Editing Israeli–Palestinian conflict (section)

== Issues in dispute ==
The core issues of the conflict are borders, the status of [[Israeli settlement]]s in the West Bank, the status of Jerusalem, the right of return for Palestinian refugees, and security.<ref name="William B. Quandt" /><ref name="pop christison" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Stern-Weiner |first=Jamie |title=Moment of Truth |year= 2017 |publisher=OR Books |isbn=978-1-68219-114-9 |chapter=Introduction}}</ref><ref name="Shlomo Avineri">{{cite book |first=Shlomo |last=Avineri |title=The Making of Modern Zionism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N1UovgAACAAJ&pg=PA |year=2017 |publisher=[[Basic Books]] |isbn=978-0-465-09479-0 |chapter=Introduction}}</ref> With the PLO's recognition of [[legitimacy of the State of Israel|Israel's "right to exist"]] in 1982,<ref name="ft Chomsky" /> the international community with the main exception of the United States and Israel<ref>{{cite book |first=Shlomo |last=Ben-Ami |title=Prophets Without Honor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hnhXEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA |year=2022 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-006047-3 |quote=The Israelis came to the negotiations with the conviction inherent in the letter of the Oslo Accords that this was an open-ended process where no preconceived solutions existed and where every one of the core issues would be open to negotiation so that a reasonable point of equilibrium between the needs of the parties could be found. The Palestinians saw the negotiations as a step in a journey where they would get their rights as if this were a clear-cut process of decolonization based on 'international legitimacy' and 'all UN relevant resolutions.'}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Norman G. |last=Finkelstein |author-link=Norman Finkelstein |title=Gaza |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qo84DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA |year=2018 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |isbn=978-0-520-29571-1 |chapter=Appendix |quote="I was the Minister of Justice. I am a lawyer," Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told her Palestinian interlocutors during a critical round of the peace process in 2007, "but I am against law—international law in particular."}}</ref> has been in consensus on a framework for resolving the conflict on the basis of international law.<ref name="deluge">{{cite book |first=Colter |last=Louwerse |title=Deluge |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8U9V0AEACAAJ&pg=PA |publisher=OR Books |isbn=978-1-68219-619-9 |chapter=3|date=16 April 2024 }}</ref> Various UN bodies and the ICJ have supported this position;<ref name="deluge"/><ref name="William B. Quandt" /> every year, the UN General Assembly votes almost unanimously in favor of a resolution titled "Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine." This resolution consistently affirms the illegality of the Israeli settlements, the annexation of East Jerusalem, and the principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war. It also emphasizes the need for an Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 and the need for a just resolution to the refugee question on the basis of UN resolution 194.<ref name="y303">{{cite book |last=Finkelstein |first=Norman G. |author-link=Norman Finkelstein |title=Knowing Too Much |publisher=OR Books |publication-place=New York: London |date=2012 |isbn=978-1-935928-77-5 |oclc=794273633 |chapter=Notes}}</ref>

Unilateral strategies and the rhetoric of hardline political factions, coupled with violence, have fostered mutual embitterment and hostility and a loss of faith in the possibility of reaching a peaceful settlement. Since the break down of negotiations, security has played a less important role in Israeli concerns, trailing behind employment, corruption, housing and other pressing issues.<ref name="Sara M. Roy">{{cite book |first=Sara M. |last=Roy |title=The Gaza Strip extended 3rd edition |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X8jsAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA |year=2016 |publisher=Institute for Palestine Studies |isbn=978-0-88728-260-7 |chapter=Preface to the Third Edition}}</ref> Israeli policy had reoriented to focus on managing the conflict and the associated occupation of Palestinian territory, rather than reaching a negotiated solution.<ref name="Sara M. Roy"/><ref>{{harvnb|Baconi|2018|pp=}}</ref><ref name="homme" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Scheindlin |title=Moment of Truth |date= 2017 |isbn=978-1-68219-114-9 |chapter=The shrinking Two-State Constituency |publisher=OR Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Shlomo |last=Ben-Ami |title=Prophets Without Honor |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hnhXEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA |year=2022 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-006047-3 |chapter=The Occupation's Traits of Permanence |quote=But the abject submission of the Palestinians and the ever deepening system of occupation and discrimination in the territories are Israel's sole and exclusive responsibility. As brilliantly explained by Michael Sfard, this is a system built on three pillars: the gun, the settlements, and the law that formalizes the network of colonization.1 Under the mantle of security claims, the Jewish state has created in the Palestinian territories one of the most efficient occupation regimes in history, which is, moreover, also cost-effective, for it is the international community's donor money to the Palestinian Authority that saves the occupier the burden of having to directly administer the territories. This leaves Israel free to cater to its insatiable security needs with draconic measures, such as limiting the Palestinians' freedom of movement, erecting walls that separate communities, dotting roads with checkpoints where innocent people are manhandled, activating sophisticated intelligence mechanisms that control the lives of an ever growing number of suspects, conducting surprise searches of private houses in the middle of the night, and carrying out arbitrary administrative detentions. If this were not enough, vigilantes among the settlers, some known as "the Youth of the Hills," constantly harass Palestinian communities, destroy orchard trees, and arbitrarily apply a "price tag" of punishments to innocent civilians for whatever terrorist attack might have been perpetrated by a Palestinian squad. Underlying this very serious problem of the unpardonable depravity of settlers' extremism is the even more serious problem that has to do with the involvement of the entire Israeli body politic in maintaining and continuously expanding a regime of dominance in the territories. For too long, the peace process has served as a curtain behind which the policy of practical annexation has flourished.}}</ref> The expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank has led the majority of Palestinians to believe that Israel is not committed to reaching an agreement, but rather to a pursuit of establishing permanent control over this territory in order to provide that security.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news-basics.com/2011/israel-and-the-palestinians/ |title=Overview of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians |work=News Basics |access-date=13 February 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120424152450/http://news-basics.com/2011/israel-and-the-palestinians/ |archive-date=24 April 2012}}</ref>

=== Status of Jerusalem ===
{{Main|Status of Jerusalem}}
{{See also|Western Wall|Temple Mount|Al-Aqsa Mosque}}
[[File:Greater Jerusalem May 2006 CIA remote-sensing map 3500px.jpg|thumb|Greater Jerusalem, May 2006. [[CIA]] [[remote sensing]] map showing what the CIA regards as settlements, plus refugee camps, fences, and walls]]

In 1967, Israel [[Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem|unilaterally annexed East Jerusalem]], in violation of international law. Israel seized a significant area further east of the city, eventually creating a barrier of Israeli settlements around the city, isolating Jerusalem's Palestinian population from the West Bank.<ref>{{harvnb|Scott-Baumann|2023}}: "The Israeli government proceeded to annex East Jerusalem. This act violated international law, and the United Nations General Assembly condemned it... Furthermore, Israel confiscated a large swath of land to the east of the city that would, in time, form a barrier of Israeli settlements surrounding the city, thus cutting off the Palestinian population of Jerusalem from its West Bank hinterland."</ref> Israel's policy of constructing sprawling Jewish neighborhoods surrounding the Palestinian sections of the city were aimed at making a repartition of the city almost impossible. In a further effort to change the demography of Jerusalem in favor of a Jewish majority, Israel discouraged Palestinian presence in the city while encouraging Jewish presence, as a matter of policy. Specifically, Israel introduced policies restricting the space available for the construction of Palestinian neighborhoods, delaying or denying building permits and raising housing demolition orders.<ref name="SelaJerusalem" /> Tensions in Jerusalem are primarily driven by provocations by Israeli authorities and Jewish extremists against Arabs in the city.<ref>{{cite book|author=Avraham Sela|title=Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YJwsAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA|year=2002|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-0-8264-1413-7|page=495}}: "Arab-Jewish tensions stemmed from incidents in and around the Temple Mount (al-haram al-sharif) and provocative actions by Jewish extremists against Arabs. Particularly frustrating from a Palestinian viewpoint were the constant efforts made by the Israeli authorities to settle Jews in purely Arab neighborhoods by purchasing Arab or church property, or to appropriate inhabited Arab property by legal means on the grounds that it had been originally owned by Jews."</ref>

