Palestinians

==Rise of Palestinian nationalism==
{{see also|Palestinian nationalism}}
[[File:Un1981-343.jpg|thumb|right|UN stamp to commemorate the Palestinian struggle]]
An independent Palestinian state has not exercised full [[sovereignty]] over the land in which the Palestinians have lived during the modern era. Palestine was administered by the Ottoman Empire until World War I, and then overseen by the British Mandatory authorities. Israel was established in parts of Palestine in 1948, and in the wake of the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]], [[Jordanian annexation of the West Bank|the West Bank was ruled by Jordan]], and the [[Occupation of the Gaza Strip by Egypt|Gaza Strip by Egypt]], with both countries continuing to administer these areas until [[Israeli-occupied territories|Israel occupied]] them in the [[Six-Day War]]. Historian [[Avi Shlaim]] states that the Palestinians' lack of sovereignty over the land has been used by Israelis to deny Palestinians their rights
to self-determination.<ref name=Attapatu>{{cite journal|date=16 June 2004|title=Interview With Middle East Scholar Avi Shlaim: America, Israel and the Middle East|journal=The Nation|author=Don Atapattu|url=http://www.thenation.com/article/interview-middle-east-scholar-avi-shlaim|access-date=9 March 2008|archive-date=13 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191113024502/https://www.thenation.com/article/interview-middle-east-scholar-avi-shlaim/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Today, the right of the Palestinian people to [[self-determination]] has been affirmed by the [[United Nations General Assembly]], the [[International Court of Justice]]<ref name=ICJ>Only "peoples" are entitled to self-determination in contemporary international law (See Self-determination and National Minorities, Oxford Monographs in International Law, Thomas D. Musgrave, Oxford University Press, 1997, {{ISBN|0-19-829898-6}}, p. 170). In 2004, the International Court of Justice said that Israel had recognized the existence of a "Palestinian people" and referred a number of times to the Palestinian people and its "legitimate rights" in international agreements. The Court said those rights include the right to self-determination(See paragraph 118 of Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory {{cite web |url=http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/131/1671.pdf |title=Cour internationale de Justice – International Court of Justice &#124; International Court of Justice |access-date=6 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706021237/http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/131/1671.pdf |archive-date=6 July 2010}}). Judge Koroma explained "The Court has also held that the right of self-determination as an established and recognized right under international law applies to the territory and to the Palestinian people. Accordingly, the exercise of such right entitles the Palestinian people to a State of their own as originally envisaged in resolution 181 (II) and subsequently confirmed." Judge Higgins also said "that the Palestinian people are entitled to their territory, to exercise self-determination, and to have their own State"(See paragraph 5, Separate opinion of Judge Koroma {{cite web |url=http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/131/1679.pdf |title=Cour internationale de Justice – International Court of Justice &#124; International Court of Justice |access-date=7 February 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604233639/http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/131/1679.pdf |archive-date=4 June 2011}} and paragraph 18, Separate opinion of Judge Higgins {{cite web |url=http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/131/1681.pdf |title=Cour internationale de Justice – International Court of Justice &#124; International Court of Justice |access-date=7 February 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110112025712/http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/131/1681.pdf |archive-date=12 January 2011}}). Paul De Waart said that the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice in 2004 "ascertained the present responsibility of the United Nations to protect Palestine's statehood. It affirmed the applicability of the prohibition of acquisition of Palestinian territory by Israel and confirmed the illegality of the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Moreover, the existence of the Palestinian people as the rightful claimant to the Occupied Palestinian Territory is no longer open to question (See De Waart, Paul J. I. M., "International Court of Justice Firmly Walled in the Law of Power in the Israeli–Palestinian Peace Process", ''Leiden Journal of International Law'', 18 (2005), pp. 467–487).</ref> and several Israeli authorities.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/5ba47a5c6cef541b802563e000493b8c/07fc0614021668418525736b005c8a82!OpenDocument |title=John Dugard's "Situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967" |publisher=Domino.un.org |access-date=22 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071230193956/http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/5ba47a5c6cef541b802563e000493b8c/07fc0614021668418525736b005c8a82%21OpenDocument |archive-date=30 December 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> A total of 133 countries [[International recognition of the State of Palestine|recognize Palestine]] as a state.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4278618,00.html|title=Palestinian Authority to revive statehood bid|author=Israel News|newspaper=Ynet News|date=8 September 2012|access-date=25 July 2014|archive-date=24 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140724171744/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4278618,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref> However, Palestinian sovereignty over the areas claimed as part of the Palestinian state remains limited, and the boundaries of the state remain a point of contestation between Palestinians and Israelis.

