ARAB ISRAEL CONFLICT

Arab Israel Conflict

Arab Israel Conflict

Part-A: Significance of Arab Israel Conflict for political relationships within the Middle East

The Arab-Israeli conflict is that between the State of Israel and its Arab neighbours, particularly the Palestinians. Its definition, history and possible solutions are the subject of ongoing debate, and problems including time-varying. To date, the main issues are the sovereignty of the Gaza Strip and West Bank, the possible formation of a Palestinian state in those areas. The status of the eastern part of Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and Shebaa Farms The fate of Israeli settlements and Palestinian refugees, recognition of Israel and Palestine and their right to exist and live in peace in the shelter of threats and acts of God, and Israel's relationship with Syria and Lebanon. Currently Israel has peace treaties in force with Egypt and Jordan to ensure their peaceful coexistence.

For several centuries, the village Jew lived divided in several countries, especially in Europe, in what is known as Diaspora. The coexistence of these with the rest of Europe was not always easy, persecution and pogroms, especially in Eastern Europe in the late nineteenth century were crucial for the emergence and rise of political Zionism, which called for an independent state for all Jewish communities scattered throughout the world. Cultural Zionists had stressed the importance of turning Palestine into a centre for spiritual and cultural growth of the Jewish people. At the time that founded Zionism, Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire and got inhabited by Christians and Muslims in their absolute majority, and a small community of religious Jews, although a minority had a significant implementation especially in Jerusalem and environs (Schulze, 2008).

Causes of Conflict:

Territory (Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories);

Colonial history (creation of the State of Israel);

Ethnic and religious (Jews, Muslims and Christians), and

Resources (water) (Ross, 2004).

Significance of the conflict:

The Palestinian conflict is the heart of tensions in the Middle East. It begins with the immigration of Jews in the late nineteenth and got exacerbated by the creation of Israel in 1948, in a territory where mostly Arabs lived. Israel has amended its borders to occupy large areas of Palestine, Syria and southern Lebanon which were strategic, military interest, for its resources, like water, or its history. Israel justifies its right to this territory on the grounds that there were two thousand years ago in the Israelite kingdoms.

Israel, with tacit U.S. support, has implemented a policy of fait accompli, has increased the number of settlements in Arab land and the use of military force. The Palestinian population is six million. In June 1994, the United Nations Office had registered three million Palestinian refugees in the Middle East. Israel is a great military power that allocates 22% of their gross national income on armaments and is one of the world's largest recipients of aid. The Jewish settlements in the occupied territories have been financed almost entirely with American money (Rydelnik, 2007).

The peace process initiated in 1991 has opened the way for negotiations between Arabs and Israelis ...