The Israeli government, including the [[Knesset]] and [[Supreme Court of Israel|Supreme Court]], is located in the "new city" of West Jerusalem and has been since Israel's founding in 1948. After Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1967, it assumed complete administrative control of East Jerusalem. Since then, various UN bodies have consistently denounced Israel's control over East Jerusalem as invalid.<ref name="SelaJerusalem" /> In 1980, Israel passed the [[Jerusalem Law]] declaring "Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel."<ref name="kbl">[https://www.knesset.gov.il/laws/special/eng/basic10_eng.htm "Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel (Unofficial translation)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140905144734/http://www.knesset.gov.il/laws/special/eng/basic10_eng.htm |date=5 September 2014 }}. ''www.knesset.gov.il''. Passed by the Knesset on the 17th Av, 5740 (30 July 1980).</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2023}}

Many countries do not recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, with exceptions being the United States,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Diamond |first1=Jeremy |last2=Labott |first2=Elise |date=6 December 2017 |title=Trump recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital |url=https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/06/politics/president-donald-trump-jerusalem/index.html |work=[[CNN]] |access-date=7 December 2017 |archive-date=26 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180126162000/https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/06/politics/president-donald-trump-jerusalem/index.html |url-status=live}}</ref> and Russia.<ref>{{cite news |last=Ahren |first=Raphael |date=6 April 2017 |title=In curious twist, Russia recognizes West Jerusalem as Israel's capital |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-historic-first-russia-recognizes-west-jerusalem-as-israels-capital/ |work=[[Times of Israel]] |location=Jerusalem |access-date=7 December 2017 |archive-date=22 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922054758/https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-historic-first-russia-recognizes-west-jerusalem-as-israels-capital/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The majority of UN member states and most international organisations do not recognise Israel's claims to East Jerusalem which occurred after the 1967 Six-Day War, nor its 1980 Jerusalem Law proclamation.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/DDE590C6FF232007852560DF0065FDDB |title=UN security Council Resolution 478 |publisher=unispal.un.org |access-date=23 August 2017 |archive-date=12 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012044309/https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/DDE590C6FF232007852560DF0065FDDB |url-status=dead}}</ref> The International Court of Justice in its 2004 Advisory opinion on the "Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory" described East Jerusalem as "occupied Palestinian territory".<ref name=RL2008>{{cite web |last=Lapidoth |first=Ruth |title=Jerusalem – Some Legal Issues |url=http://www.jiis.org/.upload/lapidoth-jerusalem.pdf |publisher=The Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies |access-date=7 April 2013 |pages=21–26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140605013337/http://www.jiis.org/.upload/lapidoth-jerusalem.pdf |archive-date=5 June 2014 |url-status=dead}} Reprinted from: Rüdiger Wolfrum (Ed.), The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law ([[Oxford University Press]], online 2008–, print 2011).</ref>

The three largest [[Abrahamic religions]]—[[Judaism]], [[Christianity]], and [[Islam]]—hold Jerusalem as an important setting for their religious and historical narratives. Jerusalem is the holiest city in Judaism, being the former location of the Jewish temples on the [[Temple Mount]] and the capital of the ancient Israelite kingdom. For Muslims, Jerusalem is the third holiest site, being the location of the [[Isra' and Mi'raj]] event, and the [[Al-Aqsa Mosque]]. For Christians, Jerusalem is the site of [[crucifixion of Jesus|Jesus' crucifixion]] and the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]].

==== Holy sites and the Temple Mount ====
[[File:Klagemauer.JPG|thumb|upright=1.35|Panorama of the [[Western Wall]] with the [[Dome of the Rock]] (left) and [[Qibli Mosque|al-Aqsa mosque]] (right) in the background]]

Since the early 20th century, the issue of [[Holy Land|holy places]] and particularly the sacred places in Jerusalem has been employed by nationalist politicians.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Reiter |first1=Yitzhak |title=Contested Holy Places in Israel–Palestine: Sharing and Conflict Resolution |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781351998857 |page=xiii}}</ref>

Israelis did not have access to the holy places in East Jerusalem during the period of Jordanian rule.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Breger |first1=Marshall J. |last2=Reiter |first2=Yitzhak|date=2010 |last3=Hammer |first3=Leonard |title=Holy Places in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Confrontation and Co-Existence |publisher=Taylor & Francis Group |isbn=9780203867457 |chapter=Regulation of holy places in the West Bank and Gaza|quote=these sites saw simultaneous worship by Jews and Muslims, with the exception of the period of Jordanian rule in the West Bank, between 1948–67, when Jews had no access to these sites}}</ref> Since 1975, Israel has banned Muslims from worshiping at [[Joseph's Tomb]], a shrine considered sacred by both Jews and Muslims. Settlers established a yeshiva, installed a Torah scroll and covered the [[mihrab]]. During the Second Intifada Palestinian protesters looted and burned the site.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gold |first=Dore |author-link=Dore Gold |title=The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the Future of the Holy City |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Regnery Publishing |date=2007 |pages=5–6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |chapter=Targeting Heritage: The Abuse of Symbolic Sites in Modern Conflicts |title=Marketing heritage: archaeology and the consumption of the past |last=Golden |first=Jonathan |editor1-last=Rowan |editor1-first=Yorke M. |editor2-last=Baram |editor2-first=Uzi |publisher=Rowman Altamira |year=2004 |pages=183–202 |isbn=978-0-7591-0342-9 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1W6BWEWdJWQC&pg=PA183 |access-date=29 October 2015 |archive-date=9 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231009012925/https://books.google.com/books?id=1W6BWEWdJWQC&pg=PA183#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live}}</ref> Israeli security agencies routinely monitor and arrest Jewish extremists that plan attacks, though many serious incidents have still occurred.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Extremists – Talking With Jewish Extremists &#124; Israel's Next War? |work=[[Frontline (American TV program)|Frontline]] |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/israel/extreme/nameof.html |access-date=5 March 2022 |publisher=[[PBS]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012044654/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/israel/extreme/nameof.html |archive-date=12 October 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> Israel has allowed almost complete autonomy to the Muslim trust ([[Waqf]]) over the Temple Mount.<ref name="SelaJerusalem">{{harvnb|Sela|2002|pp=491–498|chapter="Jerusalem"}}</ref>

Palestinians have voiced concerns regarding the welfare of Christian and Muslim holy places under Israeli control.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Peled |first=Alisa Rubin |title=Debating Islam in the Jewish State: The Development of Policy toward Islamic Institutions in Israel |date=2001 |publisher=[[State University of New York Press]] |page=96 |oclc=929622466 |quote=In general, Israeli policy towards holy places can be considered a success with regard to its primary goal: facilitating Israel's acceptance into the international community of nations. However, the repeated failure of the Muslim Affairs Department to fulfill its mandate of protecting the Muslim holy places in Israel has been a largely forgotten chapter in Israeli history that deserves reexamination}}</ref> Additionally, some Palestinian advocates have made statements alleging that the [[Western Wall Tunnel]] was re-opened with the intent of causing the mosque's collapse.<ref>{{Cite news |date=27 March 2008 |title=Secret tunnel under Al-Aqsa Mosque exposed |url=https://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008%252F03%252F27%252F47501.html |access-date=5 March 2022 |website=[[Al Arabiya English]] |language=en |archive-date=9 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809080532/https://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/03/27/47501.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Palestinian refugees ===
{{See also|Palestinian right of return|Palestinian refugees|1948 Palestinian exodus}}
[[File:Woman nakba dress jug.jpg|thumb|upright|Palestinian refugees, 1948]]

