Middle East Conflicts - Essay Example

MIDDLE EAST CRISIS Religious Background: Middle East is one of the most important regions of not only Asia, but also of the entire globe at large, which is equally regarded as the sacred and holy place for all the three Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. All these religions view the area as the land of Prophets sent by God, and claim it as their sole belongings. It is therefore they are determined to impose their authority there without any interference or interruption.

But the conflict between Jews and Muslims in the name of religion has turned this holy region into a virtual hell on the very face of the earth. Though history is replete with the countless wars fought between the followers belonging to divergent faiths, where both the sides asserted their claim to be the people of God, yet the Middle East crisis have witnessed over two centuries long clashes along with six decades long bloody struggle between the Jews and Muslims. Consequently, four wars have been fought between the two communities in order to win complete domination and hold in the region.

Took place in 1948, 1967, 1973 and 2006, the Arab-Israel conflicts are the worst precedents of wars in the name of religion. Historical Background: During 19th century, when the nationalist movements began to emerge in Europe and Jews were being persecuted in Austria, Prussia and England by the orthodox Christians, the Jews started dreaming of acquiring their separate homeland, where no one could gather courage to hurt, humiliate and discard their community. Thus the Zionist movement came into being by the end of nineteenth century.

The Jews started to shifting to Palestine and purchased land there en mass. Initially, the Arabs allowed them live side by side with them, but due to the continuous increase in Jewish population, the Arab nationalism emerged, and the young generation started resistance against further Jewish immigration in the region. Twentieth century brought the news of independence for countless nations in the aftermath of two Great Wars between the then superpowers of the world, which had weakened the UK, Germany, France, Austria and Japan.

Palestine was under the subjugation of the Ottoman Empire till 1917, which was captured by the Allied Forces in the aftermath of WWI. The big powers allow the Jews to enter their ‘promised land’ Israel in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, the most sacred area for Jews on the earth. It was really perturbing for the Arabs, who had been in majority and political domination in the entire region for the last many centuries. In order to balance the equilibrium as well as to pacify the Arabs, the big powers gave a way in the establishment of an Arab kingdom in the east of Palestine i.e. Jordan.

But this measure was not sufficient to pacify the Arabs, which started arranging demonstrations against England. The entire scenario aggravated the hostilities between the Jews and Muslims, and conflict became the order of the day. The inter-wars period was the most troublesome for the German Jews, who were maltreated and persecuted by Adolf Hitler particularly during 1930s. Consequently, the Jewish community joined hands with the Allied powers, which assured separate homeland for the Jews on coming out to be triumphant.

Hence, the Jews allocated their financial resources and intellect in favor of Allies. Albert Einstein prepared atomic bomb for the Allies, which played decisive role in the fateful end of the Axis Powers in WWII. It was the time when the Jews reminded England of her promise regarding separate homeland for them. England had become too weak to display any aggression or pressure against the Arabs; so she presented the case before the UNO. The General Assembly passed a resolution in November 1947, which suggested the partition of Palestine into two separate states.

Since the region was already under blood and fire, the Allies added fuel to fire by allowing the Jewish community to establish their land in the name of religion, which came into being in May 1948 under the name of Israel in the aftermath of violence and killing at massive scale. Since the Arabs had unconditional control of the land, establishment of quite a new state was not acceptable for them. Thus, the series of bloody hostilities commenced from the very day of the establishment of Israel.

Further Developments: Since all Arabs considered Israel as an illegitimate state at the heart of their rule, they carried on their war preparations to kick out the Jews from the region. In 1967, Jordan, Palestine, Syria and Egypt declared war on Israel, but with the military and financial support of the USA, the UK and Russia, Israel was capable of teaching the Arabs a remarkable lesson. The war ended in six days only, and Israel captured Golan Heights from Syria, West Bank and Gaza strip from Jordan and Sinai Desert from Egypt.

It was really humiliating for the Arabs, who sought the UN support in their favor for the evacuation of the captured areas during the Arab-Israel War of 1967. The UNO passed resolutions in favor of the evacuation of the Arab territories, but the Israeli authorities turned a deaf ear to the UN resolutions. Consequently, the Arabs declared another war on Israel in 1973, and proved their worth by capturing the major part of the lost territories. But the hostilities could not be mitigated altogether in the region, and the Palestinians were confined to a very limited area of land in the entire region.

Once the master of the region, Palestinians refused to get satisfied with such humiliating life, and started massive protests against the injustices committed by the big powers. The Israelis turned very aggressive and displayed extreme kind of atrocities, hostilities and cruelties upon the unarmed Palestinians. The problem is still in need of solution even many decades have passed in conflict and clashes. Recent Developments: Most recently, the Jewish Israeli forces invaded the Muslim and Christian territories of Lebanon.

There was no regular Lebanese army to defend the territories. Consequently, the Muslims organized a military group and started defending their nation from the Israeli invasion. Established in mid 1980s as the military organization, the main objective behind the founder leaders of Hezbollah was to apply force in order to defend the motherland from the external threats particularly from the neighboring Zionist state of Israel, which has been in constant conflict with the Arab countries of the region on ethnic and religious basis.

Though apparently the causes of war were geographical and political ones in nature, yet the US support and grave concerns revealed the basic Jewish motivations behind the 2006 Israeli invasion over Lebanon. The US completed supported and justified the Israeli cause, while Iran and Syria aided Lebanon. The war ended in the victory of Hezbollah, though no permanent solution could be sorted out for the peace and stability of the region.