These commando groups make guerrilla attacks on Israel. They secretly cross the Israeli borders to attack lonely farms and frontier posts, blow up pipelines and power stations, to mine roads and machine gun busses. The Israeli army then makes reprisal raids in reply to the Fedayeen. However, these reprisal raids are military operations carried out by highly trained soldiers, they also use heavy guns, tanks and aircraft. It is because of this that the Palestinian casualties are much higher than the Israeli casualties, which makes them fear and hate them.
After the Six Day War in1967 the Palestinians really hated the Israelis, because the Palestinians were really confident of a victory. However the Israelis launched a surprise attack and by the end of the first day they had destroyed almost the whole of the Syrian and Jordanian air forces, while they were still on the ground. The Israelis then doubled their territory after the war and occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Sinai and the Golan Heights. The Palestinians felt that this was unfair.
Another very important cause for them distrusting the Israelis is the Sabra Chatila Massacre that took place in 1982. The massacre made by the Phalangist Militia killed hundreds, perhaps thousands of Palestinian refugees. However, the reason for such distrust and suspicion is because the present Israel leader Ariel Sharon could of stopped the massacre, because in 1982 he was the defence minister and he could of sent the army to stop the massacre, but decided not to. Therefore many Palestinians do not trust him and are very suspicious of him because they do not know if he would let something like that happen again.
Short-term causes include: The Hebron Massacre in 1994, when a Jewish settler armed with a machine gun entered a mosque while large numbers of Palestinians were at prayer. Many Palestinians were angry and hated the Israelis because of this. Then in November 1994, 3 Palestinians were killed in Gaza during fighting between PLO police and Hamas supporters.
Why do the Israelis fear, suspect and hate the Palestinians today?
One of the most important, long-term causes for the Israelis hating the Palestinians happened in 1973, when the Palestinians launched a surprise attack against Israel on the day of ‘Yom Kippur.’ ‘Yom Kippur’ is the sacred Day of Atonement in Israel, when the Jews ask God to forgive their sins. This is the holiest day on the Jewish calendar and many Israelis believe that the Palestinians should have left them alone on such a holy day, instead of taking advantage while their defences were undermanned with soldiers on leave for the holy event.
They also hate the Palestinians because they have been blamed for the refugee problem, when they feel that it is not their problem. One Israeli government spokesman said, “Why are the Palestinian refugees still herded in camps when the population densities in these countries is amongst the lowest in the world? And when Arab countries are short of workers? Why have the oil-rich Arab states contributed only 5% of the money the United Nations spends on feeding these refugees? One day’s oil revenue from Saudi Arabia would solve the whole problem!” However it was because of the oil weapon that the rest of the world began to show some respect to the Arabs. Britain stopped supplying arms to Israel, the EEC expressed sympathy for the Palestinians and Japan stopped supporting Israel. This made the Israelis very cross.
When the Intifada set up barricades of tyres, stones and corrugated iron, and ran the streets behind the barricades as ‘no-go areas’ closed to the army. The Palestinians then mounted a campaign of strikes and economic boycotts. They refused to work for Israeli employers, shopkeepers put up their shutters, and workers went on strike. The Israelis then responded to this with what the Prime Minister Shamir, called the ‘iron fist’ policy. In which the army used live ammunition as well as riot-control equipment to put down demonstrations. Thousands of young Palestinians were arrested and detained, many were severely beaten with rifle butts and batons. Towns, which took part in the uprising, were put under curfew and homes of riot leaders were demolished. With the well-documented stories of Israeli brutality appearing in the foreign press, Israel was internationally condemned for the ‘iron fist’ policy. The UN Security Council condemned the army for violating human rights while foreign governments issued public criticism. However, the Israelis had felt justified for doing so and hated the Palestinians for not being punished.
However main reason for the Israelis not trusting the Palestinians is because the President of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank – Yasser Arafat used to be the leader of the PLO that performed terrorist attacks on Israeli citizens.
Short-term causes for the Israelis hating and fearing the Palestinians include: 22 Israelis being killed on a bus by a Hamas suicide bomber, 21 Israelis being killed in a Hamas suicide attack on a bus stop, 6 Israeli solders killed in a bomb attack in South Lebanon. Then 19 Israelis were killed on a bus in Jerusalem and another 13 in a shopping centre, both attacks were by Hamas suicide bombers.
The situation at the moment in the Middle East is very complicated. There are extremes of hatred in both the Palestinian group and the Israeli group. For example there are some Palestinians that are members of Islamic Jihad, who only want peace if it is on their terms and other Palestinians like the members of the PLO, who are willing to negotiate with the Israelis. Some Israelis also believe in peace like Gilhand Ben Nun, who said, “After 33 years its time to end the suffering, oppression and pain resulting from our occupation.” While other Israelis like Baruch Goldstein, who massacred 43 Palestinians at prayer, believe that the Israelis should not compromise with the Palestinians.
As mentioned before there was great hope for peace in 1993, when Israel and the PLO signed a peace deal. Unfortunately though this peace deal failed to mention the Palestinian refugees, the Jewish settlements that are still taking place in East Jerusalem, the water resources and the future of Jerusalem.
I do not think that peace will be achieved until these problems have been solved, most important being the Palestinian refugees and the future of Jerusalem. However, with all the fear, hatred and suspicion between the two groups it will be very difficult to come to an ongoing peace agreement in the future.
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