===British Mandate (1917–1947)===
{{Main|Mandatory Palestine}}
[[File:Map of Mandatory Palestine in 1946 with major cities (in English).svg|thumb|340x340px|Mandatory Palestine in 1946]]
The first Palestinian nationalist organizations emerged at the end of the [[World War I]].<ref>Benny Morris, ''Righteous Victims'', p. 48 in the French edition.</ref> Two political factions emerged. ''[[al-Muntada al-Adabi]]'', dominated by the [[Nashashibi]] family, militated for the promotion of the Arabic language and culture, for the defense of Islamic values and for an independent Syria and Palestine. In [[Damascus]], ''al-Nadi al-Arabi'', dominated by the [[Husayni]] family, defended the same values.<ref>[[Benny Morris]], ''Righteous Victims'', p.49 in the French edition.</ref>

Article 22 of The Covenant of the [[League of Nations]] conferred an international legal status upon the territories and people which had ceased to be under the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire as part of a 'sacred trust of civilization'. Article 7 of the League of Nations Mandate required the establishment of a new, separate, Palestinian nationality for the inhabitants. This meant that Palestinians did not become British citizens, and that Palestine was not annexed into the British dominions.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GniaXe2wnRQC&pg=PA49|title=International Law Reports: Cases 1938–1940, H. Lauterpacht, Cambridge University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-521-46354-8, page 49|access-date=22 April 2009|isbn=978-0-521-46354-6|author1=Lauterpacht, H|year=1942|publisher=Cambridge University Press|archive-date=29 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231129193100/https://books.google.com/books?id=GniaXe2wnRQC&pg=PA49#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> The Mandate document divided the population into Jewish and non-Jewish, and Britain, the Mandatory Power considered the Palestinian population to be composed of religious, not national, groups. Consequently, government censuses in 1922 and 1931 would categorize Palestinians confessionally as Muslims, Christians and Jews, with the category of Arab absent.<ref>Weldon Matthews, ''Confronting an Empire, Constructing a Nation,''I.B. Tauris, 2006, p. 33. Both Weldon Matthews and Prasenjit Duara interpret this aspect of the mandate system as tailored to the needs of imperial powers, which found it useful to avoid classifying colonies as nations: "This outlook was carried over to Palestine from India and Egypt where British administrators did not merely doubt the existence of a unifying national identity, but thwarted its development by creating sectarian institutions as a matter of policy."</ref>[[File:Musa Al-Alami 1918.jpg|thumb|[[Musa Alami]] (1897–1984) was a Palestinian nationalist and politician,  viewed in the 1940s as the leader of the Palestinians|left]]

The articles of the Mandate mentioned the civil and religious rights of the non-Jewish communities in Palestine, but not their political status. At the [[San Remo conference]], it was decided to accept the text of those articles, while inserting in the minutes of the conference an undertaking by the Mandatory Power that this would not involve the surrender of any of the rights hitherto enjoyed by the non-Jewish communities in Palestine. In 1922, the British authorities over Mandatory Palestine proposed a draft constitution that would have granted the Palestinian Arabs representation in a Legislative Council on condition that they accept the terms of the mandate. The Palestine Arab delegation rejected the proposal as "wholly unsatisfactory", noting that "the People of Palestine" could not accept the inclusion of the Balfour Declaration in the constitution's preamble as the basis for discussions. They further took issue with the designation of Palestine as a British "colony of the lowest order."<ref>{{cite web|title=Correspondence with the Palestine Arab Delegation and the Zionist Organization |website=United Nations |date=21 February 1922 |access-date=1 August 2007 |url=http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0145a8233e14d2b585256cbf005af141/48a7e5584ee1403485256cd8006c3fbe!OpenDocument |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016050752/http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0145a8233e14d2b585256cbf005af141/48a7e5584ee1403485256cd8006c3fbe%21OpenDocument |archive-date=16 October 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Arabs tried to get the British to offer an Arab legal establishment again roughly ten years later, but to no avail.<ref name="Continuum">"Palestine Arabs." ''The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East''. Ed. [[Avraham Sela]]. New York: Continuum, 2002.</ref>

After the British general, Louis Bols, read out the [[Balfour Declaration]] in February 1920, some 1,500 Palestinians demonstrated in the streets of Jerusalem.<ref name="HistoryOfPalestinianRevolts" />