Palestinian refugees are people who lost both their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab–Israeli conflict<ref name="Efrat" /> and the 1967 [[Six-Day War]].<ref name=PD>{{cite book |last1=Peters |first2=Mohammed |last2=Dajani Daoudi |author2-link=Mohammed Dajani Daoudi |first1=Joel |title=The Israel–Palestine Conflict Parallel discourses |year=2011 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-203-83939-3 |pages=26, 37 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ubfEsbawzoC&q=The+Israel-Palestine+Conflict+Parallel+Discourses |access-date=12 November 2020 |archive-date=9 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231009012926/https://books.google.com/books?id=-ubfEsbawzoC&q=The+Israel-Palestine+Conflict+Parallel+Discourses#v=snippet&q=The%20Israel-Palestine%20Conflict%20Parallel%20Discourses&f=false |url-status=live}}</ref> The number of Palestinians who were expelled or fled from Israel was estimated at 711,000 in 1949.<ref name="d">{{cite web |year=1950 |url=http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/93037e3b939746de8525610200567883!OpenDocument |title=General Progress Report and Supplementary Report of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine, Covering the Period from 11 December 1949 to 23 October 1950 |publisher=United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine |access-date=20 November 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011203241/http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/93037e3b939746de8525610200567883%21OpenDocument |archive-date=11 October 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The descendants of all refugees (not just Palestinian refugees)<ref>{{cite web |title=Refugees |url=https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/refugees |website=United Nations |language=en |access-date=24 June 2024 |archive-date=5 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240205163459/https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/refugees |url-status=live }}</ref> are considered by the UN to also be refugees. As of 2010 there are 4.7 million Palestinian refugees.<ref>{{Cite web |title=UNRWA |url=https://www.unrwa.org/ |access-date=5 March 2022|publisher=[[United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees]] |language=en |archive-date=7 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220107085923/https://www.unrwa.org/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Between 350,000 and 400,000 Palestinians were displaced during the 1967 Arab–Israeli war.<ref name=PD/> A third of the refugees live in recognized refugee camps in [[Jordan]], [[Lebanon]], [[Syria]], the [[West Bank]] and the [[Gaza Strip]]. The remainder live in and around the cities and towns of these host countries.<ref name="Efrat" /> Most Palestinian refugees were born outside Israel and are not allowed to live in any part of historic Palestine.<ref name="Efrat">{{harvnb|Sela|2002|loc=Efrat, Moshe. "Refugees."|pp=724–729}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Khalidi|2024|loc=Fateh, the PLO, and the PA: The Palestinian Para-State}}: "Outside Palestine, meanwhile, live between 4 and 6 million Palestinians (reliable figures are not available). They exist in situations ranging from the utter misery (since 1982) of those in refugee camps in Lebanon, to a wide diversity of conditions, some of them quite comfortable, in various other Arab countries, Europe, and the United States. These Palestinians 'of the diaspora' (al-shatat in Arabic) possess a variety of passports, laissez-passers, and refugee documents, some of which are looked upon with great suspicion by certain states, and some of them face harsh restrictions on their movement in consequence. The largest single group of Palestinians of the diaspora, between 2 and 3 million, carry Jordanian passports, and most of them live in Jordan. What unites the overwhelming majority of these 4 to 6 million people is that they or their parents or grandparents were obliged to leave their homes and became refugees in 1948 or afterward, and that they are barred from living in any part of their ancestral homeland, Palestine."</ref>

Israel has since 1948 prevented the return of Palestinian refugees and refused any settlement permitting their return except in limited cases.<ref name="ft Chomsky" /><ref>{{harvnb|Slater|2020|p=265}}: "Refugees. Israel agreed that the refugee problem was a regrettable humanitarian issue, Barak stated, and would recognize the right of the Palestinians to return to their own state, but that "no right of return to Israeli territory would prevail." However, he continued, Israel was prepared to admit several hundred refugees annually for a ten- to fifteen-year period, under a family unification program. In a later interview, Barak made it clear that the "family unification program" was not based on any Palestinian rights: "No Israeli prime minister will accept even one refugee on the basis of the right of return."</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Scott-Baumann|2023}}</ref> On the basis of the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] and [[UN General Assembly Resolution 194]], Palestinians claim the right of refugees to return to the lands, homes and villages where they lived before being driven into exile in 1948 and 1967. Arafat himself repeatedly assured his American and Israeli interlocutors at Camp David that he primarily sought the principle of the right of return to be accepted, rather than the full right of return, in practice.<ref>{{harvnb|Slater|2020|p=251}}: "The Palestinian Position. Since 1948 the official or public position of Arafat, the PLO, Arafat's successor Mahmoud Abbas, and the Palestinian Authority has been—and, rhetorically at least, still is—that the Palestinian refugees as well as their descendants have the right to return to their lands, homes, and villages. Arafat reiterated that "demand" at Camp David, though he and other Palestinian leaders repeatedly assured the Americans and the Israelis that their real goal was Israeli acceptance only of the "principle" of refugee return, as distinct from implementing that "right" in practice."</ref>

Palestinian and international authors have justified the right of return of the Palestinian refugees on several grounds:<ref>{{Cite news |date=18 February 2003 |title=Right of return: Palestinian dream? |language=en-GB |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/middle_east/2001/israel_and_the_palestinians/issues/1099279.stm |access-date=5 March 2022 |archive-date=5 March 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220305205554/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/middle_east/2001/israel_and_the_palestinians/issues/1099279.stm |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Flapan |first=Simha |date=Summer 1987 |title=The Palestinian Exodus of 1948 |journal=Journal of Palestine Studies |volume=16 |number=4 |pages=3–26 |doi=10.2307/2536718 |jstor=2536718}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Khalidi |first1=Rashid I. |author-link=Rashid Khalidi |date=Winter 1992 |title=Observations on the Right of Return |journal=[[Journal of Palestine Studies]] |volume=21 |number=2 |pages=29–40 |doi=10.2307/2537217 |jstor=2537217}}</ref>
Several scholars included in the broader [[New Historians]] argue that the Palestinian refugees fled or were chased out or expelled by the actions of the [[Haganah]], [[Lehi (group)|Lehi]] and [[Irgun]], Zionist paramilitary groups.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Morris |first1=Benny |title=Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist–Arab conflict, 1881–2001 |date=2001 |publisher=[[Vintage Books]] |location=New York |isbn=978-0-679-74475-7 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/righteousvictims00morr_0/page/252 252–258] |edition=1st Vintage Books |url=https://archive.org/details/righteousvictims00morr_0/page/252}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Masalha |first1=Nur |author1-link=Nur Masalha |title=Expulsion of the Palestinians: The Concept of 'Transfer' in Zionist Political Thought, 1882–1948 |date=1992 |publisher=[[Institute for Palestine Studies]] |location=Washington, DC |isbn=978-0-88728-235-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/expulsionofpales00masa/page/175 175] |edition=4th |url=https://archive.org/details/expulsionofpales00masa/page/175}}</ref> A number have also characterized this as an ethnic cleansing.<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Michael Mann (sociologist)|Michael Mann]] |title=The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2005|pages=109, 519 |isbn=978-0-521-83130-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crimesofwar.org/a-z-guide/arab-israeli-war/ |last=Morris |first=Benny |author-link=Benny Morris |title=Arab–Israeli War |publisher=The Crimes of War Education Project |access-date=14 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140129173133/http://www.crimesofwar.org/a-z-guide/arab-israeli-war/ |archive-date=29 January 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Esber |first=Rosmarie |author-link=Rosemarie Esber|title=Under the Cover of War: The Zionist Expulsion of the Palestinians |year=2009 |pages=23 |publisher=Arabicus Books & Media |isbn=978-0-9815131-3-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pappé |first1=Ilan |author-link=Ilan Pappé |title=The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine |date=2007 |publisher=Oneworld Publications |location=Oxford |isbn=978-1-85168-467-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/ethniccleansingo00papp/page/2 2–3] |edition=Repr. |url=https://archive.org/details/ethniccleansingo00papp/page/2}}</ref> The [[New Historians]] cite indications of Arab leaders' desire for the Palestinian Arab population to stay put.<ref>See for example, {{cite journal |last=Masalha |first=Nur-eldeen |author-link=Nur Masalha |year=1988 |title=On Recent Hebrew and Israeli Sources for the Palestinian Exodus, 1947–49 |journal=[[Journal of Palestine Studies]] |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=121–137 |doi=10.2307/2537599 |jstor=2537599}} And {{cite news |last=Childers |first=Irskine |title=The Other Exodus |work=[[The Spectator]] |location=London |date=12 May 1961}}</ref>

[[File:Sumayya and her cat in front of her demolished home 2002, 2nd Intifada.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Home in [[Balata Camp|Balata]] [[refugee camp]] demolished during the second Intifada, 2002]]

