Futuristic Continual Crisis Committee-BG
Content
Sankara Model United Nations 2013
Eighth session
August 9-11
Background Guide
Futuristic Continual Crisis Committee
w w w . s a n mu n .o r g
Executive board’s Message
Dear Delegates, It is indeed our pleasure to welcome you to the latest addition to SanMUN – The Futuristic Continual Crisis Committee. Unlike the conventional committees, the FCCC will not only be about diplomacy and debate, but also a great deal of quick thinking and innovativeness. In an ever so rapidly changing world it is essential that one ventures out of their comfort zone. Thinking different from the cliché in movies, finding practical solutions to the crisis at hand will not be easy. It will require the undying effort of each and every delegate and the responsiveness of the committee as a whole. Above all, the most important thing to do is have fun. We are looking forward to chairing this committee. Regards, The executive board – FCCC Chairs – Arjun Praveen & Vignesh Mahesh Moderator – Rajalakshmi Minnnapali
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INTRODUCTION The Futuristic Crisis Committee is aimed at not only testing the delegate’s general awareness on world issues, but also induce quick thinking and responsiveness. This committee is based on a continual timeline in the course of which several global events shall take place. The main situation that will be discussed is THE ARAB SPRING. The timeline will give the delegates an insight as to the history of these events and also extend to a period in the future where delegates are to expend their creativity and problem solving ability. There will be a wide array of topics to debate over the course of the three days. The procedure followed by the committee will be slightly different, the description of which is available later on in the background guide. The timeline is provided only for delegates to get an idea of what to debate on and have a clear idea as to how the debate is flow. The delegates are expected to not only be well versed with their countries foreign policies, but also be up to date on all other important global issues, this in turn will put the delegate at an upper hand while handling the various crisis and problems. Another important thing which all delegates must keep in mind is that the committee is based in the future so the timeline is built around issues prevalent today and in the past and have not taken place in reality. Finding solutions will be difficult and hence cooperation between delegates is essential. Every delegate must participate to the fullest irrespective of
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the degree of their countries involvement in the issue at hand; this in turn will create an environment which is conducive for debate. Lastly, it is important that delegates while discussing the crisis keep in mind the various aspects which include internal security, humanitarian and economic situation of the region and long and short term implications. Mandate of the Futuristic Continual Crisis Committee
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The Futuristic Continual Crisis Committee (FCCC) is a committee constituted by the Security Council (UNSC) to tackle imminent crisis in the future. The FCCC may appoint a commission or committee or rapporteur for a specific question. The President may accord precedence to any rapporteur appointed by the Crisis Committee. The President shall call upon representatives in the order that they signify their desire to speak. If a representative raises a point of order, the president shall immediately state his ruling. If it is challenged, the President shall submit his ruling to the Crisis Committee for immediate decision and it shall stand unless overruled. Proposed resolutions, amendments and substantive motions shall normally be placed before representatives in writing. The FCCC may, when required summon delegates from all other committees and request the assistance of the Security Council. Moreover, the delegate may consult the Crisis Committee representatives when in need of
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advice. It is recommended that the delegates observe their country policy and keep in mind their blocs and the effect of their decisions. The main issue at hand The Arab Spring The main issue being discussed this year is the Arab spring and the high level of instability in the Arab peninsula. Apart from this, the timeline also deals with the Israel- Palestine conflict and the situation in Syria. The events of the "Arab spring" have elicited a range of comments and explanations in public discourses which serve well to illustrate the theoretical and ideological approaches to middle-east politics in the western media and in academia. After decades of the dominance of religion and ethno-religious nationalisms in the region, the "revolutions" in Tunisia and then Egypt seemed to eschew religion and nationalism in favour of classic political demands of liberty, democracy and economic justice. The forces and ideologies that animated the modern political history of the middle east, from 19th-century reforms and through much of the 20th century, were largely secular and nationalist. Islamic politics was always there, but only as part, often subordinate, of a wider political field. It was divided between reactionary conservatives, trying to maintain patriarchal and institutional privileges, like many of the traditional ulama, and more modern populist mobilisation, typically that of the Muslim Brotherhood.
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Contending forces and mixed ideologies were nationalist of different colours, articulated at times to liberal constitutionalism (as in the Wafd and other parties in monarchical Egypt), to fascism (in Nazi-inspired movements in 1930s and 1940s Iraq, Palestine and Egypt), then, powerfully, to socialist, statist ideas (in the pan-Arab nationalisms of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the Ba`ath and the Algerian FLN, inspired by and allied to the Soviets, from the 1950s).
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These ideological politics, Nasserism, had solid popular constituencies and sympathies throughout the region, and in relation to the ever-present Israel/Palestine issue. The salience of religion in politics came later, from the 1970s, partly following the failure and corruption of the statist military nationalist regimes, the inspiration of the 1979 Iranian revolution, which became "Islamic", then the collapse of the Soviet, communist world, which had been part of the ideological and military props. Within this historical perspective, the secular nature of recent movements is not a surprise, but their distance from xenophobic nationalism and statist "socialism", in favour of common liberties, is a novelty. But where is it going? There are two interrelated and persistent themes in the analyses of middle-east politics that questioned the bases of the ostensibly ideological and secular politics of the region. The first is what may be called the "patrimonialism" approach: the idea that the ideological labels, parties and movements were superficial
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manifestations of deeper familial, tribal, regional and sectarian allegiances and sentiments. Regarding Syria, the regime’s response to five months of popular uprising was to opt for survival strategy: responding by violence and threatening the population with chaos and civil war in the event of its demise. The objective was to launch a war of attrition by playing on time to wear out any internal revolt. It chose however the wrong combination of brutal repression and gradual concessions. The result was a crisis of confidence which was too deep to be overcome by mere calls for national dialogue and reform. The death toll is estimated at 2,700 civilian casualties (including hundreds of children), and 500 members of the security services in the initial phases. Bashar al-Assad’s personal popularity since 2000 had also allowed the regime to limit the scope of internal reforms and preserve the power of the security services over society. The ’Chinese model’ of neo-liberal economic shift with no political reform was adopted in 2005.The liberalisation of the economy followed steady progress with public-private partnerships in the oil and transport sectors; private banks, media and universities were legalised, and more space allocated to the private sector. However, no defined policy or adequate tools were adopted. The Baath Party and secret services were given increased power in administrative and economic decisions, and new monopolies controlled and established by
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governmental elites. Further crackdowns were carried out on intellectuals, activists and the private press. As a consequence, Syria remains a developing country with a weak economy and poor results in sectors such as housing, education and employment. One third of the Syrian population lives on two dollars a day or less; 65 percent are under the age of thirty; and food insecurity and youth unemployment are major problems. Events have unfolded dramatically since mid-March. The trigger was the arbitrary imprisonment and torture in the small town of Deraa of school children for drawing graffiti inspired by the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions. The situation has now reached a stalemate. Regarding the Israel- Palestine conflict, there are two primary issues at the core of this continuing conflict. First, there is the inevitably destabilizing effect of trying to maintain an ethnically preferential state, particularly when it is largely of foreign origin. The original population of what is now Israel was 96 percent Muslim and Christian, yet, these refugees are prohibited from returning to their homes in the self-described Jewish state (and those within Israel are subjected to systematic discrimination). Second, Israel's continued military occupation and confiscation of privately owned land in the West Bank, and control over Gaza, are extremely oppressive, with Palestinians having minimal control over their lives. Over 10,000 Palestinian men, women, and children are held
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in Israeli prisons. Few of them have had a legitimate trial; Physical abuse and torture are frequent. Palestinian borders (even internal ones) are controlled by Israeli forces. Periodically “The Palestinian people still yearn men, women, for the freedom and dignity and denied them for decades. The Israeli people yearn for long-term children security. Neither can achieve their are strip searched; legitimate demands without a people are settlement of the conflict. Today, beaten; we are at a critical juncture in women in efforts to move beyond crisis labor are management and renew efforts prevented toward genuine conflict from resolution.” reaching hospitals - -United Nations Secretary(at times General Ban Ki-moon, February resulting in 2007 death); food and medicine are blocked from entering Gaza, producing an escalating humanitarian crisis. Israeli forces invade almost daily, injuring, kidnapping, and sometimes killing inhabitants. According to the Oslo peace accords of 1993, these territories were supposed to finally become a Palestinian state. However, after years of Israel continuing to confiscate land and conditions steadily worsening, the Palestinian population rebelled. (The Barak offer, widely reputed to be generous, was anything but.) This uprising, called the "Intifada" (Arabic for "shaking
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off") began at the end of September 2000.
