Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
The history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict goes back many decades, to when the UN formed Israel in 1948. The conflict is between the Israelis who are Jewish, and the Palestinians who are Arabs, with both sides fighting over land rights in the Middle East. The surrounding countries of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon, support the Palestinians, in their fight to get their homeland back. The Palestinian supporting countries immediately attacked Israel, and a big conflict in the Middle East began. The Israelis believe they have sole rights to govern, and live in their country, although the Palestinians think they should be able to live on their homeland, which they have
inhabited for many centuries.
Background on the Conflict
The formation of Israel has been the fundamental cause of the major wars, between the Arabs and the Jewish people for decades. These wars occurred in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, and 1982. The first war immediately followed Israel’s formation. In this war, the Israelis took the entire Egypt-Palestine frontier, except for the Gaza Strip. In 1956, Israel took the Suez Canal, from Egypt by raiding Arab bases, which increased their buffer zone. The buffer zone is an area that Israel controlled but did not own. This made the Palestinian’s effort to attack more difficult, because they had to cross over more land. Then in 1967 Israel shot down six Egyptian military planes, causing the Egyptians to activate their troops. Israel then eliminated the Egyptian Air Force and won what came to be known as the “Six Day War.” In this war Israel seized the city of Jerusalem; this city is of significance to both sides of the conflict, because it’s historically connected with their religious beliefs. They also obtained the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and Golan Heights, which increased their land holdings. In 1973, the “Yom Kippur War” occurred. This war was caused by Egypt crossing the Suez Canal, and Syria, another Arab country attacking from the Golan Heights. Israel suffered heavy casualties, but still managed to drive them back, and retained possession of previously captured territory. In 1974, Egypt signed a cease-fire, and Syria started negotiation of peace agreements. When Egypt signed the peace treaty, and recognized that Israel has a right to exist, Israel gave back the Sinai Peninsula in 1979. Increased tensions between the two groups caused Israel to bomb Lebanon, because there are two major Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) centers situated there.
According to Shlaim, the conflict begins during World War 1 when the British made various promises to both Jews and Arabs while simultaneously plotting with the French to divide all the territory into spheres of influence . The British assumed that Palestinians and Jews could leave peaceably in a single state, but Britain's obligation to the Jews could only be met at the expense of the Arab majority. The British carved up the territories under their mandate without regard for religious, ethnic, or linguistic composition of their inhabitants.
The Nation of Israel was founded out of the eastern area of a British occupied (former Ottoman Empire) section of western Asia known as the “Mandate of Palestine”. There was an attempt in November of 1947 by the United Nations (UN) to partition the region into Arab and Israeli states with the Holy City Jerusalem as an international city. (United Nations, 1949) The Jews accepted this proposal while the Arab League and other groups did not. (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2006). What followed was an Arab strike that became violent and sent the Jews on the defensive. They rebounded and brought the civil war to an end, expelling over 250,000 Arabs. The day before the British mandate was set to expire; the region was invaded by four Arab States starting the yearlong 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Ultimately a cease fire and truce was reached with the establishment of bo...
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...
In the Middle East, tensions between Jews and Arabs have been present since biblical times. When the Jewish state of Israel was created in 1948 in the Arab homeland of Palestine, severe unrest emerged between the two groups and the Palestinian War began.
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.
Palestine (and Israel) is a small area in the Middle East that is on the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea and borders the nations of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. On May 14, 1948, the state of Israel was declared by the Jewish Peoples council. Following this act, the Arab people of the surrounding countries attacked the new Israeli state. However Israel prevailed, and took almost all of the land previously designated to be ...
The Palestine and Israel conflict has been carrying on for the better part of the last century. This is a conflict that seemingly has no end in sight. Multiple wars between Palestine and Israel have only complicated things for the inhabitants of the land they are fighting over. Due to the second war in 1967, Israel is now in control of the West Bank and the Gaza strip. This is particularly important to the conflict and how the dialectical perspective plays a part of it because these are two areas that many Palestinians call home, leaving them under Israel rule.
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.
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.
Conflicts between people often have multiple causes and effects. A majority of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an argument that dates back to Biblical times. The Jewish argue Palestine was the historical site of all Jewish kingdoms, which was promised to Abraham and his descendants. The Arabs argue that Ishmael, forefather of Arabs, is the son of Abraham so God’s promise that the land should go to Abraham’s descendents includes Arabs as well . Some of the main causes which worsen the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are the disparity between Sykes-Picot agreement and Balfour Declaration, The United Nation Partition plan of 1947, which was the separation of the boundaries, and Hitler’s Final Solution. While these causes affected both sides
own side for signing a deal which he had decided in 1974 not to sign
Since 1967, numerous illegal Israeli settlements have been built on Palestinian land and the occupied territory, “housing more then 400,000 Jewish settlers.” Even since 1967, there has been a lot of divergence, unrest, bereavement, war and obliteration on both sides. There was a war in 1973 and two intifadas Palestinian uprising one that began in 1987 and one that began in 2000 that brings us into the 21st century. There have been many attempts in resolving conflicts however; the conflict is a matter of whether the Palestinians should be permitted to form their own independent country and government in an area that was once theirs yet now occupied and currently the nation of Israel. The Arab- Israeli conflict is historically a fuse that ignites regional battle due to the occupation of Palestine.
The War of 1948, also known as the War of Independence, was fought between Israel and its Arab neighbors. The war began May 15, 1948 when units from the armies of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq invaded Israel launching a war that lasted until December 1948.# The war resulted in the defeat of the Arab forces and the success of Israel as a newly established state. It is evident that the Arab forces were not successful in the first Arab-Israeli war because the Arab army lacked motivation, education, and proper equipment.# Despite the support from Arab states outside of Palestine, the Arabs were unable to gain enough strength to overcome the Israeli forces. In contrast, the Israeli army was able to succeed because they had unconditional support from the Jewish community, efficient infrastructures, and modern equipment. Israel also used significant strategies that proved lethal against the competing Arab forces. With the Arab communities unorganized attempt to go to war in 1948, it was inevitable that Israel would come out of the war as the victor.
These territories in the Middle East were and still are major influences on the contention in the Arab-Israeli conflict. The conflicts leading up to the events during the Six-Day War was caused by the severe increase in tension between Israel and the neighboring Arab states during the mid 1960s.
Israel was not considered a country until the United Nations made it its own country in 1948 because Israel and Palestine were having territorial and governmental issues (Issitt and Montanez - Muhinda). The conflict between the two countries began in the twentieth century. The Jews were living on Palestinian territory and because of that the Palestinians were furious about it. Palestine owned 45 percent of the land and Israel owned the other 55 percent. Palestinians thought this division of the land was unfair because they got less land yet both countries had to share the Holy City of Jerusalem. Also, ethnic and religious differences cause the conflict between Israel and Palestine. The United States got involved with this conflict by joining