The Israeli [[Law of Return]] that grants citizenship to people of Jewish descent has been described as discriminatory against other ethnic groups, especially Palestinians that cannot apply for such citizenship under the law of return, to the territory which they were expelled from or fled during the course of the 1948 war.<ref name=TH-P>{{cite book |last=Honig-Parnass |first=Tikva |authorlink=Tikva Honig-Parnass|title=The False Prophets of Peace: Liberal Zionism and the Struggle for Palestine |year=2011 |publisher=[[Haymarket Books]] |isbn=978-1-60846-130-1 |page=5 |quote=Makdisi rightly argues that almost every law of South African Apartheid has its equivalent in Israel today.18 A significant example is the Law of Return (1950), which even Kretzmer claims is explicitly discriminatory against Palestinian citizens.... The Law of Return, which determines the second-class citizenship of Palestinians, is recognized as a fundamental principle in Israel and "is possibly even its very ''raison d'etre'' as a Jewish state."19}}</ref><ref name=YS>{{cite book |last=Schmidt |first=Yvonne |title=Foundations of Civil and Political Rights in Israel and the Occupied Territories |year=2008 |publisher=GRIN Verlag oHG |isbn=978-3-638-94450-2 |pages=245–246 |quote=In any case has the Law of Return, 1950 discriminatory effect for Palestinian Arab people since it allows any Jew to immigrate to Israel, while—at the same time—it deprives all native Palestinian Arab refugees residing outside the borders of the state of Israel of their fundamental right to return to their homes and villages from which they were expelled or took flight in the course of the 1948 war that broke out because of the establishment of Israel.}}</ref><ref name=AK>{{cite book |last=Kassim |first=Anis F. |title=The Palestine Yearbook of International Law 2001–2002: Vol. 11 |year=2002 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |isbn=978-3-638-94450-2 |page=150 |quote=Under the heading of "Discrimination", the Committee cited Israel's Law of Return as discriminatory against Palestinian refugees because of Israel's refusal to readmit them. The committee said: "The Committee notes with concern that the Law of Return which permits any Jew from anywhere in the world to immigrate and thereby virtually automatically enjoy residence and obtain citizenship in Israel, discriminates against Palestinians in the Diaspora upon whom the Government of Israel has imposed restrictive requirements that make it almost impossible to return to their land of birth."}}</ref>

According to the [[United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194|UN Resolution 194]], adopted in 1948, "the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/1A752D5C8191389E8525682D00701239 |title=A/RES/181(II) of 29 November 1947 |publisher=United Nations |access-date=19 October 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025082136/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/1A752D5C8191389E8525682D00701239 |archive-date=25 October 2014}}</ref> [[United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3236|UN Resolution 3236]] "reaffirms also the inalienable right of the Palestinians to return to their homes and property from which they have been displaced and uprooted, and calls for their return".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/025974039ACFB171852560DE00548BBE |title=A/RES/181(II) of 29 November 1947 |publisher=United Nations |access-date=19 October 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020191042/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/025974039ACFB171852560DE00548BBE |archive-date=20 October 2014}}</ref> [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 242|Resolution 242 from the UN]] affirms the necessity for "achieving a just settlement of the refugee problem"; however, Resolution 242 does not specify that the "just settlement" must or should be in the form of a literal Palestinian right of return.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Radley |first=K. René |year=1978 |title=The Palestinian Refugees: The Right to Return in International Law |journal=[[American Journal of International Law]] |volume=72 |issue=3 |pages=586–614 |doi=10.2307/2200460|jstor=2200460 |s2cid=147111254}}</ref>

Historically, there has been debate over the relative impact of the [[causes of the 1948 Palestinian exodus]], although there is a wide consensus that violent expulsions by Zionist and Israeli forces were the main factor. Other factors include psychological warfare and Arab sense of vulnerability. Notably, historian [[Benny Morris]] states that most of Palestine's 700,000 refugees fled because of the "flail of war" and expected to return home shortly after a successful Arab invasion. He documents instances in which Arab leaders advised the evacuation of entire communities as happened in Haifa although recognizes that these were isolated events.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Morris |first1=Benny |title=Righteous victims: a history of the Zionist-Arab conflict, 1881–2001 |date=2001 |publisher=[[Vintage Books]] |location=New York |isbn=978-0-679-74475-7 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/righteousvictims00morr_0/page/252 252–258] |edition=1st Vintage Books |url=https://archive.org/details/righteousvictims00morr_0/page/252}}</ref><ref name="Israel and the Palestinians">{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/letters/2008/0221/1203471491836.html |title=Israel and the Palestinians |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |date=2 February 2008 |access-date=5 August 2012 |archive-date=21 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021003425/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/letters/2008/0221/1203471491836.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> In his later work, Morris considers the displacement the result of a national conflict initiated by the Arabs themselves.<ref name="Israel and the Palestinians"/> In a 2004 interview with Haaretz, he described the exodus as largely resulting from an atmosphere of transfer that was promoted by Ben-Gurion and understood by the military leadership. He also claimed that there "are circumstances in history that justify ethnic cleansing".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Shavit |first1=Ari |title=Survival of the Fittest |url=http://www.haaretz.com/survival-of-the-fittest-1.61345 |newspaper=[[Haaretz]] |access-date=7 January 2015 |date=8 January 2004 |archive-date=30 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171030132854/https://www.haaretz.com/survival-of-the-fittest-1.61345 |url-status=live}}</ref> He has been criticized by political scientist [[Norman Finkelstein]] for having seemingly changed his views for political, rather than historical, reasons.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Finkelstein |first1=Norman G. |author-link=Norman Finkelstein |title=Knowing Too Much: Why the American Jewish Romance with Israel is Coming to an End |date=2012 |publisher=OR Books |location=New York |isbn=978-1-935928-77-5 |pages=Chapter 10}}</ref>

[[File:Shatila - street view (2).jpg|thumb|[[Shatila refugee camp]] on the outskirts of [[Beirut]] in May 2019]]

Although Israel accepts the right of the [[Palestinian refugees|Palestinian Diaspora]] to return into a new Palestinian state, Israel insists that the return of this population into the current state of Israel would threaten the stability of the Jewish state; an influx of Palestinian refugees would lead to the end of the state of Israel as a Jewish state since a demographic majority of Jews would not be maintained.<ref>{{cite book |first=Shlomo |last=Ben-Ami |title=Scars of War, Wounds of Peace |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x72ZEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA |year=2007 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-532542-3 |page=50 |quote=A massive repatriation of Palestinian refugees would have clashed irreconcilably with the most vital and fundamental ethos of the new State of Israel, indeed with its very raison d'être, namely the consolidation of a Jewish state through the mass immigration of the survivors of the Nazi Holocaust in Europe and the uprooted and dispossessed Jews of North Africa and the Arab Middle East... No Israeli statesman, either in 1948 or in 2005, would conceive of peace based on the massive repatriation of Palestinian refugees as an offer the Jewish state could accept and yet survive. The ethos of Zionism was twofold; it was about demography—ingathering the exiles in a viable Jewish state with as small an Arab minority as possible—and land.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=John B. |last=Quigley |title=The Case for Palestine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VaUvqHNd6m0C&pg=PA |year=2005 |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8223-3539-9|quote=Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said that returning Palestinians might be a fifth column and a demographic threat to Israel as a Jewish state.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Erlanger |first=Steven |date=31 March 2007 |title=Olmert Rejects Right of Return for Palestinians |language=en-US |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/31/world/middleeast/31mideast.html |access-date=5 March 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=22 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170322164546/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/31/world/middleeast/31mideast.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Israeli security concerns ===
{{See also|United States security assistance to the Palestinian Authority|Palestinian political violence|2010 Palestinian militancy campaign}}
[[File:Terror Strikes Israeli Civilians in Southern Israel.jpg|left|thumb|Remains of an [[Egged (company)|Egged bus]] hit by suicide bomber in the aftermath of the [[2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks]]. Eight people were killed; about 40 were injured.]]

