Essay on Israeli Settlements

The forcible eviction of the Palestinians and the denial of their right of return, has led to them becoming refugees, this has translated into the adoption of aggressive tactics and strategies to achieve their goal of a sovereign nation. Palestinian society is territorially disjointed by the divisions of the West Bank (administered by Fatah) and the Gaza area (administered by Hamas) creating a disharmony in interest articulation towards the goal of

The Israel-Palestine Conflict The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a part of the greater Arab-Israeli long-running conflict in the Middle East. The main point of this conflict is the existence of the state of Israel and its relations with Arab states and with the Palestinian population in the area. The idea and concept of Israel was born in the mid 19th century. Jews of Europe and America wanted a place for their homeland, where they could go and be with others of the same race and religion. Palestine was chosen because of its religious routs from The Bible as the “promised land” from God, and the motherland of Jews fled, known as the Diaspora.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the one of the world’s oldest conflicts, and it is still an ongoing problem in the world. Zionists and Arabs: two groups with conflicting beliefs who both claim Israel as their own. In wake of the Holocaust the U.N decided to gift the Jews a homeland for the lives lost in the genocide. In 1947, the U.N Partition divided the land of Israel (Historic Palestine) into two separate states: Arab and Jewish. Since then, the state of Israel has been the center of conflict between the Arabs and the Zionists. As time passed the Zionists gained more land from winning the Six-Day War, and consequently the Palestinians had to live as refugees in other Arab countries. Additionally, more than 75% of the land belonged to

As of recent years, with the rise of right-wing, nationalistic politicians in Israel, the hunger for settlement of Palestine has increased. Seeing the land as theirs to take, more and more Jewish settlements have been improved and expanded on in the West Bank, culminating and high profile confrontations between the new Jewish settlers and the Palestinian

The big question we ask ourselves today is, will Israel and Palestine ever agree to stop fighting? The conflict between Israel and Palestine has been traced all the way back to 1948 through 2005 in The Israel Palestine Land Settlement Problem, written by Charles Rowley and Jennis Taylor. However, this conflict did not end in 2005. This article was written in 2006, so anything within the last 10 years is not included. The conflict between the two counties still continues to this day and still remains a major problem. Israelis and Arabs have been fighting over Gaza on and off for decades now. The three issues laid out in this article are the four major wars that took place, the refugee problem, and the conflict between religions. It concludes with the road map to peace. Throughout his whole book, The Israel-Palestine Conflict, Gelvin speaks of the same historical events that occurred between Israel and Palestine, while the article reveals there are still other conflicts, the land settlement problem has been the major conflict between Israel and Palestine since 1948.

To start I was wondering “What initially sparked the desire for a modern-day Israel?”. Theodor Herzl, a German-speaking Jew, was for a large part of his early years uninterested in Jewish affairs. This changed once he found out about the Dreyfus Affair - a noted political scandal involving Alfred Dreyfus allegedly selling military secrets to Germany. The problem of determining guilt or innocence divided the third French republic(Britannica). I then wondered “How the upbringing of Herzl influences their desire to start the movement ?”. Due to Herzl's Jewish faith, he encountered much antisemitism in Germany, before realized that Jewish people would always be seen as outcasts(Founders of the Modern State of Israel). Last I wondered “ How did the movement deal with struggles to achieve the goal during WW2?”. Due to the holocaust in Europe and the extermination of millions, many Jews had illegally gone to Palestine, which escalated the conflict. This occupation alongside the back of the United States would lead to Israel receiving half of the Palestinian land(“State of Israel

