Jerusalem’s long history and religious meaning in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faith has culminated in it being a holy and coveted place for all three of these major religions. For centuries this city has been fought after and endured numerous wars and rulers. The most recent disagreement over Jerusalem is generally between the Israelis and the Palestinians. The height of this disagreement was marked by Israel moving their capital from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This caused Muslims to fear having their access limited, difficulties visiting, or even plainly being barred from entering their second most holy city. Palestinians also maintain that Jerusalem should be the capital of an independent Palestine state.
One way to settle the conflict between Israel and Palestine would be for the Israelis to relocate their capital back to Tel Aviv to assuage the Muslim qualms, but since that resolution is unlikely the problem has to be dealt with differently. The most practical solution to Jerusalem’s troubles, and the least drastic, would be to declare the city an independent state, or independent...
Bob Hawke once said; “Unless and until something concrete is done about addressing the Israeli-Palestinian issue you won't get a real start on the war against terrorism.” Perhaps Hawke put into a few simple words one of the most complicated issues within our world today, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As Israel continues to strip the Palestinians of their land and fears it’s very existence because of the Palestinians terrorist acts, there seems to be no solution in sight. The world appears to be split and all over the place when it comes to this matter. According to The Middle East Institute for Understanding approximately 129 countries recognize Palestine as a state while many others do not. Over all the political matters within this issue not only affect Palestine and Israel but the world as a whole, as the Middle East and the West seem to disagree. This has had and will continue to have an enormous impact on many political affairs all over the world particularly in the current fight against terrorism. Personally I feel that the Israeli Palestinian conflict while being a very complicated matter has a simple solution. Within this issue I am a firm believer that the occupation of the West Bank by Israeli forces is extremely unjust and must come to an end. Once this is achieved a two state solution will be the most effective way to bring peace to the area. The occupation of the West Bank violates political and legal rights, human rights, and illegally forces Palestinians who have lived in the area for hundreds of years from their land. This conflict is at the height of its importance and a solution is of dire need as nuclear issues arise in the Middle East due to the tension between Israel and it’s surrounding neighbors, and the...
This marked the beginning of the Palestine armed conflict, one of its kinds to be witnessed in centuries since the fall of the Ottoman Empire and World War 1. Characterized by a chronology of endless confrontations, this conflict has since affected not only the Middle East relations, but also the gl...
Humans are no strangers to war. They have fought for freedom. They’ve fought for land. They have fought for resources. Israel became a country in 1948 with the help of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. They thought process behind creating the Nation of Israel was the fact that it was the original Jewish homeland. The Jewish people were desperate for a country to call their own because of the Third Reich. Germany, under the reign of Hitler, had destroyed many homes and relocated Jewish families. Arabs became upset because they had lived there for many generations. Samuel Hazo, in “For Fawzi in Jerusalem,” writes about a narrator having a conversation between the narrator who is obviously an educated and someone who is part of the middle or high class and an Arab shoe shiner named Fawzi. The narrator is most likely Jewish. Samuel Hazo was greatly influenced by the Arab and Israeli War of 1948 and believes that the resentment because of losing their land is justified.
Since the inception of an Israeli nation-state in 1948, violence and conflict has played a major role in Israel’s brief history. In the Sixty-One year’s Israel has been a recognized nation-state, they have fought in 6 interstate wars, 2 civil wars, and over 144 dyadic militarized interstate disputes (MIDs) with some display of military force against other states (Maoz 5). Israel has been involved in constant conflict throughout the past half century. Israel’s tension against other states within the Middle East has spurred vast economic, social, and political unity that has fostered a sense of nationalism and unity in Israel not seen in most other states. Over the next several pages I will try and dissect the reasons for why the nation state of Israel has been emerged in constant conflict and how this conflict has helped foster national unity and identity among the people of Israel.
“There is no such thing as a Palestinian.” Stated former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir after three fourths of one million Palestinians had been made refugees, over five hundred towns and cities had been obliterated, and a new regional map was drawn. Every vestige of the Palestinian culture was to be erased. Resolution 181, adopted in 1947 by the United Nations declared the end of British rule over Palestine (the region between the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River) and it divided the area into two parts; a state for the Jewish and one for the Arab people, Palestine. While Israel was given statehood, Palestine was not. Since 1947, one of the most controversial issues in the Middle East, and of course the world, is the question of a Palestinian state. Because of what seems a simple question, there have been regional wars among Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, terrorist attacks that happen, sometimes daily, displacement of families from their homes, and growing numbers of people living in poverty. Granting Palestinian statehood would significantly reduce, or alleviate, tensions in the Middle East by defining, once and for all, the area that should be Palestine and eliminating the bloodshed and battles that has been going on for many years over this land.
After World War II, the United Nations handed the Jewish people a piece a land so they could live together. This land known as Israel has holy places for the Jewish religion and is surrounded by Muslim countries. Before the United Nations relinquished the land to the Jewish people it belonged to the Palestinian Muslims. This land is important to the Muslims as they consider it holy. There is a religious belief among Palestinians to regain control of East Jerusalem as part of lasting peace region. Also Palestinians are in an occupied nation with Israelis have military rule. The Palestinians have retaliated with a terrorist network to attack innocent Israeli civilians. Israelis believe they must control the Palestinians with military force to protect against terrorism.
