Assignment #4 Israel v Palestine, Battle for the Holy Land

The area of the Middle East known as Israel is a serious point of conflict between Arab muslims of the region, known as Palestinians, and the Jewish population, known as Israelis. A particularly important area in Israel is the city of Jerusalem, which is one of the oldest cities in the world, containing the Temple Mount, the Western Wall, The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock, and the al-Aqsa Mosque, which bear extreme importance to Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths. Israel captured this city in the 1967 Six Day War, resulting in widespread refugees and a strengthening of convictions on both sides. Often violent conflict occurs over the ownership of Israel and the surrounding region, and a convoluted and complicated backstory makes definite ownership hard to decide. Global allegiances to both sides make this issue, the Battle for the Holy Land, important to many nations throughout the world. Solutions have been wide and varied and have been met largely with failure, making most in the world wonder if a peaceful solution is even possible. The State of Israel is the world's only predominately Jewish state, created in November of 1947 when the United Nations voted in favor of a partition of Palestine, creating a Jewish state, an Arab state, and a UN administered Jerusalem. The partition was widely met with acceptance in Jewish populations but was rejected by Arab leaders. After a declaration of independence and a civil war, Israel was formed, inhabiting over 78% of Palestinian lands, rather than the 55% proposed by the UN. The creation of a Jewish state has long been an ideal for Jews, hailing back to the Jewish diaspora in the 8th to 6th centuries BC. Zionism, a movement started in 1930's America, became a strong force in proposing a Jewish state. Most Jews base their claims for a Jewish state on a long history of persecution by Egyptians, Romans, English, Russians, Babylonians, Canaanites, and most recently, Germans under Hitler. Israel is currently led under a parliamentary democracy, with the current elected president being Shimon Peres. Many problems exist in modern-day Israel due in part to their own actions. A large minority, the Israeli-Arabs, face discrimination and poverty because of their treatment as second-class citizens and legislative measures, such as the 2003 Citizenship Law. Frequent nighttime raids into parts of Gaza result in human rights abuses and a general perception by Palestinians of persecution from Israel. Violence in 2002 between both sides resulted in 385 deaths. The Gaza War in 2008 was an invasion of many Palestinian-occupied areas by Israel, resulting in 13 Israeli deaths and over 1,400 Palestinian deaths. Israeli Soldiers in the Gaza War later spoke out against their own actions, and the UN Human Rights Council passed a 2009 resolution condemning the human rights abuses by Israeli forces. The State of Israel has a

powerful partner in the United States of America, who supports Israel with economic and military supplies, being the number one recipient of US foreign aid until the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. Because of this, they are one of the only countries in the Middle East with significant nuclear power, and the only state that is openly opposed to its Muslim neighbors. The exceptions are Egypt and Jordan, who have signed peace treaties with Israel. Palestinians view the land of Israel as the land of their forefathers, passed down from countless generations until it was stolen from them in 1947. Palestinian politics was largely ruled by one party, the secular Fatah organization, led by Yasser Arafat until his death in 2004, then by Mahmoud Abbas. This organization was recently ousted by an Islamic militant group, Hamas, in a 2006 election and a series of violent clashes. Hamas, and the islamic group Hezbollah in Lebanon, provide the main military opposition to Israel's military. The establishment of an independent Palestinian state is also supported by Tehran in Iran, meaning that Palestinians could potentially have a source for nuclear weapons themselves. Palestinians are often forced to live in the most poverty-ridden areas of Israel, relocated whenever an Israeli settlement is built on their land. Palestinians have support throughout the Middle East, most notably the Arab League, which expelled Egypt for it's peace agreement with Israel. The prospect of an independent state of Palestine with Jerusalem is poor, however, due to the massive and complex nature of the issue at hand. Current and past solutions have been met most notably with failure. A wellknown example are the Oslo Accords, presided over in 1993 by President Bill Clinton. During the writing and signing of this agreement, Israeli settlements were allowed to continue, generating a feeling of disregard towards Palestinian wishes. Since the start of the al-Aqsa intifada (a period of intensified violence beginning in 2000), the accords have been viewed with increasingly hostile attitudes by both Israeli and Palestinian citizens. Proposed solutions include the Geneva Accord, which suggest giving all of the West Bank and Gaza strip to Palestinians, returning Israel's borders to what they were before the 1967 war. Jerusalem would be divided into East and West, for Palestine and Israel respectively. Another solution is the proposed "Road Map to Peace", supported by US president George W. Bush but since halted by Hamas violence. Lastly, the People's Voice or the National Census is a proposed initiative establishing an independent state of Palestine, return of Israel's borders to pre-1967 conditions, making Jerusalem a free state and capital of two states, and the demilitarization of Palestine. Recently some signs of progress have emerged, such as the lifting of Israel's blockade on Palestine for all goods except those "blacklisted". Hamas called the lifting of the blockade worthless, but Israel claims it only keeps guns from getting to Hamas. Effects of this conflict are wide and far-reaching. If solutions are not handled with care, many people may become offended. Because the two nations involved are backed by larger belligerents, the US and the Arab world, conflict between the two can

be seen as a metaphorical conflict between the United States and the Islamic world. Indeed, if negotiations were ever to sour and turn to all-out war, an Israeli army backed by the US and a Palestinian Hamas army backed by Arab states could become a proxy war, much like the Korean and Vietnam wars. Personally, I view this as a negative result. The United States has a history of sacrificing native lives for it's own benefits, especially in the wars listed above. If it were to involve itself any more in the Holy Land conflict, I could see a distinct disadvantage for both Israelis and American forces. I myself would support a process such as the People's Voice, returning the area of Israel to it's intended condition, as the UN meant for it to be in 1947. However, both sides feature increasingly extremist and stubborn belligerents, meaning that attempts at peace may be fractured and someday impossible. Indeed, the latest peace treaty was not even conducted face-to-face, rather moderated by the US and responses shuttled between borders. Perhaps the time for peace treaties has already passed, and the only solution left is for extremists on both sides to have their war. The result would be much bloodshed and tragedy, with no guarantee of a fair deal in the end. In the end, the Battle for the Holy Land has been a long one, and has a probable chance at continuing for another long era.