A month later, during the 1920 Nebi Musa riots, the protests against British rule and Jewish immigration became violent and Bols banned all demonstrations. In May 1921 however, further anti-Jewish riots [[Jaffa riots|broke out in Jaffa]] and dozens of Arabs and Jews were killed in the confrontations.<ref name="HistoryOfPalestinianRevolts" />

After the [[1920 Nebi Musa riots]], the [[San Remo conference]] and the failure of [[Faisal I of Iraq|Faisal]] to establish the Kingdom of [[Greater Syria]], a distinctive form of Palestinian Arab nationalism took root between April and July 1920.<ref>[[Benny Morris]], ''Righteous Victims'', pp. 49–50 in the French edition.</ref><ref>[[Tom Segev]], ''One Palestine, Complete'', p. 139n.</ref> With the fall of the [[Ottoman Empire]] and the French conquest of [[Syria]], coupled with the British conquest and administration of Palestine, the formerly pan-Syrianist [[mayor of Jerusalem]], [[Musa Qasim Pasha al-Husayni]], said "Now, after the recent events in [[Damascus]], we have to effect a complete change in our plans here. Southern Syria no longer exists. We must defend Palestine".<ref>Khalidi, 1997, p. 165.</ref>

Conflict between Palestinian nationalists and various types of pan-Arabists continued during the British Mandate, but the latter became increasingly marginalized. Two prominent leaders of the Palestinian nationalists were [[Mohammad Amin al-Husayni]], Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, appointed by the British, and [[Izz ad-Din al-Qassam]].<ref name=HistoryOfPalestinianRevolts>{{cite web|title=The History of Palestinian Revolts|publisher=[[Al Jazeera Media Network|Al Jazeera]]|date=9 December 2003|access-date=17 August 2007|url=http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9A489B74-6477-4E67-9C22-0F53A3CC9ADF.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051215061527/http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9A489B74-6477-4E67-9C22-0F53A3CC9ADF.htm |archive-date=15 December 2005 }}</ref> After the killing of sheikh [[Izz ad-Din al-Qassam]] by the British in 1935, his followers initiated the [[1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine]], which began with a [[general strike]] in Jaffa and attacks on Jewish and British installations in [[Nablus]].<ref name=HistoryOfPalestinianRevolts/> The [[Arab Higher Committee]] called for a nationwide general strike, non-payment of taxes, and the closure of municipal governments, and demanded an end to Jewish immigration and a ban of the sale of land to Jews. By the end of 1936, the movement had become a national revolt, and resistance grew during 1937 and 1938. In response, the British declared [[martial law]], dissolved the Arab High Committee and arrested officials from the Supreme Muslim Council who were behind the revolt. By 1939, 5,000 Arabs had been killed in British attempts to quash the revolt; more than 15,000 were wounded.<ref name=HistoryOfPalestinianRevolts/>

===War (1947–1949)===
{{main|1948 Arab–Israeli War}}
[[File:Abdel Kader al-Husseini.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.7|[[Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni]], leader of the [[Army of the Holy War]] in 1948]]
In November 1947, the [[United Nations General Assembly]] adopted the [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine|Partition Plan]], which divided the mandate of Palestine into two states: one majority Arab and one majority Jewish. The Palestinian Arabs rejected the plan and attacked Jewish civilian areas and paramilitary targets. Following [[Israeli Declaration of Independence|Israel's declaration of independence]] in May 1948, five Arab armies (Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Transjordan) came to the Palestinian Arabs' aid against the newly founded [[State of Israel]].<ref name="Milestones">[https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/arab-israeli-war "Milestones: 1945–1952."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607114752/https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/arab-israeli-war |date=7 June 2020 }} ''Office of the Historian''. 7 December 2018.</ref>

The Palestinian Arabs suffered such a major defeat at the end of the war, that the term they use to describe the war is [[Nakba]] (the "catastrophe").<ref name="Caplan">Sela and Neil Caplan. "Epilogue: Reflections on Post-Oslo Israeli and Palestinian History and Memory of 1948." The War of 1948: Representations of Israeli and Palestinian Memories and Narratives, edited by Sela and Alon Kadish, Indiana University Press, 2016, pp. 203–221.</ref> Israel took control of much of the territory that would have been allocated to the Arab state had the Palestinian Arabs accepted the UN partition plan.<ref name="Milestones" /> Along with a military defeat, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians [[1948 Palestinian exodus|fled or were expelled]] from what became the State of Israel. Israel did not allow the [[Palestinian refugees]] of the war to return to Israel.<ref>Thrall, Nathan. [http://time.com/5273108/back-to-the-future-israeli-palestinian-conflict/ "How 1948 Still Influences the ..."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231023230401/https://time.com/5273108/back-to-the-future-israeli-palestinian-conflict/ |date=23 October 2023 }} ''Time''. 14 May 2018. 7 December 2018.</ref>[[File:1947-UN-Partition-Plan-1949-Armistice-Comparison.svg|thumb|upright|right|alt=Map comparing the borders of the 1947 partition plan and the Armistice Demarcation Lines of 1949.|{{Partition Plan-Armistice Lines comparison map legend}}]]

