Middle East research paper
[Name of the Writer]
[Name of the Institution]
Palestine-Israel Conflict
Introduction
The Israeli Palestinian conflict is one of the world’s' longest-running and one of the most controversial conflicts. In a simplified way, it is a conflict between self-determination and self-guided movements, involving the Jewish Zionist Project and the Palestinian Nationalist Project. Both the projects tend to fight and claim to the same territory. In accordance with the historical contexts, Israel is the worlds’ only and single Jewish state that is located on the eastern side of the Mediterranean Sea. Palestinians belong to the Arab population localized in the territory of Palestine. They wanted to establish a state that can be under their control that can be considered as a holy place (Hassouneh, et al. 2018). The conflict is traced back to 20 century where Both Muslims and the Jews are claiming lands, taking into account that Jews want to establish a national homeland while the Arabs resisted having an ideology that the land is theirs. There are several wars that are fought over this territory. Different international supporting organizational and world peace associations have tried to resolve the issues but the conflict seems to be irresolvable. The partition of this holy land in the form of three different areas added to intensify the conflict where Gaza is controlled by Hamas and, West Bank by Palestinian leaving another violent fight for land ignited (Hassouneh, et al. 2018). One of the approach or present solutions is the "one-state solution" where either this land will become one big Israel or one big Palestine. Israel-Palestine conflict is one of the most discussed yet unresolved issues in Middle East
Discussion
A reflection of history is important to understand Palestine Israel Conflict, where this conflict is more of a human rights struggle. The conflict between Palestine and Israel can be traced back to 20 century. Although there are two groups that have different religions, Palestine including Muslims, Druze, and Christians, taking into account that religious differences are not the major cause of this conflict. In fact, this struggle is on the basis of lands. Until 1948 the areas on which this struggle is going on was termed as “Palestine” in international connotation. Following the war, of 1948-1949, the land called Palestine was divided into three major parts, known to be the state of Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. The areas were particularly small, having an area of about 10,000 square miles or it can also be called as the size of the state of Maryland. The claims are not considered to be reconcilable if, one of the groups exercises any elusive control or, political nature over the other total authority (Hassouneh, et al. 2018). The claims of Jewish to this land are actually based on religious connotations. As per these associations, the biblical promise to the Abrahams and the descendants of Ibrahim is associated with this conflict on the fact that this was the historical site of the Jewish kingdom of Israel. Here, it is highlighted that the kingdom was destroyed by the Roman Empire. Also, the Jews need a haven from European anti-Semitism which is also one of the references. The Palestinians claim to the land are the product of the time that they have spent on this land, highlighting demographic majority (Ahmad, et al. 2018). They are presenters of the idea that any biblical-era kingdom can constitute the basis for any modern and valid claim. In contrast, the engagement of biblical arguments affirms that Ibrahim’s son Ishmael is one of the forefathers of the Arab community so it was the God’s promise, “of the land to the children of the Abrahams that will also include the Arabs as well” (Ahmad, et al. 2018).
General Overview of conflict
There is another reflection and understanding of this picture of conflict where Israel is one of the sovereign states and it has got the right to comply with all the presented constraints that are listed by the international human rights law for state sovereignty. The right to self-government is also one of the notions that is presented in intentional resolutions and international law, taking into account Palestine’s call for individual rights as well as self-autonomy that can be expressed in association with legal claims (Caplan, et al. 2018). So, this aspect highlights the political arrangement in Israel and Palestine that comprises attention for different factors such as human rights, sovereignty, and colonization. However, a chronological or sequential analysis highlight the human rights laws tend to presuppose a setting that is postcolonial in nature where sovereignty and self-auto autonomy are intertwined, in relation to the political order that is less than postcolonial impact (Caplan, et al. 2018). An exegetical analysis highlighted that the conflict between Israel and Palestine has a long history, which lasted from 1947, calendared in May, asserting a historical event of distinction and division between Israel and Palestine. This ebony was organized by the United Nations and it resulted in 54% of the total population to belong to Israel and the remaining population 31.5% for Israel. As a result of this scenario, there was a counter effect on the struggle that has been made by the people of Palestine so that they can live freely in their lands. Although, as per the ideology of Israel, the division was not fully satisfactory and they were seeking a large region. Ultimately, this chase for land resulted in terror widely spread in Palestine (Caplan, et al. 2018).
