Many wars broke out due to this conflict over land.
Since Israel’s existence it fought in many wars to keep the land, the first began in 1948 this was called the invasion of Israel. This occurred because Arab states felt Israel had no right to exist, but Israel refused to hand back the land which they had occupied in fighting. In 1967 the six-day war broke out, and even by the first day the Israelis had control of the sky. 15,000 Arab men were killed and only 1000 Israelis. The Yom Kippur war was next in 1973. Egypt and Syria prepared for war, and soon took back part of Sinai, but Israel after 3days pushed the Syrians back and cut off the Egyptian army. Because of the Israeli actions the Arabs used oil as a weapon as all oil exports to the west were banned. The latest wars took place in Lebanon in 1978, 1982 and 2006. These were not only wars between countries but religions too. Suicide attacks occurred; killing many people mostly civilians or making them homeless.
Israel has always won because they are well prepared, organized, had new electronic equipment, highly skilled and trained men. The main reason was that no other country felt they could defeat them and the Israelis believed they were fighting for the nation’s survival so this increases their claim to the land.
There is still conflict going on today because both the Arabs and Israelis think it’s theirs and they are not willing to compromise, they don’t want to kill each other but it’s one or the other.
Resources were being used as weapons, which are how bad things got.
The Arab states were the providers of oil for the west and due to the help the United States were giving Israel; all its oil exports were banned. Arabs came across from this as being skilled with courage and determination the world respected them. Whereas before the Arabs were known as hostile, uncontrolled people.
Water was also brought into action as Syria and Jordan tried to divert all the water running through to Israel.
Although now the other countries of the world want peace, their role has sometimes been negative.
The U.K, U.S.A and the USSR all played very large parts in the Arab/Israeli conflict. It all started when the British government got involved in 1917, and were then given a mandate in 1919. Until 1948 they ruled the country. Being involved meant Britain would suffer consequences like getting killed or hung by the Jewish terrorist e.g. Irgun, as they wanted to put them under pressure by threatening them.
A partition plan was put forward by the United Nations. They wanted to divide the country up, giving part to the Jews and part to the Palestinians, and Jerusalem being none of theirs. But the Palestinians didn’t agree due to the Jews being offered, what the Palestinians thought was a better deal, and because of this disagreement Britain pulled out of the mandate on the 14th May 1948.
The American government’s support and recognition was vital for the survival of the new state of Israel and they are therefore hated by Palestinians. America supported Israel because Truman wanted to win the votes of millions of Jews living in America in the upcoming presidential election. America also wanted to help a modern democracy rather than an old-fashioned monarchy like in the other Arab states. They wanted the democracy as an Ali for the Middle East so this is why America is so unpopular with Arabs and even Jews.
Since the 1956 war, the US government gave Israel 1000million for forces and aid a year. In 1973 Sadat knew the United States wanted no war, so he tried to persuade them to make Israel give up. While the USSR were sending arms to help Egypt and Syria the US were helping Israel. A cease-fire was then demanded which the United Nations supported.
Another large issue that has caused the conflict to grow is Palestinian issue including, camp conditions, refugee problems, the PLO, Yasser Arafat and the Intifada.
When the new state of Israel came to existence, over 300,000 Palestinian Arabs fled from the country because they were frightened about what would happen to them. Many fled to the west bank or Gaza strip, and large numbers also went to Syria, Jordan or Lebanon. Many Palestinians did stay and more became part of the Israel population, when the Gaza strip and the west bank were conquered in 1947. The Law of Return; created by Israelis allowed Jews anywhere in the world to live in Israel, but forbid Palestinians to do so. The refugees camp conditions were described as ‘atrocious’. Tents were overcrowded, there was no aid quarter, food or sanitation, and diseases spread rapidly. The refugees had three options, to stay in the camps, with no hope of jobs, to join freedom fighter groups- fight as terrorists- ‘Palestine Liberation Organization’, or emigrate to the Middle East or west and find new jobs but this option only applied to people with money or qualifications.
The Palestinian Liberation Organization also known as the PLO took upon two acts of terrorism in the 1970’s. The first happened in Jordan and consisted of hijacking 4 British planes and blowing them up. The passengers were let free and the Palestinian hijackers blew up with the planes, it was founded that in the end only 3 planes blew up. This act of terror was done to stun the world and get sympathy from those who had been ignoring them. The second act consisted of 11 Israeli athletes being murdered at the German Olympics in 1972 and the Arab terrorists demanded the release of 200 Palestinian prisoners in Israel. This affected conflict due to the Israeli’s seeking revenge and acting back.
Yasser Arafat was a Palestinian leader who kept the cause alive. He was born in 1929 in Jerusalem and was the founder of the Fatah organization. He also became chairman for the PLO in 1968. When he died in his late 70’s the Palestinians thought the Israelis has poisoned him, yet he died of natural causes.