The Historic Timeline
2000 February 23: The United States announces that Iran’s nuclear program could lead to the development of nuclear weapons. The U.S. decides to impose the first sanctions against Iran related to its nuclear program. June 10: Syrian president Assad dies and his son Bashar succeeds him September 28: Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visits the Temple mount following which there are several protests by the Muslim community October 1: Solidarity demonstrations held by Palestinian citizens residing in Israel escalate into clashes with Israeli police and Israeli Jewish citizens causing severe collateral damage to civilian lives and infrastructure This event marks the start of the second Intifada. December 10: Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Barak, resigns. 2001 February 6: Ariel Sharon elected prime minister of Israel. He severely condemns the second Intifadah.
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May 16: Israel launches F-16 warplanes against Palestinian targets in Gaza for the first time. June 1: Syrian troops evacuate Beirut, redeploy in other parts of Lebanon, following pressure from Lebanese critics of Syria's presence. June 8: Khatami was re-elected president by a landslide. Student leds protests against failure of their education system which grew into wider pro-democracy strikes demanded Khatami to support them. August 9: Fifteen people are killed and about 90 others are injured in a suicide attack on a busy restaurant in the heart of Jerusalem. Hamas says it carried out the attack. August 27: Israel assassinates People's Liberation Front for Palestine leader Abu Ali Mustafa in a missile strike. September 25: Detention of MPs and other pro-reform activists, crushing hopes of a break with the authoritarian past of Hafez al-Assad in Syria. Arrest continues, punctuated by occasional amnesties, over the following decade. December 2: A Palestinian suicide bomber blows up a bus in the northern coastal city of Haifa, killing 15 people and wounding more than 100 others. 2002 March 8: The bloodiest day of the intifada so far sees 45 people killed, mostly Palestinians. March 27: In the Israeli resort of Netanya, a
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bomber blows himself up at a hotel, killing 28 Israelis celebrating Passover. The attack claimed by the armed wing of Hamas was the deadliest since the beginning of the uprising. March 29: Israel begins a massive military assault on the West Bank. Yasser Arafat's Ramallah headquarters are targeted and Palestinian militants take refuge in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Heavy fighting goes on for days in the northern West Bank town of Jenin. May 7: Suicide bomber attacks a social club in the town of Rishon Letzion, killing 16 people and injuring more than 50. The attack is claimed by the armed wing of Hamas. May 4: Senior US official includes Syria in a list of states that make-up an "axis of evil", first listed by President Bush in January. Undersecretary for State John Bolton says Damascus is acquiring weapons of mass destruction. June 16: Israel begins construction of its West Bank security barrier, a 640-kilometre (440mile) structure designed to keep Palestinian suicide bombers out of Israel. June 18: A suicide bomber kills himself and 19 civilians in an attack on a bus in southern Jerusalem. July 22: Israel kills Hamas military commander Salah Shehada with aircraft bomb dropped on his Gaza housing block; 18 other residents are also killed by the blast. 2003
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January 5: At least 23 people are killed and 100 wounded when two suicide attackers set off charges in crowded streets during rush hour in Tel Aviv. February 9: Iran announces that it has discovered uranium on its own soil, giving the country a domestic source of material for its nuclear program. March 19: Mahmoud Abbas agrees to become the first Palestinian prime minister. Match 23: Amid U.S. claims that Iran seeks to produce nuclear weapons, the IAEA director general visits Iran and encourages its leader to allow inspectors more and faster access to nuclear sites. Iran declines. April 2: US threatens sanctions if Damascus fails to take what Washington calls the "right decisions". Syria denies US allegations that it is developing chemical weapons and helping fugitive Iraqis. April 30: The Quartet group - the EU, UN, Russia and the US - launch the roadmap peace plan. It is a phased programme for ending conflict culminating in the creation of an independent Palestinian state, but the neither side keeps to its timetable. June 11: Sixteen people are killed in a bus bomb in Jerusalem, in the first suicide attack since US President Bush's peace summit a week before. It follows an Israeli air strike on 10 June aimed at killing Hamas leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi in Gaza. June 19: The IAEA issues a report saying that
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Iran appears to be in compliance with the NonProliferation treaty, but also that Iran needs to be more transparent. June 27: Palestinian militants announce an agreement with the Palestinian Authority to temporarily halt attacks on Israelis. An attacker targeted a popular nightspot in Tel Aviv August 20: A suicide bomber wrecks a bus in Jerusalem, killing at least 20 people. Palestinian militants claim the attack is carried out in response to Israeli killing of their leaders. August 23: The IAEA finds traces of highly enriched uranium at Iran’s Natanz nuclear plant. September 1: President Assad appoints Mohammed Naji Al-Otari prime minister. September 2: UN weapons inspectors report traces at a second facility near Tehran, and the IAEA sets an October 31 deadline for the country to prove it is not developing nuclear weapons. Iran claims the source of uranium is imported. September 9: Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas resigns after clashing with Yasser Arafat over reform of security services. October 1: Israeli air strike against Palestinian militant camp near Damascus. Syria says action is "military aggression". October 4: A suicide bomber blows herself up in a packed Haifa restaurant, killing at least 19 people including three children. October 21: Iran agrees to suspend uranium processing and enrichment and allow
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unannounced inspections by the IAEA. November 12: The IAEA finds no evidence of a nuclear program but express concern about plutonium production. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini says the material is for pharmaceutical use. November 13: The Geneva Accords, an alternative peace-plan negotiated by prominent Israelis and Palestinians, is unveiled. The plan is quickly rejected by Israel and Palestinian militants.
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2004 January 16: President Assad visits Turkey, the first Syrian leader to do so. The trip marks the end of decades of frosty relations, although ties sour again after the popular uprising in 2011. January 29: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 10 in an attack on a west Jerusalem bus. Palestinians attend the funeral of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin February 2: Ariel Sharon orders a plan be drawn up to remove Israeli settlements from the Gaza Strip. March 1: At least 25 killed in clashes between members of the Kurdish minority, police and Arabs in the north-east. March 22: Israel assassinates Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, spiritual leader of Hamas, in an air strike. May 9: US imposes economic sanctions on Syria over what it calls its support for terrorism and failure to stop militants entering Iraq.
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May 17: Israel assassinates Hamas leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi a missile strike. May 13: Following the killing of 13 soldiers by militants in Gaza, Israel launches a nine-day incursion into the Rafah refugee camp, leaving at least 40 Palestinians dead. July 9: The International Court of Justice rules that the West Bank barrier is illegal and that construction must be halted. August 31: Sixteen people are killed in suicide bombings on two buses in the Israeli town of Beersheba. September 5: UN Security Council resolution calls for all foreign forces to leave Lebanon. September 28: Iran’s foreign minister rejects claims that the country wants an atomic bomb but vows to defend its nuclear facilities against any attack by Israel. October 27: Israeli legislators vote in favour of a controversial plan to withdraw Jewish settlers from Gaza. October 29: Yasser Arafat is airlifted from his West Bank compound in Ramallah to a military hospital in Paris. November 11: Arafat dies in France aged 75. Israel says his death may be a turning point for peace in the Middle East. Mahmoud Abbas is elected head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). November 12: Iran again agrees to temporarily suspend uranium processing and enrichment after talks with European countries in Paris.
