Essay about The Arab-Israel Conflict

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

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

This tension came to a climax in 1936 during Arab Revolt, leaving 300 Jews and 5,000 Arabs dead, and over 15,000 Arabs injured. After WWII, large amounts of Jews were left as refugees, and on the eve of the expiration of the League of Nations Mandate, Israel announced its independence. A day latter, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon joined forces in order to stop Israel from becoming a state. There were a total of around 15,000 killed. A Palestinian’s journal explained the brutality when they wrote, “They took about 40 prisoners from the village. But after the battle was over, they took them to the quarry where they shot them dead and threw their bodies in the quarry” (10). Almost one million Palestinians were forcibly relocate. The war ended in 1949 in a ceasefire.

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

In 1948, Israel, originally known as Palestine was created. The Jews believed Israel was their ‘holy’ birthplace, this was called religious connection. In the book of Genenis, a verse states “I will bless those who bless you and cures him that cures you” (document A). When the “westerners” saw this verse they felt the need to get the Jews to get their holy land. This is called Zionism. Another reason is the Holocaust, which was the massacre of 6 million Jews. Anti-Semitism was also another reason, which was discrimination of Jews.

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.

This essay will focus on how theorists of peace and conflict have analysed the conflict in recent history. Especially, the peace process after the first Palestinian intifada and the 1993 Oslo-agreements will be analysed. In addition, this essay will shed light on the involvement of the United States in the

The lust for territory seems to be the real source of conflict, and until one group is satisfied, the appearance of religious conflict will exist in the Middle East. It seems as if the real truth needs to be portrayed to the rest of the world about the true reason for the Arab-Israeli conflict, which is geography and ultimately water. The lack of water stems from the Great Syrian Rift Zone, and causes damage to Israeli land which ultimately decreases the amount of water that flows into the Red Sea. This lack of water causes Israel and other surrounding countries (Jordan, Lebanon, and the Occupied Territories) to only have one source of surface water, which is from Lake Kinnaret, or the Sea of Galilee that flows into the Jordan River.

The 1973 Arab-Israeli war (known in Israel as Yom Kippur War) was a battle between Israel and numerous Arab countries. Israel, way smaller in numbers was celebrating one of their main holidays, Yom Kippur. Arab troops came swarming in and Israel had no idea it was coming. After about 20 days, Israel won the war, but it came with heavy casualties (From the War of Attrition to the 1973 Arab-Israeli War).

A majority of the Arab population in the territory that became Israel, around 700,000 people, became refugees.# During the first stages of war, many civilians temporarily evacuated from zones of combat with plans to return once fighting had stopped. However, during the early summer of 1948 Palestinian Arabs began fleeing in mass numbers, leaving behind their homes, businesses, and land. The Haganah saw the Arab flight as an opportunity to advance, and began encouraging the evacuation of towns and cities. In April 1948 the Haganah authorized a plan known as Plan D.# The campaign “provided for the conquest and permanent occupation, or leveling, of the Arab villages and towns.”# The field officers of the Haganah interpreted Plan D as giving them the power to expunge the Palestinian Arabs living in the area of the Jewish state as well as the Arabs living inside territory given to the Arab state. Plan D not only intensified

In the years just after World War II, Zionism (the desire to rebuild a Jewish national presence in the Promised Land) became a popular Jewish cause all around the world. Many Jews who were not practicing Judaism at all with religion became involved with the establishment of the State of Israel. Even today, many years after the successful founding of the State of Israel, there are Jews whose only real tie to Judaism is their belief in Zionism and their support for the State of Israel. They are joined by many Jews who are members of synagogues and support a modern Jewish religious movement, but who also find their prime identity as Jews in the Zionist cause.

The end of the 19th century brought with it the rise of Arab nationalism and Zionism, which called for the existence of a permanent Jewish State. Herzl’s 1896 manifesto “The Jewish State”, popularized the idea of Isaac’s promised land and influenced the Jewish peoples of Eastern Europe and Russia to proclaim Israel their own. The Jewish people took their first steps

The Six Day War of 1967 was a dramatic military victory for the Israelis. In just six days the Israeli army managed to take out most of the surrounding Arab state's air force and regained control of the land that was lost in previous battles. The Israelis had taken Sinai, the Gaza Strip, the West Bankand Jerusalem. The Golan Heights were also seized by the Israelis which is a very advantageous military spot because it is an area of high ground on the border of Israel and Syria. The Israelis came out of the war feeling proud and victorious that they managed to take on the three Arab countries by themselves.

This plan was to create Arab and Jewish states from Palestine. The Jewish public accepted this plan but the Arabs rejected it.

Between the period of 1948 and 1973 there was quite a bit of animosity and conflict between the Arab world and Israeli’s. This was caused by a struggle for land in the state of what was known as Palestine but to many it is now known as Israel. This conflict in the Middle East caused many wars between Israel and its surrounding Arab states. At the same time both USA and the USSR were trying to spread their ideologies and get a foothold in the Middle East because of strategic position, they would have access to the Indian and Mediterranean Oceans through the Suez Canal. They would also gain a resource advantage of oil as the Middle East is rich in oil. The involvement of these Superpowers was not the initial cause of the conflict it did “add fuel to the fire”. However the USSR and USA did not engage in any of this conflict because they did not partake in any of the wars by sending no troops what so ever so it could be said that they had little if any involvement in the conflict happening in the Middle East.