The recent affair in Israel seems to be escalating everyday as the Israelis and Palestinians are clashing over the costs of past events and the conflict has been one of the most unstable and constant wars in modern world history. The Israeli military have continued to occupy Palestinian Territories and on a daily basis, inhabitants of those lands have been killed, injured or kidnapped. Despite recent major Israeli violence, Palestinians have created pacific marches and demonstrations in the West Bank and Gaza, to retaliate. There have been attempts by other nations such as neighbouring Arab nations, the USA, Britain and USSR, to solve the crisis, although, their intervention have seemed to make the situation even worse. According to Theodore Herzl, an Austrian Jew living in Paris in 1896, he feels that the Jewish should have a homeland. This source is useful because historically, the Jews do have a rightful claim to Israel; however, it is biased because he is a Jew, after all. The Jewish (Israelis) claim Israel due to Israel, itself, becoming a nation two thousand years before the rise of Islam. The Jews of modern day Israel share the same tongue and traditions of ancient Israel, formed by the Jewish custom and religion, descended from the founding father, Abraham. They believe that Israel is their “Promised Land” as it is stated in the Bible, in the Book of Deuteronomy 1:8, from Moses that the Israelites should, “Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore he would give to you fathers- to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and to their descendant after them”, thereby they believe they deserve Israel as a homeland. The Bible is a book written by different Israelite people of the ancient times who found inspiration from God, however, it could be questioned as to whether or not this is true because it wasn’t written by God, himself. Although, it is useful because the Bible is a religious book, thereby, the present Jews aren’t just fighting today because of Arab attempt to eradicate Israel, but also for a religious cause. The Jews had dominated Israel for one thousand years, until the Romans conquered the holy city, Jerusalem, and expelled the Jews which created a Jewish Diaspora across most of Europe and neighbouring countries of Israel. Since then, the Jews have experienced discrimination and violent elimination. Although, the Palestinians (Arabs) deem Palestine is their homeland because they have been inhabitants for many centuries and they created the predominant population of Palestine before the State of Israel was created. According to ProCon.org, the population of Palestine consisted of approximately 70% of the Palestinian Arab people and approximately 30% of the Jewish people, in 1941, seven years before the creation of the State of Israel. This source is reliable because it educates people without being bias and it is useful because it is a website created by researchers exploring controversial issues across the world. Also, the Arabs have a religious belief that Ismail was a Palestinian, the founder of Islam and the ancestor of the Arabs. Moreover, the Arabs battled for Palestine against the Ottoman Empire which ruled Palestine from 1517 to 1917. Ultimately, the Palestinians feel it is their duty to eradicate the Israelis from their land. These pre-historic events were the bases of the situation today between the Israelis and Palestinians; they contributed to the establishment of the State of Israel, the Palestinian expulsion, the Munich Massacre and the Hamas which all added to the current uproar in the Middle East, which are some the reasons for the situation today.
