FORUM: General Assembly First Committee

ISSUE: The question of addressing the regulation of private military

in conflict zones

STUDENT OFFICER: Keo Roath Panharith

POSITION: Head Chair

Introduction:
In the midst of recent years, countless number of conflict have risen up in the middle
east but the most prominent one today is the conflict concerning Israel and Palestine,
which is a conflict over the sovereignty of land between an Arab state and a Jewish
state. The conflict of this land dates back to the late 20th century early 21st century
where the British have promised the Jewish people under the decoration of Balfour
decoration which promise the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in
Palestine during late World War 1.
More recently in the wake of the conflict of 2018, there was a series of protest launched
at the Gaza strip which was located near the Israel Gaza security barrier. The protest
called, ‘The Great March of Return’, were for the Palestinian refugee that was displaced
over their previously owned land. The protest turned ugly as Israeli soldiers opened fire
upon the unarmed protestors, more than 27000 protestor were injured. Due to
possibility of more friction between the two states, it is crucial for the General Assembly
to reach a consensus solution before the situation escalate.

Definition of Key Term:

Hamas: A Palestinian Islamist political organization and militant
group

Fatah: A Palestinian nationalist political party.

West Bank: a chunk of land east of Israel, which is home to nearly three
million Palestinians

Two-State Solution: a proposed solution for the conflict between Israelis and
Palestinians where they would split the land alongside the state of Israel, west of the
Jordan River.

One-State Solution: a proposed solution for the conflict, where as it would

integrate Israelis and Palestinians into one nation and are given citizenship with equal
rights regardless of ethnicity or religion.

Palestinian Liberation
Organization (PLO): an organization created in 1964 in the hope of liberating
Palestine through conflict aimed at Israeli civilians.

Zionism: a Israeli political belief that Judaism is a nationality as well

as a religion, a belief that Jews deserve their own state in their ancestral homeland.

Balfour Declaration: a legislative that was written in World War 1 that supports
the creation of a Jewish nation in Palestine which was once located in the Ottoman
Empire.

Oslo Accord: an Arab-Israeli peace process established on September 13

of 1994 where the Israeli government and the PLO signed a declaration of Principles on
Interim Self-Government Arrangements.

Camp David Accord: was establish a framework for peace in the Middle East by
formalizing Arab recognition of Israel’s right to exists, signed by the PLO and Israel presentative
with the US as moderator. Established on September 17th of 1978.

Background Information
The clash between the two state of Arab and Jewish have started in the time period
after World War 1 as the Ottoman Empire have collapsed, the British Empire and the
French Empire have split up the land between themselves. On the British side, they
have allowed Jewish immigrants to settle down in British Palestine to coexists with Arab
but however as more immigrants arrive both side have committed acts of violence due
to the friction between the two ethnicity. However due to World War 2, Jewish people
were forced to move to Palestine in their search of safety from the Nazi Holocaust which
prompted support to declare British Palestine a Jewish state.
In 1947, as the violence between Arab and Jew grew, it caught the attention of the
United Nation to divide British Palestine into two different state. One for the Jewish
people named Israel and the other one for Arabs named Palestine. However, this plan
was seen by the Middle Eastern countries as European plans to steal the land and thus
it erupted a war where the new state of Israel had won. In the war Israel had pushed
beyond the designated border by the UN and have displaced Palestinians creating a
refugee problem.
Furthermore, in 1967 was another eruption of war between Israeli and
neighboring Arab states known as the, ‘Six-days War’ where Israeli have seized land of
the neighboring country but also the West Bank and the Gaza strip. Further on, in 1978
the Israeli have signed the Camp David accord where they would return one of the
neighboring land known as ‘Sanai’ back to Egypt, but however one thing they haven’t
done is to take their troops out of the Palestinian West Bank and the Gaza strip and
thus this is the Israeli and Palestinian struggle for land.
The establishment of the Palestinian Liberation Organization ((PLO), they seek
out to claim back the West Bank and the Gaza strip through the means of conflict.
However, the PLO and the Israeli government have reached a consensus that they
would split the land but the conflict still continued. In recent years, Israeli migrants called
the Settlers have moved into the Palestinian’s West Bank and Gaza strip. The settlers
come with guards and soldier, often this have erupted into conflict between the two
state. Through the way of this settling, Palestinian are losing their homes and lands to
the Israeli. In the Gaza strip, in this conflict of territorial gains, it leads to the creation of
the Hamas which is a group dedicated to the destruction of the Israeli state.
 All of these event lead to the signing of the Oslo Accord in the 1990s and leaders
from both side have agreed for a public signing of the accord which is a step in the right
direction of Israeli pulling out of Palestinian lands and recognizing that Palestine as a
legitimate state. This accord has established the Palestinian’s own sovereignty to
government to govern themselves in certain areas. In the recent years, the Israeli
government have shifted their ideologies and have built walls among the conflicting
areas to restrict the Palestinians movement. With the ever rising conflict in the West
Bank and the Gaza strip both side have lost the hope of that peace would ever be
reached.