The Intifada was a huge problem in the conflict it meant the ‘shaking off’. Palestinians who were living in Israel began to get fed up of being treated badly as 2nd class citizens so they started to attack the Israelis on the streets. Some went out unarmed and began to fight; this happened on a daily basis and larger fights between the enemies then broke out. Because of this the Israelis arrested and killed many Palestinians and schools were closed, they used something called ‘might power and beatings’. Curfews and road blocks were put into place stopping ambulances reaching the sick and wounded. By September 1988 over 345 Palestinians had been killed and many of them were under the age of 16. This mage the conflict grow, causing angrier people and unnecessary actions being used.
Religion plays a very big part in this conflict as God promised the land to the Israelis. Jerusalem is a holy city to Jews, Muslims and Christians. To Jews because this is where their holy temple was built, before the Romans knocked it down. This temple was destroyed in 70AD and the small section remaining today is called the Wailing Wall, where the Jews pray, wail and bang their heads against. The Dome of Rock is now standing over the Temple’s remains. To Muslims its holy because Muhammad was taken up to heaven by an angel from the rock, and now a mosque in built on the rock. Finally Christians, because this is the place where Jesus was crucified, he lived, preached, died and was resurrected there. Jerusalem’s population was made up of mostly Arabs but encircled by Israeli settlements containing 150,000 Israelis. Jerusalem is preventing a problem to a peaceful revolution because religiously it means a lot to both sides and it’s a Major city.
I think that the most important problem causing this conflict is the land itself. To me it seems like all the other issues like religion, the role of other countries e.c.t all link back to land. The land is the main reason for this conflict; everything else just follows from it, making things a lot worse than they already are.
Question two
The PLO has been causing so much controversy of the years. Some believe the organization are ‘terrorists, whist others would go against this arguing that they are merely a group of ‘freedom fighters’. I am now going to explain why these interpretations differ using both my own knowledge and evidence from sources A-F.
The first interpretation comes from the Palestinian people who believe the PLO to be freedom fighters; they don’t see terrorism as a bad thing as it’s been justified. For example in source A it says ‘at least the world is talking about us now’, this shows that they felt they were being ignored and terrorism has worked for them due to the rest of the worlds attention being gained. Source B reads ‘it is for us a last resort’, telling us Palestinians feel this is the only way, and this also backs up source A, showing that these are both biased sources and that they are so desperate to get their land back. They lost the land in 1948 and since then, and still are today trying to retrieve it. I know that source D is a lie, they make out they are the innocent one’s to make them selves look better than they are. It says ‘we do not bomb women and children’, but there was once a suicide attack taken up by the PLO in Mc Donald’s, where children eat with their parents.
The Israelis think the PLO are terrorists, and so does the rest of the world.
Finally source C is a letter from a Palestinian student believes in fighting for his freedom and future. It’s an ordinary Palestinian view and shows that he doesn’t feel the PLO are cruel because they have a good enough reason to justify their actions. Palestinians are people who are trying to achieve something from acting upon terror.
Source E is a biased Israeli view which is fairly similar to the Palestinians views. In ways which show’s they have no choice but to retaliate- that’s how things grow and never end. The well respected British paper, the Daily Telegraph is the only un-biased source, which is supporting the Israelis because of the murder and barbarity. It’s in contrast to the Palestinian sources but still opposes the PLO. From relieving information about the actions of the PLO this news paper reporter has incidentally come to a decision of their own.
It can be argued that the Palestinians are terrorists. They kill, discriminate, threaten and put people under pressure. Terrorism has worked for them because the rest of the world became intrigued, not feeling sorry for them but seeing how desperate the Palestinians are and how they think terrorism is justified. On the other hand it can be argued that they are freedom fighters. They are only trying to do what’s best for their people, doesn’t acting in the way which they do show how much they want it back? They want the world to realize that killing is a last resort, and they don’t enjoy doing it but it’s the only way out. And that is why these interpretations differ. The sources are coming from people with completely different view points, who have been brought up to hate the opposing nation. Both groups of people hold strong, opposite and often fanatical opinions which clash with one another. Both sides feel their views are right and are therefore too stubborn and unwilling to come to an agreement, this comes back to the land issue; they each think it rightfully belongs to them. God promised the land to the Israelis, so is it theirs?
To conclude I think that the differing interpretations of the PLO represent this conflict as a whole. They are people who are trying to achieve terror, for the sake of land, merely terrorists in my view. The interpretations also differ due to the Palestinians having a completely opposite opinion to the Israelis. Both opinions are strongly held, but to me the Palestinians lack courage. The reason I think this is because it’s not fighting or war which they are taking up but acting selfishly in sudden terrorist ways. I understand completely why the Israelis want revenge and do retaliate. The Palestinians are liars and cheats, saying they don’t bomb women and children or civilian places. I know for a fact this is not true they make out they are the innocent ones. This conflict is just a vicious circle, that’s why it will never end neither side is willing to give up the land, meaning there is no evidence this will end in the near future.