The establishment of the State of Israel is a crucial aspect of the situation today because a day after the declaration of the state on the 14th of May 1948, Arab troops from neighbouring countries invaded the nation to “liberate Palestine”, until the first cease-fire which was used by the Zionists in order to organise and train their newly established navy, Israeli Defence Forces, which had better organisation, aptitude and motivation. This tactical use of deception contributed to the Jews winning their War of Independence. According to the report of the UNSCOP in August 1947, the UN were going to help with the partition about investigating the situation in Palestine and to “submit such proposals as it may consider appropriate solution for the problem of Palestine,” but they wouldn’t interfere with other affairs in Palestine after that. This report is reliable because it was written by the UN and they stood by their word. Thereby, I believe this contributed to the Palestinian expulsion during the war of 1948-49, because there being no UN interference could have meant that the Israelis felt they had major authority to aggressively terrorise the Palestinians, as they were also under their control, so approximately 711,000 people fled or were expelled from the State of Israel, according to the UN. Revisionist historian, Ilan Pappé, published the book, ‘A History of Modern Palestine’ in 2004 which suggests that he believes the Israelis were wrong for “implementing a systematic expulsion of the local population,” which was predominantly Palestinian. This is extremely reliable information because Pappé is a Jew, yet he argues against his people; this shows that he is not biased. Also, the fact that he is a revisionist historian shows that he has departed from the Israeli national ethos of believing that they are not primarily to be charged for the dead end. However, Einstein stated that he would “much rather see reasonable agreement with the Arabs on the basis of living together in peace than the creation of a Jewish state.” This is a reliable source because he was a Jew, yet he agreed on Arabs and Jews living together as one people. Another event strictly between Palestinians and Israelis that led to the situation today is the 1972 Munich Massacre. At the Summer Olympics, in Munich, a Palestinian terrorist group, Black September, took Israeli team members and coaches hostage in order to secure the liberation of about 200 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. In response to this, the Operation Wrath of God was directed by Israel and the Mossad, in order to find and kill the Palestinians responsible for the Munich Massacre. According to the Guardian, David Kimche, the former Mossad deputy head claimed that, “the mission was not just about revenge but striking fear into the hearts of terrorists.” This source is very trustworthy because referring to an incident described in the book, Vengeance, Kimche stated that they terrorised a Palestinian by “putting a bomb in his phone, this was a message that they can be got anywhere, at any time and therefore they have to look out for themselves 24 hours a day.” I also believe that the creation of Hamas led to the situation today because of the first intifada in 1987. The intifada was a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, due to an Israeli army vehicle in Gaza, crashing into a lorry boarding some Palestinians, which caused the death of innocent Israeli and Palestinian settlers in the territories because Palestinians deemed the incident as retaliation for them killing an Israeli a few days before. Hence, the Israeli government retaliated by using live ammunition to demolish the Palestinians, creating a greater Palestinian death toll and the growth of Hamas, which carried its first attack against Israel in 1989, by abducting and killing two Israeli soldiers. In 1991, Hamas’ military branch was created and that was the beginning of suicide attacks occurring in Gaza and the West Bank, causing more Israeli fury and violent retaliation. According to a Palestinian in Khan Yunis, “With every Palestinian death, Hamas grows stronger.” This is trustworthy because it was stated by a Palestinian; he has witnessed the violent events in Khan Yunis. This statement is agreeable because ever since the first intifada, the Hamas has grown strong enough to begin a second intifada and gain more support.
I believe the biggest cause of the situation today amongst this category of events was the establishment of the State of Israel because this contributed to one of the brutal, long-lasting Palestinian outrages directly towards the Israelis, for taking their land, ever since that time.
However, there are more significant events that involve more international powers such as Britain, The Ottoman Empire, Egypt and other surrounding Arab countries in the Middle East, the USA and USSR, than the Palestinians and Israelis themselves, which contributed to the crisis. The British promises during the First World War i.e. the McMahon Declaration and the Balfour Declaration, the formation of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, the Suez Crisis and the Six Day War were all vital aspects of the situation today.
