Violations of Human Rights in the Arab-Israeli Conflict

“Life, liberty and the pursuit of property (happiness)” is a familiar phrase known from the United States’ Declaration of Independence. It says that we believe these are the three inalienable rights of all human beings and that it is the government’s job to protect these absolute privileges. Extensive advocation of these inalienable rights of man date back to the time of John Locke, over 300 years ago. In Emile Habiby’s novel, The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist, we meet Saeed, a Palestinian who becomes a citizen of Israel. Through his stories we are shown the inequality Arabs in Israel face and how the ‘inalienable’ rights we take for granted are being withheld from Israeli Arabs.

“Ideas about human rights have evolved over many centuries. But they achieved strong international support following the Holocaust and World War II. To protect future generations from a repeat of these horrors, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948 and invited states to sign and ratify it”

Human rights were an achievement that we humans have been working for years. Therefore it came to effect for at least some of us around the world in the form of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which is a declaration of 30 human rights that the United Nation adopted in December 10 of 1948. However, we face challenges along the way that oppose this belief of human rights. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it, a novel called Night which is about a man’s experience of the Holocaust (written by Elie Wiesel who actually experienced the event) provide events that violated the human rights of two, three, and five.

Human rights - they are an ongoing issue in the world today, with the constant struggle against violation. The United Nations has accepted 30 articles on human rights, which help protect millions from political, social, and legal abuses (UDHR). Even with the insistence from the world’s leaders to follow and honor these rights, violation is common and provides a serious threat to people all over the world. One example of a violation of human rights such as equality and safety in possessions is shown through the issue of Japanese American internment camps (UDHR).

In addition, I will examine the current state of political and human rights in Israeli occupied West Bank and analyze how they are approaching a level of apartheid. Finally, I will summarize the effects of these social tensions between Israel and Palestinians in the terms of how potential open conflict could reignite.

On April 5th, 2018, a group of Palestinian protesters marched their way to the Gaza-Israel border, before being interrupted by a sudden eruption of gunfire and smoke. The Israeli army opened fire on thousands of civilians, killing 18 and wounding many others. Israeli troops fight and kill the inhabitants of their neighboring territory, those who are innocent civilians of their own country (Jones). Tragedies like this happen nearly every month, in dozens of regions across the globe. Armed forces brought upon residents in an effort to eradicate, disguised as control. Ranging from police brutality to ethnic cleansings and cultural genocide, the use of military force is severely abused, and results in devastation around the world. Therefore, the

In this novel, Anna Baltzer documents her experiences in Palestine and her personal eyewitness accounts of the Palestine-Israel conflict. She describes heartbreaking events that she witnessed, such as the kidnapping of a farmer. Baltzer also describes how Israeli soldiers consider illegal matters legal when a Jew does it since they must “protect” themselves from harmful, innocent Palestinians. Although this novel is biased, it is useful since most of it is a primary source. It includes pictures, maps, a brief history and in-depth explanations of the complicated conflict.

In the mainstream news, there are many major events that are ignored and unreported by the U.S. media. Unfortunately, it sometimes seems that people’s lives are not important or valuable anymore. Instead, they give more attention to what is less detrimental. Killing is killing and injustice should not stay uncovered. We are always known as the truth tellers, fact checkers, and cover both sides because this is what America stands for. But, the U.S. bias coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict must come to an end. In fact, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has been referred to as the world’s most intractable conflict is almost ignored and not truthfully covered by the U.S. media. It all started when Jews decided that there should be a Jewish state somewhere in the

Topic sentence In the Middle East numerous rights have been violated according to the United Nations, these rights are getting violated by the government, terror groups, and local Militias. One thing that should be kept in mind that culture and other practices aren’t the same in every country so we must remember that the western way isn’t always the right way.