Throughout the conflict, Palestinian violence has been a concern for Israelis. Security concerns have historically been a key driver in Israeli political decision making, often expanding in scope and taking precedence over other considerations such as international law and Palestinian human rights.<ref>{{cite book |first=Noam |last=Chomsky |author-link=Noam Chomsky |title=Fateful Triangle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aHphMCIkhK0C&pg=PA |year=1999 |publisher=[[Pluto Press]] |isbn=978-0-89608-601-2 |pages= |quote=Evidently, the indigenous population also has a 'security problem'; in fact, the Palestinians have already suffered the catastrophe that Israelis justly fear.}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Khalidi|2013|loc=Introduction}}: "Similarly, in this lexicon, "security" is an absolute priority of Israel's, the need for which is invariably described as rooted in genuine, deep-seated existential fears. "Israeli security" therefore takes precedence over virtually everything else, including international law and the human rights of others. It is an endlessly expansive concept that includes a remarkable multitude of things, such as whether pasta or generator parts can be brought into the Gaza Strip, or whether miserably poor Palestinian villagers can be allowed water cisterns.1 By contrast, in spite of the precarious nature of their situation, Palestinians are presumed not to have any significant concerns about their security. This is the case even though nearly half the Palestinian population have lived for more than two generations under a grinding military occupation without the most basic human, civil, or political rights, and the rest have for many decades been dispersed from their ancestral homeland, many of them living under harsh, authoritarian Arab governments."</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Shlomo |last=Ben-Ami |title=Prophets Without Honor |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hnhXEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA |year=2022 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-006047-3 |chapter=The Occupation's Traits of Permanence |quote=The Israeli debate over the occupied territories is, then, not just an ideological divide between right and left; it is also overwhelmingly influenced by the all-encompassing "security network" that injects a security rationale into every political move.}}</ref> The occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the continued expansion of settlements in those areas have been justified on security grounds.<ref>{{harvnb|Slater|2020|p=221}}: "In any event, there was no legitimate security argument at all for the Israeli seizure of Arab East Jerusalem immediately after the 1967 war and for subsequently settling religious fanatics in the West Bank. The real motivating forces for most of the postwar Israeli expansionism into the West Bank and East Jerusalem were clearly "Greater Israel" nationalism and religious messianism. If anything, as many Israeli security experts pointed out at the time, the "need" to defend the settlers was a security liability... Israeli governments have long cited "security" as the reason they need to maintain occupation of Arab territories—but when Israel withdrew from Lebanon and Egyptian territory, the attacks against it ended. It is unlikely that an Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories would have a different result—and if it did, there would be little to prevent Israel from reinvading and occupying those territories. Moreover, in those circumstances repression of any continuing Palestinian violence would have a legitimacy that it currently lacks. For these reasons, Israel has a security problem with the Palestinians only in the same way that colonial powers had "security problems" with nationalist uprisings that eventually forced them to withdraw."</ref>

Israel,<ref name=Kassam /> along with the United States<ref>[http://www.glin.gov/view.action?glinID=189741 "Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128105216/http://www.glin.gov/view.action?glinID=189741 |date=28 November 2007 }} [[Global Legal Information Network]]. 26 December 2006. 30 May 2009.</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2023}} and the European Union, refer to any use of force by Palestinian groups as terroristic and criminal.<ref name="Noura Erakat">{{cite book |first=Noura |last=Erakat |author-link= Noura Erakat| title=Justice for Some |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-zGUDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA |year=2019 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |isbn=978-1-5036-1357-7 |chapter=From Occupation to Warfare}}</ref><ref name="John B. Quigley">{{cite book |first=John B. |last=Quigley|title=The Case for Palestine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VaUvqHNd6m0C&pg=PA |year=2005 |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8223-3539-9 |pages=}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2024}} The United Nations General Assembly resolution A/RES/45/130 reflects an international consensus (113 out of 159 voting nations voted in favor, 13 voted against<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 December 1990 |title=<nowiki>Importance of the universal realization of the right of peoples to self-determination and of the speedy granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples for the effective guarantee and observance of human rights :: resolution /: adopted by the General Assembly</nowiki> |url=https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/282163?ln=en|language=en}}</ref>) affirming Palestinians' legitimacy, as a people under foreign occupation, to use armed struggle to resist said occupation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Right of peoples to self-determination/Struggle by all available means – GA resolution |url=https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-184801/ |access-date=23 October 2024 |website=Question of Palestine |language=en-US |quote="1. Calls upon all States to implement fully and faithfully all the resolutions of the United Nations regarding the exercise of the right to self-determination and independence by peoples under colonial and foreign domination; 2. Reaffirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial domination, apartheid and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle; 3. Reaffirms also the inalienable right of the Namibian people, the Palestinian people and all peoples under foreign occupation and colonial domination to self-determination, national independence, territorial integrity, national unity and sovereignty without foreign interference..."}}</ref>

In Israel, Palestinian suicide bombers have targeted civilian buses, restaurants, shopping malls, hotels and marketplaces.<ref>{{Cite news |date=29 January 2007 |title=Analysis: Palestinian suicide attacks |work=[[BBC News]] |language=en-GB |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3256858.stm|access-date=5 March 2022 |archive-date=15 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100115102834/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3256858.stm |url-status=live}}</ref> From 1993 to 2003, 303 [[Palestinian suicide attacks|Palestinian suicide bombers]] attacked Israel.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}} In 1994, Hamas initiated their first lethal suicide attack in response to the [[cave of the Patriarchs massacre]] where American-Israeli physician [[Baruch Goldstein]] opened fire in a mosque, killing 29 people and injuring 125.<ref>{{harvnb|Baconi|2018|loc=Military Resistance Comes Undone}}: "On February 25, 1994, an American Jewish settler named Baruch Goldstein walked into the Ibrahimi Mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron during prayer time. Standing behind the rows of kneeling figures in front of him, Goldstein opened fire. Within minutes, twenty-nine Muslim worshippers had been killed and close to one hundred injured. The atrocity jolted the nascent Israeli-Palestinian bilateral negotiations that had gathered pace in the wake of the First Intifada, prompted by the PLO's strategic redirection in 1988. Less than six months before the Hebron attack, in September 1993, PLO chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin had awkwardly shaken hands in a widely publicized event on the South Lawn of the White House. The leaders had assembled in the American capital to sign the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements, popularly known as the Oslo Accords, referring to the capital city where the secretive talks leading to the agreement had taken place. Following the signing, negotiations between Israel and the PLO in the form of a "peace process" were launched.1 Goldstein's attack served as a reminder of the bloody challenges this process faced. Forty-one days after the shooting, once the time allotted for Muslim ritual mourning had been respected, a member of Hamas approached a bus stop in Afula, a city in northern Israel. Standing next to fellow passengers, the man detonated a suicide vest, killing seven Israelis. This was on April 6, 1994, a day that marked Hamas's first lethal suicide bombing in Israel."</ref>

The Israeli government initiated the construction of a [[West Bank Barrier|security barrier]] following scores of suicide bombings and terrorist attacks in July 2003. Israel's coalition government approved the security barrier in the northern part of the green line between Israel and the West Bank. According to the [[Israel Defense Forces|IDF]], since the erection of the fence, terrorist acts have declined by approximately 90%.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.law.idf.il/351-en/Patzar.aspx |title=The Security Barrier (Fence) |publisher=IDF Military Advocate General |access-date=5 October 2014 |archive-date=12 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012044945/http://www.law.idf.il/351-en/Patzar.aspx |url-status=dead}}</ref> The decline in attacks can also be attributed to the permanent presence of Israeli troops inside and around Palestinian cities and increasing security cooperation between the IDF and the Palestinian Authority during this period.<ref>{{harvnb|Scott-Baumann|2023}}: "Far fewer Israelis were killed in Palestinian suicide bombs after the construction of the barrier (130 in 2003 and fewer than 25 in 2005), convincing most Israelis that it saved the lives of fellow Israelis and was necessary for their security. However, the decline in bombings can also be attributed to the permanent presence of Israeli troops inside and around Palestinian cities and increasing security cooperation between the IDF and the PA, particularly after the Second Intifada ended in 2005."</ref> The barrier followed a route that ran almost entirely through land occupied by Israel in June 1967, unilaterally seizing more than 10% of the West Bank, including whole neighborhoods and settlement blocs, while splitting Palestinian villages in half with immediate effects on Palestinian's freedom of movement. The barrier, in some areas, isolated farmers from their fields and children from their schools, while also restricting Palestinians from moving within the West Bank or pursuing employment in Israel.<ref>{{cite book |first=Albert Habib |last=Hourani |title=A History of the Arab Peoples |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A_History_of_the_Arab_Peoples&pg=PA |year=2010 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=978-0-674-01017-8 |quote=In places the barrier separated farmers from their lands, even children from their schools, while preventing Palestinians from travelling within the West Bank or seeking work in Israel.}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2024}}<ref>{{harvnb|Shlaim|2015|loc=The Road Map to Nowhere 2003–2006}}: "The barrier followed a route that ran almost entirely through land occupied by Israel in June 1967."</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Baconi|2018|loc=Chapter 3}}: "Rather than building the wall on Israeli land or along the 1967 borders, however, the structure snaked through Palestinian territories, unilaterally seizing more than 10 percent of the West Bank, including whole neighborhoods around East Jerusalem as well as major settlement blocs that were integrated into this de facto border. The structure split whole Palestinian villages in half and had an immediate effect on the freedom of movement for Palestinians within the occupied territories. Jewish settlers living illegally within the same land continued to be linked into Israel through exclusive Jewish-only highways and bypass roads. On July 20, 2004, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion ruling that the wall was illegal, to no effect.4 With Israel's planned disengagement from the Gaza Strip and the construction of advanced "security" infrastructure, Sharon was actively restructuring the framework of Israel's occupation."</ref>

