Arab Israeli Conflict

The Recent Event

On the 5th of October 2003 another suicide bomber from Palestine blew herself up outside the Mixin restaurant in the Israeli resort of Haifa in the Gaza strip. This attack was carried out by the Palestine group Islamic Jihad, and the bomber was Hanadi Jaradat. This was unusual because out of 103 suicide attacks only three of them were done by women and the woman responsibly for the attack was a young successful lawyer . The bombers target was the Israeli civilians inside the restaurant. The attack was carried out on the Sabbath the day before Yom Kipper, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. This was done to destabilise the American cause for peace initiative called the “road map”. The ‘road map’ is a plan for peace between the Palestinian and the Israelis by building a wall between the Israeli controlled areas and the Palestinian territory. This was done by the bomber strapping explosives to herself, and detonating it by the restaurant killing herself and 19 others.

This was carried out in a response of a threat made to ‘remove’ Arafat, the month before the Yom Kippur Bombing but also this is a act a part of the Palestinians getting the West bank back and to disarray the American backed ‘road map’ for peace. Events which lead up to this where mainly the Israeli government accusing Arafat of failing to ‘curb’ terrorism and , supporters of Arafat (Hamas) began congregating around Arafat’s compound as they feared that Israelis would kill him so they bombed the maxim restaurant in response to this. It being a recent event amongst many Palestinian suicide bombings, and it being a woman ( a successful lawyer of only 29) shows that the Palestinian People are willing to give up anything for there cause.

Establishment of Israel

1947 Partition

Great Briton had failed to police the area that they were given in there mandate so it was given to the UN and because of the appalling treatment of the Jews in world war two (holocaust) meant the international community felt obliged to help the Jews by giving them a homeland they were also pressured by the rising amount of Jews going into Palestine from the Zionist movement. So the UN partitioned Palestine by making three states the Jewish state of Israel, Arab state and a international state around Jerusalem. The UN also partitioned the country so it was split 50/50 between the Jews and the Palestinians which made the Arab community very angry. Which lead onto the 1948 war.

1948 War

All the sounding Arab countries attacked Israel but the Israelis defended and then attack and gained more land. This now more then ever made the Jewish population believe that this is there homeland. This then led into complete Israeli ruling of Palestine, which made the Palestinians even angrier.

The 6 Day War

The 6 day war and the Israeli success resulted in the occupation of all the Palestinian lands and the Sinai desert, the Gaza strip, Jordan, Syria and Jerusalem. This caused huge resentment of the Israelis and helped boost support for Yasser Aarafat and the PLO. But the main problem for the Israelis was that they had too much land to police and could not keep control of areas which had allot of Palestinians living there because of riots.

1993 Peace Processes

The peace processes were of limited success, and were derailed when ...

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The 6 Day War

1993 Peace Processes

The peace processes were of limited success, and were derailed when the assassination of 29 Palestinians, in a Mosque, by a Jewish gunman.

Nationalism

Nationalism, Diaspora and the Jews

Nationalism is where someone or people love there country so much they would anything for it e.g. go to war to protect it or fight to get it back. In Israel and Palestine this has resulted in terrorism and violence, killing lots of people mainly innocent people everyday. In 62 BC the Romans invaded, and because the Romans wanted them to worship more than one god which is against there religion, they disagreed with everything the Romans did. And this lead into the Diaspora, and the Arabs moving into the land vacated, but this left the Jews homeless unwanted and unhappy. During the second world war Adolph Hitler tried to exterminate the Jewish population (holocaust), and in 1945 the war was over and the Jews had no where to go, so England who had a mandate over Palestine let some Jews into it. This lead into Zionism (Jewish nationalist movement) which was bringing more and more Jews back into Palestine.

Palestinians take over the land, 600 AD

After the Diaspora the Arabs gradually moved into the land vacated by the Jews. In about 600AD the Arabs convert to the Muslim faith. This is significant because there are basic differences between the Muslim faith and the Jewish faith like they are completely opposite to each other. Obviously if the Diaspora had not happened then the Arabs could have not moved into the land, but Zionism has brought the Jews back to the country anyway.

Jewish Persecution

After the Diaspora the Jews became a vulnerable group in many of the countries they went to live in and they suffered both racial and religious prejudice. The Jews were blamed for diastase such as plagues and famines and many were attacked. They were tortured by the Spanish, expelled by the English and actively terrorised in Russia during the Progroms. The most memorable account of Jewish torture was the holocaust in 9142, where millions of Jews were exterminated. This happened because Hitler made the German people believe that the Jews were to blame for the great depression, because most Jews had good jobs before and after the depression.

Zionism

In 1898 Theodore Hertz a Jewish journalist argued that to solve the problem of Jewish persecution, they needed their own homeland were they could make their own decisions and live in peace. So he came up with Zionism- the Jewish movement to go back home to Palestine. So the world Zionist organisation is formed which needed money and support and so calls upon wealthy American and English Jews.

First World War and the three British promises

1Mac Mation promise 1915- The English were fighting the Turks in World War 1 and they needed help to direct the Turks attention away from fighting on the European front line. In return the English promised the Arabs an state.

2 Sykes poiot 1916- England needed to guarantee Frances support in the extensive Turkish empire between England and France.

3 Balfour declaration 1917- The war is at a stalemate and England needs the USA’s help- but the USA was reluctant to join because it was a European war 3000 miles away. So the influential American Jews were contacted and promised their own homeland-if they managed to get USA to join in the war. They did join but now the land had been promised to the Arabs, Jews and the French.

