The Arab-Israeli Conflict

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Pol 340-01

March 20, 2008

Term Paper

The Arab- Israeli Conflict

The Arab- Israeli Conflict is a conflict between the Arab and Jewish people in the Middle East over Israel and Palestine. This conflict has led to wars and millions of displaced people. This particular conflict has historical origins in the lives of the Arab and Jewish people. “The beginning of Zionism and the Arab-Israeli Conflict explain the basic principles of this complicated dispute”(Frankel 17).

During the course of history, different groups have invaded Israel and Palestine. The area is historically the homeland of the Jewish people who migrated to the area in the thirteenth century as Hebrew tribes. These Hebrew tribes are known as the Israelites who ruled for some time up to 6th Century B.C. The true conflict began around the turn of the 20th Century. The conflict mainly is a struggle over land. Until 1948, both the Arab and Jewish people claimed the land of Palestine.

The Jewish people believe that they have right to Palestine as their homeland for numerous reasons. The main reason for this belief is based on a biblical promise given to Abraham by God for him and his decedents, which are the Jewish people. Palestine was the historical biblical site of the Jewish kingdom of Israel. The Jewish people feel that because of their biblical promise, that they have a right to the land. In addition, the

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Jewish people felt that Palestine was an escape from the anti-Semitism or hatred against Jewish people that they faced in Europe. The Arab people claim that the land should be theirs because it has been the location of Arab people for hundreds of years, and that they represent the majority of people in the land. The Arab people deny that the biblical promise gives the Jewish people the right to claim the land. Part of their reasons to deny the biblical claim include the fact that Abraham’s son Ishmael decedents are the Arab people. If the biblical claim were true according to the Arab people, then it would mean that the Arab and the Jewish people are apart of the biblical promise for the land. The Palestinian people also feel that the Jewish people want them to give up their land because of the Anti-Semitic crimes committed against them in Europe.

The Jewish National Movement also known as Zionism began in 1882 with the first group of Jewish-European immigration to Palestine. Because the Jewish people were spread across the world, Zionism or a return to their homeland seemed to be the most logical place for settlement since it was the origin of the Jewish people. The Jewish people that were already in Israel were there mostly for religious reasons and did not agree with Zionism. The European-Jewish immigrants were the group that felt that it was mandatory to establish a Jewish state. Zionism is a modern political movement that embraces the idea that Jewish people are one nation and not just a religious or ethnic group. “The World Zionist Organization was established by Theodor Herzl in 1897 and

it declared that the goal of the Zionism was to establish a home for the Jewish people secured by the public law” (Frankel 6). Zionism eventually drew in those who felt that

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the Jewish people only had a religious attachment to Israel and Palestine. Zionism drew the attention and the support of the West and those who were opposed to the crimes committed against the Jewish people in World War II by the Nazi’s.

The British Mandate in Palestine was developed out of the fact that many groups were competing for the territory. After World War I the League of Nations gave Britain and France permission to claim territory in the Ottoman Empires. The French had a mandate over Syria and the British had a mandate over Israel, West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Jordan. The Arabs were angry that the British did not keep their word to create an Arab state. “Many opposed British and French control as a violation of their right to self-determination”(Holliday 42). The situation in Palestine became more complicated because the British promised to support a Jewish national state. Between 1920 and 1921 clashes arose between the Arabs and Jews and equal amounts of people were killed on both sides.

After World War II the conflict between the Arabs and Jews over Palestine caused the British to release their mandate over Palestine. The British requested that the United Nations determine the fate of Palestine. The UN determined that the country would have to be divided in order to meet the needs of both the Jewish and Arab people. In 1947 the UN determined that there should be a partition of two states, one Jewish state and one Arab state. The land was divided so that each state would have a majority of its own population, although some of the Jewish state would fall under the Palestinian state and some of the Palestinian state would fall under the Jewish state. Jerusalem and Bethlehem were determined to be an international zone. The Zionist Jewish people

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accepted the partition and the Arab people did not. The Arab people felt that because the Jewish people received a little more territory that the land was divided unequally. The UN claim that the land was divided the way that it was because the Jewish people were the majority and the idea that more people would migrate to the Jewish territory for the blended border lines was the reason for allowing the Jewish people more space.

“Fighting began between the Arab and Jewish residents of Palestine days after the adoption of the UN partition plan”(Fernea 2). The Arab military forces were poorly organized and the Zionist forces were well organized. By 1948 the Zionist forces gained control over the territory given to the Jewish state in the UN plan. On May 15, 1948, the British evacuated Palestine, and Zionist leaders proclaimed the state of Israel. The neighboring Arab states invaded Israel. This invasion marked the first Arab-Israeli conflict. Later on, the Jewish state army gained arms and was able to claim territory well beyond UN partitioned borderlines for the Jewish state. In 1949, the war between Israel and the Arab states ended with the signing of armistice agreements. Palestine was now divided into three parts now under separate political control. “Israel gained