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2005 January 9: Palestinians elect Mahmoud Abbas to succeed Yasser Arafat as chairman of the Palestinian Authority. January 10: Israel's parliament backs a new coalition government, giving Ariel Sharon a firm basis to implement his Gaza pullout plan. January 14: Israel seals off the Gaza Strip after six Israelis are killed in an attack by Palestinian militants at a major crossing point. January 15: Mahmoud Abbas is sworn in as the new president of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank town of Ramallah.He uses his inauguration speech to call for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants. January 21: Hundreds of Palestinian Authority police take up positions in the northern Gaza Strip to stop militants firing rockets at Israeli targets. January 24: Following a week of talks between Mr Abbas and militant leaders, the groups say they have agreed to suspend attacks on Israel. February 3: Israel approves a plan to free hundreds of jailed Palestinians and withdraw forces from West Bank cities. February 8: After a summit at the Egyptian resort of Sharm al-Sheikh, Mahmoud Abbas and Ariel Sharon declare a truce. Both express hopes that the informal ceasefire will lead to a new era of hope for the region. February 10: Hamas militants fire dozens of mortars and rockets at the Gush Katif
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settlement after the organisation said it was not bound by the ceasefire. The attacks prompt Mr Abbas to order a security crackdown and sack senior security officials. August 9: Iran's supreme leader issues a religious decree against manufacturing, storing or using nuclear weapons. October 27: Interior minister and Syria's former head of intelligence in Lebanon, Ghazi Kanaan, dies in what officials say is suicide. UN inquiry into assassination of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri implicates senior Syrian officials. 2006 January 25: Hamas wins majority of seats after the Palestinian legislative election, in. Israel, the United States, European Union, and several European and Western countries cut off their aid to the Palestinians; as they view the Islamist political party who rejects Israel's right to exist as a terrorist organization. February 3: Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus are set on fire during a demonstration against cartoons in a Danish newspaper portraying the Muslim Prophet Muhammad. February 4: The IAEA votes to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions over its uranium enrichment program. The next day, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad orders Iran to end its cooperation with the IAEA. June 9: Following the Gaza beach blast, in which seven members of one family and one other
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Palestinian were killed on a Gaza beach, the armed wing of Hamas calls off its 16-month-old truce. Israel claims it was shelling 250m away from the family's location; Palestinians claimed that the explosion was Israeli doing. June 25: After crossing the border from the Gaza Strip into Israel, Palestinian militants attack an Israeli army post. The militants kidnapped Gilad Shalitan, Israeli sports columnist and former soldier, killed two IDF soldiers and wounded four others. Israel launches Operation Summer Rains. June 28: Israeli troops invade the Gaza Strip, but fail to find Shalit. July 12: Lebanon War: Hezbollah infiltrates Israel in a cross-border raid, kidnaps two soldiers and kills three others. Israel attempts to rescue the kidnapped, and five more soldiers are killed. Israel's military responds, and the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict begins. The conflict results in the deaths of 1,191 Lebanese people and 165 Israelis. Of the Israelis killed, 121 were soldiers and 44 were civilians. It is unclear how many of the Lebanese fatalities were combatants, though Israeli officials reported that an estimated 800 were Hezbollah militants. Approximately one million Lebanese and 300,000–500,000 Israelis were displaced. July 26: Israel launches a counter-offensive to deprive cover to militants firing rockets into Israel from Gaza. 23 Palestinians killed, 16 are identified as militants. July 31: The U.N. Security Council passes a
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resolution calling on Iran to stop uranium enrichment efforts within one month, but it does not impose sanctions. August 14: Fox journalists kidnapped. Palestinian militants kidnap Fox journalists Olaf Wiig and Steve Centanni,. The two are eventually released on August 27, after stating they have converted to Islam. August 31: UN Security Council deadline for Iran to halt its work on nuclear fuel passes. IAEA says Tehran has failed to suspend the programme. September 13: Attack on the US embassy in Damascus. Four gunmen open fire and throw grenades but fail to detonate a car bomb. Three of them are killed, one is captured September 26: A UN study declares the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip "intolerable", with 75% of the population dependent on food aid, and an estimated 80% of the population living below the poverty line. November 1: Iraq and Syria restore diplomatic relations after nearly a quarter century. November 8: Beit Hanoun incident. Amidst ongoing rocket fire, Israel shells Beit Hanoun, killing 19 Palestinian civlians (seven children, four women) during the Gaza operations. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apologises, saying the incident had been an accidental "technical failure" by the Israeli military. December 23: The Security Council votes unanimously to impose sanctions on Iran for failing to curb its enrichment program, the first of several rounds of sanctions imposed by the
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U.N., the European Union and individual countries over the next few years. 2007 January 21: Israel transfers $100 million in tax revenues to cover humanitarian needs to the office of the Palestinian Authority February 9: IAEA says Iran failed to meet a deadline to suspend uranium enrichment, exposing Tehran to possible new sanctions. February 14: Palestinian Unity Agreement made in Mecca, establishing shared power between Hamas and Fatah parties. March 6: European Union re launches dialogue with Syria April 6: US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi meets President Assad in Damascus. She is the highest-placed US politician to visit Syria in recent years. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets Foreign Minister Walid Muallem the following month in the first contact at this level for two years. May 11: Leading dissident Kamal Labwani and prominent political writer Michel Kilo are sentenced to a long jail terms in Syria, only weeks after human rights lawyer Anwar alBunni is jailed. June 6: Hamas forces attack Fatah in Gaza and drive them out in a coup. President Abbas (Fatah) dissolves the unity government, but PM Haniyeh (Hamas) insists that the government is still in power. A summit in Sharm el Sheikh
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attended by Palestinians, Egypt and Jordan pledges support for Abbas though Egypt urges reconciliation with Hamas. July 22: President Assad meets French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris. The visit signals the end of the diplomatic isolation by the West that followed the assassination of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri in 2005. While in Paris, President Assad also meets the recentlyelected Lebanese president, Michel Suleiman. The two men agree to work towards the establishing of full diplomatic relations between their countries September 1: Israel carries out an aerial strike against a site in northern Syria that it said was a nuclear facility under construction. In 2011 the UN's IAEA nuclear watchdog decides to report Syria to the UN Security Council over its alleged covert nuclear programme reactor programme at the site. September 3: Damascus hosts four-way summit between Syria, France, Turkey and Qatar, in a bid to boost efforts towards Middle East peace. Explosion kills 17 on the outskirts of Damascus, the most deadly attack in Syria in several years. Government blames Islamist militants. September 11: UN Security Council passes unanimously a new resolution reaffirming demands that Iran stop enriching uranium, but imposes no new sanctions. September 29: Under pressure due to allegations of corruption, Israeli PM Olmert announces his resignation. Foreign minister
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Tzipi Livni is elected in a Kadima party leadership election following the resignation of Olmert October 6: Syria establishes diplomatic relations with Lebanon for first time since both countries established independence in 1940s October 8: US announces sweeping new sanctions against Iran, the toughest since it first imposed sanctions almost 30 years ago. November 5: US convenes Middle East peace summit in Annapolis, MD. Israel and the Palestinian Authority agree to reach an agreement by the end of 2008, based on a 2 state solution. Abbas calls for an end to Israeli occupation of all PA lands.. November 13: Israeli PM Olmert’s call for Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state as a precondition to post-Annapolis peace talks is seen by some as reasonable and necessary, and by others as a racist concept that would bar the return of the Palestinian diaspora. December 4: The U.S. government says an intelligence estimate suggests that Iran stopped work on its nuclear weapons program in 2003. December 31: Israel launches Operation Cast Lead against the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip, a full scale invasion of the territory. After 22 days of fighting, Israel and Hamas each declared separate unilateral ceasefires. 2008
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February 1: IAEA report says Iran failed to disclose efforts to link uranium processing and explosives and to design missile warheads. February 27: Hamas, fired a rocket barrage at the Israeli city of Ashkelon February 28: Operation Hot Winter is launched in response to rockets fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel. The operation resulted in 112 Palestinians and three Israelis being killed. March 18: Syria hosts Arab League summit. April 24: The US accuses North Korea of having helped Syria to build a secret nuclear reactor at the site bombed by Israel in 2009 March 1: Jeffrey Feltman, acting assistant US secretary of state for the Near East, visits Damascus with White House national security aide Daniel Shapiro in first high-level US diplomatic mission for nearly four years and meets Foreign Minister Walid Muallem. Trading launches on Syria's stock exchange in a gesture towards liberalising the state-controlled economy. June 2: The Israeli parliament passes a preliminary reading of a bill that would “mandate the imprisonment of anyone who calls for the end of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.” The bill is part of a two-draft law.“ The first is the Loyalty Oath Law that obliges all Palestinian Israelis to pledge allegiance to the Jewish identity of the state.
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June 8: The UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, says traces of undeclared man-made uranium have been found at second site in Syria - a reactor in Damascus. The IAEA was investigating US claims that the site destroyed in the 2007 Israeli raid was a nuclear reactor. July 15: US special envoy George Mitchell visits for talks with President Assad on Middle East peace. July 31: More than 6,000 Palestinian children in Gaza attempt to set a new world record by flying the largest number of kites together in one location, described as an “expression of the demand for liberty from these children” October 13: The UN votes in support of the Goldstone Report, which criticizes both Israeli and Palestinian participation in the Gaza conflict and states that “Israel failed to take feasible precautions required by international law to avoid or minimize loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects. The firing of white phosphorus shells over the UNRWA compound, the intentional strike at the Al Quds hospital using high explosive artillery shells and white phosphorous, the attack against Al Wafa hospital, were violations of international humanitarian law, they noted. September 2: Iran acknowledges to the IAEA the existence of the Fordo uranium enrichment facility near Qom. September 30: Iran test-fires short- and longrange missiles, raising fears that the country could deliver nuclear weapons atop such missiles.
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2010 January 3: A mysterious computer worm called Stuxnet begins infecting computers used in Iranian nuclear facilities, sabotaging machinery used in uranium enrichment, computer researchers will later say. Some experts say the worm may have been deliberately introduced by governments seeking to slow or kill Iran's nuclear program, but the worm's origin remains unclear. February 12: US posts first ambassador to Syria after a five-year break. March 26: Israel unveils plans for 1,600 new Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem despite continued US demands for a settlement freeze. US Vice President Joe Biden condemns the move as “precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now” .The Quartet on the Middle East demands that Israel halt all settlement activity and condemns Israel’s plans to build new housing in East Jerusalem. April 3: An Iranian nuclear scientist is killed by a car bomb. A year later, Iran will announce it believes the death was the work of a spy ring linked to “Zionist pigs” (Israel), according to the semi-official Fars news agency. May 21: US renews sanctions against Syria, saying that it supports terrorist groups, seeks weapons of mass destruction and has provided Lebanon's Hezbollah with Scud missiles in violation of UN resolutions. August 31: Hamas terrorists shoot dead four
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Israeli civilians near Kiryat Arba, including a pregnant woman. September 14: U.S. launches direct negotiations between Israel and The Palestinian Authority in Washington D.C. A second round of Middle East peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority concludes in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. December 18: An American woman is stabbed to death by Palestinian terrorists. Another woman is severely injured.
