Israeli – Palestine is among the world’s conflicts that have existed for a very long time. The conflicts that began in the mid-20th century has been all about a struggle between these two nations, that is Palestine and Israel. The war has become considered also as a war between the Jews and Arabs and not just about the nations themselves. History experts have clarified that the conflict has been as a result of Jewish immigration. Further, in Mandatory Palestine, it has also been considered as a sectarian battle between the Arab and the Jews. Scholars such as Feras (2016) has described it as a most “intractable war.” In the course of the war, Israel has occupied the Gaza Strip for about 51 years now. This area has actually been the main battlefield.
The strangest part of this war is that there are many peace treaties and peace processes that have been conducted to reconcile the two nations, but the peace processes have been unproductive. In fact, the war has escalated to a purely Jewish – Arab war because, Egypt, has joined in the conflict forming the Egypt-Jordan conflict on one side and the Israel-Palestine war on the other end but in all cases, peace has not prevailed. The failure might be because the key issues causing conflict are not addressed appropriately or because the process of the peace treaties has not been carried out genuinely enough (Cordesman, & Moravitz, 2005). The main issues as such are; security, mutual recognition, Israel settlement in Palestine, borders, water rights, the right for Palestinians to return, Freedom of movement for movement for the Palestinians and major one being the control of Jerusalem. One of the settlement plans called the Jerusalem plan had proposed that Palestine was an Arab area while Israel was a Jewish area. In the same plan, it was proposed that the Holy sites that are also a reason for serious conflicts be split between the two. Israelis were to exercise their authority over Western Wall and Palestine would have authority over The Temple Mount/Nobel. But even with all these arrangements, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been and still is an endless battle over the land that both side truly believe is theirs.
II. Description
A. Summary of the conflict
Israeli and Arab war has been over Gaza. The war over this region has been an on and off war for several decades and it only makes a part of the bigger reason for the war between the Arabs and Israeli. During the World War II, millions of Jews were killed and this led to the Holocaust after the war where the Jews wanted their own country. As a result, they were given a big part of the Palestine land. This region according to Biblical history, they had considered it their land. This, however, did not get along well with the Arabs who had already been there and were also in the neighboring regions. They felt it was unfair (Pappé, 2013). In 1948 a war broke between the two sides and at the end of it Egypt took over Gaza and West Banks near Jordan. Another war again broke in 1967 and this time the war ended with Israeli occupying the regions earlier occupied by Egypt. They hoped to give this land to the Arabs in exchange for recognition as legitimate owners of Palestine. However, a group called Hamas came into power and took the area again. This group does not recognize Israel as a country and proposes for the return of the Arabs to Palestine. Hamas vowed to use violence. From that time, Israel has blockaded Gaza and controls who goes in and who comes out. The Gaza strip is currently occupied by about 5 million Palestinian refugees and while living in the camps at areas like Syria, Lebanon, Gaza Strip, Jordan and West Bank they depend on aid form the United Nations.
Furthermore, from the time the Israeli removed their troops from Gaza in 2005, they have been on the offensive against the occupants of the border as a way of suppressing the rocket attacks (Cordesman, & Moravitz, 2005). In 2008 Israeli attacked people in Gaza leading to the death of 1,300 people before a cease-fire. In 2012 again there was another Israeli operation and this led to the death of 167 Palestinians. In eight days, both sides called for a cease-fire and there was an agreement that they will stop the attacks. This agreement was made with Hamas.
The need to create a lasting peace has been called for by many nations and especially the U.S. Severally the U.S. has worked hard to create a settlement between the two warring parties but even then their efforts have never borne any fruits. There are several proposals that Gaza and West Bank should be made into a county (Cordesman, & Moravitz, 2005). Palestine and Israel, however, have not been willing to take that option. Their proposal has been that they need to feel safe and that Hamas has to accept the rights for the existence of the Israeli in Palestine. The sticky situation that emerges is that, if this happens, what is likely to happen to the Israeli who is in the West Bank. Furthermore, who would be given the rights to run Jerusalem and what is likely to happen to refugees from Palestine.
B. Analyze the political issue
The political issue here is both a border conflict as well as an international affairs issues. According to Ghazi (1999), the Israeli and the Palestinians have been exposed to an exclusive but corrosive institution of belligerent occupation. Further, for 25 years, the two parties have been forced to face peace processes that are described by scholars as scarring. The peace processes have instead intensified the core narratives from both conflicting sides. The major political-psychological reason that has made the conflict escalate and peace harder to find is the existence of mistrust. In fact, Lily (1997) claims that the conflict is not about national identity and existence, but a war that is fueled by mistrust. In the end, each party has willingly denied each other the identity and their rights that naturally exists. Consequently, they have also denied all the peace processes and settlement processes that are aimed at delegitimizing the other party. Because of that major factor, the efforts that have been made to the broker for peace have been thwarted by the very warring parties. Essentially, each party at the time of peace agreement each side describes their own demands for peace in a way that threatens the other party. As such, for negotiations to take place that are successful, then the two sides need to enter into a process where they mutually recognize each other. The recognition must be clarified as a symbol of assertion and not an abandonment of rights for either of the parties.
Another analysis to this conflict also reveals that the conflict may be considered as a regional conflict by some people and maybe singled out but in this age of globalization, this conflict is causing harm to other areas of the world also (Ghazi, 1999). It is making it possible for such ideologies like Arabs against other religions. As such fueling international conflicts.
