The conflict between Palestinian Arabs and Jews is a modern phenomenon, which began around the turn of the 20th century. Although these two groups have different religions (Palestinians include Muslims, Christians and Druze), religious differences are not the cause of the conflict. It is essentially a struggle over land. Until 1948, the area that both groups claimed was known internationally as Palestine. But following the war of 1948-49, this land was divided into three parts: the state of Israel, the West Bank (of the Jordan River) and the Gaza Strip (1).
Jewish claims to this land are based on the biblical promise to Abraham and his descendants, on the fact that this was the historical site of the Jewish kingdom of Israel (which was
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Following World War II the British requested that the recently established United Nations determine the future of Palestine. After investigating the cituation, they came to an agreement that the country would have to be divided in order to satisfy the needs and demands of both Jews and Palestinian Arabs. Jews had acquired by purchase 6 to 8 percent of the total land area of Palestine amounting to about 20 percent of the arable land (7).
The UN partition plan divided the country in such a way that each state would have a majority of its own population, although some Jewish settlements would fall within the proposed Palestinian state and many Palestinians would become part of the proposed Jewish state. The Zionist leadership accepted the UN partition plan, although they hoped somehow to expand the borders allotted to the Jewish state (4). The Palestinian Arabs and the surrounding Arab states rejected the UN plan.
Fighting began between the Arab and Jewish residents of Palestine days after the adoption of the UN partition plan. The Arab military forces were poorly organized, trained and armed. In contrast, Zionist military forces, although numerically smaller, were well organized, trained and armed. On May 15, 1948 Zionist leaders proclaimed the state of Israel. Neighboring Arab states (Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq) then invaded Israel claiming that they sought to "save" Palestine from the Zionists. The war ended ended in 1949 (8). The country once
The Balfour Declaration in 1917 had been proposed to "favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, but that nothing should be done to prejudice the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine." (8 IMFA) In 1916 many Arab areas including Palestine were under British control which excited the Jewish population about having settlements on either side of the Jordan River, yet at the same time worried the Arab population with the incredibly quick advancements being made on their land. It seemed as though no matter who was being pleased, the other party would continue to grow uneasy with the advancements made by the other. Jewish immigration to Palestine continued to grow significantly while the British mandate remained in effect primarily due to the mass of anti-seminisitc feelings spreading throughout
David Ben-Gurion (the head of the world Zionist Organization) made Israel a nation-state, in may of 1948. The jews had a goal to create a homeland in the Palestine area for many years, this goal grew after WW2. The violence towards the Jewish in WW2, the united nations decided what the jews had control of. They decided that Palestine was going to be split into sections, one for the jews, one for the Arabs, and another for the jerusalem and bethlehem. A vote was taken, and soon everyone signed it. The Arab-Israeli war of 1948 was resulted in Israel's independence. The war was between the Arabs and israel. There was tension between the jews and the muslim Arab for control of “their” land. The dividing of Palestine caused the tension to end and civil war erupted. This caused many palestine Arabs to flee and become refugees and 700 000 jews flee to Israel, because they were expelled from their country. Israel's independence caused tension to form and created more problems for the
Ever since Zionists (an extremist part of the Jewish population) immigrated to Palestine In the late 1800s, violence has plagued the region. The sheer numbers of Zionists moving in to Palestine scared the Arab population already living there, and fighting began. In an attempt to stop the violence spreading through Palestine, the United Nations stepped in and divided the nation into two separate states, one for the Jewish residents, and one for the Arab population. The dividing of the nations made the Arab people feel cheated, due to a larger amount of land being given to the Jewish people, even though there were less of them. Britain, which had been in control of the nation, quickly withdrew after the separation.
The Jews took to Palestine to establish their homeland and the situation worsened until the Palestinian revolution against the Zionist movement and continued British and American support for the Jews until the United Nations decided to divide Palestine into a Jewish state and another Arab. The State of Israel was declared on the land of Palestine with American and British support. The Arabs rejected this decision, while the Jews who declared their state accepted it until a war broke out that the Arabs lost. This encouraged the Jews to expand and occupy more Palestinian land. Where the Zionist government stripped the Arabs of Palestine from their land.
This plan was to create Arab and Jewish states from Palestine. The Jewish public accepted this plan but the Arabs rejected it.
Once the Jews arrived in Palestine in voluminous amounts, violence erupted; Jews and Arabs were involved in a homicidal fracas. Land should not be awarded for hostile, demoniac behavior. Additionally, in WWII the Jews were literally expunged from their homes, which is essentially what would happen to the Arabs if the land was given to the Jews. By giving the state of Israel to the Jews, you are essentially giving away another person’s home without their consent; the concept of giving another person’s home to somebody else in order to give another person a place to live is implausible. Intrinsically, you are extracting the Arabs from their home, which is, in essence, what Hitler did to the Jews in WWII. Giving Israel to the Jews would not be ratiocinative; therefore, the Jews should not have been given the state of
Before anyone can comprehend the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, one must understand the theory of Zionism. Theodor Herzl was the first Jew to have the idea of creating Israel. He was a witness of the Dreyfus affair, in which a Jewish officer was accused of treason, solely because he was Jewish. Herzl also witnessed mobs of people shouting “Death to the Jews”. This was the last straw for Herzl. Herzl decided that there needed to be a change so he made it one of his life goals to create a successful movement in which Jews founded a Jewish state. One of his main arguments was that discrimination against Jews could be eliminated if they had their own Jewish State, and so modern Zionism was formed. The idea of modern Zionism is so pertinent to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because much of the reason for Israel becoming a Jewish state is behind the fact that Jews were perpetrated throughout the years before Zionism even came into play of the situation.