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2011 February 5: Iran sends two warships through Suez Canal for first time since the Islamic Revolution, in what Israel describes as an act of provocation. March 20: Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat says seeking UN membership for a Palestinian state is the official strategy although no date is set. July 22: President Assad sacks the governor of the northern province of Hama after mass demonstration there, eventually sending in troops to restore order at the cost of scores of lives. Opposition activists meet in Istanbul to form a unified opposition July 23: An Iranian nuclear scientist is killed by assailants in Tehran. March 23: Hamas bombs a bus station in Jerusalem and kills 1 civilian. 39 injured. August 18: Egyptian and Palestinian militants attack southern Israel and kill 8 Israelis, including 6 civilians. 40 injured. 5 Egyptian soldiers are
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also killed. September 21: Obama insists at the UN General Assembly that only negotiations can lead to a Palestinian state. October 19: Newly formed Syrian National Council says it has forged a common front of internal and exiled opposition activists. Russia and China veto UN resolution condemning Syria. November 14: A report by the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA says Iran is carrying out research that can only be used to develop a nuclear bomb trigger. Iran rejects the findings as politically motivated. November 30: Arab League votes to suspend Syria, accusing it of failing to implement an Arab peace plan, and imposes sanctions. Army defectors target a military base near Damascus in the Free Syrian Army's most highprofile attack since protests began. Government supporters attack foreign embassies. December 5: Syria agrees to an Arab League initiative allowing Arab observers into the country. Thousands of protesters gather in Homs to greet them, but the League suspends its mission in January because of worsening violence. Twin suicide bombs outside a security buildings in Damascus kills 44. 2012 January 11: Another Iranian nuclear scientist is killed by a car bomb in Tehran.
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February 17: Russia and China block a UN Security Council draft resolution on Syria, and the government steps up the bombardment of Homs and other cities, recapturing the Homs district of Baba Amr the following month. The UN says that more than 7,500 people have died since the security crackdown began. March 2: UN Security Council endorses nonbinding peace plan drafted by UN envoy Kofi Annan. China and Russia agree to support the plan after an earlier, tougher draft is modified. March 9: Gaza militants launch over 300 rockets, Grad missiles, and mortar shells into southern Israel, wounding 23 Israeli civilians. Israel retaliates with air strikes on Gazan weapons storage facilities and rocket launching sites, May 5: UN Security Council strongly condemns the government's use of heavy weaponry and the militia killing of more than a hundred civilians in Houla, near Homs. France, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada and Australia expel senior Syrian diplomats in protest. June 6: President Assad tells his reshuffled government that they face "real war", indicating the authorities' conviction that the conflict will be long-lasting and require the sidelining of all other priorities. Turkey changes rules of engagement after Syria shoots down a Turkish plane that strayed into its territory, declaring that if Syrian troops approach Turkey's borders they will be seen as a threat
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August 9: The government suffers further blows. A UN General Assembly resolution demands that President Assad resign, highlevel defections gather pace - most notably Prime Minister Riad Hijab - and US President Obama warns that use of chemical weapons would tilt the US towards intervention. September 21: The Free Syrian Army claims responsibility for two explosions at the military headquarters in Damascus. The government says four guards were killed in the "suicide attacks". October 26: Syria-Turkish tension rises when Syrian mortar fire on a Turkish border town kills five civilians. Turkey returns fire and intercepts a Syrian plane allegedly carrying arms from Russia. Both countries ban each other's planes from their air space. November 9: Israeli air force kills Ahmed Jabari, second in command of the military wing of Hamas. Gaza officials said 133 Palestinians had been killed in the conflict of whom 79 were militants, 53 civilians and 1 was a policeman and estimated that 840 Palestinians were wounded. Hamas fires over 1,456 rockets at southern Israel, killing 6 and injuring hundreds. Rockets are fired at Jerusalem for the first time and at Tel Aviv for the first time since the first Gulf War wounding 28 civilians. Israel retaliates by bombing hundreds of military sites in the Gaza Strip. November 16: Several major opposition forces unite as National Coalition for Syrian
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Revolutionary and Opposition Forces at meeting in Qatar, including the Syrian National Council. November 29: UNGA resolution 67/19 makes Palestine an observer, non member state in the UN. December 31: The US joins Britain, France, Turkey and Gulf states in formally recognising Syria's opposition National Coalition as "the legitimate representative" of the Syrian people.
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2013 January 15: Four Palestinians killed by IDF within a week January 22: Syria accuses Israeli jets of attacking a military research centre near Damascus, but denies reports that trucks carrying weapons bound for Lebanon were hit. Unverified reports say Israel had targeted an Iranian commander charged with moving weapons of mass destruction to Lebanon. March 5: Syrian warplanes bomb the northern city of Raqqa after rebels seize control. US and Britain pledge non-military aid to rebels, and Britain and France propose lifting European Union arms embargo. April 20: Iran announces it has activated a uranium processing plant and two uranium mines to expand Iran’s capacity to produce nuclear material. April 24: US and Britain demand investigation
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into reports government forces used chemical weapons. Prime Minister Wael Nader Al-Halqi narrowly escapes death in bomb attack in centre of Damascus. Opposition National Coalition Chairman Moaz al-Khatib resigns, complaining that foreign backers were trying to manipulate the group. He is succeeded by veteran socialist George Sabra, the leader of the older opposition Syrian National Council. May 11: Israeli and Syrian Army exchange fire in the Golan Heights. EU leaders agree not to renew the bloc's arms embargo on Syria, in a step seen as potentially freeing EU countries to arm the rebels. May-June: Government and allied Hezbollah forces recapture the strategically-important town of Qusair between Homs and the Lebanese border. Rebel commanders complain that arms supplies taper off over international concerns about Islamists in the opposition camp. France says it has evidence that the government used sarin nerve gas in attacks on rebels and civilians. June 7: Pope Francis as one of the first things he does after being elected pontiff releases a statement praying for Syria and urges the G8 to work towards a ceasefire.
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------------Historic Timeline Ends-------------
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Importance of Jerusalem
Jerusalem is unique among the cities of the world, with special, although differing, claims on the religious and cultural sentiments of millions of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. It is holy for the three monotheistic religions because of religiously significant events that took place in the city. It is therefore important to set out the nature and meaning of Jewish, Christian and Muslim commitments to Jerusalem and their implications.
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Gaza Strip
The Gaza Strip is home to a population of more than 1.5 million people, including 1.1 million Palestine refugees. For the last decade, the socio-economic situation in Gaza has been in steady decline. Years of conflict and closure have left 80 per cent of the population dependent on international assistance. The tightened blockade, imposed following the Hamas takeover of Gaza in June 2007, has decimated lives and livelihoods, resulting in the impoverishment and de-development of a highly skilled and well-educated society. Despite adjustments made to the blockade by the government of Israel in June 2010, restrictions on imports and exports continue to severely hamper recovery and reconstruction. Infifadah Conditions in the Palestinian territory of the
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West Bank and Gaza Strip, including Jerusalem, involving more than 20 years of military occupation, repression and confiscation of land, contributed to the eruption of a spontaneous uprising, the intifada, in December 1987. Palestinians from all walks of life—youth, merchants, labourers, women and children— joined massive demonstrations, economic boycotts, tax resistance and strikes, protesting the military occupation of their land and demanding national independence. This was the first intifada. After the Oslo agreement, Yasser Arafat returned to Palestinian territory, the Palestinian Authority was established and Israeli withdrawals began. However, the agreement was denounced by hardline Israelis and Palestinians as a sell-out and it did not take hold. Opposition to the agreement was led on the Palestinian side by the Islamic militant group Hamas and the deadly phenomenon of the suicide bomber emerged, in which dozens of Israeli civilians were killed. Israeli counter-strikes killed many Palestinians. President Bill Clinton got Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak together at Camp David in 2000 but the final-status issues of Jerusalem and the future of Palestinian refugees broke the talks. By 2000, a second intifada was being openly fought and Israel re-occupied the West Bank.
Sample Position Paper
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Your position paper has to being with the introduction to the Arab Spring followed by detailed stances on the Israel-Palestine conflict and Syrian conflict.
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Please submit your position paper to [email protected] by the 5th of August in the above format.
Futuristic Timeline and updates
Your futuristic timeline will be released separately. Please remember that the committee is set in the future hence the futuristic timeline will have great relevance. Also, news updates and reports will be periodically given during committee.