C. International relation
This conflict, when examined on the basis of international relations, reveals that the conflict has been there since the time when the British occupied that region. Another issue that gives the war an international twist is the support that Israel has been receiving from other Western nations. This then causes strained relations between the Western nations and the Arab nations (Pappé, 2013). For instance the support of U.S towards Israeli during the Gaza conflict and other little challenges such as President Trump’s statement on the U.S. recognizing Jerusalem as belonging to Israel. The issues of power and dominance that is being battled over by the two are also significant and that makes it a conflict that touches on international relations because the U.S. is interested. Other observations that the conflict is all about the need for power balance also makes it an international issue. Additionally, there are the underlying hands of the European countries who indirectly support Palestine and then there is the ever no-relenting support of Israel by the U.S. Due to these reasons, it is once again clear that Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been and still is an endless battle over the land that both side truly believe is theirs.
III. History
A. When did the conflict begin
As already explained earlier, the war between Israeli and Palestine began officially after the Second World War when the Israeli were moved to Palestine and the nation Israel was created after the massive killing that was carried out by the Hitler regime in Germany. The Arabs who had existed in this region found this move unfair (Pappé, 2013). This led to the conflict of 1948 over the control of Gaza Strip, the West Bank and other regions already mentioned. Hence, while the Israelites believe that they are historically the owner of this region from the Biblical story, the Palestinians believe that they have occupied the land as such it is theirs.
B. How did the conflict begin
The war began with the Israeli-Arab war in 1947. Later in 1967 again, there was a war between Israeli and Egypt over the Gaza strip and its neighboring region and in the end, Israeli too over this region from Egypt. The coming into power by Hamas in Palestine led to a fresh conflict where they wanted to occupy the land through violence. In 2007 Israeli withdrew their troops from Gaza but maintained an offensive was to suppress, the rocket bombing from the occupants of the border onto Israeli territories (Neve & Moriel, 2016). Since then, there has been an on and off war with several peace treaties being brokered but no fruits.
IV. Major Events
The major events leading to the conflicts as it is today begins with the British occupation of Palestine and taking it form the Ottoman. This was then followed by the giving of Palestine to Britain by San Remo Allied Powers conference. This was done in preparation for self-rule. In the 1940s, the Nazi Holocaust leads to the death of millions of Jews and about ten thousand Jews move over to Palestine every year (Neve & Moriel, 2016). The Jews fight off the British and claim self-rule. In 1947 United Nations partition Palestine and hence separating the Jewish states from the Arab state but maintains control of Jerusalem. In 1948, Israel has declared a nation and then between 1948 and 1949, the first Arab and Israeli war begins. An agreement called Armistice agreement is made and Israel is given more land that was earlier agreed upon. Furthermore, between 1949 and 1960s, more Jewish refugees move to Muslim dominated nations. In 1967 a war is fought between Israel and Egypt then Jordan and Syria join in the war. After six days, the war ended and Israel took control of East Jerusalem, Gaza, West Bank, Golan, Sinai, and Height. In 1973, Syria and Egypt teamed up and attacked Israel in Sinai (Christopher, 2016). In 1982, Israel attacks Lebanon further escalating the conflict and in 2005, Israel withdrew their troops from Gaza but due to the rocket attacks by Gaza, Israel invades 2008 and stay there for one month attacking Hamas. Then in 2017, President Trump claimed that the U.S. recognizes Jerusalem as belonging to Israel and this upset the Arab world. In the end, it is evident that Britain was the first to being involved then later the U.S. has been involved where at some point it has brokered for peace.
V. Effects
The effects of the war that has taken almost fifty years are very massive and negative. For starters, conflict in the region has caused the loss of lives of many people. Gad and Noam (2016) explain that since 1950, about eighty-five million people have died as a result of the conflict. Out of this total, thirty-two thousand have died due to Arab attacks since the direct war between Arabs and Israeli. On the other hand, nineteen thousand have died due to Palestinian attack totaling to fifty-one thousand. The Jews make up about sixteen thousands of those that have lost their life. The war has led to international aggression because as the war is being fought, there is support from the U.S. towards Israeli and this has made the Muslims be viewed globally as terrorists (Christopher, 2017). In the end, it is escalating the enmity of the Arabs towards the rest of the world and also brewing a conflict between Christian religion and Islam. Economically, this war has hindered Israel form making the best of its country’s tourism industry. Additionally, war is costing the country much and leads to loss of lives yet humans are resources that can build the economy. Furthermore, there are losses incurred when infrastructure is being destroyed. It is estimated that between 1989 and 2010 alone, the conflict has consumed about 12 billion U.S. dollars.
What scholarly sources say
Scholarly sources have different perceptions of the war and whether it is likely to end or not. Efrat (2016) for instance, explains that the chances for the war to end are very slim due to public opinion. The opinion is based on the fact that as time is going by stakeholders from both sides feel that the only way to a solution is through war. The international community framework has been rejected by about forty-six percent. This means the war is still likely to continue without an end.
However, a majority of scholars feel that the war can end if there are new approaches to peace processes and if different behaviors are developed by either side. Ahmad (2004) for instance claims that if Israel and Palestine can overcome the suspicion they have towards each other, then peace can be reached. As for Cordesman and Moravitz (2005), the opinion is that Israel should realize that their approach by attacking Gaza cannot work. Instead, it should focus on the political solution.
VI. Conclusion
The Israel-Palestinian war has existed for so long and the losses that have merged form this war is huge. Millions of lives have been lost and not to mention, destruction of infrastructure and disruption of the economy. The conflict that has been seen to have begun due to the return of the Jews to a land they consider their own has slowly turned into an international relations conflict that is unending. Millions of money have been consumed by the war and Israel cannot make use of its tourism industry yet it has a rich history. Apart from that, there are lots of money that have been incurred in the process of creating a peace which again can be counted as losses. Additionally, each nation has taken a firm stand and no one is willing to accept a treaty of peace due to the suspicion that the treaty might deny them their legitimacy. In the end, the war has led to continuous conflict. The worst thing is that it is also causing international conflicts and aggression.