Israel and Palestine - Assignment Example

Israeli and Palestine Israel and Palestine have an ongoing conflict that has never shown any hope of coming to anend. The two neighbouring countries have been fighting over several historical issues that were encountered since the end of British rule and the settlement of Israeli in the region (Dershowitz, 2005). Israeli is a Jewish country while Palestine is a Muslim country. When the Jews were settled in Israel, conflicts started as the two communities started to fight over mutual recognition, Israeli settlement, control of Jerusalem, borders and security.

Palestinians often attack Jerusalem and Jordan parts controlled by the Israeli while Israelites attack Palestinians in Jordan, Jerusalem and Gaza as a means of retaliation and maintenance of security from what they term as terrorism from the Palestinians. Although the international community has shown interest in reconciliatory and mediation roles, I think the problems of Israel and Palestine can only be resolved by mutual consent by the Jews and the Palestinians. Reconciliation attempts had been made since 1948 when independent Palestine State and independent Jewish State were established (Sela, 2002).

The move seemed to bring an end to a serious conflict in the region, but the struggle between the two countries is still on until now. There is need for the Palestinians and the Israelis to change their attitudes towards each other, but this is difficult because each side has strong and radical conviction about their religion, territories, power and security. International community may play the role of advising and encouraging both sides to loosen their demands, but the final road to peace will be created by the two nations willingly.

The Jews and the Palestinians agreed that Palestine actually deserved to be a free state. West Bank and Gaza was considered to be acceptable locations of the Palestinian State. However, disagreements ensued on the shape and boundaries of those regions (Sela, 2002). The two regions have been the main centers of fights between Israel and Palestine. This clearly shows that the Israeli-Palestine conflicts are fueled by disagreements on boundaries. In this case, no international body will come to the region and tell Israel that this land belongs to Palestine, so just leave it, or tell Palestine the same thing.

Israelites and Palestinians alone have the ability to sit and agree on the boundaries, but because each one of them wants to take control, they never seem to come to such an agreement. That is why conflict does not seem to be ending soon. What makes reconciliation difficult between the states is that they both have moderate and extremist bodies as well as hawkish and dovish bodies (Karsh, 2003). The extremists fight to their death over what they belief to be their rightful possessions. The moderates attempt to use peaceful mechanisms to bring an end to the conflicts.

Both countries also have a growing distrust on each other. The Israeli believes that Palestine is not willing to bring an end to the conflict while the Palestine believes that Israel is the impediment to peace. These hard lines make reconciliation extremely difficult in the region. War is therefore inevitable. I think the war and fights between Israel and Palestine will continue for as long as the two countries continue with their distrust and hard lines regarding boundaries, control of Jerusalem, holy sites, Palestinian refugees, Israeli security concerns and international status.

An end to the war will come only when the distrust and the hard-line demands have been broken. The main question is who will break them? Of course, distrust and hard lines are things that come from the attitudes, beliefs, convictions and interests of the people. A change of attitude is therefore required. Therefore, religious solutions are needed to end the Israeli-Palestine conflict. Muslim radicalism and Jewish extremism need to be overcome in order to bring peace between the two nations.References listDershowitz, A. (2005). The Case for Peace: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Can Be Resolved.

Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.Karsh, E. (2003). Arafats War: The Man and His Battle for Israeli Conquest. New York: Grove Press.Sela, A. (2002). Palestine Arabs: The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East. New York: Continuum.