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Eighth session
August 9-11
Background Guide
Futuristic Continual Crisis Committee
w w w . s a n mu n .o r g
Executive board’s Message
Dear Delegates, It is indeed our pleasure to welcome you to the latest addition to SanMUN – The Futuristic Continual Crisis Committee. Unlike the conventional committees, the FCCC will not only be about diplomacy and debate, but also a great deal of quick thinking and innovativeness. In an ever so rapidly changing world it is essential that one ventures out of their comfort zone. Thinking different from the cliché in movies, finding practical solutions to the crisis at hand will not be easy. It will require the undying effort of each and every delegate and the responsiveness of the committee as a whole. Above all, the most important thing to do is have fun. We are looking forward to chairing this committee. Regards, The executive board – FCCC Chairs – Arjun Praveen & Vignesh Mahesh Moderator – Rajalakshmi Minnnapali
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INTRODUCTION The Futuristic Crisis Committee is aimed at not only testing the delegate’s general awareness on world issues, but also induce quick thinking and responsiveness. This committee is based on a continual timeline in the course of which several global events shall take place. The main situation that will be discussed is THE ARAB SPRING. The timeline will give the delegates an insight as to the history of these events and also extend to a period in the future where delegates are to expend their creativity and problem solving ability. There will be a wide array of topics to debate over the course of the three days. The procedure followed by the committee will be slightly different, the description of which is available later on in the background guide. The timeline is provided only for delegates to get an idea of what to debate on and have a clear idea as to how the debate is flow. The delegates are expected to not only be well versed with their countries foreign policies, but also be up to date on all other important global issues, this in turn will put the delegate at an upper hand while handling the various crisis and problems. Another important thing which all delegates must keep in mind is that the committee is based in the future so the timeline is built around issues prevalent today and in the past and have not taken place in reality. Finding solutions will be difficult and hence cooperation between delegates is essential. Every delegate must participate to the fullest irrespective of
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the degree of their countries involvement in the issue at hand; this in turn will create an environment which is conducive for debate. Lastly, it is important that delegates while discussing the crisis keep in mind the various aspects which include internal security, humanitarian and economic situation of the region and long and short term implications. Mandate of the Futuristic Continual Crisis Committee
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The Futuristic Continual Crisis Committee (FCCC) is a committee constituted by the Security Council (UNSC) to tackle imminent crisis in the future. The FCCC may appoint a commission or committee or rapporteur for a specific question. The President may accord precedence to any rapporteur appointed by the Crisis Committee. The President shall call upon representatives in the order that they signify their desire to speak. If a representative raises a point of order, the president shall immediately state his ruling. If it is challenged, the President shall submit his ruling to the Crisis Committee for immediate decision and it shall stand unless overruled. Proposed resolutions, amendments and substantive motions shall normally be placed before representatives in writing. The FCCC may, when required summon delegates from all other committees and request the assistance of the Security Council. Moreover, the delegate may consult the Crisis Committee representatives when in need of
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advice. It is recommended that the delegates observe their country policy and keep in mind their blocs and the effect of their decisions. The main issue at hand The Arab Spring The main issue being discussed this year is the Arab spring and the high level of instability in the Arab peninsula. Apart from this, the timeline also deals with the Israel- Palestine conflict and the situation in Syria. The events of the "Arab spring" have elicited a range of comments and explanations in public discourses which serve well to illustrate the theoretical and ideological approaches to middle-east politics in the western media and in academia. After decades of the dominance of religion and ethno-religious nationalisms in the region, the "revolutions" in Tunisia and then Egypt seemed to eschew religion and nationalism in favour of classic political demands of liberty, democracy and economic justice. The forces and ideologies that animated the modern political history of the middle east, from 19th-century reforms and through much of the 20th century, were largely secular and nationalist. Islamic politics was always there, but only as part, often subordinate, of a wider political field. It was divided between reactionary conservatives, trying to maintain patriarchal and institutional privileges, like many of the traditional ulama, and more modern populist mobilisation, typically that of the Muslim Brotherhood.
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Contending forces and mixed ideologies were nationalist of different colours, articulated at times to liberal constitutionalism (as in the Wafd and other parties in monarchical Egypt), to fascism (in Nazi-inspired movements in 1930s and 1940s Iraq, Palestine and Egypt), then, powerfully, to socialist, statist ideas (in the pan-Arab nationalisms of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the Ba`ath and the Algerian FLN, inspired by and allied to the Soviets, from the 1950s).
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These ideological politics, Nasserism, had solid popular constituencies and sympathies throughout the region, and in relation to the ever-present Israel/Palestine issue. The salience of religion in politics came later, from the 1970s, partly following the failure and corruption of the statist military nationalist regimes, the inspiration of the 1979 Iranian revolution, which became "Islamic", then the collapse of the Soviet, communist world, which had been part of the ideological and military props. Within this historical perspective, the secular nature of recent movements is not a surprise, but their distance from xenophobic nationalism and statist "socialism", in favour of common liberties, is a novelty. But where is it going? There are two interrelated and persistent themes in the analyses of middle-east politics that questioned the bases of the ostensibly ideological and secular politics of the region. The first is what may be called the "patrimonialism" approach: the idea that the ideological labels, parties and movements were superficial
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manifestations of deeper familial, tribal, regional and sectarian allegiances and sentiments. Regarding Syria, the regime’s response to five months of popular uprising was to opt for survival strategy: responding by violence and threatening the population with chaos and civil war in the event of its demise. The objective was to launch a war of attrition by playing on time to wear out any internal revolt. It chose however the wrong combination of brutal repression and gradual concessions. The result was a crisis of confidence which was too deep to be overcome by mere calls for national dialogue and reform. The death toll is estimated at 2,700 civilian casualties (including hundreds of children), and 500 members of the security services in the initial phases. Bashar al-Assad’s personal popularity since 2000 had also allowed the regime to limit the scope of internal reforms and preserve the power of the security services over society. The ’Chinese model’ of neo-liberal economic shift with no political reform was adopted in 2005.The liberalisation of the economy followed steady progress with public-private partnerships in the oil and transport sectors; private banks, media and universities were legalised, and more space allocated to the private sector. However, no defined policy or adequate tools were adopted. The Baath Party and secret services were given increased power in administrative and economic decisions, and new monopolies controlled and established by
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governmental elites. Further crackdowns were carried out on intellectuals, activists and the private press. As a consequence, Syria remains a developing country with a weak economy and poor results in sectors such as housing, education and employment. One third of the Syrian population lives on two dollars a day or less; 65 percent are under the age of thirty; and food insecurity and youth unemployment are major problems. Events have unfolded dramatically since mid-March. The trigger was the arbitrary imprisonment and torture in the small town of Deraa of school children for drawing graffiti inspired by the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions. The situation has now reached a stalemate. Regarding the Israel- Palestine conflict, there are two primary issues at the core of this continuing conflict. First, there is the inevitably destabilizing effect of trying to maintain an ethnically preferential state, particularly when it is largely of foreign origin. The original population of what is now Israel was 96 percent Muslim and Christian, yet, these refugees are prohibited from returning to their homes in the self-described Jewish state (and those within Israel are subjected to systematic discrimination). Second, Israel's continued military occupation and confiscation of privately owned land in the West Bank, and control over Gaza, are extremely oppressive, with Palestinians having minimal control over their lives. Over 10,000 Palestinian men, women, and children are held
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in Israeli prisons. Few of them have had a legitimate trial; Physical abuse and torture are frequent. Palestinian borders (even internal ones) are controlled by Israeli forces. Periodically “The Palestinian people still yearn men, women, for the freedom and dignity and denied them for decades. The Israeli people yearn for long-term children security. Neither can achieve their are strip searched; legitimate demands without a people are settlement of the conflict. Today, beaten; we are at a critical juncture in women in efforts to move beyond crisis labor are management and renew efforts prevented toward genuine conflict from resolution.” reaching hospitals - -United Nations Secretary(at times General Ban Ki-moon, February resulting in 2007 death); food and medicine are blocked from entering Gaza, producing an escalating humanitarian crisis. Israeli forces invade almost daily, injuring, kidnapping, and sometimes killing inhabitants. According to the Oslo peace accords of 1993, these territories were supposed to finally become a Palestinian state. However, after years of Israel continuing to confiscate land and conditions steadily worsening, the Palestinian population rebelled. (The Barak offer, widely reputed to be generous, was anything but.) This uprising, called the "Intifada" (Arabic for "shaking
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off") began at the end of September 2000.