Role of forces
The scenario of this fight and conflict has a terrifying vision, where the soldiers of Israel are attacking the soldiers of Palestine, for instance, Ramallah, a region in West Bank. Palestine and Israel began to make a blockade for Palestine in Ramallah. This blockade was in the form of soldiers being sent by Egoz Battalion (Caplan, et al. 2019). As per historical contexts, Israel soldiers were chasing for Palestinians especially the ones who were considered as terrorists. This situation of conflict made the people, as well as the officials of Palestine upset, taking into account the worsening of a situation when the United Nation was not taking the matter seriously. Also, many people think that there were no special or considerable actions taken by the United Nation to stop the interference of Jews in Palestine.
Oslo Accords
After that in 1992, there were some efforts with an aim to incorporate peace in Palestine leading to Oslo Accords. The Accords paved the way for relocation by PLO from Tunisia and then it took ground in Gaza Strip and West Bank, resulting in the establishment of the Palestine National Authority. Despite this authority, the peace was not everlasting because the Oslo Accords were meant to guide by the ideology of the two-state solution. It was assumed that this ideology would be supportive enough to resolve the conflict but after two decades, Israel and Palestine along with their inhabitants was caught in a vicious, sad and frustrating cycle that was necessary to be broken to ensure peace (Soekarno, et al. 2019).
Security concerns and attacks
Security is one of the major issues that was faced by Israel. Because of the increasing threats to the civilians of Israeli civilians that were created by Hamas as well as other militants called Islamist Palestinian Groups. Also, Israelis do not have trust in the Palestinians and ultimately, they are unwilling to take into consideration any action that can compromise Israeli's security. It is also found that the involvement of Arab States is one of the reliable counterparts that have the potential to strengthen the willingness of Israeli's to compromise if they have any reason to believe in a stable and enduring argument that is also achievable (Soekarno, et al. 2019). Palestinian violence is also one of the major concerns or issue for Israeli’s, along with the United States and the European Union, that also refers to the violence against the Israeli civilizations and the military forces by the Palestinian militants as terrorism. The underlying motivation behind Palestinian violence is diverse, adhering to different reasons such as religions, demographics and the availability of lands as well. Among them, one of the major motives is the aim and an endless desire to destroy and destruct Israel along with replacing them with Palestinian Arab state. One of the most prominent Islamist groups such as Hamas is of the view that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is also a religious jihad.
Suicide bombing is also used as one of the tactics that are used among Palestinian organizations such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Bridge along with some suicidal attacks that have received about 84% support from the Palestinians (Soekarno, et al. 2019). In contrast, in Israel, the Palestinian suicide bombers have been targeted in different aspects and visions such as shopping malls, marketplaces, civil buses, and different restaurants. From 1993-2003, the Palestinian suicide bombers have attacked Israel (Soekarno, et al. 2019). Also, it is highlighted that the Israeli government has also started and initiated the construction of some security barriers that are following scores of both, terrorist attacks and suicide bombings traced back in 2003(Worrall, et al. 2019). Also, the Israeli coalition government has also approved different security barriers in the different parts, especially northern part of the green-line between West Bank and Israel. According to the information gathered from IDF, from the time of initiation of the terrorist acts and fences that have declined by about 90%. By 2001, the threat of Qassam rocket that was fired into Israel from Palestinian Territories which was also of great concern for the Israeli defense officials (Worrall, et al. 2019). Later in 2006, the year that followed Israeli’s disengagement from the Gaza Strip, the Israeli government recorded that there were 1,726 similar launches, taking into account that it was four times more than the total rockets that were fired in 2005. Taking into consideration the data and the events in 2009, quoted by Waroll, (2019), it was highlighted that there were more than 8,600 rockets that had been launched, resulting in a massive disruption in social life as well as psychological trauma (Worrall, et al. 2019. Also, it was found that more than 500 mortars and rockets have hit Israel in the time span of January till September 2010, where more than 1,947 rockets have hit Israel in January till November in 2012(Worrall, et al. 2019).
