Israeli Palestinian Conflicts - Term Paper Example

Israeli palestinian conflicts Current situation and role of the super power in the conflict: The office of white house has tried to maintain ties with the Middle Eastern countries through the family of the Saud’s. The influence has thought to be recently declining as the strategy of the American military has not been very effective recently. One reason is picking up a war with multiple countries at the same time. It has become a norm in these countries to blame America also for their local mishaps or unfortunate events. It is also believed that America has started wars with the Arab nation for oil. The pace of development is rapid which is also challenging Americans. They have not been able to resolve many disputes including the Israel and Palestinian conflict. They do not know how to cope with it. Another stance by the American government is of changing loyalties that has created mistrust among the Middle Eastern countries. Various circumstances in the past reflect it. Other than helping the countries in promoting their local policy for peace, America uses force to maintain. This in return invites rebellion. The wars done by America especially in Afghanistan was very costly. It impacts not only their economy but also worldwide. The American public even does not align its interests with the government. They have a divided opinion and this creates it difficult for the government to decide. About the stature and view of America from the world, they expect it to act as a super power. Issues inside America as shutdown of federal posts and offices are alarming not only for Americans but also for the entire world. Such things are a blow to the prestige of the American policies for even their own people. The world economy in return is impacted by it. The allies of American have to rethink how much they can trust investing in businesses in America. If the military functions as it is while federal jobs are laid off, the people will open their eyes and realize where the budgeting is put in to. The policies set by the American government were deemed tobe ideal for a diplomatic country but the crises within America has led to hesitation from other countries in adopting such policies. Their newly introduced health care program is questionable as well. By allowing Russia to provide a middle line while dealing with Syria has made the world believe that American is not the only global decision maker but Russia also exists other than the super power. A survey was conducted on the views of America from around the world. The results indicate that Middle East and south Asia have the most negative views on America [1]. In this article I will focus on Israel and Palestine conflict. Key Issues: The key issues in the Israel-Palestinian conflict include Jerusalem as the main bone of contention. They both claim to own it. Both sides have a deep respect for it based on their religious beliefs. The conflict of this region is that Israelis are of the view that they should maintain their control over it. Palestinians believe that they should have the control over Jerusalem as they had on the part of it before 1967. Israel declaring the disputed region as its capital in its law is very disturbing for the Arab nations as it was acquired with wars and its ownership is not yet resolved. Both nations seem to have concerns over practicing religion in the areas governed by the other nation. There have been incidents in the past in which people have been banned from visiting their holy places and practicing their religion. The other issues between the two nations I of the Palestinian refugees. They fled to save their lives in 1967. As a result they were not given any nationality. Even after 30 years of war, these people are forced to live in refugee camps. Many of them are now born outside Israel but they should have a right to return to their homeland. Israel refuses this right and declares that other Arab nations should give them nationalities that have acted as their host countries. They also deny expelling these people from their homeland and state that they chose to leave of their own accord. Their poverty is attributed to the fact that they should be given a proper status abroad and not a refugee status. Israel is hesitant in inviting these people back to their country and say that they fear that their own nation will not remain stable. Due to these security concerns, the Israelis have marked borders. These borders are not recognized by the Arab world and are considered a disputed region only that needs to be resolved on political and ethical grounds.Israel has also managed to maintain control of these set borders without mutual consent leading to issues in people visiting Israel from an Arab descent. Water is also among the disputed things. In Arab nations, water is scarce. It has been reported that Israelis have been using 95 % of the water and either confiscated all water resources or destroyed it. The last point of conflict is the Israeli militancy confiscation of the west bank and their settlement there. The action of confiscating by force has increased negative views from the Arab nation and worldwide (Fisher). Peace agreements and their clauses: The end result of any peaceful agreement of Palestine and Israel is a two state solution each recognizing the existence of the other. Apart from signing peace treaties among themselves, they have signed peace treaties with other countries as well. The Palestinian point of view for peace process was initially triggered with protecting the right of return for the refugees. They did not accept the independent existence of Israel at first. Now they seem to tone down somewhat and demand the Gaza Strip and West Bank to be liberated by the Israelis. They are inclining towards accepting the two state proposal. The Israeli peace process carries a different perspective. They find Palestinians to be less flexible and more demanding during peace talks. Some believe that the entire land should be confiscated and not given to the Palestinians. They also think that the terrorist activities conducted by the Palestinian public are out of the hands of the government. So there is an environment of mistrust (Verbit). The world overall holds a different view of the peace process. They encourage two state nation as both have a right to exist and at the same time they request protection of the Palestinian boundaries. The first peace plan was given in 1970-1972. It was an initiative by the US and is known as the Rogers peace plan. It was done as a request to both parties to cease fire. This treaty involved Egypt, Israel, Syria and Jordan. Israel held reservations in signing the treaty with Egypt. Following this a minor attempt was made in 1991 at the Madrid Peace Conference which did not bring a significant result. This was taken forward and in 1993 in Norway the Oslo peace treaty was signed. This was fruitful as Palestine and Israel agreed to share control over the disputed territory. Terrorist activities ensued and this peace process could not last very long from the Israeli side due to security concerns. There were some agreements carried in 1996 – 1999 in which Israel took the initiative and requested the Palestinian government not to support the suicide bombings activities directly or indirectly. This did bring them on the same page regarding terrorism. In 1997 a Hebron agreement and Wye River memorandum was done to restore the Oslo agreement. It comprised of redeploying Israeli army for security reasons in disputed areas. The most significant peace progress was the Camp David and Taba talks starting from 2000. They suggested a new map in which controls and areas were to be divided. This failed badly ad Palestine was not ready to give control of their resources in the hands of Israel and later on Israel rejected the Arab peace talk that took place in Beirut on the grounds that it was not ready to leave the land that was acquired in 1969. In 2002 the Palestinian prime minister was changed on t he grounds that Israel and US failed to make a peace progress with him. The new prime minister was bought and was asked to stop the terrorist activities in the first place. Palestinians again refused to agree on the peace plan as it lacked security for the hard lined borders. Then internal issues of the Palestinian government arose. The leadership was divided in to two parts (Mishal, and Sela 275). This has been the main issue for Palestine regarding peace process till date. Both parties want their representation. Where Abbas is flexible, Hamas is not. Israel is now hesitant to move forward with the peace process as it is becoming impossible to bring the three parties on the same ground (Barack). Worldwide efforts are done to trigger the peace process again in which power, control and land needs to be exchanges between both governments. Now they are using a direct approach to resolve their disputes and there is always hope that they will reach a mutual agreement as long as they are ready to initiate or resume peace talks. References: Barack, Ravid. "Netanyahu to Abbas: Israeli unity cabinet is a new opportunity for Mideast peace Israel News | Haaretz." Haaretz.com. N.p., 14 May 2012. Web. 8 Nov. 2013. Fisher, Max. "Who loves and hates America: A revealing map of global opinion toward the U.S." Washington Post. N.p., 11 Jan. Web. 8 Nov. 2013. Mishal, Shaul, and Avraham Sela. The Palestinian Hamas: Vision, Violence, and Coexistence. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000. 275. Print. Verbit, Mervin F. "American Jews--More Right than Left on the Peace Process | Berman Jewish Policy Archive @ NYU Wagner." Home | Berman Jewish Policy Archive @ NYU Wagner. N.p., 2012. Web. 8 Nov. 2013. Read More