The Arab Israeli - Conflict.

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MODERN WORLD ASSIGNMENT: THE ARAB ISRAELI CONFLICT

Candidates name: Thomas Lawrence

Centre number: 59010

1.During the fighting between 1948-9 between Israel and other neighbouring states around 700 000 Arabs fled from there homes. Most of the refugees from Palestine fled to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Also large amounts of the refugees went to neighbouring countries like Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. To this date the United Nations (UN) reckons there are around 2 500 000 Palestinian refugees. This is one of the major contributing facts to why the war between Israel and the Palestinians is still going on to this day. From a source in a book Jonathan Dimbleby, a British observer comments on the conditions around the refugee camp. He describes the conditions as atrocious; families are huddled in overcrowded tents. They are without adequate or sanitation. When it started to rain the earth was churned into mud, which oozed into the tents and blocked the narrow paths. The clothes that they lived in were wet and dirty and the blankets they slept in were sodden. Dew to the poor living conditions Influenza reached to an epidemic proportions killing the young and the old. This led the people with no more will to live so this is why there are extremists blowing themselves up. There is a source from a book where a mother is commenting on her sun blowing him self up. She says that I would prefer him to die with Horner and courage than for him to live in these retched conditions under the Israeli ruling. Their homes and land has been taken away from them so that they could make room for the Jewish refugees.

The PLO stands for Palestine Liberation Organisation. They are an organisation that coordinated guerrilla activities. By 1968 Yasser Arafat became the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). Like most of the other leaders Yasser Arafat wanted to limit the raids and bombings to Israel territories and military targets. Their aim was strictly war. However some Palestinian extremists caused divisions inside the PLO by making attacks on other parts of the world an example of this is in 1972 Palestinians seized and killed 11 Israeli athletes at the Olympic games which were held in Germany. This was then published worldwide and many countries believed that the PLO was a terrorist organisation so that had given them a bad name and they lost supporters. But on the other hand their attacks made them noticed around the world by all countries, this is another reason to why they are still fighting because the Israelis believe that they are terrorists and they need to be dealt with. The largest group within the PLO was FATAH, which was set up by Yasser Arafat. Between the years of 1965 to 1967 members of FATAH carried out large numbers of guerrilla attacks on Israel but they achieved very little. There were many members of FATAH and they are of all ages there is a picture that has been shown of two young FATAH members who were no older than 12 guarding in the entrance to a military training camps the guns which were the children were holding had live ammunition and no safety catches. This shows an act of desperate. In 1968 the Israelis launched a full attack on a major FATAH base on Karameh, which was situated in Jordan. The Israelis destroyed the Palestinian base but forces of the Palestinians knocked out several tanks and planes and killed 28 Israeli troops. This inspired thousands of Palestinians to join the Palestinian armed force.

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In 1967 the Israelis won a stunning military victory in June. They had conquered vital pieces of land like the Golan Heights, which is an area of high ground, which dominates much of northern Israel and, is the route to the Syrian capital Damascus. Between 1948 and 1967 the Syrians owned the Heights and the troops shelled Israelis settlements from these hillside so you can see how important it is for these to be held by the Israelis. Also the West Bank of the river Jordan was captured which had been a large area of the Arab stat Jordan ...

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