Arab Israeli Conflict - Case Study Example

Arab – Israeli Conflict Introduction It is rightly observed by the research scholars all across the globe that the word ‘change’ is the only constantthing in the world of today. The massive changes in the arena of international politics, information technology and communication process have immense influence upon the terms and the trades of the present day business and life. The impacts of globalization and privatization have made the world a small place to live in. The developments in the segment of information technology have proved to be very beneficial for other inventions and discoveries. Huge successes in the domain of communication processes have facilitated the general public to have access of the instant information. But the most important factor has been that of international politics that has considerable influence upon the life of all the people. The international politics of the last century experienced two major wars namely the World War I and the World War II that had shaped and reshaped the international politics along with mass destruction of property, lives and resources. The Second World War was followed with the Cold War in between the two super powers of the world namely the United States of America and that of the Soviet Union. The Cold War resulted in almost diagonal divisions of the countries of the world that provided support to any of the particular block except only a few like that of India that promoted Non – Aligned Movement. The World War II also ended the colonial rule with the fall of the imperialist powers and such a development resulted in the independence of many of the smaller countries. As the number of the countries increased in the arena of international politics, it provided for more complicated relationships among the nations. Israel was such a country that was established in the year of 1948, few years after the expiry of the British mandate of Palestine. The formation of the country of Israel was largely based upon the religious beliefs as the majority of the population of the country was Jew. It was evident from the history of the international politics that conflicts have been part and parcel of the nation of Israel since formation of the country. This is primarily because of the disputed land of the country. The country centers around Jerusalem (also the city is the capital of the country), which is considered as the holy city by at least three major religions of the world namely Christianity, Islam and Judaism. The big question with which the flowing chapter deals is the broad over view of the conflict, what were the reasons of such long lasting dispute and if the conflict resolution mechanisms have been successful. The Arabian nations of the Middle – East that are located around the country of Israel have always been hostile to the country since inception. The reason of such hostility has been primarily over the disputes upon the land of in and around of Jerusalem that has a majority of the Muslim population while the administration and the government of Israel do not have Muslim representation and is predominantly Jew by religion. Many of the Middle – Eastern Arabian countries do not even recognize the state of Israel. The major problem of the state of Israel is with the advocates of the state of Palestine. The conflict is one of the longest serving conflicts of the international politics and international relationships. The research scholars have repeatedly suggested that the entire series of conflict that commenced in the year of 1948, with the formation of the separate state of Israel, have been because of the British Policy of ‘Two – States’. The conflict of the Arab and that of the Israel is primarily in between the government of the Israel and the political association of the population that thinks Palestine should be granted independence, named Palestine Liberation Organization. The Arabian nations like that of Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and other countries have supported the cause of Palestinians time and again. Though the chief reason of the conflict has been over the control of Jerusalem, the major other reasons also include the status of the refugees those were compelled to evacuate the region of their inhabitance because of the war of 1948 in between the Israel and other Arabian nations. The war had led to killings of thousands of Palestinians and many millions evacuated because of the fear for life. The international community though at the outset did not play any significant role to resolve this age old conflict, off late the super power of America and Russia and United Nations came forward so that there could be a sort of amicable solution. Though, the conflict resolution mechanism did not attain any significant success still in the last decade of the previous century saw the Oslo Accords with active intermediation by the United States and Norway. The approval of the Palestine National Authority has been viewed as a much needed break through by the international community. Also, with the active support of the then President of the United States of America, Bill Clinton both the conflicting parties participated in the repeated peace talks though those could not bring any real development as the conflicts over the land of Gaza Strip and West Bank still persists and takes away the life of hundreds of people every year from both the parties. This research paper comprises of three sections that deals with almost all relevant issues of this long lasting conflict. The paper answers the various reasons of such long serving conflicts and if enough steps were initiated to resolve the conflict. It also searches answer for the answer of the question that if the international community had tried their best to resolve the conflict. The initial chapter discusses the background of the conflict and the reasons that led to such long serving disputes. The questions that are answered in this section ranges about the issues of conflict like that of political and religious matters. Also, other questions that are asked and tried to answer in the first section include the various conflict resolution techniques and especially the initiatives taken by the international community. The first chapter also tries to lay-out the present scenario of the conflict with the changing terms like that of 9/11 and the issues of Iran as a nuclear powerful nation. The second chapter throws light upon the war in between Israel and Arab nations of the 1948 and questions the effectiveness of Sykes – Picot Act. It also answers the nature of the conflict and the participants (active as well as inactive) of the conflict. The third and the last section question those various techniques of conflict resolution that have been adopted by the various parties