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| Israel Map with Palestinian Territories (West Bank &Gaza Strip) |
Background: In ancient times, this land, now know as Israel, belonged to the Jews. It was conquered by the Roman Empire and renamed ‘Palestine’. Palestine was then conquered by the Arabs who lived there for thousands of years. The Zionist movement, or the ideology to restore Jews to their homeland, arose and ignored Arab population. In 1917, the Balfour Declaration gave Palestine to the British, so they could establish it as the Jews’ homeland. Arabs resented this intrusion and rebelled causing the beginning of the dislike between the Jews and the Arabs. Britain stopped Jewish immigration into Palestine until the Holocaust occurred. In 1947, United Nations created Arab and Jewish States with Jerusalem as the internationalized city. The Arabs didn’t accept this. They believed their majority population should be taken into more consideration. War broke out, and the Jews won the war and expanded their state. This created several hundred thousand Palestinian refugees. The Arab state would not recognize Israel and continued to fight with the Jews. Wars occurred in 1956, 1967, 1973, and 1982.
Issues: Both Jewish and Arab states believe the issue is entirely the other’s fault and are waiting for an apology. There is always a reason for one side to be exacting revenge upon the other, so the two groups are stuck within a cycle of retaliation and bloodshed. Currently, the Jewish people possess most of the land of Israel and have created hundreds of Palestinian refugees. This has resulted in the question of what to do with these refugees and whether or not it is right to separate them from their homeland by creating two states. Both groups continually fight over land with the Palestinians owning the territories West Bank and Gaza Strip. Some consider East Jerusalem to also be the Palestinians', but the Jewish consider it one whole city and the capital of their state. There are multiple Palestinian political parties that make it hard to cooperate for a common goal. Some of these are the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization), the Fatah, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Arab Liberation Front, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Palestine Liberation Front, Popular Resistance Committees, and Active Organization for the Liberation of Palestine (AOLP). Among these only the PLO has officially renounced its aim of destroying Israel through violence. It is an eternal fight between Israel and Palestine about anything they can find to argue about.
Importance: This region has numerous oil producing countries making it a place of great interest for countries such as the United States. Christianity, Judaism and Islam all have roots in Jerusalem, a city in Israel. All of the land there has a lot of historical value especially Jerusalem, which brings in millions of tourists each year. This conflict has been going on for countless years and has affected the lives of many. Years of hate have accumulated between the two groups and it must end.
Solutions: Currently, the Camp David solution is being used in Israel. There is a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In these areas, Israel may deploy their armies if there is a threat and can observe the Palestinians and have a certain amount of control over their doings. This also gave Israel control over the water in the West Bank, which is another issue between the two groups. One hundred thousand Palestinian refugees would be allowed into Israel and there would be an international fund created to help support the refugees. The city of Jerusalem would be split between the two groups. This is somewhat like a two state solution, which I will be researching. There has also been the One Arab state and the One Jewish state proposal, but neither of these plans appear to be an effective plan as the other group would have nowhere to go. I will be researching the Binational State preposition, the Arab Peace Initiative, and the Geneva Accord.
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| Israel flag |
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| Palestinian flag |
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