==="Lost years" (1949–1967)===
After the war, there was a hiatus in Palestinian political activity. Khalidi attributes this to the traumatic events of 1947–49, which included the depopulation of over [[Depopulated Palestinian locations in Israel|400 towns and villages]] and the creation of hundreds of thousands of refugees.<ref name=Khalidi178>Khalidi, 1997, pp. 178–180.</ref> 418 villages had been razed, 46,367 buildings, 123 schools, 1,233 mosques, 8 churches and 68 holy shrines, many with a long history, destroyed by Israeli forces.<ref>Nurhan Abujidi, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=AK_pAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT95 Urbicide in Palestine: Spaces of Oppression and Resilience] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231129193101/https://books.google.com/books?id=AK_pAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT95#v=onepage&q&f=false |date=29 November 2023 }}'', Routledge 2014 p.95.</ref> In addition, Palestinians lost from 1.5 to 2&nbsp;million acres of land, an estimated 150,000 urban and rural homes, and 23,000 commercial structures such as shops and offices.<ref>[[Philip Mattar]], ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=GkbzYoZtaJMC&pg=PA329 The Encyclopedia of the Palestinians] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320155424/https://books.google.com/books?id=GkbzYoZtaJMC&pg=PA329 |date=20 March 2023 }}'', InfoBase Publishing 2005 p.329.</ref> Recent estimates of the cost to Palestinians in property confiscations by Israel from 1948 onwards has concluded that Palestinians have suffered a net $300&nbsp;billion loss in assets.<ref name=Anderson/>

Those parts of British Mandatory Palestine which did not become part of the newly declared Israeli state were occupied by Egypt or annexed by Jordan. At the [[Jericho Conference]] on 1 December 1948, 2,000 Palestinian delegates supported a resolution calling for "the unification of Palestine and Transjordan as a step toward full Arab unity".<ref>Benvenisti, Meron (1996), ''City of Stone: The Hidden History of Jerusalem'', University of California Press, {{ISBN|0-520-20521-9}}. 27</ref> During what Khalidi terms the "lost years" that followed, Palestinians lacked a center of gravity, divided as they were between these countries and others such as Syria, Lebanon, and elsewhere.<ref name=Khalidi179>Khalidi, 1997, p. 179.</ref>

In the 1950s, a new generation of Palestinian nationalist groups and movements began to organize clandestinely, stepping out onto the public stage in the 1960s.<ref name=Khalidi180>Khalidi, 1997, p. 180.</ref> The traditional Palestinian elite who had dominated negotiations with the British and the Zionists in the Mandate, and who were largely held responsible for the loss of Palestine, were replaced by these new movements whose recruits generally came from poor to middle-class backgrounds and were often students or recent graduates of universities in [[Cairo]], [[Beirut]] and Damascus.<ref name=Khalidi180/> The potency of the [[pan-Arabism|pan-Arabist]] ideology put forward by [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]]—popular among Palestinians for whom Arabism was already an important component of their identity<ref name=Khalidi182>Khalidi, 1997, p. 182.</ref>—tended to obscure the identities of the separate Arab states it subsumed.<ref name=Khalidi181>Khalidi, 1997, p. 181.</ref>

