The I. P. Conflict

The rise of Zionism and Arab Nationalism in the nineteenth century triggered major political tensions in the region of Palestine. The conflict among the Zionists and Arab Nationalists is primarily due to the politics of territory and is essentially not comprised of religious opposition. In fact, before the advent of Zionism and Arab Nationalism, Jews and Palestinians shared a local identity due to mutual tolerances. This identity, which took precedence over religion, created a vivacious community with its own unique set of traditions and customs shared among the Jews, Muslims and Christians. However, following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the Zionists whom were seeking a safe haven from Jewish prejudices in mainly Eastern Europe, proclaimed their return to Palestine. Zionists sought the territory of Palestine as the ‘official land of the Jews’ because of their ancient homeland ties. Furthermore, as Zionism progressed, Arabs Nationalists were threatened by the ideology and the vast Jewish immigration to Palestine. In the Arab point of view, Zionism emerged as a European movement, which appeared to be another attempt by Western imperialism to subordinate Muslims to Europeans. Although Arab Nationalism and Zionism were similar in nature, these two identities were destined to clash primarily due to their irreconcilable nationalistic aspirations and cultural characteristics.

When Britain announced its intention to keep the peace, it forgot the intentions of the people it was maintaining. It was obvious that Jews and Arabs could not coexist by the late 1930s (Immell 19). With their in-fighting,

This was a result of the Balfour declaration, which promised a homeland to the Jews and vowed to protect the rights of non-Jewish people in Palestine. While Britain kept control over Palestine, remaining states such as Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria gained independence. The Balfour declaration essentially triggered a Zionist movement and encouraged Jews to migrate to Israel – altering the demographics of Palestine, as Arabs had previously been the majority population. As conflict between the Arab and Jewish population started emerging, the “Irgun” emerged as a Jewish guerrilla force. Eventually the British withdrew after World War 2 in 1948 and left Israel more land than agreed on under the UN plan and this enforced the repositioning of thousands of Palestinians. In response, the Arab nations rejected the state of Israel and its claims over Palestine and conflict was physically ignited in the 1956 Israel invasion of Sinai. This demonstrates how the violent conflict between the Arab and Jewish communities is largely caused by the political and social contentions of the

Based on the original concept of the Sykes-Picot Agreement, this area was artificially divided into two parts: France controls Syria, while Britain controls Iraq, Jordan and Palestine. After a few years, Iraq and Jordan became independent as Arab nations, but Palestine, which means the land west to the Jordan river, did not. Based on the Balfour Declaration, Zionists intensified their lobbying activities to the U.K. government in order to promote the immigration of Jews to the land of Palestine. This was also a good opportunity for other European countries to let Jews migrate out of them, under expanding anti-Semitic

Yesterday’s event regarding the Balfour Declaration was given by Charles Smith. The 100th year anniversary of the Balfour Declaration serves as a great reminder of the cornerstone to the existence of the Israeli state today. Dr. Smith argues that, at the time, Lord Balfour’s letter was written to Rothschild favoring

David Ibarra Mr. Kunkel World Literature – Period 7 September 8, 2015 Arab-Israeli Peace and How Extremists Keep it Unachievable The Middle East has been a conflict ridden area due to clashing religions, and political and territorial disputes for centuries. Although deep-seated religious and political differences can easily cause violent rivalry, territorial dispute frequently causes long lasting tension and fighting between those involved. Specifically the area occupied by modern day Israel and Palestine and due to the area being a hub for religious pilgrims of Jewish, Catholic, and Islamic faith there has been controversy for centuries. Most importantly though, is the presence of Britain having control of the land beginning in 1917 due to the growth of Zionism. Eventually the United Nations created their partition plan as a way to try to have peace between the Arabs and Jews but as time went on it seemed less and less likely for peace to prevail (Fisher 5). Similarly, this view of the conflict being impossible to solve is present in Yasmina Khadra’s writings. Khadra in his novel, The Attack, suggests that a peaceful solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict is not possible through the extremist behavior of Sihem which correctly reflects that of the actual hatred of Israelis found in current

Since Jews, Christians, and Muslims all find profound religious significance in Jerusalem, “religious freedom and full access to holy sites must be a key component to any agreement on Jerusalem.”8 But no agreement has yet been reached, and Jerusalem continues to be a point of contention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The recent political conflict can be traced to the end of World War I, when the collapse of the Ottoman Empire left the Middle East to be carved up by colonizing forces. During World War I, the British took control of the area by supporting an Arab rebellion against the Ottomans. About the same time, the Balfour Declaration was issued by Britain’s foreign minister “announcing his government’s support for the establishment