To a Palestinian that has been displaced from his/her long time homeland, completely displaced by a foreign power. The tone of victimization is easily created. But to an Israeli, that has found security from, long term discrimination, in Israel’s own borders, it is easy for an Israeli perspective to claim the Jewish people had a legitimate claim to the land. Accounts from the Palestinian narrative will often, as Sylvain Ehrenfeld a writer for Ethical Culture, writes “[F]ocus on victimhood, their suffering and dispossession and their deep sense of injustice at being punished because of Europe’s treatment of Jews.”. Moreover, he goes on to elaborate that the Israeli have also created a tone of an unfailing connection to its land, and argues legitimacy for claim to the land that was found in former Palestine, present day Israel. He goes on to mention that both sides are guilty of creating their perspectives so single-mindedly. Both sides will often misrepresent the reality of the situation to gain the support of historians. This distortion of reality will in often cases skew accuracy, therefore creating a limitation to the recording of history.

The outbreak of the second world war, preceded the wake of new international institutions and treaties that, in turn, would commence a path towards true rights for mankind. These legal organizations responded to the immense magnitude of violations towards Human Rights during the 20th Century. The Second World War saw a disregard for human rights never before seen by mankind. With the genocide of Jews, incessant discrimination against race and sexuality, as well aerial bombings in support of territorial expansion, the world turned their devastation into a National Confederation against future catastrophe, the United Nations. Following the creation of the United Nations, attempted hope came in the form of coalitions such as the International Criminal Court, the European Court of Human Rights, The U.N. Human Rights Council and United Nations Security Council. The Institutions were given the mandate, by the United Nations, to be a last resort in the protection of Human Rights, even against a corrupted State Government and any other proclaimed authorities. These bodies have the jurisdiction to make judgements in support of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, the rights of humanity are not internationally homogenous. Culture, religion, ethnicity and economic standpoints create complications and loopholes in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Therefore, limits and obstacles arise and these institutions must find a balance between Universalism and Relativism.

Frequently, issues such as human rights violations occur around the world that people are not aware of. It is therefore a great importance to seek knowledge ourselves beyond mass media outlets and our own governments. Previous research suggests, the history of the Palestinian conflict goes back generations. In 1918 when World War 1 had ended, the British gained control of the Palestinian territory. The UN had no intention of displacing or changing anything within the land, but they decided that the Jews needed a safe place to reside after the holocaust. Therefore, many Jews immigrated to Palestine after the Balfour Declaration was issued in 1917. It stated that Palestine welcomed Jews into their homeland (Said, 1999). The fall of the Ottoman empire encouraged the number of immigrants to that in 1947, the total number of Jews in the area was “650,000” (Avineri, 1981; Said, 1999). The Palestinians were surely grateful for the number of people immigrating to their land because they needed their

In the pursuit of positive peace for the global community, certain mechanisms are necessary in order to better protect human rights and resolve interstate conflicts. Prior to the events of World War II, a cogent set of laws defining those human rights, much less violations therein were never heard at an international scale. The International Criminal Court has the role as both appellate for justice and voice for peace in the international community but has not yet resolve the contradictory ends of both roles. That contradictory end is that many countries proclaim the necessity of the International Criminal Court as an advocate for conflict resolution and peace advocacy while being resist or outright antagonistic towards the court when their own state has committed those same crimes. To the ends of defending basic universal rights, the International Criminal Court (hereafter ICC) serves that capacity when state level systems cannot or will not act accordingly.

"Amnesty International’s vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards.

The supporting and advocating on behalf of human rights has been one of the primary principles of the United Nations. Since its founding in 1945, the United Nations has worked to preserve the basic human rights and fundamental freedoms it believes to be deserved of by every man, woman, and child on the planet. Throughout the near seventy years of the United Nations’ existence, it has been challenged with an array of questions, events, and claims regarding the possible violation of human rights. In order to combat these claims, the body has established two organizations to deal with matters of human rights. The first being the Commission Human Rights, was the original organization, founded in 1946. The Commission existed