Every failed attempt to help the Israelis and Palestinians come to a resolution only further developed the fear and hatred between them. The first proposal for a Two State solution was in 1937; the proposal was accepted by the Jews but denied by the Muslims. One of their largest arguments is over the city of Jerusalem. In 1947 a three way split was suggested, with Palestine and Israel having separate states and Jerusalem under international control. This was immediately opposed by the Muslims but accepted by the Jews. This led to the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, which was resolved in the 1949 Armistice Agreements that stated an end to the fighting and created borders for Palestinian people and Israeli people. Still, it resulted in the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Soon after the short war, the UN 242 resolution was passed, which stated that the Israelis withdraw from the areas they occupied during the war, but Palestinian still felt this did not help them in anyway as it reduced their people’s problems to a refugee problem. In 1988 Palestine declared independence, which was interpreted by other countries as an acceptance of the two state solution. Which in the end, we see it only furthered ill feelings and hostile acts from Israel and Palestine. When the 2000 Camp David Summit proposals failed, Bill Clinton proposed the following: A state for Palestine that included up to at least

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

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

The conflict between the nations of Palestine and Israel holds a lot of significance in today’s current events, and is a greatly debated and controversial topic. The conflict, commonly attributed to Jewish Zionism movements and forward settlement in the areas surrounding Jerusalem, is often seen as a two sided, illogical aggression between the neighbouring states. However; the conflict has roots that reach back to the age of imperialism, and to the conflict of World War I.

Almost a century has passed since the end of World War One, and the 1917 Belfour Declaration, which endorsed the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine and the preservation of the civil and religious rights of non-Jewish Palestinian communities. Consequently, the British Mandate in the region of Israel, the former Palestine, which was initiated and endorsed by the League of Nations in 1922, and which incorporated the Belfour Declaration. The control of Israel has changed hands multiple times since then and subsequently, its borders have shifted considerably and always to the disadvantage of the Palestinians and Arabs. The League of Nations approval of the British Mandate and Belfour Declaration, was roundly rejected by Arabs and Palestinians whose hatred and fear of a Jewish State has led to the heated arguments and unrelenting Arab/Israeli conflicts that continues to this day. In this paper, I will outline and discuss the controversial “Partition Plan’s”, of 1937 and 1947 respectively, which have concurrently shaped and reflected the state of the conflict throughout the 20th century. This paper will attempt to provide an unbiased account of the positions of both parties on the presented issues, however I will, in my conclusion, provide my opinion on the matter in light of all the information and facts provided.

The year 1948 witnessed the national independence for Israelis and “Al-Nakbah the disaster” (Sa'di 177) for Palestinian Arabs. Jewish Holocaust, Zionist movement, British interference, Arab awakening, religious conflict and disputes over territory built up into this catastrophic war. In consequence, on the one hand, millions of Palestinian Arabs fled into neighboring Arab countries, refugee camps and western countries (Mattar 395). On the other hand, militarization and securitization in Israel disrupted the normal life of its citizens (Éigeartaigh and Getty 18).

Since biblical times Jewish communities lived in Arab lands, in Persia, India, East and North Africa and indeed in Palestine. However more modern times have seen them as a nomadic people, living in various countries but never truly finding a land to call there own. In the late 19th and early 20th century an idea began to gain solidarity and momentum, that of Zionism. The idea of Zionism, to create a Jewish state, is arguably one of modern society’s most polarizing and influential movements. Zionism has influenced political, religious, and social groups in a variety of ways that culminated in the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine.(Cohen, week 10)

Israel successfully fought off the pan-Arab army while other Israeli combatants terrorized and depopulated the countryside. Ilan Pappe termed the depopulation of Palestinians as “ethnic cleansing” but can this phrase be properly used when discussing the events of 1947-1948? To answer this question one must determine if there is a well-established definition of the phrase ‘ethnic cleansing’ and also establish that this was the intent of the Zionists, both initially and subsequently. This can be determined by examining Zionist policy and action previous to the U.N partition plan and after, which will demonstrate that the term is appropriately applied to the situation by Pappe.

After more than 50 years of war, terrorism, peace negotiation and human suffering, Israel and Palestine remain as far from a peaceful settlement as ever. The entire Middle Eastern region remains a cauldron waiting to reach the boiling point, a potent mixture of religious extremism, (Jewish, Christian and Islamic), mixed with oil and munitions.