Refugees And The Source example essay topic

The Palestinian refugee problem first started in 1948 during the 1948 Civil War. This war was between the Jewish Zionists and the Arab League and was a dispute over the UN partition plan. This war ended in Jewish victory and the refugee problem started because this war saw the end of the state of Palestine and the creation of Israel and small areas of occupied territory. There were then further wars over the next fifty or so years which would have increased the number of refugees.

There was said to be 700,000 refugees from 1948-49, these refugees lived in camps in the infertile parts of Israel called the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Theses camps were not in very good condition as they had no government to maintain them; the camps were usually very dirty and unsanitary and because they were so overcrowded disease would spread very easily. Because of the condition of the camps the Palestinians have resorted to terrorism and it is seen by some people as being a desperate attempt to a better life. The issue of who was to blame for the problem is significant because the problem is what is seen as causing the continuations of the conflict. This is because when a Palestinian refugee attacks because he is angry at the way he lives the Israelis retaliate causing the refugees to retaliate against the retaliation so the conflict is stuck in an endless cycle of attack and retaliation. Both groups have their own reason for blame for the refugee problem.

The main argument made on the Israelis side is that refugees are a normal consequence of war but also the Arab leaders of the surrounding countries told the Palestinians to leave before they invaded with their armies. The Israelis also believe that the leaders can house the refugees in their countries and the refugee problem is being maintained for political. The Arabs argue planned Israeli attack caused the problem as they destroyed houses and massacred hundreds of people, threatening others into leaving their homes. They believe that the surrounding Arab countries cannot afford to house them and that is the reason why they do not settle there.

The wars which followed the Civil War did not help the situation at all, the Suez War (1956) which involved Egypt, Israel, Britain, France and the Soviet Union. The war was mainly about rivalry between the countries and it resulted in Jewish victory and the middle-east became a war field for the Cold War. After that there was the Six Day War (1967) which was between Israel, the Palestinian Guerrillas and some surrounding Arab nations (Lebanon, Syria and Jordan). This war was over land, again it resulted in a victory for Israel, expanding their amount of land thus reducing the amount of Arab land, Arab Nationalism then grew and so the demands for revenge which were to led by Egypt's president Nasser. This revenge was carried out in the Yom Kippur war (1973) which was between Israel, Egypt and Syria basically because the Israeli's built a Jewish settlement in the West Bank which the PLO then attacked through terrorism and Egypt just wanted their revenge. Nobody won this war as a ceasefire was reached on the 24th of October when each side realised that there could never be a lasting peace unless each side was prepared to make concessions.

An Intifada then happened during the 1970's - an Intifada being a Palestinian uprising - it was the PLO against Israel, so that the Palestinians could claim back what was taken during the Six Day War. During this war the PLO hijacked 3 planes which made King Hussein - of Jordan - rid Jordan of the PLO and so the PLO set up headquarters in Lebanon. The PLO was created in 1964 and it aimed to unite Palestinian refugees and regain the land they both lost. They adopted methods to terrorist Israel into giving up conquered land but they failed to gain their objectives because they were kicked out of Jordan, they then set up headquarters in Lebanon but were expelled in 1982 when the Israelis invaded.

But not all of the refugees joined the PLO and became terrorists, some were offered jobs and some managed to emigrate to other parts of the Middle East or the West where most became engineers, teachers doctors of businessmen and some of these because very wealthy but most of those left in the camp were recruited by PLO. It is not like the refugee problem has been ignored, effort has been taken before, for example after the Civil War of 1948-49 the United Nations formed the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) which set up camps for the refugees and provided food, clothing, shelter and education. The biggest problem with the refugee problem is once one problem I solved another is caused in this conflict because before the UN partition plan the Jews were practically refugees themselves especially after the Second World War but when a Jewish homeland was established it was created where people were already living and so now the Palestinians no longer have a homeland, they are now the refugees. By studying several sources created by a range of people with different opinions on the problem you can gain a greater insight in to what each side thinks and also what an outsider may think. I have studied and analysed seven sources some by parties involved and others by outsiders. Source A tells me that three militant groups were responsible for the attack for the refugee problem including one associated with the Israeli government, because it says that the three were responsible for the attack on Deir Yassin which was a Palestinian village near Jerusalem.

