Arab-Israeli Conflict - Essay Example

?Arab-Israeli conflict Arab-Israeli conflict The origin of the Arab-Israeli conflict can be traced back to the later parts of the 19th century when Zionism gained currency among European Jews. Zionism was an idea that envisioned the creation of a Jewish Sate in the historical land of Israeli which was then the territory of Palestine under the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Even though the idea had been floating around for almost a thousand years increasing anti-Semitism in Europe during the later part of 19th century gave it a certain level of urgency which had previously been lacking. An example of this anti-Semitism was the Dreyfuss affair in France and more seriously the instigation of anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire (Sachar, 1979). At the end of the 19th century, in light of this increasing anti-Semitism in Europe, Zionist leaders encouraged massive immigration to Palestine through the purchase of these lands using the Jewish National Fund. Soon the Arabs who were the predominant owners of this land started feeling aggrieved. This land dispossession of the Arab land by the Jews soon erupted into sporadic violence between the two communities (Smith, 2006). During the First World War both the Arabs and the Jews fought on the side of the British against the Turks who were allied to the Germans. Their reasons were however very different. On the side of the Arabs the British encouraged them to revolt against the Turks with the promise that after the war the British would establish nation states for them including for the Palestine territory which by then had huge numbers of Jews (Schindler, 2008). Jews on the other hand were also encouraged to revolt with the promise that after the war the British would establish for them a Jewish state. This was done through the Balfour Declaration to the Zionist leaders. Following the end of the war however the British could not simultaneously satisfy the promises made to both the Jews and the Arabs in Palestine which had been placed under its mandate. Meanwhile violence between the Arabs and Jews increased as more Jews continued emigrating from Europe into these Arab lands especially after the Nazi ascendance to power in Germany on an anti-Semitic platform. After the Second World War and in light of the Holocaust, the state of Israeli was formed 1948 resulting in war with the Arabs which have continued sporadically since then with major ones being in 1948, 1952, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982 and 2006. The major stumbling blocks to the Arab-Israeli peace include the continued construction of Jewish settlement housing schemes in what the Palestinians consider their own territory. This has resulted in the Palestinians claiming that that the Israelis deliberately want to ensure that if they ever get a state then it won’t be a viable one (Fawcett, 2005). Another stumbling block is the refusal of powerful forces within the Palestinians like Hamas to recognize the state of Israel. There is also the contention of the state of Jerusalem on where exactly it should be given that it is considered a Holly City by both the Arabs and Jews. (Fawcett, 2005). The First World War is considered a turning point in the affairs of the Middle East. During the war the British had given both the Jews and the Arabs in Palestine promises it could not fulfil. The British, in a bid to defeat the Turks had encouraged both Arab nationalism and Zionism to spur both the Arabs and the Jews in fighting the Turks (Sachar, 1976). Following the defeat of the Turks Arab states were curved from the former Ottoman Empire while some became British Mandates. One of these mandatory states was the Palestinian state which was occupied by both the Arabs and the Jews. Since the British could give the land to neither the Arabs nor the Jews conflicts continued between the two groups especially after the influx of Jews continued to grow leading to severe pressure on the land. The influx was mainly due to the Russian Revolution and later on in the 1930s to the violent anti-Semitism in Germany which by then had huge portions of Jews (Fraser, 1980). The Jewish-Arab conflict that resulted after the First World War was not an inevitable conflict that would have occurred regardless of how the British would have settled it. In my view the period after the war was the most opportune time to implement a two state solution for the conflict. The Jews would have continued emigrating from Europe but they would all have gone to their state with minimum conflict with an Arabic Palestinian state. The Arabs on the other hand would have resented the giving of their lands to the Jews and possibly they would have been violent for some time but in the long run they would have all lived in relative peace. The catastrophe of the following years would at least have been avoided. After the Second World War the USA started playing an important role in the affairs of the Middle East. This was begun by the recognition of the Israeli state by the Truman administration. There have been many reasons why the USA has always involved itself in the affairs of the Middle East and Israel in particular. The first one is domestic. Jews constitute a sizable voting bloc in the