In 2004 the [[International Court of Justice]] ruled that the construction of the barrier violated the Palestinian right to self-determination, contravened the Fourth Geneva Convention, and could not be justified as a measure of Israeli self-defense.<ref>{{cite book |first=Noura |last=Erakat |title=Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Justice_for_Some&pg=PA |year=2019 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |isbn=978-1-5036-0883-2 |chapter=Notes |quote=Its 2004 decision held that the construction of the wall in the West Bank, as opposed to along the 1949 armistice line, violated the Palestinian right to self-determination, contravened the Fourth Geneva Convention, and could not be justified as a measure of Israeli self-defense. It advised Israel to "terminate its breaches of international law; it is under an obligation to cease forthwith the works of construction of the wall being built in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem, to dismantle forthwith the structure therein situated." The court also observed that all states had an obligation "not to recognize the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the wall and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by such construction."}}</ref> The ICJ further expressed that the construction of the wall by Israel could become a permanent fixture, altering the status quo. Israel's High Court, however, disagreed with the ICJ's conclusions, stating that they lacked a factual basis. Several human rights organizations, including B'Tselem, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International, echoed the ICJ's concerns. They suggested that the wall's route was designed to perpetuate the existence of settlements and facilitate their future annexation into Israel, and that the wall was a means for Israel to consolidate control over land used for illegal settlements. The sophisticated structure of the wall also indicated its likely permanence.<ref>{{cite book |last=Finkelstein |first=Norman G. |author-link=Norman Finkelstein |title=Knowing Too Much |publisher=OR Books |publication-place=New York |date=2012 |isbn=978-1-935928-77-5 |chapter=Appendix |quote=In its advisory opinion the ICJ voiced concern that "the construction of the wall and its associated régime create a 'fait accompli' on the ground that could well become permanent."115 Taking note of this ICJ concern, Israel's High Court rejoined that the ICJ lacked a "factual basis" for reaching definite conclusions.116 Not just the ICJ, however, but also many respected human rights organizations expressed such worries. B'Tselem concluded that the "underlying reason" of the wall's route was "to establish facts on the ground that would perpetuate the existence of settlements and facilitate their future annexation into Israel." Likewise, Human Rights Watch concluded that the "existing and planned route of the barrier appears to be designed chiefly to incorporate and make contiguous with Israel illegal civilian settlements." Likewise, Amnesty International concluded that Israel was building the wall to "consolidate its control over land which is being used for illegal Israeli settlements," and that "the very expensive and sophisticated structure of the fence/wall indicates that it is likely intended as a permanent structure."117}}</ref>

Since 2001, the threat of [[Qassam rocket]]s fired from Palestinian territories into Israel continues to be of great concern for Israeli defense officials.<ref>{{cite news |last=Harel |first=Amos |url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/932106.html |title=Defense officials concerned as Hamas upgrades Qassam arsenal |work=[[Haaretz]] |date=7 December 2007 |access-date=30 March 2009 |archive-url= |archive-date=}}</ref> In 2006—the year following Israel's disengagement from the Gaza Strip—the Israeli government claimed to have recorded 1,726 such launches, more than four times the total rockets fired in 2005.<ref name=Kassam>{{cite web |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Palestinian+terror+since+2000/Victims+of+Palestinian+Violence+and+Terrorism+sinc.htm |title=Victims of Palestinian Violence and Terrorism since September 2000 |publisher=Israeli Ministry of Internal Affairs |access-date=10 April 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070403024612/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-%2BObstacle%2Bto%2BPeace/Palestinian%2Bterror%2Bsince%2B2000/Victims%2Bof%2BPalestinian%2BViolence%2Band%2BTerrorism%2Bsinc.htm |archive-date=3 April 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite report |url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2009/08/06/rockets-gaza/harm-civilians-palestinian-armed-groups-rocket-attacks |title=Rockets from Gaza |publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]] |date=6 August 2009 |access-date=15 November 2023 |archive-date=18 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170618234837/https://www.hrw.org/report/2009/08/06/rockets-gaza/harm-civilians-palestinian-armed-groups-rocket-attacks |url-status=live |last1=Esveld |first1=Bill Van}}</ref> As of January 2009, over 8,600 rockets have been launched,<ref name=BBC_Q&A>{{Cite news |date=18 January 2009 |title=Q&A: Gaza conflict |language=en-GB |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7818022.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=5 March 2022 |archive-date=5 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140705061215/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7818022.stm |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=21 January 2008 |title=Gaza's rocket threat to Israel |language=en-GB |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3702088.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=5 March 2022 |archive-date=23 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110923035807/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3702088.stm |url-status=live}}</ref> causing widespread psychological trauma and disruption of daily life.<ref name=BBC_catandmouse>{{Cite news |date=28 February 2008 |title=Playing cat and mouse with Gaza rockets |language=en-GB |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7270168.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=5 March 2022 |archive-date=6 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080306235209/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7270168.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> As a result of these attacks, Israelis living in southern Israel have had to spend long periods in bomb shelters. The relatively small payload carried on these rockets, Israel's advanced early warning system, American-supplied anti-missile capabilities, and network of shelters made the rockets rarely lethal. In 2014, out of 4,000 rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, only six Israeli civilians were killed. For comparison, the payload carried on these rockets is smaller than Israeli tank shells, of which 49,000 were fired in Gaza in 2014.<ref>{{harvnb|Khalidi|2020|loc=Chapter 6}}: "However, none of the rockets had a warhead of the size or lethality of the over 49,000 tank and artillery shells fired by Israel in 2014. The Soviet-designed 122mm Grad or Katyusha rocket commonly used by Hamas and its allies normally carried either a 44- or 66-pound warhead (compared with the 96-pound 155mm shells), although many were fitted with smaller warheads to increase their range. Most of the homemade Qassam rockets that were used had considerably smaller warheads. Together, the 4,000 Qassam, Katyusha, Grad, and other missiles that were fired from the Gaza Strip, and that reached Israel (many were so imprecise and poorly manufactured that they fell short and landed within the strip), would have likely had less explosive power in total than a dozen 2,000-pound bombs."</ref>

There is significant debate within Israel about how to deal with the country's security concerns. Options have included military action (including [[targeted killing]]s and [[House demolition in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict|house demolitions]] of terrorist operatives), diplomacy, unilateral gestures toward peace, and increased security measures such as checkpoints, roadblocks and [[West Bank Barrier|security barriers]]. The legality and the wisdom of all of the above tactics have been called into question by various commentators.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

Since mid-June 2007, Israel's primary means of dealing with security concerns in the West Bank has been to cooperate with and permit United States-sponsored training, equipping, and funding of the Palestinian Authority's security forces, which with Israeli help have largely succeeded in quelling West Bank supporters of Hamas.<ref name="Nathan Thrall">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/oct/14/our-man-palestine/ |title=Our Man in Palestine |first=Nathan |last=Thrall |magazine=[[The New York Review of Books]] |date=14 October 2010 |access-date=30 September 2010 |archive-date=16 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016073306/http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/oct/14/our-man-palestine/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Water resources ===
{{Further|Water supply and sanitation in the Palestinian territories|Water politics in the Jordan River basin|Structural abuse}}

In the Middle East, [[water resources]] are of great political concern. Since Israel receives much of its water from two large underground [[aquifer]]s which continue under the [[Green Line (Israel)|Green Line]], the use of this water has been contentious in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Israel withdraws most water from these areas, but it also supplies the West Bank with approximately 40{{nbs}}million cubic metres annually, contributing to 77% of Palestinians' water supply in the West Bank, which is to be shared for a population of about 2.6 million.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.532703 |title=How many Palestinians actually live in the West Bank? |date=30 June 2013 |newspaper=[[Haaretz]] |access-date=18 October 2014 |last1=Hasson |first1=Nir |archive-date=1 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141101200545/http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.532703 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Water supply in West Bank and Gaza February 2014 5water photoblog.jpg|thumb|right|Palestinian villagers purchase water from water trucks in Khirbet A-Duqaiqah in the [[Hebron Hills]].]]
[[File:Ma'ale adumim 02.JPG|thumb|right|A swimming pool in the Israeli settlement of [[Ma'ale Adumim]], West Bank]]

