The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (134 page)
Read The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics Online
Authors: Iain McLean
BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics
12.76Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
intifada
Arabic for ‘a shaking off’. The term has come to refer to the Palestinian uprising on the West Bank and Gaza (the Israeli Occupied Territories) which began apparently spontaneously in 1987. It has been suggested that the
intifada's
emergence was a response to the realization that the Palestinian issue and the Arab-Israeli conflict was slipping as a key concern of Arab governments, and that Palestinians in the Occupied Territories would have to take matters into their own hands.
The issue has been whether the Palestinian people of the West Bank and Gaza will be allowed self-determination or autonomy or statehood, or whether these territories will ultimately be incorporated into the state of Israel. The background to this issue goes back to the end of the First World War and the establishment under the authority of Great Britain of the Palestine Mandate with its provision for a national home for the Jews, though not to be at the expense of the local population. The key difficulty was maintaining an appropriate balance between these stipulations that would be acceptable to the parties concerned.
The decades before 1948 saw an inflow of European Jews into the Mandate together with a land-purchasing policy of the Jewish Agency (allowed by Britain) designed to alienate land from the Arabs (i.e. stipulating that it could not be resold to Arabs). Unable to resolve the conflict between the demands of the Jewish and Arab communities, Great Britain passed responsibility for the Mandate over to the United Nations which in 1947 decided on the partition of Palestine into two states—one for the Jews and one for the Arabs. The stage was set for the settlement of the issue. Instead, in 1948, an Israeli state emerged from the Palestine Mandate at the expense of a Palestinian state, in the process creating 700,000 Palestinian refugees. Concurrently, the first Arab-Israeli war began ending in an armistice without a peace settlement. The state of Israel was seen, from the Arab point of view, as the last vestige of colonialism remaining in the Arab Middle East.
For the Palestinian people, there was a further complication. Amir Abdullah , the Hashemite ruler of Transjordan, had argued that Palestine and Transjordan should be united under Hashemite rule. He was unable to convince the British government of the desirability of this plan. Unable to achieve this aim, in 1947–8, Abdullah struck a deal with the Zionists that in the event of conflict his forces would occupy and annex the central area of Palestine, that is, the West Bank, leaving the remainder of Palestine to the Zionists. As a result of this deal and annexation, Transjordan became the state of Jordan and the amir a king. However, in 1948, no Arab government recognized Jordan's annexation of the West Bank. Nineteen years later, King Hussein of Jordan, the grandson of Abdullah , lost the West Bank to Israeli forces in the June war of 1967. Twenty-one years later, after the
intifada
was underway, he relinquished the claim which Jordan and his dynasty had to the territory, paving the way for the Palestine Liberation Organisation's proclamation of an independent Palestinian state in November 1988.
The
intifada
began as a revolt of the Palestinian youth throwing stones, but became a widespread movement involving civil disobedience with periodic large-scale demonstrations supported by commercial strikes. The persistence of the
intifada
is believed to have played its part in contributing to the Israeli government's eventual acceptance of direct negotiation with the Palestinians in the Madrid Peace Process launched by Presidents Bush and Gorbachev in October 1991 and, subsequently, its eventual willingness to recognize the PLO. An autonomous Palestinian regime in the West Bank and Gaza was shakily inaugurated in 1994.
BAR
intifada's
emergence was a response to the realization that the Palestinian issue and the Arab-Israeli conflict was slipping as a key concern of Arab governments, and that Palestinians in the Occupied Territories would have to take matters into their own hands.
The issue has been whether the Palestinian people of the West Bank and Gaza will be allowed self-determination or autonomy or statehood, or whether these territories will ultimately be incorporated into the state of Israel. The background to this issue goes back to the end of the First World War and the establishment under the authority of Great Britain of the Palestine Mandate with its provision for a national home for the Jews, though not to be at the expense of the local population. The key difficulty was maintaining an appropriate balance between these stipulations that would be acceptable to the parties concerned.
