Young Palestinian Voices From East Jerusalem Essay

The west had been essential to the nation’s creation, and exerted its power in Israel. Israel’s leaders developed allegiances with western countries which had been essential in the formation of their country. Tension in the area grew, both inside and outside of the state, and violence was used against both sides. However, measures were not taken to undue the problems that had arisen from the unfair nature of the agreement. “Palestinians had been branded as ignorant, hostile, and violent” and non-Jewish groups found it difficult to practice their religion as they had before. Despite the obvious inequities that were growing, the west did little to alleviate the pain that it played a large part in creating. It seemed as if “People in the west seem so taken with material things, It’s as if they have nothing in their spirit, so they need to surround themselves

With Israel’s border needs in mind, Allon proposed a multifaceted solution for Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. He suggested Israel would incorporate the Jordan Valley, the Judean desert along the west coast of the Dead Sea, the area surrounding the Jerusalem metropolitan area, and a small tract of land south west of the Palestinian city of Hebron6. This configuration of newly incorporated land was designed to “provide Israel with the minimal defensible borders that are indispensable without impairing, to any meaningful extent, the basic interests of the other side, including those of the Palestinian community”7. It is important to note that Allon envisioned that the non-incorporated “Palestinian” parts of the West Bank would remain free of Israeli settlers and would eventually be handed back to the Kingdom of Jordan in order to form a future Jordanian-Palestinian state. The second important part of Allon’s plan is the use of a “selective settlement policy” within the incorporated areas of the West Bank as part of Israel’s defense strategy8. The selective settlement policy allowed for Israelis to settle in the West Bank, but only in areas lacking large Palestinian cities and villages. Unfortunately, the Allon Plan failed to account for the religious fundamentalism that would motivate much of the settlement building in the West Bank.

115,000 is the total estimated number of civilians, armed forces, and others involved killed since the start of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the late 19th century. Throughout the past several decades the Israeli Zionists and Palestinian natives have fought over a section of land in the Middle East for recognition as an independent or bi-national country. This has led to a war in which a peaceful solution, and not just managing the problem but attempting to end the problem is paramount.

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

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.

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).

The dichotomy of historical events, personalities and concepts are central to devising a sense of both triumph and tragedy, varying in perspective for the individuals and groups directly involved. The creation of the state of Israel accommodates this dichotomy, in which the event can simply be recognised as a success for the Jewish people whose religious land was regained, and a calamity for the Arab-Palestinians who became displaced refugees as a result. Since the inception of the Israeli nation-state in 1948, religious and political difference have played a major role in bringing about the Arab-Israeli conflict. The dominance of the Jewish people, driven by religious and cultural ties to the land following their Diaspora, has seen the formation of Israel as a short-term social triumph. However, the resultant dispossession of Arab refugees in the elicited conflict, consolidated by the increase in Arab rebel terrorist activity and interference of other states has

Israeli occupation controls all aspects of my life as a Palestinian. I live in a country that is occupied by the most battle trained armed forces in the world. I have no power over my own daily life. I always live in a state of fear. The fear of losing people I love or even losing myself. This major problem has been faced by Palestinians for more than 67 years. As a young Palestinian female who has the opportunity to study aboard, It’s a must that I try to convey the truth and let people know that while all the unjust and outrageous things that happen to us, we still stand in front of the occupation with rocks in one hand and education in the other.

Israeli-Arab wars basically refer to a series of conflict between Israel and some Arab states. These wars have been complicated or heightened by a list of factors linked to strategic, political, and economic interests in the regions of the great powers. In some occasions, people refer to the Israeli-Arab wars as hostilities caused by religious differences between Jews and Muslims (Quandt, 2013). Nonetheless, this paper will analyze one of the Israeli-Arab wars, the 1967 War also known as the Six-Day War, based on facts like its primary cause, the countries involved, the overall strategy for each side, as well as the state which achieved military victory. Additionally, the primary battle of this conflict, its overall end result, and the reasons for selecting the Six-Day War will also be covered.

Many words have been devoted to the topic of Israel and the underlying causes of the Arab-Israeli conflict; all of which seek to discern the culprit and contrive a remedy. The story behind this age old conflict is, as quoted by Israeli historian Illan Pappe, “the simple but horrific story of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine” (qtd. In “The Catastrophe”). As such, thorough review of the causes behind this ethnocentric conflict is vital in understanding the tumultuous power struggle in Israel and the violent instability of the region as a whole. While many believe the conflict is of a religious dispute, in actuality it is not. The fundamental basis behind this conflict is territory and its allocation between the Arab Palestinian people and the Israeli Jews (Beinin, Hajjar 1). For centuries the two peoples lived in peace, though each viewed the presence of the other as an antagonistic and unfavorable one. The rise of Zionism in the 19th century coupled with unlawful western meddling in Palestinian affairs, and the resulting Palestinian Holocaust which followed Israeli Independence are the main underlying causes which fueled the conflict up to the present day atrocities currently taking place in Israel today.

Some studies on the Israel-Palestinian conflict postulate that the nature of the conflict has always been about land, meaning the partition of the holy land (e.g., Newman, 2002; Klieman, 2000; Alpher, 1995). But a tectonic shift occurred with the swift Israeli victory in the 6 day war of 1967, when Israel occupied the territories. Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories bar Gaza strip ( territorially miniscule) has morphed into a sort of colonialism as Israel has buil a number of settlements on the territories it found in control of after 1967, which practically amounts to an annexation of the land. Therefore, the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict is essentially a conflict over Israeli colonization, the only remaining settler colonialism in the world. Early Israeli political thinkers were aware of the need to have overwhelming military superiority over the Arabs, the need for an Iron wall of Jewish Bayonets to drive the Palestinians into despair. The idea was to create a situation that in any subsequent negotiations, Israel would be able to negotiate from the position of strength.

Following the Six-Day War, Israeli settlement and presence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip formed a constant tension and unrest between Israelis and Palestinians. It is also important to recognise the climate of economic adversities and low quality of living conditions for the Palestinians due to Israeli focused government policies. This essay will discuss the importance of land ownership in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as the source of mounting frustration by Palestinians against the Israelis. It will also discuss the rekindling of Palestinian nationalism that was especially prominent throughout the Intifada.

The conflict between Israel and Palestine is just one of the many facets that have shaped modern day politics in the Middle East. It is a conflict rooted in generations of violence, discrimination and prejudice that is complicated by a history older than any of the modern day superpowers. Ever since the creation of the state of Israel by the 1947 UN partition of Palestine

As long as history remembers, the Palestinian land has always been subject to conflict, millenniums before Christ. Many civilizations craved domination over the land due to its long-known reconnaissance as a strategic position where Europe, Asia, and Africa passed through, and as a crossroad for various religious, cultures and politics. It is the birthplace of the three major Abrahamic religions, and holds a dear price in the heart of each one of them (Derrida.15-59). It started with Ancient Egyptians, then went to, by respective order to: Canaanites, Philistines, Ancient Israelites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Saracen, Crusaders, Ottomans, British, Jordans, Egyptians then, nowadays: Palestinians and Israelites.

Dating back to the beginning of the 20th century, Israel’s and Palestine’s relationship took a turn, causing wars to break out and many unnecessary deaths to occur. Since then, things have changed greatly, and I don’t believe the conflict between them can currently be solved. The friction between these two countries and religions is still increasing, and so is the hostility that’s contained by the Palestinian people. Israel has committed many human rights violations, including killings, beatings, torture, and shootings at unarmed civilians; this includes children. Palestinians have no state or army, but only weapons such as bombs, knives, rocks, and many youths who are willing to die by using them against the Israeli troops.