Israeli-Palestinian Crisis - Research Proposal Example

The paper "Israeli-Palestinian Crisis" is a perfect example of a research proposal on politics. The Israeli-Palestinian crisis has been an ongoing one, where disputed territory has been a controversial issue ever since the state of Israel was established in 1948. The general issues of contention involved in the dispute have been mutual recognition, border and security rights as well as the control of Jerusalem, the Israeli settlements and the legalities concerning refugees. Several attempts have been made to bring about a two-state solution wherein both Israel and Palestine can exist as separate states because this appears to be the best means to resolve the long, ongoing conflict and recent surveys also appear to suggest that most people appear to favor this solution (Yaar, 2007).

During the years 2000 to 2005, Israel withdrew unilaterally from the Gaza strip. In the struggle to establish the rights of both Israel and Palestine, the Iraq war has played a significant role because it has been used in promoting the interests of both sides. For example, according to former U.S. President George Bush, “A free Iraq will help secure Israel”, with the underlying premise being that the Iraq war was also a part of the ongoing conflict between Jews and Arabs in the Middle East.

According to former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein however, “Palestine is Arab”. (Ould-May, 2008). The Iraq war in and of itself, has become quite significant, not merely because of the high level of costs involved, i.e, estimated at $472 billion exclusives of the additional costs of the associated war in Afghanistan, but also because of the role, it plays in the ongoing Jewish-Arab conflict. This research study proposes to examine the Israel-Palestine crisis, with a view to determining the impact of the Iraq war and the role it plays in influencing the crisis.

While the Israeli Palestinian conflict is an old one that has been raging for a few years with the disputed territory of the Gaza strip being one of the most hotly contested issues, the Iraq war also appears to be a crisis that is linked to the same issues. This research study will examine whether the crisis in Iraq has a connection to the Middle East conflict and whether it is being fought to address the same issues arising in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. In an article that was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, the significant question posed in the context of the Iraq war was as follows: Are young American soldiers sacrificing themselves in Iraq to secure Israel in Asia or to defend the United States in the Americas?

The purported purpose of the Iraq war was to protect American interests in the region and defuse potentially dangerous weapons of mass destruction that were being harbored by the then Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. But it soon became evident that no such weapons existed at all and the entire war was merely a pretext to depose the powerful Arab President who was posing a direct threat to Israel by firing Scud missiles on the country. In general, the middle eastern states have greater sympathy for the Palestinians, who are perceived to be Arabs.

This is in contrast to the United States, which has always been viewed as a strong supporter of Israel. As Petras(2007) has pointed out, the United States has extended an extraordinary level of political, economic, diplomatic and military support for Israel. He points out that there is a substantial Zionist lobby in the United States that has largely pushed for the colonization of Palestine and the high levels of Palestinians who were uprooted from the region. On the basis of the above, he contends that the wars against Iraq and the other measures it has taken, such as imposing sanctions through the United Nations, have all been directed towards promoting Israeli interests rather than being motivated by the desire to appropriate the existing oil supplies in the region in view of the energy and fuel shortages developing in the world.

The reasons for the measures against Iraq and the institution of the wars could well lie in the developing strength of the former Iraqi President and the anti-Israel sentiment that is prevalent in the Middle East. This study proposes to put forward the thesis that the reasons for the Iraq war were to decimate the existing strong power in the Middle East, i.e, Iraq, in order to promote Israeli interests in the region. It will argue that the developing conflict with Iran and the existing conflict with Afghanistan are also motivated by the same reasons, because the goal and objective of the United States is to ensure that the ongoing conflict between Jews and Arabs results in the supremacy of Israel and to ensure that this tiny nation emerges as the primary power in the Middle East, even while it is surrounded by Arab states.