Key Issues:
Israeli’s soldiers and settlers are coming in:
In the wake of the conflict, Israeli have taken the change to mobilize settlers to
move into the West Bank and the Gaza strip due to reasons such as territorial gains,
political views and also the relatively cheap housing in these areas which are mostly
subsidized by the Israeli government. Most settlers come with guards and often they
would lead to protest and would end evolved into a violent one.

Failure to recognized Palestine as a independent state:

Although both side of the PLO and the Israeli government have reach an
agreement and have publically signed accords to declare the split between Israel and
Palestine, the conflict between both side have no hope of reaching peace. Through the
means of the Oslo Accords, Palestine have been recognized by some as a legitimate
state however they are only able to govern some part of the West Bank whilst the Gaza
Strip is controlled by the Hamas.

Major Parties Involved and Their Views

Israel
One of the main parties of this conflict in the middle east, in recent years Israel have
shifted its policies to a harsher and unforgiving policies, moving it to the right wing. They
have implemented policies that mandate the construction of security checkpoints in the
border that lies between Israel and the West Bank, furthermore they have constructed
walls to restrict the movement of Palestinians treating them inhumanly through the
means of extensive use of forces in peaceful protesting.

United State of America

The United State of America is a main supporter of America due to the reason changes
of the American Embassy to Jerusalem and claimed that Jerusalem is the official capital
of Israel. The relationship between the United State of America started out during the
Cold War as Israel was a main buffer to deter the spread of the Communist Economic
Bloc. Furthermore, the United State has funded a plethora of projects worth in the
billions and in addition in UN assemblies, the US have veto against any resolution
regarding this topic

Palestine Liberation Organization

The PLO is the representative of the Palestinian government of the West Bank but
however doesn’t govern over the Gaza Strip. The PLO have started as first as a violent
aggressor but however this had stopped due to a demand to become a legitimate
representative of Palestinians of the West Bank. The current chairman of the PLO is
Mahmoud Abbas who is also the individual that pushed Palestine to become a non-
member state status at the UN.

Hamas
The Hamas is a Palestinian, Islamic political and militant group whose goal is to
disassemble the Israeli government through the means of an active warfare and also
terrorism. Although the Hamas have the same goal as the PLO, it has different motives
and execution that would lead them to establish an recognized Palestinian government.
Due to the tension between the PLO and the Hamas there has been no successful talk
of unity between the two bodies, this as a result means that there would not be a
possible unified government for Palestinians due to conflicting beliefs.

Timeline of Relevant Resolutions:

Date Description of Event:

18/03/1994 Resolution S/RES/904 regarding the measures to guarantee

the safety and protection of Palestinian civilians in territories occupied by Israel

12/03/2002 Resolution S/RES/1397 regarding The Middle East,

including the Palestinian Question

24/10/2002 Resolution S/RES/1435 regarding The Middle East, the

Palestinian Question

08/01/2009 Resolution S/RES/1860 regarding Middle East, the

Palestinian Question

23/12/2016 Resolution S/RES/2334 regarding the Middle East, the

Palestinian Question

Treaties and Event:

Ø Establishment of the Balfour Declaration (1917)
Ø Establishment of the PLO (1964)
Ø Signing of the Camp David Accords (1978)
Ø Signing of the Oslo Accords (1994)

Evaluation of Previous Attempts to Solve the Issue

Previous attempt by multiple parties such as the UN, Israel Government and the PLO
have resulted in failure due to the fact that the problem has been over-escalated and
although it is not impossible to achieve peace but it would be hard. This have also lead
to discrimination between the two different ethnicity and therefore it would be pass on
towards future generation which would be hard to reverse.

Possible Solutions
Resolutions regarding this topic have been ineffective in resolving this conflict and
therefore it would be in the International Scene to take immediate action to resolve the
conflict in order to prevent life being lost in vain. There has been a proposed solutions
such as the two state-solution whereas the different state would be recognized and
govern their own land whilst other more promising solution is a complete dissolution of
the two state into one big state where the citizen are promised to have citizenship and
under protection of the state.

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