Britain double dealing the Arabs and Jews contributed to the situation today because she promised both peoples the Palestinian land. The McMahon Declaration of 1915 was accepted by Palestinian Arabs as an oath from the British that after WWI, the Palestinian land ruled by the Turks would be returned to the Arabs of the land, if they rose against their Turkish overlords. So they did, however, the Balfour Declaration of 1917 contradicted it because A.J. Balfour, British Foreign Secretary at the time, declared his support for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Hence why this contributed to Arab guerrillas attacking the Jews of Palestine between 1936- 39 because hadn’t Britain promised the Jews land, some Arab habitation and livelihood wouldn’t have been lost and they wouldn’t have violently retaliated. Jamal al-Huesseini stated that, “the British government had no right to dispose Palestine.” Eventhough this is a conventional Arab opinion, this source is very useful because it does imply that Britain did double deal the Arabs and Jews and it was “immoral” and “unjust” as it caused conflict between the two peoples. The formation of the PLO was a reason for the horrific results today. This is because Palestinian politicians and military, as well as the commonplace citizens, believed that the Israelis were to be primarily blamed for the dead end. Hence, the PLO was formed in 1964 in order to establish an independent Palestinian state, with the intention of eradicating the State of Israel because the Israelis occupied their lands, particularly the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This organisation gained the support of neighbouring Arab countries: Syria, Jordan and Egypt. According to a past Israeli leader, Moshe Dayan, Syrians would shoot tractors cultivating “some place where it wasn’t possible to do anything, in the demilitarised area”. This could be easily mistaken as biased information to strictly demonise the enemy, however, according to Ahmed Said, who spoke on ‘Voice of the Arabs’, in Cairo, the Arabs “have nothing for Israel except war-” and “There is no life, no peace or hope for the gangs of Zionism to remain in the occupied land.” These two people have contrasting views about the eradication of Israel; however, they both complement each other on the fact that the Arabs do want to kill off the Israelis in order to free the land of Palestine, making them both useful and reliable sources. Another reason for the situation today was because the Suez Crisis of 1956. The USA cut its funding of the Aswan Dam, in Egypt because the US government realised they were being doubled played as Egypt also asked Britain to finance the Aswan Dam project, so the President of Egypt, Nasser, responded to this by illegitimately taking control of the Suez Canal, which was controlled by British and French companies. In retaliation, Britain, France and Israel negotiated to invade Egypt in order to regain control of the Canal, however, Egypt reacted with ammunition supplied by USSR, who was attempting to form an alliance with the Arab world. In order for the situation to not escalate, the USA pressurised Israel to withdraw from Egypt and return the Sinai Peninsula to them also. According to past Secretary of State of the US, J.F. Dulles, unless the US assert and sustain their leadership, “all these newly independent countries will turn from us to the USSR.” This is useful information because he states the genuine incentive of the US solving the crisis and it is a reliable source because it was stated by the Secretary of State, whom is responsible for foreign affairs. The Six Day War was a cause for the situation today because Arab nations such as Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Jordan and many other Arab nations far from Israel, wanted to destroy Israel, as past Egyptian president, Nasser, had been threatening Israel with war by initially denying Israeli access to oil supply, for suppressing the Arabs ever since the Israeli independence. According to the past Iraqi president, Abdel Rahman Aref, this was the Arabs’ “opportunity to wipe out the ignominy which has been with us since 1948.” This source is extremely useful because it supports the argument of the formation of Israel being the cause of the Arab suppression and humiliation. He also states that, “The existence of Israel is an error, which must be rectified.” This is a biased, however, useful information because if there were to be a Palestinian state, he wouldn’t have deemed it as an error because that was what he wanted, although, his statement is also useful because to this present day, Palestinians and other Arab nations are attempting to correct the existence of Israel by forming a Palestinian state. To conclude, I believe the biggest cause of the situation today amongst this category of events and all the events mentioned was the Balfour Declaration because the Jews were promised the same land as declared in the McMahon Declaration, albeit, the result would have inevitably been that one of them would gain the land of Palestine, making the other livid as they both didn’t want to share the land. That being, the Jews gained the land of Palestine, resulting to the State of Israel being created, due to the Arab revolt impelling Britain to reverse their policy in support of a Jewish national home. This contributed to all of the other mentioned Twentieth Century events to occur, sharing a part in the situation today. As an ultimate result, the Arabs have been fighting to regain the land they deem to be theirs. I believe this war would continue for many more years to come because as President Nasser stated in 1956, “there no longer exists an international emergency force to protect Israel. We shall exercise patience no more. We shall not complain any more to the UN about Israel. The sole method we shall apply against Israel is total war, which will result in the extermination of Zionist existence.” Also, a Palestinian woman stated that until Palestine is free, she is preparing her “eight year old for the day he can fight for freedom too.” I believe that this conflict may not even end soon because there being no existence of international emergency forces means that until Israel surrenders their land, Palestinians will always prepare to fight them until otherwise. Hence, the power of the Balfour Declaration resulted, in the long run, to President Nasser making his order to the UN Emergency Force to not interfere in the Arab-Israeli conflict anymore, which I believe has made the conflict have a prolonged existence.