The Historic Timeline
2000 February 23: The United States announces that Iran’s nuclear program could lead to the development of nuclear weapons. The U.S. decides to impose the first sanctions against Iran related to its nuclear program. June 10: Syrian president Assad dies and his son Bashar succeeds him September 28: Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visits the Temple mount following which there are several protests by the Muslim community October 1: Solidarity demonstrations held by Palestinian citizens residing in Israel escalate into clashes with Israeli police and Israeli Jewish citizens causing severe collateral damage to civilian lives and infrastructure This event marks the start of the second Intifada. December 10: Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Barak, resigns. 2001 February 6: Ariel Sharon elected prime minister of Israel. He severely condemns the second Intifadah.
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May 16: Israel launches F-16 warplanes against Palestinian targets in Gaza for the first time. June 1: Syrian troops evacuate Beirut, redeploy in other parts of Lebanon, following pressure from Lebanese critics of Syria's presence. June 8: Khatami was re-elected president by a landslide. Student leds protests against failure of their education system which grew into wider pro-democracy strikes demanded Khatami to support them. August 9: Fifteen people are killed and about 90 others are injured in a suicide attack on a busy restaurant in the heart of Jerusalem. Hamas says it carried out the attack. August 27: Israel assassinates People's Liberation Front for Palestine leader Abu Ali Mustafa in a missile strike. September 25: Detention of MPs and other pro-reform activists, crushing hopes of a break with the authoritarian past of Hafez al-Assad in Syria. Arrest continues, punctuated by occasional amnesties, over the following decade. December 2: A Palestinian suicide bomber blows up a bus in the northern coastal city of Haifa, killing 15 people and wounding more than 100 others. 2002 March 8: The bloodiest day of the intifada so far sees 45 people killed, mostly Palestinians. March 27: In the Israeli resort of Netanya, a
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bomber blows himself up at a hotel, killing 28 Israelis celebrating Passover. The attack claimed by the armed wing of Hamas was the deadliest since the beginning of the uprising. March 29: Israel begins a massive military assault on the West Bank. Yasser Arafat's Ramallah headquarters are targeted and Palestinian militants take refuge in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Heavy fighting goes on for days in the northern West Bank town of Jenin. May 7: Suicide bomber attacks a social club in the town of Rishon Letzion, killing 16 people and injuring more than 50. The attack is claimed by the armed wing of Hamas. May 4: Senior US official includes Syria in a list of states that make-up an "axis of evil", first listed by President Bush in January. Undersecretary for State John Bolton says Damascus is acquiring weapons of mass destruction. June 16: Israel begins construction of its West Bank security barrier, a 640-kilometre (440mile) structure designed to keep Palestinian suicide bombers out of Israel. June 18: A suicide bomber kills himself and 19 civilians in an attack on a bus in southern Jerusalem. July 22: Israel kills Hamas military commander Salah Shehada with aircraft bomb dropped on his Gaza housing block; 18 other residents are also killed by the blast. 2003
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January 5: At least 23 people are killed and 100 wounded when two suicide attackers set off charges in crowded streets during rush hour in Tel Aviv. February 9: Iran announces that it has discovered uranium on its own soil, giving the country a domestic source of material for its nuclear program. March 19: Mahmoud Abbas agrees to become the first Palestinian prime minister. Match 23: Amid U.S. claims that Iran seeks to produce nuclear weapons, the IAEA director general visits Iran and encourages its leader to allow inspectors more and faster access to nuclear sites. Iran declines. April 2: US threatens sanctions if Damascus fails to take what Washington calls the "right decisions". Syria denies US allegations that it is developing chemical weapons and helping fugitive Iraqis. April 30: The Quartet group - the EU, UN, Russia and the US - launch the roadmap peace plan. It is a phased programme for ending conflict culminating in the creation of an independent Palestinian state, but the neither side keeps to its timetable. June 11: Sixteen people are killed in a bus bomb in Jerusalem, in the first suicide attack since US President Bush's peace summit a week before. It follows an Israeli air strike on 10 June aimed at killing Hamas leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi in Gaza. June 19: The IAEA issues a report saying that
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Iran appears to be in compliance with the NonProliferation treaty, but also that Iran needs to be more transparent. June 27: Palestinian militants announce an agreement with the Palestinian Authority to temporarily halt attacks on Israelis. An attacker targeted a popular nightspot in Tel Aviv August 20: A suicide bomber wrecks a bus in Jerusalem, killing at least 20 people. Palestinian militants claim the attack is carried out in response to Israeli killing of their leaders. August 23: The IAEA finds traces of highly enriched uranium at Iran’s Natanz nuclear plant. September 1: President Assad appoints Mohammed Naji Al-Otari prime minister. September 2: UN weapons inspectors report traces at a second facility near Tehran, and the IAEA sets an October 31 deadline for the country to prove it is not developing nuclear weapons. Iran claims the source of uranium is imported. September 9: Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas resigns after clashing with Yasser Arafat over reform of security services. October 1: Israeli air strike against Palestinian militant camp near Damascus. Syria says action is "military aggression". October 4: A suicide bomber blows herself up in a packed Haifa restaurant, killing at least 19 people including three children. October 21: Iran agrees to suspend uranium processing and enrichment and allow
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unannounced inspections by the IAEA. November 12: The IAEA finds no evidence of a nuclear program but express concern about plutonium production. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini says the material is for pharmaceutical use. November 13: The Geneva Accords, an alternative peace-plan negotiated by prominent Israelis and Palestinians, is unveiled. The plan is quickly rejected by Israel and Palestinian militants.
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2004 January 16: President Assad visits Turkey, the first Syrian leader to do so. The trip marks the end of decades of frosty relations, although ties sour again after the popular uprising in 2011. January 29: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 10 in an attack on a west Jerusalem bus. Palestinians attend the funeral of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin February 2: Ariel Sharon orders a plan be drawn up to remove Israeli settlements from the Gaza Strip. March 1: At least 25 killed in clashes between members of the Kurdish minority, police and Arabs in the north-east. March 22: Israel assassinates Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, spiritual leader of Hamas, in an air strike. May 9: US imposes economic sanctions on Syria over what it calls its support for terrorism and failure to stop militants entering Iraq.
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May 17: Israel assassinates Hamas leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi a missile strike. May 13: Following the killing of 13 soldiers by militants in Gaza, Israel launches a nine-day incursion into the Rafah refugee camp, leaving at least 40 Palestinians dead. July 9: The International Court of Justice rules that the West Bank barrier is illegal and that construction must be halted. August 31: Sixteen people are killed in suicide bombings on two buses in the Israeli town of Beersheba. September 5: UN Security Council resolution calls for all foreign forces to leave Lebanon. September 28: Iran’s foreign minister rejects claims that the country wants an atomic bomb but vows to defend its nuclear facilities against any attack by Israel. October 27: Israeli legislators vote in favour of a controversial plan to withdraw Jewish settlers from Gaza. October 29: Yasser Arafat is airlifted from his West Bank compound in Ramallah to a military hospital in Paris. November 11: Arafat dies in France aged 75. Israel says his death may be a turning point for peace in the Middle East. Mahmoud Abbas is elected head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). November 12: Iran again agrees to temporarily suspend uranium processing and enrichment after talks with European countries in Paris.