Different researchers Caplan (2019), Soekarno (2019). have highlighted that there were different debates within Israel addressing the idea of security concerns within the country. There are significant options that were introduced such as military actions such as targeted killings along with the demolition of the houses of terrorist operatives. Some other options were, unilateral gestures for promoting peace, diplomacy and increased security measures such as security barriers, different checkpoints and other roadblocks that all paved the way for security measures. It is also added that the wisdom and legality of the mentioned tactics and options were also called into discussion by different commentators. On the side of Palestinians, there was a lack of some internal consensus that was one of the significant challenges connected with political and ideological gaps between different camps of Palestine such as Fatah and Hamas. As a result, the Palestinians were unable to make inevitable compromises (Worrall, et al. 2019).
Role of different organization
It is also highlighted that the ideology presented by Hamas, is more extreme as compared to others, reflecting hostage on all the sides of its perception. Critically, it is found the extremism also holds significance within itself. Hamas was seeking a ladder that can enable or empower a more pragmatic approach towards people that can allow compromising the control of Israel in Gaza without compromising and adopting its ideology. It was the involvement of proactive Arab states that paved the way for a crucial ladder. the fight among the Arab movements and rival Palestinian has also become one of the major issues in the conflict resolution. This situation has also played a central role in making security policies for Palestinian militants as well as the leadership policies of Palestinians (Turner, et al. 2019). At the beginning of 1930, presenting revolt in Palestine, the Arab forces were frightening against each other, along with the skirmishing that happened with British forces and the Zionist and other internal conflicts that are continuous till the present day.
During the time of the Civil War, Lebanese, the Palestinian bathists broke from the Palestine Liberation Organization and it allied with the Shia Amal Movement paving the way for a fight, "blood civil war" that killed about thousands of Palestinians (Worrall, et al. 2019). thousands of Palestinians were killed in a campaign that was initiated by the Palestinian Liberation Organization that resulted in a crackdown on the informers of Israeli security service and its collaborators. Also, the Palestinian Authority was majorly criticized because of its harsh treatment with different rights groups and alleged collaborators who were all complaining that the labeled collaborators were denied fair trials. According to one of the reports, that was released by the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Groups, there were less than 45% of people who were killed and they were actually guilty of informing the Israeli parties (Turner, et al. 2019).
In the context of Gaza Strip, the Hamas officials have killed and tortured thousands of the Faith members and the other Palestinians who were opposing their rule. During the battle of Gaza, it was found that there were more than 150 Palestinians who die within the time span of forty days (Soekarno, et al. 2019). Also, it is highlighted the violence among Palestinians was described as a civil war by some of the commentators taking into account the bloodshed and the violence. By the details recorded till 2007, there were more than 600 Palestinians who died during the violence and struggle between the groups, Fatah and Hamas (Soekarno, et al. 2019). It is also highlighted that the security concerns play a significant and central role in initiating the preventive measures in terms of conflict resolution in the issues of Palestine and Israel conflict. Both parties were making efforts and confront about protecting and saving their people from death and violence as well as peace measures taking into account that both the parties failed in the peace effort between the two groups.
Another aspect of Israel-Palestine conflict is the failure of the Arab League to resolve the Palestine-Israel conflict that is unsolved for the past six years until now. It is also highlighted that Arab League was formed on 22 March in 1945, in Cairo, taking into account that it included six members such as Transjordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria (Turner, et al. 2019). It is highlighted that Yemen joined Saudian League in 1945 on 5 May, where it is quoted to be the oldest functioning regional organization that has been conceived since its foundation. Also, this foundation is the part of ambitious and broad political projects that can pave the way for the creation of a single Arab state in the Middle State (Nichols, et al. 2019). It is also added that historians found that there is no doubt among the major institutional frameworks and the analysts in the Middle East also called the Arab League that has proved to be one of the bleak experiences of the regional corporation. Also, it is brought into insight that an analysis of the extreme and this regional corporation is worst at generating military and political corporations with an aim at managing the regional conflicts socially in terms of Palestine-Israeli issues.
