Arab Israeli Relations and the Middle East Conflict - Essay Example

Arab Israeli Relations and the Middle East Conflict Arab Israeli Relations and the Middle East Conflict The Middle East war is a warthat has been fought for a long time between the Palestinian, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq and the Jews. The war dates back to the beginning of 20th century when the conflict began between the Israel Jews and the Palestine Arabs (Smith, 2006). What is notable is that the two groups that have been engaged in this war come from different religions. The Palestinians are composed of the Christians, Muslims, and Druse. However, the Muslims are the majority while Christians are the minority in Palestine (Smith, 2006). The war has been fought since then with no signs of it ending any time soon despite efforts being put by the two warring factions to strike a cease-fire to end the war. In fact, the war has led to the death of many people in the region something, which is so alarming. As such, the United Nations and the U.S. have been at the forefront in trying to bring the two warring factions to the negotiating table so as to end the war. Nevertheless, it is surprising that even after making an agreement, it seldom take too long before the wear regenerates again. This war has led to much research being conducted to establish its real cause as regards the views held by the two warring factions. In this regard, historians have established that the conflict has mainly been attributed to the struggle over land. This is because the war of 1948 was fought purely on the land question that later led to the division of Palestine into three parts namely the West Bank, the Israel State and the Gaza Strip. Palestine, as it is known internationally is a small area of about 10,000 square miles. The war over this land degenerated over the fight for its political control (Smith, 2006). The Jews claim that the land was given to them in according to the torah where God promised Abraham and his descendants the land. In fact, they argue that the land has been a historical site for the Jews people of Israel, which had been illegally occupied by the Roman Empire. Therefore, the Jewish are of the opinion that the land rightfully belongs to them and nothing whatsoever can deter them from occupying this land. Palestine Arab’s, on the other hand, claims that the land rightfully belongs to them based on the fact that they have lived on this land for several years. They also claim that, demographically, they represent the majority on this land, which signifies their legitimate ownership of the land. Therefore, they refute the argument put forwards by the Biblical-era kingdom that claims that the land belong to the minority Jewish. In fact, Palestine Arabs argue that based on the fact that Ishmael, the son of Abraham is an Arab’s ancestor, then the promise of God to the Abraham’s descendants also include the Arabs as well. Therefore, they object any attempt aimed at snatching them the land, which they believe rightfully belongs to them (Lesch and Tschirgi, 1998). It is noted in the 19th century, preceded by the trend that began in Europe, many people across the globe began to identify themselves as sovereign nations that culminated to the demand for independence. As a result, the Palestine and Jews started developing national consciousness aimed at achieving their national agenda. However, since the Jews were spread all over the world, there came a need to identify a place where the Jews could call home thereby leading to the formation of the Zionist movement. The Jews later found Palestine to the right place since it represented the place of Jews origin. As a result, in 1882, the Zionist movement initiated mass immigration of the Europeans into Palestine. However, what is noted is that, at this time, Palestine formed part of the Ottoman Empire. The Jewish settled mainly in four major cities in Palestine particularly those with religious significance such as Jerusalem, Safad, Hebron, and Tiberas (Mahler and Mahler, 2010). As the Jews continued to immigrate into Palestine, their number grew to the extent that by the outbreak of World War I of 1914, their population in Palestine had risen to about 60,000. However, the population of the Arabs was about 683,000 thereby making them the majority. However, as the number of the Jews began to grow, they started demanding for the establishment of Israel state, a proposal that got support from Britain and France. This follows the announcement by Lord Arthur Balfour, the British Foreign minister of British support of the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. This angered the Palestine Arabs who were opposed to the creation of a Jewish state on their land. This led to a war over the control of land that began in 1920 leading to death of almost equal numbers of both groups. However, in 1920s when large trucks of land were bought from absentee Arab property owners by the Jewish National Fund led to the evictions of Arabs that had been settling in the nearby area. The displacement of the Palestine from their lands increased tensions between the Arabs and the Jewish that led to violent confrontations (Lesch and Tschirgi, 1998). The conflict over land ownership between the Arabs and Jewish continued until after the end of World War II, when the United Nations formally recommended the separation of Palestine into two states that also culminated into the