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2005 January 9: Palestinians elect Mahmoud Abbas to succeed Yasser Arafat as chairman of the Palestinian Authority. January 10: Israel's parliament backs a new coalition government, giving Ariel Sharon a firm basis to implement his Gaza pullout plan. January 14: Israel seals off the Gaza Strip after six Israelis are killed in an attack by Palestinian militants at a major crossing point. January 15: Mahmoud Abbas is sworn in as the new president of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank town of Ramallah.He uses his inauguration speech to call for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants. January 21: Hundreds of Palestinian Authority police take up positions in the northern Gaza Strip to stop militants firing rockets at Israeli targets. January 24: Following a week of talks between Mr Abbas and militant leaders, the groups say they have agreed to suspend attacks on Israel. February 3: Israel approves a plan to free hundreds of jailed Palestinians and withdraw forces from West Bank cities. February 8: After a summit at the Egyptian resort of Sharm al-Sheikh, Mahmoud Abbas and Ariel Sharon declare a truce. Both express hopes that the informal ceasefire will lead to a new era of hope for the region. February 10: Hamas militants fire dozens of mortars and rockets at the Gush Katif
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settlement after the organisation said it was not bound by the ceasefire. The attacks prompt Mr Abbas to order a security crackdown and sack senior security officials. August 9: Iran's supreme leader issues a religious decree against manufacturing, storing or using nuclear weapons. October 27: Interior minister and Syria's former head of intelligence in Lebanon, Ghazi Kanaan, dies in what officials say is suicide. UN inquiry into assassination of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri implicates senior Syrian officials. 2006 January 25: Hamas wins majority of seats after the Palestinian legislative election, in. Israel, the United States, European Union, and several European and Western countries cut off their aid to the Palestinians; as they view the Islamist political party who rejects Israel's right to exist as a terrorist organization. February 3: Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus are set on fire during a demonstration against cartoons in a Danish newspaper portraying the Muslim Prophet Muhammad. February 4: The IAEA votes to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions over its uranium enrichment program. The next day, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad orders Iran to end its cooperation with the IAEA. June 9: Following the Gaza beach blast, in which seven members of one family and one other
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Palestinian were killed on a Gaza beach, the armed wing of Hamas calls off its 16-month-old truce. Israel claims it was shelling 250m away from the family's location; Palestinians claimed that the explosion was Israeli doing. June 25: After crossing the border from the Gaza Strip into Israel, Palestinian militants attack an Israeli army post. The militants kidnapped Gilad Shalitan, Israeli sports columnist and former soldier, killed two IDF soldiers and wounded four others. Israel launches Operation Summer Rains. June 28: Israeli troops invade the Gaza Strip, but fail to find Shalit. July 12: Lebanon War: Hezbollah infiltrates Israel in a cross-border raid, kidnaps two soldiers and kills three others. Israel attempts to rescue the kidnapped, and five more soldiers are killed. Israel's military responds, and the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict begins. The conflict results in the deaths of 1,191 Lebanese people and 165 Israelis. Of the Israelis killed, 121 were soldiers and 44 were civilians. It is unclear how many of the Lebanese fatalities were combatants, though Israeli officials reported that an estimated 800 were Hezbollah militants. Approximately one million Lebanese and 300,000–500,000 Israelis were displaced. July 26: Israel launches a counter-offensive to deprive cover to militants firing rockets into Israel from Gaza. 23 Palestinians killed, 16 are identified as militants. July 31: The U.N. Security Council passes a
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resolution calling on Iran to stop uranium enrichment efforts within one month, but it does not impose sanctions. August 14: Fox journalists kidnapped. Palestinian militants kidnap Fox journalists Olaf Wiig and Steve Centanni,. The two are eventually released on August 27, after stating they have converted to Islam. August 31: UN Security Council deadline for Iran to halt its work on nuclear fuel passes. IAEA says Tehran has failed to suspend the programme. September 13: Attack on the US embassy in Damascus. Four gunmen open fire and throw grenades but fail to detonate a car bomb. Three of them are killed, one is captured September 26: A UN study declares the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip "intolerable", with 75% of the population dependent on food aid, and an estimated 80% of the population living below the poverty line. November 1: Iraq and Syria restore diplomatic relations after nearly a quarter century. November 8: Beit Hanoun incident. Amidst ongoing rocket fire, Israel shells Beit Hanoun, killing 19 Palestinian civlians (seven children, four women) during the Gaza operations. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apologises, saying the incident had been an accidental "technical failure" by the Israeli military. December 23: The Security Council votes unanimously to impose sanctions on Iran for failing to curb its enrichment program, the first of several rounds of sanctions imposed by the
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U.N., the European Union and individual countries over the next few years. 2007 January 21: Israel transfers $100 million in tax revenues to cover humanitarian needs to the office of the Palestinian Authority February 9: IAEA says Iran failed to meet a deadline to suspend uranium enrichment, exposing Tehran to possible new sanctions. February 14: Palestinian Unity Agreement made in Mecca, establishing shared power between Hamas and Fatah parties. March 6: European Union re launches dialogue with Syria April 6: US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi meets President Assad in Damascus. She is the highest-placed US politician to visit Syria in recent years. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets Foreign Minister Walid Muallem the following month in the first contact at this level for two years. May 11: Leading dissident Kamal Labwani and prominent political writer Michel Kilo are sentenced to a long jail terms in Syria, only weeks after human rights lawyer Anwar alBunni is jailed. June 6: Hamas forces attack Fatah in Gaza and drive them out in a coup. President Abbas (Fatah) dissolves the unity government, but PM Haniyeh (Hamas) insists that the government is still in power. A summit in Sharm el Sheikh
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attended by Palestinians, Egypt and Jordan pledges support for Abbas though Egypt urges reconciliation with Hamas. July 22: President Assad meets French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris. The visit signals the end of the diplomatic isolation by the West that followed the assassination of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri in 2005. While in Paris, President Assad also meets the recentlyelected Lebanese president, Michel Suleiman. The two men agree to work towards the establishing of full diplomatic relations between their countries September 1: Israel carries out an aerial strike against a site in northern Syria that it said was a nuclear facility under construction. In 2011 the UN's IAEA nuclear watchdog decides to report Syria to the UN Security Council over its alleged covert nuclear programme reactor programme at the site. September 3: Damascus hosts four-way summit between Syria, France, Turkey and Qatar, in a bid to boost efforts towards Middle East peace. Explosion kills 17 on the outskirts of Damascus, the most deadly attack in Syria in several years. Government blames Islamist militants. September 11: UN Security Council passes unanimously a new resolution reaffirming demands that Iran stop enriching uranium, but imposes no new sanctions. September 29: Under pressure due to allegations of corruption, Israeli PM Olmert announces his resignation. Foreign minister
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Tzipi Livni is elected in a Kadima party leadership election following the resignation of Olmert October 6: Syria establishes diplomatic relations with Lebanon for first time since both countries established independence in 1940s October 8: US announces sweeping new sanctions against Iran, the toughest since it first imposed sanctions almost 30 years ago. November 5: US convenes Middle East peace summit in Annapolis, MD. Israel and the Palestinian Authority agree to reach an agreement by the end of 2008, based on a 2 state solution. Abbas calls for an end to Israeli occupation of all PA lands.. November 13: Israeli PM Olmert’s call for Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state as a precondition to post-Annapolis peace talks is seen by some as reasonable and necessary, and by others as a racist concept that would bar the return of the Palestinian diaspora. December 4: The U.S. government says an intelligence estimate suggests that Iran stopped work on its nuclear weapons program in 2003. December 31: Israel launches Operation Cast Lead against the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip, a full scale invasion of the territory. After 22 days of fighting, Israel and Hamas each declared separate unilateral ceasefires. 2008
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February 1: IAEA report says Iran failed to disclose efforts to link uranium processing and explosives and to design missile warheads. February 27: Hamas, fired a rocket barrage at the Israeli city of Ashkelon February 28: Operation Hot Winter is launched in response to rockets fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel. The operation resulted in 112 Palestinians and three Israelis being killed. March 18: Syria hosts Arab League summit. April 24: The US accuses North Korea of having helped Syria to build a secret nuclear reactor at the site bombed by Israel in 2009 March 1: Jeffrey Feltman, acting assistant US secretary of state for the Near East, visits Damascus with White House national security aide Daniel Shapiro in first high-level US diplomatic mission for nearly four years and meets Foreign Minister Walid Muallem. Trading launches on Syria's stock exchange in a gesture towards liberalising the state-controlled economy. June 2: The Israeli parliament passes a preliminary reading of a bill that would “mandate the imprisonment of anyone who calls for the end of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.” The bill is part of a two-draft law.“ The first is the Loyalty Oath Law that obliges all Palestinian Israelis to pledge allegiance to the Jewish identity of the state.
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June 8: The UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, says traces of undeclared man-made uranium have been found at second site in Syria - a reactor in Damascus. The IAEA was investigating US claims that the site destroyed in the 2007 Israeli raid was a nuclear reactor. July 15: US special envoy George Mitchell visits for talks with President Assad on Middle East peace. July 31: More than 6,000 Palestinian children in Gaza attempt to set a new world record by flying the largest number of kites together in one location, described as an “expression of the demand for liberty from these children” October 13: The UN votes in support of the Goldstone Report, which criticizes both Israeli and Palestinian participation in the Gaza conflict and states that “Israel failed to take feasible precautions required by international law to avoid or minimize loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects. The firing of white phosphorus shells over the UNRWA compound, the intentional strike at the Al Quds hospital using high explosive artillery shells and white phosphorous, the attack against Al Wafa hospital, were violations of international humanitarian law, they noted. September 2: Iran acknowledges to the IAEA the existence of the Fordo uranium enrichment facility near Qom. September 30: Iran test-fires short- and longrange missiles, raising fears that the country could deliver nuclear weapons atop such missiles.
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2010 January 3: A mysterious computer worm called Stuxnet begins infecting computers used in Iranian nuclear facilities, sabotaging machinery used in uranium enrichment, computer researchers will later say. Some experts say the worm may have been deliberately introduced by governments seeking to slow or kill Iran's nuclear program, but the worm's origin remains unclear. February 12: US posts first ambassador to Syria after a five-year break. March 26: Israel unveils plans for 1,600 new Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem despite continued US demands for a settlement freeze. US Vice President Joe Biden condemns the move as “precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now” .The Quartet on the Middle East demands that Israel halt all settlement activity and condemns Israel’s plans to build new housing in East Jerusalem. April 3: An Iranian nuclear scientist is killed by a car bomb. A year later, Iran will announce it believes the death was the work of a spy ring linked to “Zionist pigs” (Israel), according to the semi-official Fars news agency. May 21: US renews sanctions against Syria, saying that it supports terrorist groups, seeks weapons of mass destruction and has provided Lebanon's Hezbollah with Scud missiles in violation of UN resolutions. August 31: Hamas terrorists shoot dead four
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Israeli civilians near Kiryat Arba, including a pregnant woman. September 14: U.S. launches direct negotiations between Israel and The Palestinian Authority in Washington D.C. A second round of Middle East peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority concludes in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. December 18: An American woman is stabbed to death by Palestinian terrorists. Another woman is severely injured.
