Arab Israeli Conflict

Arab Israeli Conflict

When David stood upon the hill in Judah ready to battle Goliath and the Philistine Army, two nations became bitter enemies. The Israelites and the Philistines, now modern day Islamic Palestinians, have battle continuously over who actually owns the land they both occupy. Both groups have claimed the land, and because of the Ð''claimsÐ'', there has been extreme discontent throughout the Arab world. "Since the United Nations partition of Palestine in 1947 and the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948, there have been four major Arab-Israeli wars, and numerous battles (Anti Essays: Arab Israeli Conflicts 1). The Arab-Israeli Conflict is a modern crisis, yet it dates back centuries. The conflict has become a major world issue, which has involved people of all races, ethnic groups, and genders. Because of the intense belief system in both religions, the conflict may never be resolved. In this paper, the history, the arguments, and the minute resolutions of the Arab-Israeli conflict will be discussed.

The concept of Israel as a nation "began when the Jews of Europe and America of the mid 19th century collectively wanted a place for their homeland" (The Arab-Israeli Conflict 1). Zionists became the major leaders in this movement. According to the Wikipedia encyclopedia, "most Israelis see Zionism as merely the desire of Jewish people to live as free people in the land of Israel" (4). The Zionists emplored the British Government to create this nation. World War One saw the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Britain gained control of the land known as Palestine as part of the occupation agreement

with the League of Nations (The Arab-Israeli Conflict 1). According to The Arab-Israeli Conflict, "Palestine was the chosen site because of the religious significance as the original Jewish homeland and was from were the early Jews fled (1). Tensions began to mount in the Arab world.

The rise of Adolf Hitler, the extermination of millions of Jews, and the mandate of the Zionists caused the Bristish to follow through with their plan of transferring land (The Arab-Israeli Conflict 2). This struggle culminated in the 1947 United Nations plan to partition Palestine to create a Jewish state and an Arab state in the narrow space between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. The Arab leaders rejected this plan, while the Jewish leaders accepted it. When the British Mandate expired, the Zionist leadership declared the State of Israel on May 14, 1948. In the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the armies of Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Saudi Arabia intervened and were defeated by Israel. About 800,000 Palestinians fled from areas annexed by Israel and became refugees in neighbouring countries, thus creating the "problem" which has bedevilled the region ever since ("History of the Middle East"). "Approximately two-thirds of 758,000Ð'--866,000 of the Jews expelled or who fled from Arab lands after 1948 were absorbed and naturalized by the State of Israel" ("History of the Middle East").

With the creation of Israel, new problems developed. Many doubted the legality of Israel's statehood. According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, it "forbids an occupying power from confiscating occupied land and transferring its own population to that territory" (quoted by Wikipedia "Views of the Arab-Israeli Conflict 7).

However, many agree