===1967–present===
{{see also|Six-Day War}}
Since 1967, Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have lived under military occupation, creating, according to Avram Bornstein, a [[prison|carceralization of their society]].<ref>Avram Bornstein, 'Military Occupation as Carceral Society: Prisons, Checkpoints, and Wall in the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle,' in Avram Bornstein, Paul E. Farmer (et al.)''An Anthropology Of War: Views from the Frontline,'' Berghahn Books, 2009 pp.106–130, p.108:'On the whole, the Israeli Occupation has created an increasing prison-like society for Palestinians'.</ref> In the meantime, pan-Arabism has waned as an aspect of Palestinian identity. The Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank triggered a [[1967 Palestinian exodus|second Palestinian exodus]] and fractured Palestinian political and militant groups, prompting them to give up residual hopes in pan-Arabism. They rallied increasingly around the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] (PLO), which had been formed in Cairo in 1964. The group grew in popularity in the following years, especially under the nationalistic orientation of the leadership of [[Yasser Arafat]].<ref name=plo1974>{{cite web|title=The PNC program of 1974|publisher=Mideastweb.org|date=8 June 1974|access-date=17 August 2007|url=http://www.mideastweb.org/plo1974.htm|archive-date=15 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115184412/http://www.mideastweb.org/plo1974.htm|url-status=live}}The PNC adopted the goal of establishing a national state in 1974.</ref> Mainstream [[secular]] Palestinian nationalism was grouped together under the umbrella of the PLO whose constituent organizations include [[Fatah]] and the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]], among other groups who at that time believed that [[Palestinian political violence|political violence]] was the only way to "liberate" Palestine.<ref name=Khalidip18/> These groups gave voice to a tradition that emerged in the 1960s that argues Palestinian nationalism has deep historical roots, with extreme advocates reading a Palestinian nationalist consciousness and identity back into the history of Palestine over the past few centuries, and even millennia, when such a consciousness is in fact relatively modern.<ref name=Khalidip.149n>Khalidi, 1997, p. 149. Khalidi writes: 'As with other national movements, extreme advocates of this view go further than this, and anachronistically read back into the history of Palestine over the past few centuries, and even millennia, a nationalist consciousness and identity that are in fact relatively modern.'</ref>[[File:Arafat in Jordan.jpg|thumb|[[Yasser Arafat]], [[Nayef Hawatmeh]] and [[Kamal Nasser]] in a Jordan press conference in Amman, 1970]]The [[Battle of Karameh]] and the events of [[Black September in Jordan]] contributed to growing Palestinian support for these groups, particularly among Palestinians in exile. Concurrently, among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a new ideological theme, known as ''[[sumud]]'', represented the Palestinian political strategy popularly adopted from 1967 onward. As a concept closely related to the land, agriculture and [[indigenous (people)|indigenousness]], the ideal image of the Palestinian put forward at this time was that of the peasant (in Arabic, ''[[fellah]]'') who stayed put on his land, refusing to leave. A strategy more passive than that adopted by the [[Palestinian fedayeen]], ''sumud'' provided an important subtext to the narrative of the fighters, "in symbolizing continuity and connections with the land, with peasantry and a rural way of life."<ref name="Schulzp105">Schulz and Hammer, 2003, p. 105.</ref>

In 1974, the PLO was recognized as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people by the Arab nation-states and was granted observer status as a national [[liberation movement]] by the United Nations that same year.<ref name=IMEU/><ref>{{cite web|title=Security Council|publisher=WorldMUN2007&nbsp;– [[United Nations Security Council]]|date=30 March 2007|access-date=31 July 2007|url=http://www.worldmun.org/MUNBase2007/files/downloads/guides/SCGuideA.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808101615/http://www.worldmun.org/MUNBase2007/files/downloads/guides/SCGuideA.pdf |archive-date=8 August 2007}}</ref> Israel rejected the resolution, calling it "shameful".<ref name=Allon>{{cite web |url=http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/ForeignPolicy/MFADocuments/Yearbook2/Pages/48%20Statement%20in%20the%20Knesset%20by%20Deputy%20Premier%20and.aspx |title=48 Statement in the Knesset by Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Allon – 26 November 1974 |publisher=[[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel)]] |date=26 November 1974 |access-date=30 November 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203031206/http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/ForeignPolicy/MFADocuments/Yearbook2/Pages/48%20Statement%20in%20the%20Knesset%20by%20Deputy%20Premier%20and.aspx |archive-date=3 December 2013}}</ref> In a speech to the [[Knesset]], Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister [[Yigal Allon]] outlined the government's view that: "No one can expect us to recognize the terrorist organization called the PLO as representing the Palestinians—because it does not. No one can expect us to negotiate with the heads of terror-gangs, who through their ideology and actions, endeavor to liquidate the State of Israel."<ref name=Allon/>