In the light of the Arab – Israeli agreements reached in the 1990s, probably the only solution would have been to have divided Palestine between Arab and Jewish areas as soon as the mandate had been established. Although suggested, this was never done. As a result, Britain was seen as a weak policeman unable to control a beat for which he was not really concerned and British officials and soldiers became targets for both sides. Therefore Britain’s inept handling of the problems of the mandate therefore was a major cause of the future arab-israeli

Disputes between the Arabs and Jews date back to the 1800s, when Zionism was first introduced. Zionists bought land off oblivious Palestinian landowners which lead to the eviction of the arabs who worked on the land. As Jewish migration increased, the Arabs became aware of Jewish intention to take over their land. Not only did this result in unease between them but it spread fear within the Arab community forming a need for nationalism. Good afternoon year 11, This speech will highlight how bad British decisions and conflicting promises eventual escalation of the Arab-Israeli conflict. As well as British promises, I will also be speaking about other factors that contributed to the conflict.

Western Influence on Israel: Historical Lens With internal conflicts escalating in the Middle East, the public opinion of these nations has become more complex and divided. Since its independence in 1948, Israel has been one of the epicenters of disorder in the Middle East as it connects Europe with Arabia. However, looking at the history of Israel could help in the establishment of a strong, stable state with better relations among its people and the nations around it. If Israel’s relations with its neighboring countries improves, respect among the Middle Eastern countries could be restored, prompting cooperation and a step forward in foreign relations and peace. In order to understand the recent development of Israel, it is important to look at the past influences of Middle Eastern and Western countries and how they have affected the borders and the Jewish population of Israel.

The turmoil in the Levant region is constantly viewed as an ancient conflict that has been going on for centuries, fueled by religious hatred. In reality the current conflict has less to do with religion than the conflicting claims of two groups to the same region. These claims were

The conflict between Palestine and Israel stems from disagreements about the land, differences in the opinions of historical change of boundaries, differences in religion and also disagreements among international actors that have influenced how the conflict has played out since the boundaries of Israel were drawn up after World War

The Arab Isreali Conflict The Arab-Israeli conflict came about from the notion of Political Zionism. Zionism is the belief that Jews constitute a nation (or a people) and that they deserve the right to return to what they consider to be their ancestral home, land of Israel (or Palestine). Political Zionism, the belief that Jews should establish a state for themselves in Palestine, was a revolutionary idea for the 19th Century. During World War I, Jews supported countries that constituted the Central Powers because they detested the tyranny of czarist Russia. Both the Allies and Central Powers needed Jewish support, but Germany could not espouse Zionism due to its ties with the Ottoman Empire, which still controlled Palestine. British

Furthermore, it could be argued that both sides were victims of the British, who were also responsible for aggravating the conflict. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has its origins in the British imperial politics. The Great Britain, in fact, in order to obtain the Arab support against Turkey during the First World War, had proposed the birth of an independent Arab state in Palestine, at the time under the Ottoman supremacy. Retaining that it was better not to antagonize the Jewish Western elite who sympathized with the Zionist ideology and since 1882 have pushed a great number of Jews from Eastern Europe to Palestine, British government kept a divided breeding ground in order to gain a supremacy on that land: Palestine. This led on the 2nd of November 1917 to the Balfour Declaration, which promised Jews an independent state, however with the contradictory promise not to damage the already existing communities in Palestine. In addition, ‘Britain must atone for its sins in Palestine’ stated by Dr. Nabeel Shaatah, a member of the PLO, which seems to suggest that Britain had a prime league position in this conflict, which could be a reason for the feeling of righteousness that the two population had. In other words, giving the impression that Britain was promising both Palestine and Israel the support in order to ensure the rights of the Arab majority and an independent

The war in the Middle East is an Arab-Israeli conflict with a lot of external parties with their own interests involved. The seed for the war was sown by the British Empire in charge of Palestine in the early twentieth century, when it promised an independent Arab state that included Palestine to the Arabs (Shah). In contradiction the British Foreign Minister also promised the same land to the Israelis through the ‘Balfour Declaration’ and aid for the establishment of ‘a Jewish national home’ in Palestine (Shah). Since, then the United Nations and the United States of America have fueled the war between these two parties. The involvement of foreign party and their tendency to wage war against any Arab regime, that disagrees being a mere puppet has created a power vacuum increasing instability within the Arab nations. This has increased violence and terrorism in the Middle East, the effects of which is felt throughout the world. The main causes of this war and why it has not yet been solved can be found by digging deep into the concepts of “Greater Israel”, direct involvement of external forces and “petrodollars”.