It says that the objective of the attack on Deir Yassin was to scare the Palestinians nationwide into leaving their homes. The source was created by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) and it was probably written for the rest of the Arab world and the Western World. Thus source was created by the PLO meaning it is probably biased and it is also a secondary source, this affects the reliability. It is not very useful because you only receive one of argument. Because you are only gaining one side of the story you do not know how the Arabs may have contributed to the problem, there may have been a more significant event. Source B told me that although the Deir Yassin attack was a tragic event it was not committed by anyone who is associated with the government and the refugee problem was not down to this event but it was caused by neighbouring Arab leaders telling the Arabs to leave their homes before they invade.

This source was created by Mrs Golda Meir. Israel's foreign minister meaning it is probably biased to make Israel look better. Also it would day that the attack on Deir Yassin is not to do with the government because otherwise the claim to the land would be illegal, these factors mean that this source cannot be considered as being reliable. It is not very useful because. Just like in Source A you only receive one side of the argument. Because on its own you only receive Israel's point of view you would need to study another source - it would be best if it was created by an outsider so it may not be biased - this may help to gain a conclusion on who is responsible for the refugee problem because you would gain facts on each side and it would not be biased.

This source would have been first created to remove the blame from Israel and to make the claim to the land legal. Source C directly contradicts Source B as it says that the broadcast which was said to be on Arab radio which told the Palestinians to evacuate Palestine never actually happened because the broadcasts are monitored by the BBC and they were checked. If this is true it would mean that this event cannot be blamed and the Israelis lied. The source seems reliable because it was created by and outsider and there is no indication that it could be biased.

Although it is not very useful because it does not actually blame anyone for the refugee problem, it just removes the blame from Arab radio. The purpose of this source was to prove that the Arabs leaders did not ever broadcast an evacuation request. Source D says the refugees would rather be homeless than not return to their homeland. They will not give up just because the UN is offering support. This source had come from someone directly involved so it would seem it is reliable but it may not be reliable because it is probably biased. The source may have been created to make the Palestinians seem helpless.

It gives a reason for their fight for the land and it came from a person involved in the problem. It may not be useful because it is only one Arab speaking for the nation so it would probably not be a balanced viewpoint of what they all think. The purpose of this source is to give reason for why the refugees have not been accepting what they are being offered and why they do not give up in the fight for land. Source E contradicts Source D because it says that the refugee problem could be resolved by the Arab governments but it is being maintained for political motives - where it says in Source D that they are not taking what the UN gives because they want to fight - it exclaims that "The vast Arab world could find homes for a million refugees". The source was created by Abba Eban who was an Israeli ambassador for the UN so it is likely to be biased although it can be backed up by the fact that the refugees are actually turning down some UN support. It is not useful for saying who caused the refugee problem it just gives reason for its continuation.

Because you do not gain a full picture - the Arab nation may have reason for not housing the refugees - and the source it probably biased it is not very useful and also it could use figures and facts to back up its argument but it doesn't, also it is not created by an ordinary citizen suffering the effects of war. This source was created to give reason for the continuation for the problem. Source F is showing the effects of one of the Israeli laws, the law that the refugees are not allowed to return to their lands in Israel but any Jew anywhere in the world is allowed to live in Israel. The source shows two women one who is an American born Jew who is allowed access and another for who was born in Palestine and is not allowed back. There is no information of who took the photo or where it was taken so it could be a set up and the people portrayed may not be involved at all making it unreliable. The thing that makes this source unique is that it shows views from a Jew and a Palestinian and they share the same view.