In 1975, the United Nations established a subsidiary organ, the [[Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People]], to recommend a program of implementation to enable the Palestinian people to exercise national independence and their rights to self-determination without external interference, national independence and sovereignty, and to return to their homes and property.<ref>See Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People [https://www.un.org/Depts/dpa/qpal/committee_background.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110905034212/http://www.un.org/Depts/dpa/qpal/committee_background.htm|date=5 September 2011}}</ref>
[[File:Protest for palestine Tunis Kassba 17-05-2021 By Brahim Guedich-4062.jpg|thumb|Protest for Palestine in [[Tunisia]]]]
The [[First Intifada]] (1987–93) was the first popular uprising against the Israeli occupation of 1967. Followed by the PLO's 1988 proclamation of a [[State of Palestine]], these developments served to further reinforce the Palestinian national identity. After the [[Gulf War]] in 1991, Kuwaiti authorities forcibly pressured nearly 200,000 Palestinians to [[Palestinian exodus from Kuwait (Gulf War)|leave Kuwait]].<ref name=ppp>{{cite journal|url=http://www.meforum.org/3391/kuwait-expels-palestinians|title=Kuwait Expels Thousands of Palestinians|author=Steven J. Rosen|journal=Middle East Forum|date=September 2012|access-date=29 November 2023|archive-date=11 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511182542/http://www.meforum.org/3391/kuwait-expels-palestinians|url-status=live}}</ref> The policy which partly led to this exodus was a response to the alignment of PLO leader Yasser Arafat with [[Saddam Hussein]].

The [[Oslo Accords]], the first Israeli–Palestinian interim peace agreement, were signed in 1993. The process was envisioned to last five years, ending in June 1999, when the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the Jericho area began. The expiration of this term without the recognition by Israel of the Palestinian State and without the effective termination of the occupation was followed by the [[Second Intifada]] in 2000.<ref>{{cite web|title=Report of the Independent Fact Finding Committee on Gaza: No Safe Place |url=http://www.arableagueonline.org/las/picture_gallery/reportfullFINAL.pdf |publisher=The League of Arab States |access-date=20 September 2010 |page=145 |date=30 April 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091013190358/http://www.arableagueonline.org/las/picture_gallery/reportfullFINAL.pdf |archive-date=13 October 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Palestine and the Palestinians: a social and political history|last1=Farsoun|first1=Samih|last2=Hasan Aruri|first2=Naseer|year=2006|publisher=Westview Press|page=275}}</ref> The second intifada was more violent than the first.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gordon|first=Neve|title=Israel's occupation|year=2008|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-25531-9|pages=198|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4RX7t4X8_RMC&pg=PA198|access-date=29 November 2023|archive-date=29 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231129193133/https://books.google.com/books?id=4RX7t4X8_RMC&pg=PA198#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> The International Court of Justice observed that since the government of Israel had decided to recognize the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people, their existence was no longer an issue. The court noted that the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip of 28 September 1995 also referred a number of times to the Palestinian people and its "legitimate rights".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/131/1671.pdf|title=ICJ Opinion|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706021237/http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/131/1671.pdf|archive-date=6 July 2010}}</ref> According to [[Thomas Giegerich]], with respect to the Palestinian people's right to form a sovereign independent state, "The right of self-determination gives the Palestinian people collectively the inalienable right freely to determine its political status, while Israel, having recognized the Palestinians as a separate people, is obliged to promote and respect this right in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations".<ref name=Giegerich>{{cite book|title=New Political Entities in Public and Private International Law: With Special Reference to the Palestinian Entity|year=1999|publisher=Kluwer Law International|isbn=978-9041111555|pages=198–200|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kSMTX5jwaxQC&pg=PA198|author=Thomas Giegerich|editor1=Amos Shapira|editor2=Mala Tabory|chapter=The Palestinian Autonomy and International Human Rights Law: Perspectives on an Ongoing Process of Nation-Building|access-date=29 November 2023|archive-date=29 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231129193611/https://books.google.com/books?id=kSMTX5jwaxQC&pg=PA198#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

Following the failures of the Second Intifada, a younger generation is emerging that cares less about nationalist ideology than about economic growth. This has been a source of tension between some of the Palestinian political leadership and Palestinian business professionals who desire economic cooperation with Israelis. At an international conference in Bahrain, Palestinian businessman Ashraf Jabari said, "I have no problem working with Israel. It is time to move on. ... The Palestinian Authority does not want peace. They told the families of the businessmen that they are wanted [by police] for participating in the Bahrain workshop."<ref>[[Jeffrey Sonnenfeld|Sonnenfeld, Jeffrey]]. [https://fortune.com/2019/06/30/bahrain-summit-middle-east/ "The Bahrain Conference: What the Experts and the Media Missed."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120194052/https://fortune.com/2019/06/30/bahrain-summit-middle-east/ |date=20 November 2023 }} ''Fortune''. 30 June 2019. 3 July 2019.</ref>