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Israel Pros And Cons

Decent Essays

Citizens of these nations are not the only ones in danger of death. At the age of 18, all Israeli citizens are required to join the army for a minimum of 2(for girls)-3(for boys) years. Teenagers are putting their lives on the line for their country, but a lot of them do not lose their lives fighting in battles or participating in operations. In Israel, wearing the Israel Defense Force uniform makes soldiers immediate targets for radicals who reject the Israeli government. At the age of 18 all are required to put this target on their back and defend their country’s borders and people. On February 3rd 2016, “Three terrorists armed with knives, guns, and explosives, attacked a group of IDF soldiers at the Damascus Gate after the soldiers approached …show more content…

Many have tried to find a path towards peace and all have failed, but some have been close to compromise. Over the last 70 years, part of the land of Israel has changed hands multiple times. Before 1947, the land of Israel was under a British Mandate, but during the War of Independence, the Zionists gained control of the British Mandate land as well as Palestinian land. “Jordan annexed the West Bank, while Egypt assumed control of Gaza."(Pro-con) This land becomes known as the State of Israel, “open for Jewish immigration and for...Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants”(Ben-Gurion) and is recognized by the UN. This establishment caused controversy, the Muslims living in the land of Israel were being labeled as refugees and the tension between the Israelis and Palestinians. 20 years later another war broke out, the Six Day War, when Israel found out the surrounding Arab countries were planning an attack on Israel. Being proactive, Israel attacked, destroying military resources of Egypt. The war broke out strong. Israel was surrounded on all sides and outnumbered. But Israel fought back strong and in the end the “Israeli army occupying Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, Syria's Golan Heights, and Jordan's West Bank.”(Pro-con) In just six days the Land of Israel more than doubled in size and Israel survived another war. But, the Palestinians were even more enraged because their …show more content…

The Palestinians surprised the entire country by attacking on one of the holiest days of the year. In Jewish Tradition, Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement. Everyone is commanded to fast and repent for their sins. Soldiers were fasting and everyone was in synagogue. The war lasted around 20 days, and afterwards the countries involved agreed to disengage, but this disengagement did not come without compromise. Israel agreed to withdraw from the Suez Canal, and Egypt agreed to limit its troops there as well. Egypt was given back the Sinai peninsula, and Egypt agreed to allow Israeli ships through the canal; The UN would mediate by using their troops to create a buffer zone. In the end, Israel gained peace with Egypt, but lost the land they had acquired less than a decade before. The biggest push toward peace that came out of this war is that “Egypt became the first Arab country to recognize Israel.”(Pro-con) The Jewish citizens were grateful that Israel had survived another war, but people were dying and war was occurring too often. No efforts have been made towards peace with the Palestinians, from 1948 to 1973, because Israel had been trying to survive one attack after another. They did not have time to negotiate. Throughout the next decade, Jordan struggled to supervise the West Bank, the Jordanian government risked being overthrown through a possible Intifada because of the absence of control over their territory.

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