Conflicts Of The Jews And The Arabs example essay topic
Zionism is the belief that Jews make up a nation, and they are entitled to return to their ancestral land of Israel, which is known as Palestine. The conflict has been traced back to World War I, and Zionism was supported by the British government of that time. There was a document that was made up known as the Balfour Declaration that stated the British government would control Palestine after the war and would strive to build up a Jewish State there. Therefore the Jews supported Britain and other countries that would help to end the Ottoman Empire, which dominated Palestine.
After the War, Britain's military took over in Jerusalem, causing conflict between the Arabs who were already citizens and the new Jewish settlers. Causing the Palestinian Arabs to rebel in 1920, and kill the Jewish settlers and damage property. This caused the beginning of the, Arab nationalist revolution in Palestine. In 1922, The League of Nations awarded the Palestine mandate in 1922, which was too carryout the Balfour Declaration. The mandate encouraged Jews to migrate to Palestine and attempt to create their Jewish "national home". The Arabs were against the mandate because they were against the creation of a Jewish state, and with the held of Winston Churchill, who issued a document that denied the British government from giving the Jews "special treatment".
This document restricted any further immigration of the Jews into Palestine. This caused for the Emirate Of Tran Jordan to be created, temporarily, causing for Jews to only be able to inhabit create their nation east of the Jordan River. The conflicts of the Jews and the Arabs seemed to be solved, and because more Jews left Palestine, then immigrated there. It was the "Wailing Wall Incident" that caused the tension to resurface. The Wailing Wall, which is also known as, the Western Wall was a remnant of the second Jewish Temple. The wall symbolized hope that Temple will be rebuilt and that ancient Jewish rituals will be revived.
However, the problem was that the Wall partially surrounded the Temple Mount, which is what the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa mosque atop of. Muslims began to fear that Jews would claim the site as their own, despite the fact that the Muslims had right to it also, tensions to increase. Many small events led to the Muslims attempting to stop the Jews from claiming the wall and eventually in 1929 a small civil war broke out. Conflict then rose because Britain government sided with the Arabs and turned against the Jews, by Lord Passfield, the colonial secretary. However, because of the mix-up the British government turned against Lord Passfield and caused for the Arab's animosity to increase. As more was occurring to help the conflict of the Jews and Arabs the Arab Higher Committee in Palestine did not work with the British government.
Later in 1929 a British commission, headed by Lord Peel recommended a partition, which would give the Jews a small area of Palestine to the Jews. However, the Arabs opposed because they thought that if they accepted the partition then more opportunities would occur allowing for further action to be taken to make Palestine a Jewish state. Years went by were the conflict was still evident however; it was not the most important subject of the citizens of Palestine. Efforts to bring peace to the Jews and the Arabs were rekindled in 1939 when Britain called a conference between the leaders of the two conflicting groups. This conference was ineffective and a document known as the White Paper was announced that provided Palestine (Arabs) with full independence, but also stated that it would not happen for another ten years.
Jewish immigration became limited until 1944, and then it was only allowed with Arab consent. The White Paper seemed to sell out Britain's commitment to help build the Jewish national home. And the Arabs also rejected the White Paper, stating it postponed their independence and did not stop Jewish immigration, allowing for Jews to take over their land. Towards the end of World War II Zionist terrorist groups began to rise, blowing up buildings and British institutes in Palestine. This caused for the British to go before the UN General Assembly in 1947, and withdraw from being able to help control the actions of the White Paper.
Consequently, the UN created the Special Committee on Palestine, who recommended partitioning Palestine into seven sections: three for Arabs, three for Jews and one for both people. The Arabs were against the plan, however the Zionists supported it. They believed it was a closer step to accomplishing a Jewish nation. Both sides committed acts of terrorism against civilians, and many Palestinians fled the country.
In May 1948, the Jewish Agency Executive Committee declared that the parts of Palestine under Jewish control were now the State of Israel and that the provisions of the White Paper that limited Jewish immigration were null and void. Zionists urged the Arab inhabitants of Israel to assist in developing peace by creating a sense of equality amongst everyone. But many Palestinians distrusted the Zionists and looked to their Arab neighbors for help. In 1947-48, a war was fought between the Israel and the Arab nations, and the Arab armies were defeated.
The UN secured several cease-fires, which were unsuccessful. And finally an armistice between each Arab country and Israel was agreed upon separately. Causing Israel to successfully push Arab forces out of the Gaza area. The UN Conciliation Commission then assembled a conference for both sides to settle their differences, but negotiations broke down before they could even meet. The reason was that Israel wanted a settlement, while the Arabs demanded Israel to withdraw from Palestine. Because of the war Palestinians ended up in camps near Israel's borders with no state of their own and other Arab countries could not support them.
The Palestine disaster caused for more than half a million Arabs to be "nation less", and they found hope in any leader who fought to return Israel as their home. Consequently, Arab commando raids increased causing more violence, causing for Israel to increase its military power. When Britain and France prepared to attack Egypt for nationalizing the Suez Canal, Israel wanted to take part only to teach the Arabs a lesson and keep them from attempting to rebel against Israel. Efforts increased on both sides to keep the land that both groups thought were their own. In 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was formed, to regain the Palestinian homeland and the destroy Israel. The PLO was successful in sabotaging part of Israel's national water-carrier system and engaged in guerrilla campaigns against Israel.
This caused for many casualties and property damage, and for Israel to have a sense of fear of Arab. Israel retaliated by striking commando bases within the Jordanian West Bank. Then in June 1967, Israel held strike on the airfields of surrounding Arab nations, causing what is known as the Six-Day War. They broke the blockade at the Gulf of Aqaba, Egypt, captured the West Bank and the Old City, Jordan, and also captured the Golan Heights, Syria. The strike was initially for defensive purposes, however, Israel decided to keep the spoils of war for purposes of bargaining, and to increase Arab fears of Israeli expansion. As a result the UN Security Council devised a plan known as Resolution 242, meant for Arabs and Jews to accept.
The resolution called for the withdraw of Israeli forces from territories occupied during the Six Day war, in return for the recognition of Israel's right to exist as the Nation of Jews, and to ignore all rights that the Arabs had to the land. Both parties agreed to the resolution, and some of the violence decreased. However, tension between the US and the USSR increased and the Arabs and Jews were involved. In 1973, there was the Yom Kippur War.
Egypt and Syria attacked Israel. Eventually, Israeli forces drove out most of the Egyptian forces with the exception of the Third Army, which was still trapped in the peninsula and could have been destroyed by Israel. Therefore Egypt backed out wanting peace, however their actions led for other Arab Nations to attempt war against Israel, but no official attempts have been taken. The conflict is all over who should have a nation the Arab or the Jews.
The Israeli government wants nothing to do with the Palestinian government. Negotiations between the US and Israel have been going on ever since the US and the USSR tension however they have not been successful. The US can do little because if they go against Israel than many supporters of our country who are Jewish will turn their back on the US. If the US does nothing about the Arabs then the Arabs will rebel, which is believed to be the reason that the attacks of September 11, 2001 occurred on the US.