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The Arab Israeli War ( 1948-49 ) A Political Conflict?

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“To what extent was the First Arab-Israeli War (1948-49) a political conflict?”

WORD COUNT: 1388

In order to assess to what extent the First Arab-Israeli war was a political conflict, a working definition of ‘political conflict’ is needed. In this essay, the phrase ‘political conflict ’ refers to conflict motivated or influenced by a nation’s government or by the power, interests and security of a state.

BACKGROUND:

Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor on January 30, 1930 marked the beginning of a 15 year period of intense, violent and institutionalised persecution of the Jewish people across almost all of mainland Europe. This …show more content…

The First Arab-Israeli War (1947-48) was ultimately a conflict of power and politics. It did however have a religious, historical and cultural backdrop which entrenched an atmosphere of enmity between the Jews and the Arabs.

The ‘Partition Solution’ created the first point of conflict between the Jews and Palestinian Arabs. The disputation of who owned territory in the former British Mandate of Palestine came about as the Palestinians did not believe the Jews should have been given territory by the UN based on the religious and historical ties the Jews had to the land (Gill, 2017). The partitioning resulted in a large displacement of Palestinian Arabs and violent skirmishes between the Arabs and the Jews (Office of the Historian, accessed 2017). Natasha Gill, professor in conflict studies, said this in light of recent negotiations between the Jews and Arabs. “The fact that the Palestinians have refused to recognize the moral right of the Jews to a state in Palestine is a source of conflict, even though the Palestinians may be ready to accept Israel 's de facto right to exist today (Gill, 2017).”

Initially, the conflict was relatively small scale and included acts of terror, small-arms firefights and attacks on villages. For example, on the 9th April, 1948, a month before the Israeli declaration of independence, Jewish forces attacked the Palestinian village of Deir

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