The Arab-Israeli Conflict The Arab Israeli conflict has gone on for many years. There have been many wars, terrorist attacks and peace treaties between Israel and the Arab countries. Through war and Treaties Israel has gained and lost alot of land. There have been 4 major wars between Israel and The Arab countries, as well as terrorist attacks.
In 1948, Zionist forces, due to their military pre-eminence, gained control over the territory which the UN designated to the Jews in the failed partition plan. On 14 May 1948, they declared Israeli independence and established the Israeli state (Fawcett, 2005; 221). The US recognised Israel quickly as a state and soon after that the Soviet Union did the same. The Arab League, formed out of six Arab states, did not recognise Israel as a state, because they felt the land belonged to the Arabic state of Palestine, not to the Jews. Subsequently, the six Arab forces (Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Syria) attacked the Israeli military. The Lebanese, Syrian, Iraq and Saudi Arabian forces did not produce many offensive operations, but they managed to block the Israeli’s march. The ‘real’ fighting came from the Egyptian and Jordan forces. In the beginning, the Arabs had an advantage of weapons and air-power, whilst Israel had problems with their strategy. However, after a few months Israel was provided with war supplies from Czechoslavakia. This included both weapons for using on the mainland and aircrafts. Due to these supplies,
in 1918 britain aided by the arabs captured palestine from the the ottoman turks but britain had now made too many promises that hey couldn't keep . Many Arabs opposed British troops because of England's failure to fulfill its promise and were also getting angry about the increase of jewish migrating to palestine. Arabs became concerned that Jewish immigration would threaten their position in Palestine which lead to large scale attacks on the jews. At the time of Hitler's dictatorship in Germany, Jewish immigration increased dramatically in 1933. An Arab revolt started which Britain suppressed with the help of Zionist militias. Zionist settlements climaxed in 1936. In 1947, Britain forbid Jewish refugees from nazi concentration camps to land in Palestine to prevent war between Jews and Arabs, which resulted in worldwide criticism of Britain. Britain withdrew itself from the situation handing over the mandate over Palestine, leaving the United Nations to deal with the situation. The United Nations proposed that Palestine was divided into two states, one for the Arabs and one for the Jews, however the Arabs opposed this idea claiming that the UN plan allotted too much territory to the Jews. the arabs thought it was unfair that the jews should get more land because the arabs were by far the larger population but because of the holocaust the was a lot of sympathy for the jews and this may be why the got more land.
Furthermore Israel’s extreme control will not allow the two sate solution happen henceforth not letting peace happen because of their selfishness. On the other hand Israel has extreme control because they deserve that land. In today’s world Palestine and Israel have a constant battle because of the fact that Israel controls almost every decision when it comes to the change in the government. In fact “Israel controls more than half of the west bank and all of east Jerusalem” (Abu) confirming that Israel is not ready to give up the land that belongs to Palestine. However the majority of those who live in east Jerusalem are Jewish. For that reason “Sources such as Water are to be kept under Israeli authority” (Abu), not only controlling the life style of the Palestinians but also controlling the agricultural in
The conflict between Israel and Palestine is just one of the many facets that have shaped modern day politics in the Middle East. It is a conflict rooted in generations of violence, discrimination and prejudice that is complicated by a history older than any of the modern day superpowers. Ever since the creation of the state of Israel by the 1947 UN partition of Palestine
For ages the Jewish population did not have a place to call home. They had been wandering around deserts, were once slaves in Egypt, but didn’t have any land to their name. Following the Holocaust, after many Jews had been persecuted by Hitler and the Nazis, a good portion of the overall amount of Jews in the world let alone Europe had been exterminated. As a result, Harry Truman and the UN suggested Israel, a homeland for the Jews. Tensions had been growing throughout the beginning of the 20th Century regarding the Palestinian area in the Middle East. This area was off to the side of Asia, near Africa. When the Jews and Arabs were offered part of this land, war broke out and still continues today. Even though a war happened as a result
On November 29, 1947, The United Nation General Assembly enacted Resolution 181 which dissolved the British Mandate of control over Palestine. UN Resolution 181 established a homeland for Jews dividing Palestine into two separate states, a Jewish state and an Arab state. The UN Partition Plan was welcomed by the displaced Jewish population, but the Arab community pre-existing in Palestine rejected the ‘plan of partition.’ After UN General Assembly Resolution 181 was implemented, a transitional period began within Palestine with the peace and security compromised as a civil war broke out.
All this caused sympathy for the Jews. In 1947 United Nation General Assembly issued resolution #181 according to which Palestine was divided into three parts: an Arab state, a Jewish state and an International