As per the studies of Mark Zecher, the empirical findings of the latter claim are found, mainly in different comparative studies, highlighting that there were 116 conflicts in total. These conflicts occur between 1946 and 1977, taking into account that this data suggested that the successful mediation of Arab league can only be confirmed in the 12% of the conflicts (Nichols, et al. 2019). Also, the analysis of the major causes of the underperformance of the League is much prominent. This loophole refers to the ambitious goals and a power symbolic association that are capable of promoting a transnational ideology. Being specific in the context of Palestine Israel conflict, the major or disastrous failure of the members of the league is due to the ideology that agrees to the membership and vision offered by the Palestine government, localized in Gaza. Also, this event highlights a downsizing of expectation and the inauguration of a gradual process including both formal as well as informal adaptation of the legal features of the league along with internal procedures the can help to prevent the resolution of the conflict between both Palestine and Israel. There are several examples that can prove this fact, one such example is the year 2002, considering the Arab Peace initiative that was proposed to bring an end to the conflict between Israel and Palestine. It is also clarified that under this initiative, the Muslims, as well as the Arab countries, would be establishing some diplomatic relationships in Israel, leading to a successful conclusion of the peace process (Nichols, et al. 2019).
In the context of Arab counties, it was highlighted that a truce with Israel would be effective enough to promote the emergence of an arc of stability that would be leading from Demitarian to the Arabian Peninsula. This arc was assumed to play an insightful as well as a critical role in understanding the reality of the religious influence in Iran. This scenario paves the way for Tit for tat situation that carried undermining the major baseline of the peace initiates. The prime and the focused aim of the Arab League was to create a balanced relationship with the Israelis so that this step can serve as a goodwill gesture and a positive approach towards Israel that can curb the issues and complaints in the peace matters (Nichols, et al. 2019).
Role of US in conflict resolution
Along with the role of Saudi Arabia, it is hard to ignore the initiatives that are taken by the United States of America, it is highlighted that United States of American took and considered past history as a guide to promote resolution for the conflict between Israel and Palestine (Caplan, et al. 2019). The origin of the interventions of the United Nations was to address the conflict between Israel and Palestine which can be associated with the second world war. This historic association was used as a tool to address the creation of the state of Israel that was followed by different classes accompanied by the negative or arrogant attitude towards the states. This arrogance took the form of a protest. Under the impact of this ignorance and arrogant attitude, the creation of Israel as a state was followed by a denial of service by the refugees of Palestine. It is asserted that the soldiers and the volunteers were willing to get their land back and they required returning to the homes, after the War between the Jewish communities and the Arab communities will be over.
Another historical reference quoted by Caplan, (2019) highlights that the United Nations has already passed a resolution (194) that determined and approved the rights of the refugees of returning home rather than gaining compensation for the losses of the past. Also, the first UN partition plan was formulated under the regulation number 181, where less attention was given to discuss the loopholes. Rather it is asserted that the partition plan was actually designed to evoke a single solution “partition” of the Jewish state of Israel and the city of Jerusalem (Caplan, et al. 2019). Taking into account massive support by the Palestinian counterparts. Also, it is added that it was quoted that that there was some statement found to be spoken the different people, highlighting different arguments and views that were presented by different people as everyone was desperate about freedom and have a land that can give a freedom of life and living standards along with an open end with religious association. Some of the major powers that the Unites States includes the dominant interest of Europe and American after the second world war. It ultimately paved the way for security councils and it was one of the initiatives to victimize people while United States was trying to pose and attract the attention of people as if significant efforts are made by it to resolve the conflict and propose a solution. In a nutshell, all these powers were dealing with some of the major powers such as personal initiatives (Nichols, et al. 2019).
It is highlighted that after the creation of Israel and the partition plan, the United Nation was not basically involving the resolution of the conflict with so much attention, in fact all the attention was towards the humanitarians as well as political aid to the region. Another major concern was that the war between Israel and Egypt is the product of opposition by the foreign policies of Israel. In the same scenario, it is highlighted that the United Nation was a peacekeeper on both the borders Israel and Egypt (Turner, et al. 2019). Also, the UN Refugees Wars Agency played a central role in taking care of the refugees by the time they reach safely to their homes. These were the same refugees who were also mentioned in the Resolution of 194 taking into account the dominant European as well as American powers who were leading the Security council (Turner, et al. 2019). Also, the powers of the Security Council were used to make efforts that can prevent the involvement of the United Nation out of necessity so that conflicts can be resolved. All these powers were collectively supporting the Israeli state that was not admitting the pre-split to support the actual cause of a large number of refugees who were shifting and fleeing to Palestine.
