According to the United Kingdom, Jerusalem was supposed to be international city administered by the UN. This was never set up. The UK recognized the de facto control of Israel and Jordan, but not control. In 1967, Israel occupied East Jerusalem, which the UK considers an illegal military occupation.
Arab Nations frequently present the Arab-Israeli conflict as a religious conflict of the Muslims against the Jews. Therefore, the Arab countries at war with Israel use Islamic religion as an idea to trigger the Arab as well as non-Arab Muslims nations against Israel. In difference to Islam, the Jewish beliefs and traditions are associated specifically with the Jewish People. Israel has withdrawn it’s army from territories captured after each war. The use of Islamic religion to encourage suicide bombers, illustrates the great gap between Islam and Jewish beliefs. The Hebrew Bible prohibits killing in the Ten Commandments and completely rejects and condemns suicide. But Judaism also states that “If one comes to slay you, slay him first”. This phrase is a relevant for dealing with the modern day terrorists. There are many examples in history where Jews lived in relative harmony over hundreds of years with non-Arab Muslim nations. Many believers in Islam see the rise of Israel as a threat, yet, Judaism should be seen for what it really is: the first religion that led to the birth of other religions, e.g. Christianity and Islam.
Anti-Semitism has grown quite significantly over the past few years in Europe and especially the UK and this is a growing concern for the Jewish people around the World and they feel victimised by the conflict in the Middle East, “Globalisation had led some people to wrongly see Israel as the cause of all the world's conflicts. Anti-Semitism is spreading around the world in a kind of tsunami effect.” Said Sir Jonathon Sacks, the chief Rabbi.
“We found there was a very low level of prosecution seen through to their final end. It was almost as though they would shrug and leave it because it was just too difficult.” Said Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader.
Jihad has been quite significant in the Arab-Israeli conflict as the Muslims wasn’t to protect what is rightfully theirs.
The literal meaning of Jihad is struggle or effort, and it means much more than holy war.
Muslims use the word Jihad to describe three different kinds of struggle:
- A believer's internal struggle to live out the Muslim faith as well as possible
- The struggle to build a good Muslim society
- Holy war: the struggle to defend Islam, with force if necessary
When Muslims’ faith or territory is under attack, Islam permits the believer to begin a military war to protect them. However Islamic law sets very strict rules for the conduct of such a war. In recent years the most common meaning of Jihad has been Holy War.
Jihad has a much small support base. Unlike the far bigger Hamas, which runs schools and hospitals, Islamic Jihad has no real social or political role yet.
The next point I will be talking about will be World Peace. The countries of the World also are interested in the Palestine and Israel dispute because as they want to stop World War III. There are growing concerns that the war in the Middle East is dragging more and more countries into the dispute for reasons such as Oil, religion and to create World Peace. This is leading other countries such as Russia, USA and the Arab countries around Palestine are getting involved to help their allies and to make peace and give Palestine and Israel their deserved rights of the land.
In July 2006 there was a mass evacuation where countries such as Canada, USA, Italy, Belgium, UK, Germany, Philippines, Greece, Sweden, Denmark and Australia all had nationals living there and started a massive evacuation where ships and helicopters were sent in to evacuate their people from the Palestine and Israel. But Belgium was the only country to evacuate all their nationals from Palestine and avoid any of their nationals getting killed.
The USA and the USSR made their allies in the early 1990s as there was a Cold War between the USA and the USSR, and as the Middle East is an important and strategic area, both the Americans and the Russians wanted power and influence there. The USA achieved this by supporting Israel. Israel’s Arab neighbours turned to the USSR to support and arm. Since the end of the cold war and the collapse of Communism, US governments have put greater pressure on the Israeli’s to compromise and look for agreements with the Arabs.
The gulf war in 1991 was a very important stage in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Iraq’s primary objective was to break the coalition between the USA and the UK with Saudi Arabia. Saddam Hussein tried, unsuccessfully, tried to involve Israel in the Gulf War in 1991 by firing missiles at Israeli cities, but they didn’t use their chemical warheads like expected, as they feared Israel’s superior weapons. The USA tried not to get involved with the Gulf War as Saudi Arabia, the USA’s most reliable ally in the Middle East, were on Iraq’s side and were against Israel. So if the USA got to involved it could end the alliance with either of the countries. The USA didn’t want Israel to attack back as if they had done, the other Arab countries would have got involved in the conflict against Israel, and the USA would have been forced to get involved and defend Israel.
