Palestinian Israeli Conflict - Coursework Example

Palestinian Israeli conflict Introduction Arab-Israel conflict is mainly because of the conflict between Palestine and Israel. In fact this conflict has been taken some dangerous dimensions since the entire Muslims in the world consider it as an intrusion of Jews culture into the Muslim beliefs. There was no conflict till the latter half of the 19 th century. In the 19th century the land of Palestine was inhabited by a multicultural population – approximately 86 percent Muslim, 10 percent Christian, and 4 percent Jewish – living in peace. In the late 1800s some Zionists (an extremist minority in Jewish community) decided to colonize this land. Their goal was to create a Jewish homeland, and from then onwards the conflicts between Palestine and Jews began to erupt. (A Synopsis of the Israel/Palestine Conflict) This conflict has reached some fearful proposition in the current century when Israel has intruded into the Gaza city killing so many civilians, accusing them of responsible for terrorist attack in Israel. The solution for this conflict is dangerously complicated since it is associated with so many political, social, cultural and religious aspects. Obstacles for reaching a solution for the Palestine – Israel conflict Most Palestinians believe that the West Bank and Gaza are entirely belonging to their authority and Israel has no claim at all on these cities. On the other hand Israel is not ready to recognize these claims. For them most parts of these cities are belonging to their territory and Palestine’s claims are not justifiable. The border of Jerusalem is the most disputed issue in this conflict. Jerusalem is equally important for Jews, Christians and Islam because of Abraham who is believed to be a sacred person for all these three communities. Israel doesn’t want to divide Jerusalem and they are trying to establish their supremacy over other religions regarding this holy city. Now the majority of the people staying in this city are Jews and hence Israel not ready to give up their claims on this city. Palestinians nowadays strongly believe that Israel is trying to conquer the entire Palestine and they will never allow creating an independent Palestine state. On the other hand Israelis believe that Palestine wanted to control the entire Palestine region. Both parties have their own convincing reasons also to believe like these. The mutual belief and confidence are at the lowest level and hence it is even difficult to bring them around a table for discussion. Both the Israel and the Palestine have moderates and extremists in their side which make reaching a resolution more complicated. Any compromise made by any side will be viewed as a failure in the respective countries and hence due to the fear of losing the political advantage, no party wants to compromise on any issues. Moreover religion and religious beliefs are associated with this conflicts which makes the conflict even worse. Any compromise made on any of the disputed issues will be analyzed under religion’s perspective in the respective countries. Since religion is more actively involved in politics in this part of the world, nobody wants to lose. Moreover this conflict has attained international dimensions and hence any settlement reached between the two parties must be acceptable for the international community as well. For example, this conflict is seen as a prestige issue for many Arab countries and hence it is often referred as Arab -Israel conflict rather than Palestine- Israel conflict. After the death of Yasser Arafat, who was the undisputed leader of Palestine the Palestinian side has been divided by conflict between the two major factions: Fatah and Hamas. The unity of Palestine has lost after the death of their beloved leader Arafat. Now there is not a single leader in Palestine who can derive respect from the entire Palestine community. Moreover at present Hamas' is controlling Gaza Strip and Fatah is controlling the West Bank which made the things even worst. Any solutions reached for this conflict must be recognized by these two factions. Possible solutions for Palestine – Israel conflict Though many international organizations has suggested many solutions for this conflict, nothing seemed to be acceptable equally well for both the parties. “Solutions should include the removal of barriers to peace aiming for a final peaceful resolution and future co-existence based upon the root causes of conflict. This must involve recognition and respect for BOTH the Jewish state AND a future Palestinian state, on the basis that one state could not manage the binationalism or pluralism of the two sides as in the example of the Northern Ireland Peace Accord” (Israel – Palestine) In order to reach a settlement, the basic reasons for the conflicts need to be tackled one by one. Religion plays a vital role in this conflict. One community is marked as terrorists because of some unhealthy incidents like the trade centre attack, Mumbai attack etc happened in the world recently. Israel is accusing Palestine Muslims as the main culprits in the terrorist activities happening in Israel. It is necessary to rebuild the lost confidence between Arabs/Muslims with other communities in order to settle any of the international conflicts related to Muslims and other communities. Muslims and Jews should recognize each other and should accept the basic right to live and let live. The religious leaders of both the community must assemble around a table to discuss the mutual relationship building process of between these communities. If these religious leaders can reach an amicable solution for this problem, in my opinion such settlement will last long since religion has mush influence on both these communities. Two independent state solution and one bi-nation solution are the most probable solution suggested by political analysts for this conflict. United States has proposed a plan in which the Jerusalem must be divided into two fragments in which the Arab parts of Jerusalem would be given to the Palestinians while the Jewish parts of Jerusalem were retained by Israel. All the disputed places will be controlled mutually as per this proposal. Though both the parties accepted this proposal in principle, they failed to reach a written agreement based on that. “Under considerable Zionist pressure, the UN recommended giving away 55% of Palestine to a Jewish state – despite the fact that this group represented only about 30% of the total population, and owned under 7% of the land” (A Synopsis of the Israel/Palestine Conflict) This proposal also failed to materialize because of the extremists in both the countries. Advocates of one-state solution believe that all of Israel, the Gaza Strip, and West Bank would become a bi-national state with equal rights for all will be the permanent solution for this problem. India can be cited as the best example for a country where people are living in peace without many problems irrespective of dozens of religions in different parts of the country. If Jews and Muslims can build up mutual relationship, a bi-national state with equal rights for all may bring permanent peace in this region. “The concept of sharing the land was recognized by the religious philosopher, Martin Buber, who settled in Israel. In a 1956 article, "Socialism and Peace," Buber wrote that the only thing that can bring about peace in Israel is "a just distribution of the soil, and the formulation of small communities which would be organic cells of this new economy and this new society" (Foldvary) If the entire region comes under a common rule people irrespective of their community can visit their sacred places without any problem. In India, most of the worshipping places of Hindus, Muslims and Christians are situated adjacently, but still people able to worship their God without many problems. Moreover the unification of Israel and Palestine under one rule will make the proposed country one of the strongest countries in the world because of the immense resources they may have. Many people in India and Pakistan still believe that the division of India into two different countries; Hindu dominated India and Muslim dominated Pakistan by the British at the time of independence has created the current problems between India and Pakistan over the issue of ownership of Kashmir. Some people believe that British have divided India in order to make them weak both politically and economically. Palestine and Israel must be sensible enough to analyze the benefits of becoming a unified country rather than becoming two different countries with everlasting conflicts between them same way like the Kashmir problems between India and Pakistan. Conclusions The unification of Israel and Palestine into one single state is seems to be the better option for the permanent solution for the Arab Israel problem. The integration of these two different communities under one flag will create opportunities for both of them to have a good understanding between each other. Moreover the unification of these countries will make them politically and economically stable because of the immense resources in this region. Religious leaders must take initiatives to have discussions between them to find out areas where they can unite each other. Since the conflict has deep roots in religious aspects I strongly believe that this problem must be addressed religiously rather than politically. Works Cited 1. A Synopsis of the Israel/Palestine Conflict, Retrieved on May 1, 2009 from http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/ 2. Foldvary Fred E., The Solution to the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict, Retrieved on May 1, 2009 from http://www.progress.org/archive/fold01.htm 3. Israel – Palestine, Retrieved on May 1, 2009 from http://www.peaceplangroup.assets.org.uk/israel-palestinesolutions.htm Read More