While Israel's consumption of this water has decreased since it began its occupation of the West Bank, it still consumes the majority of it: in the 1950s, Israel consumed 95% of the water output of the Western Aquifer, and 82% of that produced by the Northeastern Aquifer. Although this water was drawn entirely on Israel's own side of the pre-1967 border, the sources of the water are nevertheless from the shared groundwater basins located under both West Bank and Israel.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.juragentium.unifi.it/en/surveys/palestin/water.pdf |title=Till the Last Drop: The Palestinian Water Crisis in the West Bank, Hydrogeology and Hydropolitics of a Regional Conflict |access-date=29 November 2008 |last=Messerschmid |first=Clemens |year=2002 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081217111417/http://www.juragentium.unifi.it/en/surveys/palestin/water.pdf |archive-date=17 December 2008}}</ref>

In the [[Oslo II Accord]], both sides agreed to maintain "existing quantities of utilization from the resources." In so doing, the Palestinian Authority established the legality of Israeli water production in the West Bank, subject to a [[Israeli–Palestinian Joint Water Committee|Joint Water Committee]] (JWC). Moreover, Israel obligated itself in this agreement to provide water to supplement Palestinian production, and further agreed to allow additional Palestinian drilling in the Eastern Aquifer, also subject to the Joint Water Committee.<ref name=Oslo2_Annex3>{{Cite web |url=https://www.knesset.gov.il/process/docs/heskemb4_eng.htm |access-date=5 March 2022 |via=www.knesset.gov.il |title=Annex III: Protocol Concerning Civil Affairs |work=Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip |archive-date=25 November 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021125081409/https://www.knesset.gov.il/process/docs/heskemb4_eng.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.orsam.org.tr/en/oslo-21-and-water-problems-in-palestine-a-story-of-failure/ |title=Oslo+21 and Water Problems in Palestine: A Story of Failure |access-date=25 November 2023 |archive-date=25 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231125130918/https://www.orsam.org.tr/en/oslo-21-and-water-problems-in-palestine-a-story-of-failure/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The water that Israel receives comes mainly from the Jordan River system, the Sea of Galilee and two underground sources. According to a 2003 BBC article the Palestinians lack access to the Jordan River system.<ref name=bbc20030616>{{cite news |title=Water war leaves Palestinians thirsty |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2982730.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |date=16 June 2003 |access-date=2 January 2012 |archive-date=5 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105211813/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2982730.stm |url-status=live}}</ref>

According to a report of 2008 by the [[Food and Agriculture Organization]] of the United Nations, water resources were confiscated for the benefit of the Israeli settlements in the Ghor. Palestinian irrigation pumps on the Jordan River were destroyed or confiscated after the 1967 war and Palestinians were not allowed to use water from the Jordan River system. Furthermore, the authorities did not allow any new irrigation wells to be drilled by Palestinian farmers, while it provided fresh water and allowed drilling wells for irrigation purposes at the Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/countries_regions/israel/index.stm |title=Israel |year=2008 |work=Aquastat |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations |access-date=25 February 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116204210/http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/countries_regions/israel/index.stm |archive-date=16 January 2013}}</ref>

A report was released by the UN in August 2012 and [[Max Gaylard]], the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in the occupied Palestinian territory, explained at the launch of the publication: "Gaza will have half a million more people by 2020 while its economy will grow only slowly. In consequence, the people of Gaza will have an even harder time getting enough drinking water and electricity, or sending their children to school". Gaylard present alongside Jean Gough, of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), and Robert Turner, of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The report projects that Gaza's population will increase from 1.6 million people to 2.1 million people in 2020, leading to a density of more than 5,800 people per square kilometre.<ref name="UN Publications">{{cite web |title=Lack of sufficient services in Gaza could get worse without urgent action, UN warns |url=https://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=42751#.UP35DaF4YZc |publisher=UN News Centre |access-date=22 January 2013 |date=27 August 2012 |archive-date=4 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131104221705/http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=42751#.UP35DaF4YZc |url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Future and financing ====
Numerous foreign nations and international organizations have established bilateral agreements with the Palestinian and Israeli water authorities. It was estimated that a future investment of about US$1.1bn for the West Bank and $0.8bn for the Gaza Strip Southern Governorates was needed for the planning period from 2003 to 2015.<ref name="HBS">{{citation |first1=Karen |last1=Assaf |first2=Bayoumi |last2= Attia |first3=Ali |last3=Darwish |first4=Batir |last4=Wardam |first5=Simone |last5=Klawitter |publisher=Heinrich-Böll-Foundation |title=Water as a human right: The understanding of water in the Arab countries of the Middle East – A four country analysis |year=2004 |url=http://www.emwis.org/countries/fol749974/country045975/countries/PDF/waterbook |access-date=23 April 2014 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304194258/http://www.emwis.org/countries/fol749974/country045975/countries/PDF/waterbook |url-status=live |page=229}}</ref>

In late 2012, a donation of $21.6 million was announced by the Government of the Netherlands—the Dutch government stated that the funds would be provided to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), for the specific benefit of Palestinian children. An article, published by the UN News website, stated that: "Of the $21.6 million, $5.7 will be allocated to UNRWA's 2012 Emergency Appeal for the occupied Palestinian territory, which will support programmes in the West Bank and Gaza aiming to mitigate the effects on refugees of the deteriorating situation they face."<ref name="UN Publications"/>

=== Agricultural rights ===
{{See also|Economy of the State of Palestine#Israeli–Palestinian relations}}
The conflict has been about land since its inception.<ref name="100 years of war">{{cite book |last=Gelvin|first=James L.|title=The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: 100 Years of War|date=2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=New York}}</ref> When [[Israel]] became a state after the war in 1948, 77% of Palestine's land was used for the creation on the state.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20231011-from-1947-to-2023-retracing-the-complex-and-tragic-israeli-palestinian-conflict |title=From 1947 to 2023: Retracing the complex, tragic Israeli-Palestinian conflict |date=11 October 2023 |access-date=15 November 2023 |archive-date=15 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231115131259/https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20231011-from-1947-to-2023-retracing-the-complex-and-tragic-israeli-palestinian-conflict |url-status=live }}</ref> The majority of those living in Palestine at the time became refugees in other countries and this first land crisis became the root of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.<ref name="Nakba book">{{cite book |last1=Sa'id |first1=Ahmad |last2=Abu-Lughod |first2=Lila |title=Nakba: Palestine, 1948, and the Claims of Memory |date=2007 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |location=New York |isbn= |page=}}</ref>{{page needed|date=June 2024}} Because the root of the conflict is with land, the disputes between Israel and Palestine are well-manifested in the agriculture of Palestine.

In Palestine, agriculture is a mainstay in the economy. The production of agricultural goods supports the population's sustenance needs and fuels Palestine's export economy.<ref name="CERP Memo" /> According to the Council for European Palestinian Relations, the agricultural sector formally employs 13.4% of the population and informally employs 90% of the population.<ref name="CERP Memo">{{cite news |title=Agriculture in Palestine: a post-Oslo Analysis |url=http://thecepr.org/images/stories/pdf/memo%20agriculture.pdf |access-date=24 April 2014 |date=2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904044734/http://thecepr.org/images/stories/pdf/memo%20agriculture.pdf |archive-date=4 September 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Over the past 10 years{{when|date=November 2022}}, unemployment rates in Palestine have increased and the agricultural sector became the most impoverished sector in Palestine. Unemployment rates peaked in 2008 when they reached 41% in Gaza.<ref name="Unemployment and economic sectors">{{cite book |title=Coping with Conflict: Poverty and Inclusion in the West Bank and Gaza |pages=37–61 |chapter-url=http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTMENA/Resources/Poverty_and_Inclusion_in_the_West_Bank_and_Gaza_Chapter3.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916065202/http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTMENA/Resources/Poverty_and_Inclusion_in_the_West_Bank_and_Gaza_Chapter3.pdf |archive-date=16 September 2012 |url-status=live |access-date=28 April 2014 |chapter=Poverty and the Labor Market: A Sheer Lack of Jobs?}}</ref>