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2011 February 5: Iran sends two warships through Suez Canal for first time since the Islamic Revolution, in what Israel describes as an act of provocation. March 20: Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat says seeking UN membership for a Palestinian state is the official strategy although no date is set. July 22: President Assad sacks the governor of the northern province of Hama after mass demonstration there, eventually sending in troops to restore order at the cost of scores of lives. Opposition activists meet in Istanbul to form a unified opposition July 23: An Iranian nuclear scientist is killed by assailants in Tehran. March 23: Hamas bombs a bus station in Jerusalem and kills 1 civilian. 39 injured. August 18: Egyptian and Palestinian militants attack southern Israel and kill 8 Israelis, including 6 civilians. 40 injured. 5 Egyptian soldiers are
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also killed. September 21: Obama insists at the UN General Assembly that only negotiations can lead to a Palestinian state. October 19: Newly formed Syrian National Council says it has forged a common front of internal and exiled opposition activists. Russia and China veto UN resolution condemning Syria. November 14: A report by the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA says Iran is carrying out research that can only be used to develop a nuclear bomb trigger. Iran rejects the findings as politically motivated. November 30: Arab League votes to suspend Syria, accusing it of failing to implement an Arab peace plan, and imposes sanctions. Army defectors target a military base near Damascus in the Free Syrian Army's most highprofile attack since protests began. Government supporters attack foreign embassies. December 5: Syria agrees to an Arab League initiative allowing Arab observers into the country. Thousands of protesters gather in Homs to greet them, but the League suspends its mission in January because of worsening violence. Twin suicide bombs outside a security buildings in Damascus kills 44. 2012 January 11: Another Iranian nuclear scientist is killed by a car bomb in Tehran.
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February 17: Russia and China block a UN Security Council draft resolution on Syria, and the government steps up the bombardment of Homs and other cities, recapturing the Homs district of Baba Amr the following month. The UN says that more than 7,500 people have died since the security crackdown began. March 2: UN Security Council endorses nonbinding peace plan drafted by UN envoy Kofi Annan. China and Russia agree to support the plan after an earlier, tougher draft is modified. March 9: Gaza militants launch over 300 rockets, Grad missiles, and mortar shells into southern Israel, wounding 23 Israeli civilians. Israel retaliates with air strikes on Gazan weapons storage facilities and rocket launching sites, May 5: UN Security Council strongly condemns the government's use of heavy weaponry and the militia killing of more than a hundred civilians in Houla, near Homs. France, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada and Australia expel senior Syrian diplomats in protest. June 6: President Assad tells his reshuffled government that they face "real war", indicating the authorities' conviction that the conflict will be long-lasting and require the sidelining of all other priorities. Turkey changes rules of engagement after Syria shoots down a Turkish plane that strayed into its territory, declaring that if Syrian troops approach Turkey's borders they will be seen as a threat
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August 9: The government suffers further blows. A UN General Assembly resolution demands that President Assad resign, highlevel defections gather pace - most notably Prime Minister Riad Hijab - and US President Obama warns that use of chemical weapons would tilt the US towards intervention. September 21: The Free Syrian Army claims responsibility for two explosions at the military headquarters in Damascus. The government says four guards were killed in the "suicide attacks". October 26: Syria-Turkish tension rises when Syrian mortar fire on a Turkish border town kills five civilians. Turkey returns fire and intercepts a Syrian plane allegedly carrying arms from Russia. Both countries ban each other's planes from their air space. November 9: Israeli air force kills Ahmed Jabari, second in command of the military wing of Hamas. Gaza officials said 133 Palestinians had been killed in the conflict of whom 79 were militants, 53 civilians and 1 was a policeman and estimated that 840 Palestinians were wounded. Hamas fires over 1,456 rockets at southern Israel, killing 6 and injuring hundreds. Rockets are fired at Jerusalem for the first time and at Tel Aviv for the first time since the first Gulf War wounding 28 civilians. Israel retaliates by bombing hundreds of military sites in the Gaza Strip. November 16: Several major opposition forces unite as National Coalition for Syrian
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Revolutionary and Opposition Forces at meeting in Qatar, including the Syrian National Council. November 29: UNGA resolution 67/19 makes Palestine an observer, non member state in the UN. December 31: The US joins Britain, France, Turkey and Gulf states in formally recognising Syria's opposition National Coalition as "the legitimate representative" of the Syrian people.
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2013 January 15: Four Palestinians killed by IDF within a week January 22: Syria accuses Israeli jets of attacking a military research centre near Damascus, but denies reports that trucks carrying weapons bound for Lebanon were hit. Unverified reports say Israel had targeted an Iranian commander charged with moving weapons of mass destruction to Lebanon. March 5: Syrian warplanes bomb the northern city of Raqqa after rebels seize control. US and Britain pledge non-military aid to rebels, and Britain and France propose lifting European Union arms embargo. April 20: Iran announces it has activated a uranium processing plant and two uranium mines to expand Iran’s capacity to produce nuclear material. April 24: US and Britain demand investigation
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into reports government forces used chemical weapons. Prime Minister Wael Nader Al-Halqi narrowly escapes death in bomb attack in centre of Damascus. Opposition National Coalition Chairman Moaz al-Khatib resigns, complaining that foreign backers were trying to manipulate the group. He is succeeded by veteran socialist George Sabra, the leader of the older opposition Syrian National Council. May 11: Israeli and Syrian Army exchange fire in the Golan Heights. EU leaders agree not to renew the bloc's arms embargo on Syria, in a step seen as potentially freeing EU countries to arm the rebels. May-June: Government and allied Hezbollah forces recapture the strategically-important town of Qusair between Homs and the Lebanese border. Rebel commanders complain that arms supplies taper off over international concerns about Islamists in the opposition camp. France says it has evidence that the government used sarin nerve gas in attacks on rebels and civilians. June 7: Pope Francis as one of the first things he does after being elected pontiff releases a statement praying for Syria and urges the G8 to work towards a ceasefire.
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------------Historic Timeline Ends-------------
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Importance of Jerusalem
Jerusalem is unique among the cities of the world, with special, although differing, claims on the religious and cultural sentiments of millions of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. It is holy for the three monotheistic religions because of religiously significant events that took place in the city. It is therefore important to set out the nature and meaning of Jewish, Christian and Muslim commitments to Jerusalem and their implications.
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Gaza Strip
The Gaza Strip is home to a population of more than 1.5 million people, including 1.1 million Palestine refugees. For the last decade, the socio-economic situation in Gaza has been in steady decline. Years of conflict and closure have left 80 per cent of the population dependent on international assistance. The tightened blockade, imposed following the Hamas takeover of Gaza in June 2007, has decimated lives and livelihoods, resulting in the impoverishment and de-development of a highly skilled and well-educated society. Despite adjustments made to the blockade by the government of Israel in June 2010, restrictions on imports and exports continue to severely hamper recovery and reconstruction. Infifadah Conditions in the Palestinian territory of the
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West Bank and Gaza Strip, including Jerusalem, involving more than 20 years of military occupation, repression and confiscation of land, contributed to the eruption of a spontaneous uprising, the intifada, in December 1987. Palestinians from all walks of life—youth, merchants, labourers, women and children— joined massive demonstrations, economic boycotts, tax resistance and strikes, protesting the military occupation of their land and demanding national independence. This was the first intifada. After the Oslo agreement, Yasser Arafat returned to Palestinian territory, the Palestinian Authority was established and Israeli withdrawals began. However, the agreement was denounced by hardline Israelis and Palestinians as a sell-out and it did not take hold. Opposition to the agreement was led on the Palestinian side by the Islamic militant group Hamas and the deadly phenomenon of the suicide bomber emerged, in which dozens of Israeli civilians were killed. Israeli counter-strikes killed many Palestinians. President Bill Clinton got Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak together at Camp David in 2000 but the final-status issues of Jerusalem and the future of Palestinian refugees broke the talks. By 2000, a second intifada was being openly fought and Israel re-occupied the West Bank.
Sample Position Paper
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Your position paper has to being with the introduction to the Arab Spring followed by detailed stances on the Israel-Palestine conflict and Syrian conflict.
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Please submit your position paper to [email protected] by the 5th of August in the above format.
Futuristic Timeline and updates
Your futuristic timeline will be released separately. Please remember that the committee is set in the future hence the futuristic timeline will have great relevance. Also, news updates and reports will be periodically given during committee.
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