and a succinct analysis of the success of such measures. The paper is concluded with a dedicated chapter of conclusion that re–capture the entire fiasco in brief and also states the scope of the international community to resolve the issue. Conclusion As discussed earlier, the conflict of Arabian countries and that of the state of Israel has been one of the longest serving one. The only other conflict that comes to one’s mind that has continued for such a long time is that in between India and Pakistan. But even when, the conflict of the Indo – Pak has experienced certain ‘status – quo’ phases, it has not been so for the conflict of Israel and Arabian fraternity. The conflict has undoubtedly resulted in huge depletion of the resources of both the parties over the years. The prime hindrance for the resolution of the conflict has been the disagreement of Israel to allow the Palestinians in the land that they evacuated because of the war. The status of the Palestinian refugees has been the major debate of contentions for the resolution of the ongoing conflict. While the Palestinian authorities, backed by the Arabian nations have repeatedly demanded that those refugees (presently staying in various parts of Syria, Iran, Jordon and Lebanon) should be allowed in the land but the Israeli government does not pay any heed to it. Israel cites the reason of security for the disagreement though they have recently accepted the Palestinian Diaspora. The other important reason of the dispute has been the control over the area of Jerusalem. As discussed in the previous chapters that the Palestinian activists have demanded the areas of East Jerusalem along with that of Gaza Strip and West Bank under the full control of the Palestine National Authority, the Israeli administration have turned down the demand time and again. The Israeli administration had set up a body to review the feasibility of such an option but concluded that such a situation, if allowed, would render in the lack of security for the Jewish populace of the country and therefore, cannot be allowed. Moreover, to add fuel to the fire, the Israeli authorities offered permanent residentship to all Jews, residing at any part of the world. Under tremendous pressure from the international community, the government of Israel allowed Palestinian activists, the right of ruling certain areas through administrative and economic powers while the military powers still remain with that of the Israel. The other major dispute as analyzed in the previous chapters has been because of the building of establishments by the Israeli authorities in the Palestinian areas. The international community also has time and again condemned such Israeli actions. The state of Israel have reportedly linked the movements and actions of Palestine Liberation Organization to be that of similar to certain terrorist organizations and such a prejudice has definitely affected the peace process. While Hamas, the action squad of PLO have been actively involved in fighting the Israeli army for the cause of independent Palestine, same could be found out about the Mossad, the secret service agency of Israel that have been involved in killing of many of the Palestine activists. The conflict in between the parties seemed to be never ending and also the super powers of the world were not actively involved in the conflict resolution process until recently. While many of the Middle – Eastern nations tried to resolve the conflicts, all the efforts ended at the doorsteps of the super powers. It was only in the 1980s when the United Nations acknowledged about the conflict and passed certain resolutions. The conflict resolving mechanism was actively initiated in 1990s with Bill Clinton as the President of the United States playing the chief role of mediation while Yasser Arafat was the head of the Palestine Liberation Organization and Rabin was the Prime Minister of Israel. With several attempts, Clinton and other leaders could persuade both the conflicting parties to sit for face to face talks and sign the Oslo Accords. Though the entire peace process or rather the conflict resolution techniques did not have any remarkable success, yet the signing of Oslo Accords was also a distant dream in the situation prevalent earlier. The various measures of European Union to resolve the conflict also did not attain any significant success. The other remarkable change in the region has been marked by the change in the political relation in between Israel and Iran. While during the initial years of the formation of the state of Israel, the previous rulers of Iran were very supportive towards the country but after the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the relation in between the two countries changes drastically as the new rulers of Iran believed that the Palestine should belong to the Palestinians. Also, the research scholar have speculated that after the occurrence of 26/11 and fall of the Taliban government in Afghanistan and Hussein government of Iraq, the conflict resolution techniques in between Israel and PLO might flow in a complete different way. Many of the experts are of the view that the third party resolution of the conflicts in between the Israel and the Arabian fraternity (Palestine in particular) might not attain desired success. At the most, the third party of the conflict might act as the catalyst and facilitate both the authorities to sit face to face to work out the resolution techniques. The scholars believe that in order to have to permanent resolution of this conflict, both the parties should inculcate mutual trust and understanding at the outset. It is the lack of trust that is falling havoc on the authorities. Also, Israel being a powerful country of the region should try and take account of the Palestinian demands on a realistic basis while Palestine should try and put an end on the guerilla war against Israel. Bibliography Lapidoth, R., 2001. Do Palestinian Refugees Have a Right to Return to Israel. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. [Online] Available at: http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace+Process/Guide+to+the+Peace+Process/Do+Palestinian+Refugees+Have+a+Right+to+Return+to.htm [Accessed April 25, 2010]. EPR, 2002. The Mideast: A Century of Conflict. Part 3: Partition, War and Independence. [Online] Available at: http://www.npr.org/news/specials/mideast/history/history3.html [Accessed April 25, 2010]. Quandt, W. B. Peace process: American diplomacy and the Arab-Israeli conflict since 1967. Brookings Institution Press, 2005. USA Today, 2001. The Arab-Israeli conflict, 1947 - Present. World. [Online] Available at: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/mideast/timeline.htm [Accessed April 25, 2010]. 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