Choose 3 events which are particularly important in the history of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Describe your chosen events and explain how they have shaped the views of todays a) Israeli Jews and b) Palestinian Arabs.

        The Six Day War of 1967 was a dramatic military victory for the Israelis. In just six days the Israeli army managed to take out most of the surrounding Arab state’s air force and regained control of the land that was lost in previous battles. The Israelis had taken Sinai, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Jerusalem.  The Golan Heights were also seized by the Israelis which is a very advantageous military spot because it is an area of high ground on the border of Israel and Syria. The Israelis came out of the war feeling proud and victorious that they managed to take on the three Arab countries by themselves. They were seen as the stronger military side by the rest of the world. The Arab states were left with little land or pride after the humiliation of the war. The PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation) began to grow in size because the Palestinians were determined to fight for their homeland after this embarrassing defeat. Terrorism soon started to spread to Europe and other parts of the world like in 1972 when 9 Palestinians seized and killed 11 Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games. This act of terrorism and others like it were the result of divisions within the PLO which lead to the creation of extremist groups who decided that raids on Israel had got them nowhere so far. These extremists were what made the news in the rest of the world so it was often the view with which the whole of the PLO was judged by. Extremism, rooted in this time, is still in operation today. The six day war is also still relevant today because both Jerusalem and the Golan Heights are still under Jewish military control which remains a problem in peacemaking deals with the Arabs.  

        The Arab-Israeli peace agreement on 13 September 1993 is also a very significant event in the history of the conflict and was an important breakthrough. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat shook hands at the White House in Washington in front of the whole world. It was agreed that Israeli troops would be withdrawn from Gaza and most of the West Bank leaving the Palestinian Council to run it for 5 years after which a final settlement would be decided upon.  In return for this the Palestinians were to officially recognise the Jewish state. This agreement however didn’t necessarily lead to peace. Although many people (both Israeli and Palestinian moderates) agreed with the peace agreement, looking forward to a more peaceful future, some extremist groups didn’t and violence erupted. In 1995 Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a fellow Israeli, a Jewish extremist, who was in opposition to any form of agreement with the Palestinians and any loss of “bible land”.  As time progressed, the peace didn’t. Both sides were unwilling to compromise after the struggling and hardship they had endured to both get their own land, in particular to have Jerusalem as their capital. Even now these views remain and this is why the violence and bloodshed continues. Each side refuses to relinquish land to aid peace believing it to be rightfully theirs.