British mandate and the partition

The scale of World War 1 was so big and destructive, that there was a determination to avoid any future disagreement escalating into war. So the League of Nations was set up to help this. The League or Nations wanted some of countries effected by the war, to organise what should happen to the defeated countries empires. It was decided that Palestine should be supervised by Britain until it was ready for independence. After World War 2 lots of Jews desired to return to the Promised land but after a while the English had to halt the tide of Jews coming into Palestine. Those who came in illegally had to be sent back to where they had came from. Enraged Jews already in Palestine began to exert pressure on the English by killing Arabs and English but especially Palestinian gangs like the Irgun gang. This violence alien-ated Zionism but even the English had to except they had lost control and so the United nations took over and divided Palestine into three, an Arab state, a Jewish state and a International zone around Jerusalem. Each state had 50% of the original land, which made the Palestinians very unhappy because 90% of Arab farm land was in the Jewish states and it meant that thousands of Palestinians had to move out to allow the Jews in. which then lead onto war the 1967 war.

Jewish settlement on the West bank since 1967

The Jews were very successful in the 1967 war, gaining more land in the process like the West bank, this of course angered the Palestinians. To encourage the new land to be absorbed into Jewish control, the government encouraged Jews to move into the land which had cheap and large housing, with lots of other stuff like swimming pools and schools. This land was taken in war and was not within the allowed UN limit.

Palestinian Intifada

1987 Some Arabs were run over by a Jewish lorry- this promoted the Arabs to throw stones at the Israeli army who responded with gunfire and helicopter gunships. This was the spark of violence involving Hamas instead of the PLO.

1996 In June a strict Israeli politician Wetanyatu was elected as the Israeli leader. He decided to pull down some Palestinian buildings in Jerusalem to open a tunnel under an Islamic Mosque. Palestinians riot and Palestinian police turn their guns on the Israeli army. So the Israelis bring in helicopter gunships and tanks. Hamas then get people from the refugee camps to become suicide bombers. Hamas can feed off the anger at the injustice Palestinians feel and use this to find suicide bombers.

2000 Ariel Sharon a candidate for the presidential of Israel, visits Al-Aqua Islamic mosque in Jerusalem (Palestine owned) Palestinians riot and Israel brings in helicopter gunships and the army.

Role of an individual

Arafat- leader of the PLO

Arafat was born in Cairo, 1929 and trained as a engineer. He was the one of the founders of the terrorist group Fatah which dealt in extreme violence . he linked his group up with the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organisation) a terrorist organisation which blew up American and European planes, and then became the leader in 1968.

Arafat- declaration of peaceful negotiations

He worked to gain international recognition for the PLO but from the 1980’s he has tried to change his image from rebel/freedom fighter to moderate statesman dealing in politics. This has helped with the Palestinians image.

Arafat- leader of the Palestinian state

Arafat has been one of the main reasons that a certain amount of peace has held out between Israel and Palestinian people. But Israeli and the UN are not happy with Arafat because he can’t control Hamas, a terrorist group who have taken over the role of the PLO. Who go to refugee camps and get people to become suicide bombers. They do this because of their hate of the Israelis and they believe if they die in war they will be treated very well in the afterlife. Arafat pretends to try and stop Hamas but he really is trying to let them carry on.

Ariel Sharon leader of Israel

he is the right wing leader of the Israelis he is favoured because of his hard lined response and wants Israeli for the Jews and use any force necessary to get for them. Because of his preferred approach to use force like the army and helicopter gunships, he has raised the stakes.

Conclusion

I think that in 62BC the Roman invasion which lead to the Diaspora was one of the important events which started the conflict as well as the Arabs moving in to the land vacated. From then on the Jews were spread all over Europe and some eventually went to America. But they were persecuted everywhere- Russia, England, ect. Which then lead onto Zionism which is a factor throughout the conflict, was founded in 1898 which encourage the Jews to move back into Palestine. Another important factor was the League of Nations giving Great Britain a mandate for Palestine, so the British decided to help both Arabs and Jews which was a problem because there religions hate each other anyway. A defining point was the discovery of the attempted extermination of Jews which had world sympathy and made the Jewish survivors demand a homeland so the UN divide Palestine into three, a Jewish state, Arab state and a International State around Jerusalem. So the Jewish population move into the areas designated for them which upsets a lot of Palestinians because there are forced out of there homes and of farmland ect. A major turning point is when 5 other surrounding Arab countries attack the state of Israel but they defend them selves and then attack the occupied territories (6 day war) which meant that the Israeli’s are now policing the Palestinians. Which is important because of there religions they wont get on and nationalism from both sides meant that there was constant fighting between them. Which lead to the first Intifada which lead to the creation of the PLO which set up terrorist attacks on Israel. An not so important factor is the leader of the PLO, Arafat, tacking a more peaceful approach and using politics to solve things but he gets accused of not being able to control terrorist groups which then makes the terrorist groups kill more Israelis, and it also makes the Israeli priminister ‘s more hard line to try and get rid of these groups which is all linked into nationalism. Which has lead to the recent event the 5th of October bombing.

I think that the Diaspora which lead to the land being vacated by the Arabs and the holocaust and nationalism with religion tied in are the most important factors, because if the Diaspora nether happened then they wouldn’t get persecuted and the Arabs would have nether moved into the land and there would be no conflict. But if the Diaspora did happen but there was no holocaust then the world not have been sympathetic and given them half of Palestine so there would be no conflict. If Zionism was nether founded then the Jews would not have moved into Palestine, but because of there religion they would of come back to Palestine anyway because that was there promised land.

But the defining point which made all these events happen which lead to the 5th of October bombing was the Diaspora and persecution.