According to the ideology and observation of Noam Chomsky, in his book, "What we say Goes" asserts that the United States of America has already seen and in the present time, it is also seeing the massive power base in Israel (Turner, et al. 2019). This understanding is enough to elaborate that powers of the Security Council which are not enough to take some prominent and significant political actions. In the same way, it is highlighted that that there were some unfair dealings of the United Nation towards the Israel-Palestine conflict, where the United Nations was attempted to solve the crisis several times but it was futile. There are some notable actions in this attempt of peace such as calling international peace conference on the basis of the present United Nation Resolutions along with 242 and 194 resolutions amongst the others, Also, the Israeli party negated and denied for their any kind of participation which pushed the United States to step back from its decision and attempts (Worrall, et al. 2019).
In addition to this, the General Assembly has played a major role in the extremism of the conflict, taking into account the repeated action accompanied by the calling off different parties for the case of discussion on human rights, it was 1988 when for the first time the Assembly took different and unprecedented steps so that they can hold a special session in Geneva (Soekarno, et al. 2019). This session was held after the refusal of the United States of America for proposing any grant to the Palestinian leader Yasser after taking into account that the visa was required to address and cater to the Assembly in New York. It is also important to note that Israel has accused General Assembly in terms of "Pro-Palestine” bias (Caplan, et al. 2018).
However, it was just an allegation, where the Assembly is actually unable to complete the parties so that they can work for peace management taking into account the resolution that was accompanied by symbolic and moral weight, void of legal binding. It is a view that the initiative for conflict resolution can prove effective only if the governor would be willing to risk the pleasures and displeasures of the United States (Turner, et al. 2019). In July 2004, the inaction of the General Assembly invasion of the security council and the International Court of justice has played a central role to evaluate the legal status of the “separation wall", the only solutions that is taken serious by the authorities in the worlds. Although the court has justified the illegality of the barrier, still the security council has accepted and enfold the court's ruling where the United States is sidelined in the conflict (Soekarno, et al. 2019). Between the time of March 30 and May 15, in 2018, there are different weekly demonstrations that are conducted by the Palestinians who are living in the Gaza Strip, where these demonstrations were carried out at the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip. During that time, Palestine was incited with the Nakba’s seventeenth anniversary. Nakba is the Palestinian exodus that involved the relocation of the embassy of the United States. This replication was held in the contrasted city of Jerusalem. This gathering was a combination of both peaceful as well as fearful reactions, where people threw rocks and other objects to expresses their anger and violence.
According to the information collected from the United Nations, there were 183 demonstrators who were killed and more than 6000 of them were wounded by the live ammunition (Nichols, et al. 2019). Also, in May, there was a horrible fight that broke out between both, the Israeli military as well as Hamas that is also associated and contributed to the violence of 2014. There were humbled of rockets that were fired into Israel, wherein responded, Israel came up with strikers on more than fifty targets in Gaza, in the time span of twenty-four hours. It is one of the pictures of violence that is portrayed in the global world. There are several other important scenarios that are reported by media of and on, with no way out. All these situations assert that there is a dire need to address this situation because it is a huge question mark of the organizations that are working to maintain world peace Also, nothing is more precious than human life, there are thousands of ways that can be used to address this issue what actually is required is a critical insight into this issue without considering any biases or any personal benefit (Nichols, et al. 2019).
Conclusion
It is evident that Palestine –Israel conflict is no old and religions are not just the only motivation behind the conflict. The conflict is connected with different dimensions such as land, human resources and the struggle for land. From the end of World War 1 till the end of 1948, the areas were called Palestine also called Holy Land. With the passage of time, this land was divided into three parts, the west bank, the state of Israel and the Gaza Strip. It is also highlighted that the failure of the Arab league to resolve this issue also added to the intensity of the situation, which may result in a war between the two nations. However, the disastrous failure of the Arabian League is also meant to agree on the membership of the Palestine government that is based in Gaza, along with a partial downsized of the expectations. The same ideology paved the way for a formal and informal adaptation in the legal features of the league along with other internal problems and procedures that is acting as a hurdle in the resolution of the conflict between Palestine and Israel. One of the most critical facts is the inability of the United Nation to address the issue, taking into account the intensification in the crisis in 1948 because of several different situations that added nothing to the situation. This failure of the United Nations is also associated with the involvement of the United States of America that is having its prime interest in securing a more powerful position in a region that is rich in natural resources and other resources. Although massive support is required still, the recognition of the state of Palestine by the United Nation is one of the major steps that has acted as a major contribution to the struggle of peace in the region.
References
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