While Israel has never admitted to having nuclear weapons, few international experts question the Jewish state's presence on the world's list of nuclear powers. It’s nuclear capability is arguably the most secretive weapons of mass destruction programme in the world. Unlike Iran and North Korea, two countries whose alleged nuclear ambitions have recently come to the forefront, Israel has never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, designed to prevent the global spread of nuclear weapons.
Other states in the Middle East, many of them strong supporters of the Palestinian cause, have expressed deep concern about the existence of an Israeli nuclear weapons programme. They also accuse the USA of ignoring Israel's weapons programmes while insisting that others, notably pre-war Iraq, Iran and Syria, are a threat to peace because of their alleged weapons of mass destruction.
In 2007 Israel invaded Lebanon after the Hezbollah attacks on Israel. The rocket attacks launched by Hezbollah fighters (PLO Terrorists) were not alone as there were attacks by fighters based in Lebanon on Israel.
George Bush on his long tour of the Middle East in 2008 has called on Israel to end its 41-year occupation of Palestinian land and predicted a peace treaty would be signed by the time he leaves office. Bush told the Annapolis, "President Abbas was elected on a platform of peace. He also said if you give me a chance I'll work hard to improve the lives of Palestinians and that's what he's done.” The US president argued the emergence of democratic Palestine would defeat extremists. The Bush administration has notified, in January 2008, the US Congress that it intends to go ahead with a major sale of sensitive military technology to Saudi Arabia.
9 countries in all have joined the conflict and tried to help resolve the conflict in the Middle East.
Egypt has played a central role in the political situation within the region in modern times. Its three wars with Israel in 1948, 1967 and 1973, then its eventual peace with its adversary in 1979, have seen Egypt move from being a warring nation to become a key representative in the peace process. Since then, President Mubarak has taken a more moderate line, but Islamic groups have continued their campaigns sporadically, being responsible for several large-scale killings of tourists. I believe this has helped the conflict in the Middle East because as Egypt are close allies with Palestine they have tried to resolve the issue with both of the states as they are allies with each of them.
Iraq has always taken a very hard line against Israel. The Palestinians for his aggressive attitude to Israel and his willingness to oppose the USA had seen the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, as a hero.
Iran is an Islamic state. This government is strongly opposed to Israel. Iran supports the Islamic Jihad movement, which has carried out attacks on Israel. It is accused of funding terrorism against Israel
Lebanon tried hard to stay out of the conflict and succeeded until the 1970s. Lebanon has been on the fringes, and at times at the heart, of the Middle East conflict surrounding the creation of Israel.
Jordan probably has the closest relations with Israel of all the Arab states. However they are very critical of the present hard-line government in Israel. They criticise the Jewish settlements in Jerusalem and other territories. There too is a very strong anti-Israeli state.
One of the most holy countries in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia has emerged from being an underdeveloped desert kingdom to become one of the wealthiest nations in the region thanks to vast oil resources. Saudi Arabia is one of the main players in the Arab and Muslim worlds; its stature is built on its size, its prestige as the birthplace of Islam and status as major oil producer.
Syria is one of Israel's staunchest enemies and supports a number of militant groups that carry out attacks against Israel. Their current relationship founders on the continued occupation by Israel of the Golan Heights when Syrian land was taken in the 1967 war. Peace talks between the two countries stalled in January 2000. But Syria withdrew troops from Lebanon in 2005 after three decades; the US has imposed sanctions on Syria, accusing it of supporting terrorism.
The European Union has tried to act as a force for peace in the Middle East. The EU is the largest contributor of aid to the Palestinian Authority.
I believe in all the rest of the World is so interested in the conflict in the Middle East because they want to create World peace and prevent any chance of it getting worse and maybe lead to World War III. I believe the other countries that are not directly involved in the conflict are doing a very good job to create World Peace and in George Bush’s last year he is trying to stop the conflict between Palestine and Israel and to stop Israel occupying Palestinian land.