Palestinian agriculture suffers from numerous problems including Israeli military and civilian attacks on farms and farmers, blockades to exportation of produce and importation of necessary inputs, widespread confiscation of land for nature reserves as well as military and settler use, confiscation and destruction of wells, and physical barriers within the West Bank.<ref name="National Land Bans">{{cite news |title=Palestinians lose billions to Israeli land bans, says World Bank report |url=http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/palestinians-lose-billions-to-israeli-land-bans-says-world-bank-report |access-date=13 April 2014 |newspaper=[[The National (Abu Dhabi)|The National]] |date=8 October 2013 |archive-date=28 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170628163419/http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/palestinians-lose-billions-to-israeli-land-bans-says-world-bank-report |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Israel's West Bank barrier ===
[[File:Holy Land 2022 (1) P473 Bethlehem barrier.jpg|thumb|The barrier between Israel and Palestine]]

With the construction of the [[separation barrier]], the Israeli state promised free movement across regions. However, border closures, curfews, and checkpoints has significantly restricted Palestinian movement.<ref name="Stein book">{{cite book |last=Stein |first=Rebecca |title=Itineraries in Conflict |date=2008 |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |location=Durham |page=9}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hammad |first=Suzanne Hassan |title=Emplaced Resistances in Occupied Palestine: Stories of a Village, Its People, and Their Land |date=2023 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-78661-204-5 |pages=20–72 |language=English}}</ref> In 2012, there were 99 fixed check points and 310 flying checkpoints.<ref>{{cite book |last=Davis |first=Rochelle |title=Palestine and the Palestinians in the 21st century |date=2013 |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |location=Indianapolis}}</ref>{{page needed|date=June 2024}} The border restrictions impacted the imports and exports in Palestine and weakened the industrial and agricultural sectors because of the constant Israeli control in the West Bank and Gaza.<ref name="Palestine recovery plan">{{cite news |agency=[[Agence France-Presse]] |title=Palestinian Economic Recovery Plan Takes Shape |url=http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/palestinian-economic-recovery-plan-takes-shape |access-date=14 April 2014 |newspaper=[[The National (Abu Dhabi)|The National]] |date=12 July 2013 |archive-date=28 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170628161555/http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/palestinian-economic-recovery-plan-takes-shape |url-status=live}}</ref> In order for the Palestinian economy to be prosperous, the restrictions on Palestinian land must be removed.<ref name="National Land Bans" /> According to ''[[The Guardian]]'' and a report for [[World Bank]], the Palestinian economy lost $3.4bn (%35 of the annual GDP) to Israeli restrictions in the West Bank alone.<ref name="Guardian Blog">{{cite news |last=Chalabi |first=Mona |title=How Does Palestine's Economy Work?|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/oct/14/palestine-economy-how-does-it-work |access-date=30 April 2014 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=14 October 2013 |archive-date=12 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512225531/http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/oct/14/palestine-economy-how-does-it-work |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Palestinian violence outside of Israel ===
Some Palestinians have committed violent acts over the globe on the pretext of a struggle against Israel.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2 September 2011 |title=Mystery surrounds 'suicide' of Abu Nidal, once a ruthless killer and face of terror – Middle East, World |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/mystery-surrounds-suicide-of-abu-nidal-once-a-ruthless-killer-and-face-of-terror-640464.html |access-date=5 March 2022 |work=[[The Independent]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110902075901/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/mystery-surrounds-suicide-of-abu-nidal-once-a-ruthless-killer-and-face-of-terror-640464.html |archive-date=2 September 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

During the late 1960s, groups affiliated with the PLO became increasingly infamous for its use of international terror. In 1969 alone, these groups were responsible for hijacking 82 planes. [[El Al Airlines]] became a regular hijacking target.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Attempt to carry explosives device on El Al flight foiled |url=https://www.jpost.com/israel/attempt-to-carry-explosives-device-on-el-al-flight-foiled |access-date=5 March 2022 |work=[[The Jerusalem Post]] |archive-date=5 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220305205554/https://www.jpost.com/israel/attempt-to-carry-explosives-device-on-el-al-flight-foiled |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>''Encyclopedia of the Developing World'', Vol. 3. p. 1228.</ref> The hijacking of [[Air France]] Flight 139 by the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]] culminated during a [[Operation Entebbe|hostage-rescue mission]], where Israeli special forces successfully rescued the majority of the hostages.

One of the most well-known and notorious terrorist acts was the capture and eventual [[Munich massacre|murder of 11 Israeli athletes]] by the [[Black September Organization]] during the [[1972 Summer Olympics]].<ref>''Encyclopedia of the Developing World'', Vol. 3. M. Leonard, Thomas.{{page needed|date=February 2024}}</ref>

=== Palestinian-on-Palestinian violence ===
[[File:2013 Fatah anniversary rally in Gaza (04).jpg|thumb|A demonstration in support of [[Fatah]] in [[Gaza City]] in January 2013]]

Fighting among rival Palestinian and Arab movements has played a crucial role in shaping Israel's security policy towards Palestinian militants, as well as in the Palestinian leadership's own policies.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}} As early as the [[1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine|1930s revolts in Palestine]], Arab forces fought each other while also skirmishing with Zionist and British forces, and internal conflicts continue to the present day.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

In the [[First Intifada]], more than a thousand Palestinians were killed in a campaign initiated by the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] to crack down on suspected [[Shin Bet|Israeli security service]] informers and collaborators. The [[Palestinian Authority]] was strongly criticized for its treatment of alleged collaborators, rights groups complaining that those labeled collaborators were denied fair trials. According to a report released by the [[Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group]], less than 45 percent of those killed were actually guilty of informing for Israel.<ref>{{Cite news |date=22 May 2002 |title=How Israel builds its fifth column |work=[[Christian Science Monitor]] |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0522/p01s04-wome.html/(page)/2 |access-date=5 March 2022 |issn=0882-7729 |archive-date=5 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220305205555/https://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0522/p01s04-wome.html/(page)/2 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=August 2024}}

=== Overriding authority and international status ===
{{Unreferenced section|date=September 2018}}
[[File:Restricted space in the West Bank, Area C.png|thumb|[[Area C (West Bank)|Area C]], controlled by Israel [[West Bank Areas in the Oslo II Accord|under Oslo Accords]], in blue and red, in December 2011]]

As far as Israel is concerned, the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority is derived from the [[Oslo Accords]], signed with the PLO, under which it acquired control over cities in the Palestinian territories (Area A) while the surrounding countryside came either under Israeli security and Palestinian civil administration (Area B) or complete Israeli civil administration ([[Area C (West Bank)|Area C]]). Israel has built additional highways to allow Israelis to traverse the area without entering Palestinian cities in Area A. The initial areas under Palestinian Authority control are diverse and non-contiguous. The areas have changed over time by subsequent negotiations, including [[Oslo II Accord|Oslo II]], [[Wye River Memorandum|Wye River]] and [[Sharm El Sheikh Memorandum|Sharm el-Sheik]]. According to Palestinians, the separated areas make it impossible to create a viable nation and fails to address Palestinian security needs; Israel has expressed no agreement to withdrawal from some Areas B, resulting in no reduction in the division of the Palestinian areas, and the institution of a safe pass system, without Israeli checkpoints, between these parts.

Under the Oslo Accords, as a security measure, Israel has insisted on its control over all land, sea and air border crossings into the Palestinian territories, and the right to set import and export controls. This is to enable Israel to control the entry into the territories of materials of military significance and of potentially dangerous persons.

The PLO's objective for [[international recognition of the State of Palestine]] is considered by Israel as a provocative "unilateral" act that is inconsistent with the Oslo Accords.

=== Economic disputes and boycotts ===
{{See also|Economy of the Palestinian territories|Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions}}
{{Update|section|date=October 2024}}
In Gaza, the agricultural market suffers from economic boycotts and border closures and restrictions placed by Israel.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://press.un.org/en/2022/gaef3574.doc.htm |title=From 1947 to 2023: Retracing the complex, tragic Israeli-Palestinian conflict |access-date=15 November 2023 |archive-date=15 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231115131429/https://press.un.org/en/2022/gaef3574.doc.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> The PA's Minister of Agriculture estimates that around US$1.2 billion were lost in September 2006 because of these security measures. This embargo was brought on by Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel's right to statehood.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}} As a result, {{as of|2007|lc=y}}, the PA's 160,000 employees had not received their salaries in over one year.<ref name="Embargo Q&A">{{cite news |last=Patience |first=Martin |title=Q&A: Palestinian Embargo |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6768931.stm |access-date=30 April 2014 |publisher=BBC Jerusalem |date=19 June 2007 |archive-date=12 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512225652/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6768931.stm |url-status=live}}</ref>