This source was created to show the unfairness of an Israeli law. Source G was a video documentary which basically says that the refugees are treated badly and it is Israel's fault. Because it is a documentary it would lead you to believe that it is reliable but it shows only one point of view and it twists fact to suit the story, I think we need to know more about the situation. Although it is an outsider's view and it would seem that it is not propaganda because it is a documentary but it is not useful because it is one-sided. The documentary is clearly biased showing real images but twisting the story using commentary. You would expect it not to be propaganda but it is.

The purpose of this source was to inform the western world of the situation today in Israel and the occupied territories, it also tries to get people on the Palestinians side. There are some pieces of information that the sources did not include that are significant to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Facts like stating that refugees are a normal consequence of war and it cannot be helped and for this war there will be a vast amount because there have been on and off wars for fifty years also the Israeli's are very patriotic about their country because in the past they have been discriminated and prosecuted by many different groups like the Nazis, Catholics, Russians etc and they have never really had a country of their own. They also believe that Israel was promised to them by god so it is rightfully theirs.

Also the sources do not discuss the activities of the PLO, and organisation seen by Palestinians as its government but to the Israelis as a terrorist group, because moat of the recruits of this group if not all of them are refugees. Over the last fifty years refugee camps have been recruiting grounds for terrorist, the Israelis see this as a threat, this is not mentioned and it is important because the Israelis may be fighting out of fear, trying to prevent the next terrorist attack. Another thing that the sources do not mention is the grim conditions of the camps which motivate the Palestinian groups to fight for freedom. One fact which is not mention but gives backup to sources D and E is the fact that the surrounding Arab countries are in conflict with each other therefore making it difficult to support the Palestinians in an effective manner, and the Israeli thought that the Arab countries have maintained the terrible conditions in eh refugee camps so that they continue to get sympathy from the rest of the world and therefore force Israel to give away land.

Looking at the sources it is not possible to come to a full conclusion because the credibility of all the sources can be questioned as many of them have motives which make them biased and it is hard to tell whether the sources are reliable or not, also all of them are not very useful for answering the question because they either do not place the blame on one party or they only give a one-sided argument On one hand the Arab sources suggest that the Israelis are the ones in the wrong and the Palestinians are just trying to claim back what was taken from them and they do not want charity they just want the land back. They also say that the refugees are terrorized by the Israeli's and are forced to live in terrible conditions. But there are limitations; because they are sources biased toward the Arabs they do not include what the Israelis think so you do not get information on what the Arabs may have done to contribute to the problem. While on the other hand the Israeli sources say that the Arab world is in the wrong and the Israelis are just trying to keep the peace. They say that the problem is being maintained for political motives of the surrounding Arab governments and the conditions in the camps are also being kept for the same reason, to get the world on their side through sympathy which is the same way Israel got America behind them, it was because America gave sympathy to the Jews after the Second World War. There are also limitations in these sources; the fact that the Israelis have to make the claim to the land legal means that all government officials will not mention anything done wrong by the Israelis so these are not mentioned so you do not know what they are.

Source C seems to be factual and non-partisan because it was created by and outsider and does not seem to have any motives which would make it biased, it also uses and event which was said to have happened but proves otherwise in such a way that others who disagree can check. However, to be sure of the reliability you would have to study this evidence yourself, one thing which makes me unsure of the reliability is something which was said but the Arabs which is not mentioned in the sources but it contradicts this source "The Arabs were told to leave because they thought it would be a quick victory" this was said by and Arab and it would seem to suggest that the broadcast did happen and that Source B is more reliable because it is backed up by something said on the other side of the argument. We cannot come to a full conclusion on who was to blame for the refugee problem because there are so many opinions on which event was actually responsible and for every source there is a contradictory source which attempts to prove it wrong. I believe that the refugee problem was not caused by one event but by many which all contributed to it and it is to the fault of both sides but I also think that it is an unanswerable question.