Why has there been conflict between Israel and her Arab neighbours since 1973?

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Why has there been conflict between Israel and her Arab neighbours since 1973?

There are a number of key reasons for why there has been conflict between Israel and her Arab neighbours, especially the Palestinians, since 1973.

One key reason is to do with Israel and the Arabs disputing who owns the land of Israel. This has led to conflict because both feel they have a claim to it. Originally Israel was called Palestine and was inhabited mainly by Jews. They believe that God gave the land to them. When the Romans conquered Palestine, the Jews were forced to leave and fled to different destinations across the globe. However Jews felt unwelcome in these other countries and faced constant persecution. In 1897 the Jews demanded their own state in part of Palestine, their original homeland, however this was now occupied by Palestinian Arabs. Jews began to emigrate to Palestine. The Holocaust increased the demand for an independent Jewish state, when 6 million Jews were killed. The United Nations decided to partition Palestine creating one Jewish state and one Palestinian state; but Palestinians didn’t agree with this. They believed it wasn’t fair as their state was smaller, even though they made up the majority of the population, and believed that their fellow Arab countries could easily defeat a future Jewish state. The state of Israel was created and Palestinians fled to refugee camps in neighbouring Arab states. Therefore, Jews believe that the land is rightfully theirs as it is their homeland and was given to them by God whereas the Palestinians believe it is their land because that’s where they’ve always lived.

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Israel and her Arab neighbours are also in conflict over the ‘Occupied Territories’, which Israel took from three Arab States in 1967. This creates conflict because yet again other countries believe it was their land. In 1967 there was a The Six Day War in which Israel feared they were going to be attacked by the Arab Nations so struck first. The war was over in six days, her Arab enemies defeated. During the war Israel seized the West Bank from Jordan, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Desert from Egypt and the Golan Heights from Syria. Israel started moving ...

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