Strip is densely
populated -- an estimate in 1993 gave the figure as 800,000 -- with more
than 99% of its population
being stateless Palestinian Arabs.
The majority are refugees from Israel who have lived under extremely
difficult conditions
in refugee camps since 1948.
The flimsy economy is based upon
agriculture, livestock, fishing and some small industry. Poverty and
unemployment are
widespread and the success of the
1993 peace accord between the Palestinians and Israel depends in no
small way upon whether
economic progress for the people of
the Gaza Strip is an outgrowth of the accord.
The intifada is a revolt by
Palestinian Arabs against Israeli military occupation of lands taken in
the 1967 Arab-Israeli
War. It began in late 1987 in the
Gaza Strip and soon spread to the West Bank and East Jerusalem. It
involved throwing stones
at Israeli soldiers, strikes and
business boycotts. Neither the Israeli government nor the Palestine
Liberation Organization
(PLO) was prepared for the movement.
The cause of the intifada is undoubtedly the frustration growing out of
the many diplomatic
failures to address the grievances
of the Palestinian Arabs. Israeli response to the movement drew
worldwide criticism for
its harshness, and the intifada in
fact compelled the Israeli government to re-evaluate Palestinian
nationalism as well as
the depth of Palestinian discontent,
anger, and utter frustration.
In September 1993, the PLO and Israel signed an agreement on Palestinian autonomy in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank
town of Jericho. The last Israeli troops withdrew on 18 May 1994.
Al- Aqsa Intifada erupted in
September 2000 and is still going on. The new Intifada succeeded in
altering agendas both
in Israel and the region at large.
Inside Israel, al-Aqsa Intifada has already drawn Arab citizens into the
struggle for the
first time, while pushing the
Israeli Labour Party rightward. In the Arab world, the on-going
Palestinian Intifada wins the
support and solidarity of millions.
Worldwide, it forces leaders of the major world powers, such as the US
president Geroge
Bush and the British Prime Minister
Tony Blair, to talk about the necessity of the establishment of an
independent Palestinian
state.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment