Arab Israeli Conflict

The Arab-Israeli Conflict

The Arab-Israeli conflict dates back for over a century. A majority of this political and social conflict stems from the forming of Israel, the first Jewish state. The main reasons for this conflict are territorial issues as well as cultural conflict. But can peace ever be achieved or are their differences to vast to be resolved?

A quote from Muhammas Ali Jinnah referring to Indian-Pakistani conflict can be used as a reference to this issue. According to Jinnah they could not co-exist because they had too many differences, much like what we are seeing in the Middle East today. This is exactly the case and peace in the Middle East will not come for a long time unless sacrifices are made by both sides.

Israel was a product of the 6 day war in which Israel fought off Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq to claim the territories which now comprise the country. After these territory gains and up to present day Palestinians demand their own state and the retrieval of lands lost by the Arabs during the 6 day war. The two sides both have their own arguments and reasons for fighting for what they believe if right. However who is to decide who is right in the end and how can this conflict be resolved.

The Palestinians look at the issue from a fanatical standpoint. Giving their own lives in suicide attacks for what they believe in. They are relentless and stand by their views vowing for continued violence until their demands are met. Many proposals have been made to give the West Bank and teh Gaza Strip to the Palestinians but all were turned down. We cannot stereotype all Palestinians as fanatics. The groups that do exhibit these qualities and hinder the formation of a Palestinians state that can peace fully co-exist with Israel are Fatah, the PIJ, the PLO and lastly Hamas. All of these groups have taken part in and taken credit for various terrorist attacks.

A major issue that was recently introduced was Hamas coming to power after the Palestinian elections. With a group notably known for terrorist attacks leading the Palestinians peace seems even more far fetched. Their goal calls for the establishment of an Islamic Palestinian state and the destruction of the Israeli state. Although they claim to fight for a Palestinian state they can hurt their own people