This quote was used to describe vividly what Jerusalem is made of, “There is a magical quality about the Old City of Jerusalem that does not exist anywhere else in the world. Perhaps it is due to the glorious history of the towering stone walls and ancient buildings, or the sacred atmosphere that surrounds the holy sites of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions.” (The Old City of Jerusalem, Israel). The Old City is split into four quarters, the Armenian Quarter, the Jewish Quarter, the Muslim Quarter, and the Christian Quarter. The quarters are not physically divided, but citizens know the difference between the different cultures. Many ancient cultures have named Jerusalem their home, and explore the foundations of Athenian, Jewish, Muslim, Christian.
The Israeli-Palestine conflict is an event that has been well documented throughout the course of Middle-Eastern history. The conflict dates back as far as the nineteenth century where Palestine and Zionist, will later be known as Israel, are two communities each with different ideologies had the same overwhelming desire to acquire land. However, what makes this clash what it is, is the fact that both of these up and coming communities are after the same piece of land. The lengths that both sides went to in order obtain they believed was theirs has shaped the current relationship between the two nations today.
The tension between Arabs and Israeli people has been caused by both sides wanting control and power while attempting to prove their superiority over the other. This conflict is a struggle between the Jewish state of Israel and the Arabs of the Middle East. This conflict has included several wars between Israel and certain Arab countries that are opposed to Israel 's existence. The Arab-Israeli tension began prior to the colonization of the British; however the tension grew when the United Kingdom attempted to assisted during World War I. After the war finished the UK left and war broke out between the Arabs and the Jews.
A possible solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the two-state solution. The two-state solution would become a peace agreement in which establishes a Palestinian state alongside the current state of Israel (Bourke). In the opinion of the Maghar Druze’s community, peace is the main objective in which the two-state solution could provide. As follows, most Israeli Druze’s would encourage the current peace talks in aim of a two-state agreement. Despite the fact that the two-state solution requires compromise in which it is believed the Palestinian are not able to accommodate. In particular, the Maghar Druze’s do not believe the Palestinians will ever be satisfied with a two-state agreement because of the need for retaliation fo...
The Jewish-Roman war of 66-70CE was the most remarkable events in the Jewish history. This event is sometimes in history referred to as the ?GREAT REVOLT?. The war started in the year 66CE, in Judea. Judea was under the rule of a wicked Roman Procurator, who had no respect to the Jewish culture. Thus the Jewish people were constantly maltreated by the anti-Jewish (Romans). It was very reasonable that the Jews
“The sights and sounds testify to a kind of ongoing competition. Pressed tightly within the same small space, Muslim minarets rise above Christian bell towers, Israeli flags and rebuilt synagogues announce the renewed Jewish presence in their own historic quarter, while the peal of church bells clashes with the muezzin’s call to prayer. But there is more than the mere cacophony of sounds or the blending of colors. Zealots, true believers, fanatics of all kinds thrive in this holy atmosphere. Religious extremism flourishes in Jerusalem’s clear air, and the merging of the ‘heavenly’ with the ‘earthly’ city continues to nourish conflicting sentiments and periodic outbursts of open conflict.”
In 1095, Jerusalem was a flourishing city that was the main powerhouse for three religions; all three religions wanted complete control over the holy land. These three religions were Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, and all three religions were known to use Jerusalem as a place of religious reasons. But in turn, the best part about Jerusalem was the political power it held. Pope Urban’s demand for power and Jewish Israel’s desire to control Palestinians are the factors in the political conflict over the holy land.
Israel is facing a national burning question , should the Israelis get the land of Israel or the Palestinians? Both sides strongly believe they have a right to Israel and Jerusalem, but where did this whole conflict start? It first began with the Ottoman Empire that ruled over the Arab world since the 1500ś was defeated in WWI ( 1914-1918). After WWI Britain issued a declaration which supports the establishment in palestine of a national home for the jews. After 5 years of living under the british and the council league dividing arab lands, WWII began. During the holocaust many jews fled to Palestine , there were about 680,00 jews living in palestine at this time. Not too long after that in 1947 the UN divided Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states , Jerusalem was to be an international city but the Arabs rejected the resolution creating more tension. Since then power over the land has slowly gone from being Arab ruled to being Jewish ruled.
For many centuries, Judaic and Arabian societies have engaged in one of the most complicated and lengthy conflicts known to mankind, the makings of a highly difficult peace process. Unfortunately for all the world’s peacemakers the Arab-Israeli conflict, particularly the war between Israel and the Palestinian Territories, is rooted in far more then ethnic tensions. Instead of drawing attention towards high-ranking officials of the Israeli government and Hamas, focus needs to be diverted towards the more suspect and subtle international relations theory of realism which, has imposed more problems than solutions.