internationalization of Jerusalem in 1948. What is noted that despite the fact that the Jewish happened to be the minority in Palatine, they were allocated a majority of the land creating more discontent from the Arab world (Mahler and Mahler, 2010). The recognition of the autonomous Israel as a state in 1948 was met with strong resistance from Arab countries that rejected the creation of Israel and a state on Palestine land. This saw Arab countries such as Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Trans-Jordan, and Yemen organize their troops that later began fighting the Jewish in their countries and in Palestine. However, they were defeated by the Israel troops backed by the British, the U.S. and French troops. This led to the successful creation of Israel as an independent state in Palestine. The consequences of the 1948 war was that many Palestinians were removed from the newly created Israel with most of them being forced to settle in refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Syria among other countries. Report indicates that close to 750,000 Palestinians were displaced with scores others being cleaned. At the same time, many Jews were also driven out of the neighboring Arab countries. What is noted is that, as with the Jewish, expelled Palestine had their bank accounts and/ land and other valuable property seized (Lesch and Tschirgi, 1998). 1956 Suez Canal War It is reported that even after the end of 1948-1949, there was still a lot of tension between the Arab nations and Israel. The tensions were catalyzed by the fact that different countries in the region were competing to build strong military weapons while at the same time preparing their forces for future war. As a result, in 1956, Israel together with France and Britain initiating a lethal military attack on Egypt as a means of forcing the Egyptian government to reverse its intention to internationalize the Suez Canal. The war ended with the defeat of Egypt by the Israel forces that captured Sinai Peninsula and Gaza. However, the Israel forces were forced to withdraw their forces from the Egyptian territories by the U.N. let by the Soviet Union and the U.S. in order to avert war from escalating to the rest of the region (Shah, 2006). 1967 Six Days War It is reported that the six-day war of 1967 began as a result of preemptive strike after the Soviet Union that was already competing with the U.S. for global power misinformed Syria of Israel’s intention to attack them. This is after it later came out that there was no such motive whatsoever. The Syrian government then requested for military assistance from Egypt that entered into Israel from the Sinai Peninsula. The Egyptian troops in the process managed to seize Sharm al-Sheikh on the southern part of Sinai Peninsula. Egypt also claimed to have blocked the port of Eilat in Israel asserting that Eilat was accessibly only through Egyptian territorial waters. This scared Israel since blockage of this port put it under the danger of extermination (Shah, 2006). As the diplomatic and military crisis continued, Israel preemptively attacked Syria and Egypt on 5 June 1967 destroying their arsenals on both air and ground within few hours of fighting. Angered by the happenings, Jordan also joined the war, but before long, Israel began bombarding it as well. The war took only six days and Syria, Egypt, and Jordan were all together defeated by Israel leading to Israel seizing the West Bank from Jordan, the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, and Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights from Syria. However, since the end of this war, negotiations have been ongoing aimed at securing the return of the land taken away by Israel to the pre-1967 states in accordance with the U.N. resolutions and international laws (Mahler and Mahler, 2010). 1973 Yom Kippur War In an attempt to recapture the lost territories to Israel, Syria and Egypt later tried to recapture the land by attacking Israel on Yom Kippur, which is a Jewish holy day. However, their efforts were thwarted when Israel intervened by carrying out strong lethal bombardments that led to their retreat. However, Egypt later managed to regain Sinai through a peace agreement signed between it and Israel in 1978 through the Camp David accords (Mahler and Mahler, 2010). Conclusion Despite the fact that land has been the main cause of the Middle East conflicts, religion has also played a big role in fueling the conflict, as there are some conflicts that arose over religious issues such as the fight over Jerusalem, and the West Bank, which had significant religious influence to both the Jews and Palestine. Nevertheless, the international community needs to move with speed in order to break a cease-fire to end the conflict still being witnessed in the Middle East particularly between Israel and Palestine. References Lesch, A.M. & Tschirgi, D. (1998). Origins and development of the Arab-Israeli conflict. West Port, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. Mahler, G.S., & Mahler, A.R.W. (2010). The Arab-Israeli conflict: An introduction and documentary reader. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis. Shah, A. (2006).The Middle East conflict—a brief background. Retrieved from http://www.globalissues.org/article/119/the-middle-east-conflict-a-brief-background. Smith, C.D. (2006). Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict, New York: Bedford. Read More