The decades before 1948 saw an inflow of European Jews into the Mandate together with a land-purchasing policy of the Jewish Agency (allowed by Britain) designed to alienate land from the Arabs (i.e. stipulating that it could not be resold to Arabs). Unable to resolve the conflict between the demands of the Jewish and Arab communities, Great Britain passed responsibility for the Mandate over to the United Nations which in 1947 decided on the partition of Palestine into two states—one for the Jews and one for the Arabs. The stage was set for the settlement of the issue. Instead, in 1948, an Israeli state emerged from the Palestine Mandate at the expense of a Palestinian state, in the process creating 700,000 Palestinian refugees. Concurrently, the first Arab-Israeli war began ending in an armistice without a peace settlement. The state of Israel was seen, from the Arab point of view, as the last vestige of colonialism remaining in the Arab Middle East.
For the Palestinian people, there was a further complication. Amir Abdullah , the Hashemite ruler of Transjordan, had argued that Palestine and Transjordan should be united under Hashemite rule. He was unable to convince the British government of the desirability of this plan. Unable to achieve this aim, in 1947–8, Abdullah struck a deal with the Zionists that in the event of conflict his forces would occupy and annex the central area of Palestine, that is, the West Bank, leaving the remainder of Palestine to the Zionists. As a result of this deal and annexation, Transjordan became the state of Jordan and the amir a king. However, in 1948, no Arab government recognized Jordan's annexation of the West Bank. Nineteen years later, King Hussein of Jordan, the grandson of Abdullah , lost the West Bank to Israeli forces in the June war of 1967. Twenty-one years later, after the
intifada
was underway, he relinquished the claim which Jordan and his dynasty had to the territory, paving the way for the Palestine Liberation Organisation's proclamation of an independent Palestinian state in November 1988.
The
intifada
began as a revolt of the Palestinian youth throwing stones, but became a widespread movement involving civil disobedience with periodic large-scale demonstrations supported by commercial strikes. The persistence of the
intifada
is believed to have played its part in contributing to the Israeli government's eventual acceptance of direct negotiation with the Palestinians in the Madrid Peace Process launched by Presidents Bush and Gorbachev in October 1991 and, subsequently, its eventual willingness to recognize the PLO. An autonomous Palestinian regime in the West Bank and Gaza was shakily inaugurated in 1994.
BAR
invisible hand
Term introduced by Adam
Smith
as a metaphor for the working of the uncoordinated market: ‘every individual…intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention’ (
Wealth of Nations
, 1776). Smith , unlike some of his modern followers, did not believe that actual markets were necessarily co-ordinated only by the invisible hand of perfect competition.
Smith
as a metaphor for the working of the uncoordinated market: ‘every individual…intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention’ (
Wealth of Nations
, 1776). Smith , unlike some of his modern followers, did not believe that actual markets were necessarily co-ordinated only by the invisible hand of perfect competition.
iron curtain
The boundary between Soviet-controlled eastern Europe and western Europe. The phrase was first used by Ethel Snowden , wife of a British Labour politician, in 1920, but was made famous by Winston Churchill , who said in Fulton, Missouri, in March 1946, ‘An iron curtain has descended across the Continent’. The phrase was also used (sometimes as ‘iron curtain countries’) to describe the countries of the Soviet bloc.
iron law of oligarchy
Name given by Robert Michels (1875–1936) to his claim that even socialist parties which professed internal democracy would in practice be controlled by a small élite: ‘who says organization, says oligarchy’. The aims of the organization would be undermined by the élite's self-interested pursuit of its own aims. In the sense that no large organization is controlled from day to day by its membership at large, Michels' claim is true but trivial. But he pointed to a real truth which remains painful for organizations which are formally committed to internal democracy.
Other books
I, Judas the 5th Gospel by Bob Mayer
My Sister's a Yo Yo by Gretel Killeen
Rising, Freestyle: Xtreme Adventures, Book 2 by Vivian Arend
A Man of His Word by Kathleen Fuller
The Various Haunts of Men by Susan Hill
Winter's Embrace by Kathleen Ball
Our Love by Binkley, Sheena
Prisoner of Desire by Mary Wine
Tripp in Love by Tressie Lockwood
The Jewelry Case by Catherine McGreevy
