Posted: April 2nd, 2015

Palestinian-Israeli conflict

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is one of the longest and published regional conflicts in the modern world. The conflict is believed to have started in the early 20^th century and involves a wide range of conflicts. Analysts have argued that the earlier forms of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict involved the conflicts between the British rulers, Arabs in Palestine and the Zionist Yishuv in the Ottoman era. Some of the issues that have taken center stage in the conflict include mutual recognition of the Israel nation, border conflicts, control of religious and traditional sites (mainly Jerusalem), water, refugee and the settlement of Israeli community. Armed confrontations and battles that have characterized the conflict as attracted international attention and actions. Moreover, there are international security and human rights concerns that have been raised on both sides of the conflict. Due to the rich religious and cultural history of the region, the conflicts have had far reaching impacts on tourism since it has hindered religious pilgrimages in the region.

The conflict involved different wars which were initiated by the Arabs. Theses are; the independence of 1948; the Sinai war of 1956; the six day war of 1967; and Yom kipper war of 1973. In each of the four attacks, Israel emerged victorious. Further, they retaliated and withdrew their army from the areas they captured. This is unusual occurrence in the world history, and it portrays Israel’s willingness to maintain a peaceful coexistence. Israel achieved the status of a nation long before the existence of Islam, approximately two thousands years ago. The Jews had control and dominance of the land, with a continuous presence for over 3300 years. Like today, the people of Israel used a similar language and culture based on the Jewish heritage and religion passed on from generations to generation starting from the founding father Abraham.

After the conquest of Jerusalem city by the Romans, 2000 years later, Jews were expelled from the city and dispersed to Diaspora. The Romans, Islamic and Christian crusaders, the Ottoman Empire, and the British Empire took control of the land. Throughout the centuries, the Jews preyed and longed to return to Israel. The first half of the 20^th century witnessed major waves of Jews immigration back to Israel from Diaspora. As of 1948, they had already re-established back their sovereignty of their homeland which is the present day State of Israel. It was after this conquest that the myth about the Palestinian nation evolved and spread worldwide.

However, there had been no land known as Palestine under the authority of Palestinians. Also, they have no language or culture which is distinct from other Arabs The areas termed as Palestine covered the territories of the present day Israel and Jordan. With the UN partitioning of 1947, the land was subdivided onto two states namely; Palestine and Israel. This was achieved in trying to resolve the conflicts between the two sides. Nevertheless, the decision had little impact as the conflicts still continued as mentioned above.

Prior to the adoption of the United Nations resolution of 1947, numerous Arabs countries developed discriminatory measures against the Jewish population. The status worsened during the in 1948. Majority of anti-Jewish riots rose all over the Arab world and most of the Jewish communities suffered particularly those in Syria and Aden. By mid-1948, most of the Jews population in Arabs states suffered great attacks and humiliation where they were expelled, denied citizenship and their properties seized. This triggered their emigration back to Israel with over 700,000 emigrants between the year 1948 and 1952. Majority of the emigrants were from the Arab’s countries.

The conflict intensified after Israel victory in the independence war.