The Arab-Israeli Conflict - Research Paper Example

The Arab-Israeli Conflict The Middle East region has indeed faced more rivalry and conflict as compared to any other region in the world.TheArab-Israeli conflict of 1948 was actually the first instance of a bloody battle in the region triggered by the announcement of Israel’s independence in the same year (Schulze 13).The 1948 war between Arab and Israel was triggered by many international and intraregional factors combining to form a complex situation and a catalyst for war (Hurewitz 73). The Arab-Israeli war is one of the most profound and complex conflicts of the 20th century than any other war in the region. Arguably, the origin of this war can be traced back in the nineteenth century when the Zionist movement came up with the idea of establishing a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine.There are different opinions on the root cause of this conflict, for instance, Arabs argue that this conflict was as a result of dispossession and dispersal of the Palestinian Arabs. Contrarily, Israelis believe that the root cause of the 1948 conflict is not about territory but the Arab rejection of Israel’s right to exist as a sovereign state in the Middle East.Therefore, conflicting interest the Jewish and Arab movements in regard to the possession of Palestine was the main cause of the 1948 war. This war led to Israel’s victory but it had significant impacts on both the regional politics and international relations in the Middle East, which are still experienced to date, and it has been a major cause of the wars in the region. This paper explores the Arab-Israeli war covering some of the key issues such as its causes, consequences, and peace negotiations. The leading factors that triggered the Arab-Israeli conflict mainly include Zionism or Jewish nationalism, Arab nationalism and British foreign policy among others.From a broader perspective, Arab-Israeli war emerged following the struggle between the Jews and Arabsover the possession of Palestine (Worth 11). Arguably, Zionism and Arab nationalism movements had been coming up vigorously since the nineteenth century aiming at achieving emancipation and self-determination motivated by the concepts of identity, nationhood, history, religion and culture among others (Schulze 1).For instance, the idea of classic Zionist can be traced in the biblical tradition about the proclaimed land of Israel where the independence of the Jewish would be restored (Cohen 33). Both the Jews and Arabs are ancient Semitic individuals sharing language, culture and religion (Tessler 2). The European anti-Semitismand persecution triggered the emergence of political Zionism whose ideological foundation was based on, first, the Jewish people constituted a nation and there was need for affirmation of this nationhood. Secondly, rejection of assimilation with the view that it was undesirable and impossible.More so, Zionism gain popularity following the perception that physical separation from Europe and self-determinism are the only factors that can help overcome anti-Semitism (Schulze 1). Ideally, the religious and cultural ties to the land of Israel led to the territorial claim of Palestine as the only suitable and permanent solution to the problem of the Jews. TheRoman destruction of the Jewishstatehood, Palestine, is the main cause of the Arab-Israeli conflict because since this incident, exile and dispersion has been the lifestyle of the Jewish people (Karsh 11). In short, Zionism movement raised the opinion that Jews were fully entitled to Palestine and this in turn energized the Jews to fight in order to have self-determinism.Therefore, this conflict may not have happened in the first place without Zionism because the Jews would have never been interested in establishing their own a Jewish state. More so, Arab nationalism emerged due to the shared language, Islamic religion as well as the history of the Middle East region and so Arab nationalist hoped for political cooperation via the Arab League. Notably, Arab nationalism developed at the end of the eighteenth century to oppose European colonialism in the region. This is because the Arabs always believed that western rulers provided full support to Israel.Arab nationalist radicals perceived Israel as their enemy not only because of their injustice against their colleagues in Palestine but also Israeli’sclose relation with the western imperialistaspirations especially concerning oil reserves towards the region (Milton-Edwards and Hinchcliffe 13).TheArab nationalism was therefore a significant cause of the Arab-Israeli conflict since it enabled the Arab nations to have a common enemy and this gave them strength to fight against Zionism as well as the western power. Another cause of the war is based on how the Arab states relates. Ideally, the Arab states are supposed to join forces and remain unified towards the achievement of the common goals, opposing Israel. However, in practice, this is not always the case as their relations are more determined by conflict as opposed to cooperation. Notably, Israel is one of the leading factors contributing to the disintegration of the Arab nations and this is why all Arab states highly oppose it. Despite their differences, Arab states remain united in opposing Israel because according to them, individuals from different Arab states including those living in Palestine form one nation but Israel interfered with the sacred rights of this nation. Furthermore, the Arab-Israeli conflict was caused by the impact of the British foreign policy and UN’s policy regarding the Middle East.For instance,at the end of World War 1, both Jews and Arabs were convinced Palestine belonged to them promised by the British. This was an implication that that the British policy had inconsistencies because neither Zionists nor Arab nationalists was aware of their stance. Both Arabs and Israeli claimed that Palestine belonged to them as Israel argued that the land is theirs that God promised them the land while the Arabs claimed the land belongs to them because they have been living there for centuries. ToJews, the formation of Israel was a great event, but to Arabs, the establishment and existence of Israel was one of the biggest challenges of Islam (Bickerton 22). British held the mandate for Palestine when World War 2 ended, however, the British were caught in an impossible situation forcing them to withdraw from Palestine in 1948 and hand the problem over to the UN. The UN came up with a resolution called the partition resolution that was to separate Great Britain’s former Palestinian mandate into Jewish and Arab states. However, the Palestinian Arabs opposed this arrangement claiming that it favored the Jewish and it was unfair to Arab population. Accordingly, the UN formed a Special Committee for Palestine (UNSCOP) which concluded that the Jewish and Arab claims were equally valid and so the only solution to the conflict was to separate the two