USA elections especially in the so called swing states. This has given the Jews a huge political influence which they have used to shape a favourable policy of the USA towards Israeli. The Jews in Israeli have also formed a powerful lobby group in the USA which they use to influence a favourable USA policy towards Israel. They do this by funding pro-Israeli politicians among other methods (Dorman, 1992). In the course of this relationship with Israel, it has also sought to bring peace to the region using its huge leverage over the Israelis. In this regard it has failed for a number of reasons. The main one is that because it is a close ally of Israel, it is almost impossible to act as a neutral arbiter no matter how much it tries. This closeness to Israeli has led to a lot of distrust of the USA’s motives especially by the Arabs and the Muslim world at large (Smith, 2004). Neo conservatives who believe that Israel must be defended at all cost and adopt the extreme right wing Jewish view only serve to embolden the Israelis into making other bold actions that are detrimental to the peace process. The view of the realists that peace can be found if only Israeli is kept in check by international powers and both sides made to make compromises is not only plausible but logical as well. Arab nationalism attaches a lot of importance in the historical traditions, ideas, civilization and culture of the Arabs as well as its key historical figures. It is limited to the Arab countries in the Middle East and northern Africa. Islamism is more religious and therefore transcends nation, race and tribe. It is as strong in Pakistani as it is in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. In Arab nationalism countries greatly revere ancient historical figures like the Pharaohs for example unlike Islamism which does not honour anyone who was not a Muslim claiming them to have been pagans and therefore not supposed to celebrated as heroes. In Arab nationalism, Arabs are also considered to be superior to the other people who they call ‘Ajam’ meaning dumb. In Islamism however everyone who is a Muslim is equal to another. Thus a black as well as a white, an Arab as well as an Indian are all equal by the mere fact that they are Muslims. The main types of Islamists have for long been the Shias and the Sunnis. The Shias are generally concentrated in Iran while the Sunnis form the majority of the other. Approximately 80% of the Muslims are Sunnis. The Sunnis believe that Mohammed did not appoint a successor while Shias believe that Mohammed his son in law as a successor (Welch, 1978). At the moment political Islam appears to have gained power over Arab nationalism and is likely to continue remaining for the foreseeable future. This was evidenced by recent Arab Spring and the subsequent elections that brought to power Islamists in virtually all the countries that fell their autocrats like Egypt and Tunisia. Globalisation is described as the process by which in many different fields the world is drawing together as a single society, marked by common institutions and organizations, by shared culture and consciousness. (Lechner and Boli, 2005). Globalisation has had the effect of establishing strong national and international institutions. Among policies that were as a result of globalization were market liberalization. Very few benefitted from this system leaving out many others struggling economically. This economic hardships inevitably led to many people revolting against their autocratic governments which seemed unresponsive to their needs (Albioni, 2011). Globalisation has also had the effect of making democracy the standard for governance all across the world. The people of the Middle East therefore had this standard deeply rooted in their minds through the effects of globalization that they saw its pursuit worthy of their sacrifice (Anderson, 2011). Technology greatly aided the spread of this revolution. Many of the organizers of demonstrations in Egypt for example used social networking sites like twitter and facebook to spread their message. Others used blogs to articulate the grievances of the demonstrators and to convince the international community of the rational of supporting them. References Albioni, R. (2011). The international dimension of the Arab spring. Boston: The international spectator. Anderson, L. 2011. Demystifying the Arab Spring. Foreign Affairs. Fawcett, L. (2005). The International Relations of the Middle East. UK: Oxford University Press Fraser, T.G. (1980). The Middle East: 1914–1979. New York: St. Martin's Press. Lechner, F. J. & Boli, J. (2005). The Globalisation Reader. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Sachar, M. (1976). A history of Israel: From the rise of Zionism to our time. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Shindler, C. (2008). A History of modern Israel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Smith, D. (2004). Palestine and the Arab Israeli conflict: A history with documents. Boston: St Martin’s. Smith, D. (2006). Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict. New York, NY: Bedford Welch, T. (1978). "Muhammad". Encyclopaedia of Islam William A. (1992). The United States and the Middle East: A search for new perspectives. New York, NY: Sunny Press. Read More