communities. Therefore, this commission drew up the Partition Plan. But this was not well received by both Jews and Arabs and so they both started to arm themselves.Moreover, the Palestinians strongly opposed this partition idea claiming that it was biased and it also failed to consider their legitimate rights (Milton-Edwards and Hinchcliffe 11). In addition, Arabs opposed the partition as they expected to have full control over the Palestine where the Jews would be their subordinate (Worth 11). Accordingly, the engagement of the external forcesin the region’s affairs significantly contributed to tensions and conflict in the region. Some of the features of the Middle East that attracted the Great Powers include its geostrategic importance as well as its oil reserves. There were many consequences of this conflict including massive loss of life, territory alterations and the problem of Palestinian refugeesamong others. Death is inevitable in any war and so the 1948 war was marked by massive loss of life as soldiers from both sides who participated in the battle lost their lives andthis conflict claimed many innocent lives. For instance, many people lost their lives during the Deir Yassin forcing the Arabsto retaliate killing about seventy seven Jewish doctors and nurses in particular (Ovendale 135).More so, the increasing number of refugees from Palestine was also another challenging impact of the conflict.The UN recorded approximately 940,000 refuge population from 369 Palestiniantowns and villages. This confirms that many Palestinians really suffered as many remained homeless as a result of Arab-Israeli war. Actually, finding permanent solution to settle Palestinian refugees was the key factor that triggered further disagreement between the two conflicting states.For instance, the Jews claimed that Palestinians should to be integrated into the Arab states contrary to the views of Arabs whoargued that the refugees should be capable of returning to their rightful homes (Schulze 16). In addition, the Arab defeat had significant impacts; firstly, it reflected lack of united aims and cooperation between the Arab states. Even though all the Arab nations were expected to remain united to continue opposing Israel, these states were deeply divided in practice. For instance, some Arab states supported the establishment of the Jewish state whereas some preferred using confrontation. More so, Arab defeat had significant domestic consequences, for instance, it de-legitimized the existing leadership, which led to revolutions, military coup and instability (Schulze 15). Nevertheless, the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict led to some significant alterations in the territories.On one hand, this was arguably positive for Israeli, as it was able to increase its territoryby 21 per cent as compared to the partition resolution boundaries. On the other hand, this was perceived as negative as it increased hostility from the Arabs who were convinced that Israel should have no land whatsoever. TheArab states increased their territory enabling Transjordan to gain the West Bank whereas Egypt having control over the Gaza strip.However, the possibility of Palestine having a state of their own became impossible because of the acquisition of land of the Arabs or Israel. Many peace agreements and treaties have been signed including the Oslo Accords, but none of them has ever been successful in resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict. The conflicting interests is the reason why solving this conflict has been challenging. As the Palestinians emphasizes on the right to return and the destruction of the Jewish state, the Israelis focus on how to establish maximum security by having control over the land and destinies of the Palestinians. Israel suggested establishing an international regime in part of Jerusalem and agreed to provide the Palestinian Arabs with the larger percentage of the land area of the West Bank but the Palestinians considered these as insufficient and rejected the offer. More so, Israel proved its commitment to peace negotiations by withdrawing from Sinai, Lebanon, and Gaza with the aim of living peacefully with its neighbors. Some of the factors explaining why the peace negotiations to end Arab-Israeli war include, first, Palestinians do not accept the existence of Israeli as a state. Therefore, Palestinian Arabs need to acknowledge Israeli as their legitimate neighbor for any peace negotiation to succeed. In conclusion, the Arab-Israeli conflict was a complicated war having its origin back in the biblical times. The effects of both the first and second world wars significantly contributed to the British foreign policy in handing over the Palestine mandate to the UN that in turn led to the declaration of independence for Israel. This declaration caused tension among Jews and Arabs and this triggered the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. The Zionism and the Arab nationalism are the leading factors that triggered the emergence of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Othercauses of the conflict between the Arabs and the Jews are the British foreign policy and the UN’s partition plan. This idea was greatly opposed by the Arabs claiming that it favored the Jews and so this increased the gap between the two. More so, developing a permanent solution to the problem of Palestinian refugee led to further disagreement between Arabs and Jews. Therefore, the main cause of the 1948 war is the struggle between the Arabs and the Jews on the possession of Palestine with both sides claiming the land belongs to them. The impacts of this conflict have great affected the Middle East politics until today. This conflict led to massive deaths, increased the number of Palestinian refugees, and changes in territory among others. This war led to the defeat of the Arabs and this has many implications especially on the unity of the Arab states and the Arab League. Works Cited Bickerton, Ian J. The Arab-Israeli Conflict: A History. London: Reaktion Books, 2009. Print. Cohen, Michael J. The Origins and Evolution of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. London: University of California Press Ltd. 1987. Hurewitz, J. C. ‘Arab-Israel Tensions’, Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science. 1952, 24:4, pp. 73-81 Karsh, Efraim. The Arab-Israeli Conflict: The 1948 War. New York: Rosen Pub, 2009. Print. Milton-Edwards, B. and Hinchcliffe, P. Conflicts in the Middle-East since 1945. London: Routledge. 2001. Ovendale, Ritchie. (ed). The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Wars. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd. 1999.  Schulze, Kirsten E. The Arab-Israeli Conflict. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd. 1999. Tessler, Mark A. A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press, 1994. Print. Worth, Richard. The Arab-Israeli Conflict. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2006. Print. Read More