A very complex issue. What is happening? How did it start? Which groups started this? Who should intervene? How can this be solved? Will there ever be peace in this region of the world?
I would just like to start off by saying that I had absolutely no idea of the events in these States before I researched it and I plan on continuing to follow them.
This conflict dates all the way back to the Ottoman Empire (1492-1839). The Ottoman Empire was a dominantly Islamic Empire. After WW1, France and Britain split up a section of this Empire leaving Palestine under British mandate.
The Zionist movement was also gaining momentum. This movement was the belief that the Land of Israel was given to the Jewish people by God and that's where they belonged. In the early 1900's a mass immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel occurred. After WW2 more than 500,000 more Jews immigrated to the land. The Jews went to the UN requesting a place to live and in 1947 they were allotted a small section of Palestine to inhabit. In May 1948, the State of Israel was created.
Since the state of Palestine was under British Mandate, the British allowed continuous Jewish immigration into the land which caused these Jewish people to buy more land than was allocated for them by the UN. This then cause Palestinian outrage and the war started. Palestinians in Israeli land fled to refugee camps and Jewish people in Palestinian land fled to Israel.
This was causing an uproar not only by Palestinians but also by the surrounding regions. In 1956, Eqypt blocked the Suez canal (connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea) to cut their ties to Israel. However, this also blocked Britain's route to India so the British aided Israel in taking over this area.
After each conflict Israel expanded out into more and more Palestinian land which caused endless feuds between the two states. To worsen the situation, the United States is backing the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces). The States have given over $30 billion dollars to the IDF allowing for modern warfare technologies and a budget of around $16.5 billion dollars. The PLA ( Palestinian Liberation Army), however; does not have this sort of military support which forces them to use whatever weapons they can create or buy for small sums of money.
There have been multiple attempts to create peace between these two armies such as the Oslo Accord of 1993. This stated that Israel would return some of the land to Palestine in exchange for peace. This is the closest they have ever come to resolution but as of late there have been numerous kidnappings and killings of innocent people from both the IDF and the PLA and no sign of peace.
Sources:
- "The History of the Conflict in the Middle East." Hutchinson Encyclopedia. 2011. eLibrary. Web. 14 Sep. 2014.
- Anonymous. "The roots of rage." Scholastic News (Senior Edition). 15 Apr. 2002: 4. eLibrary. Web. 14 Sep. 2014.
- Israel-Palestine Situation Explained
- "The Ottoman Empire, 1492-1839." History Study Centre. ProQuest LLC. 2010. Web. 14 Sept. 2014
- "Egypt and the Suez Canal, 1869-1956." History Study Centre. ProQuest LLC. 2010. Web. 14 Sept. 2014
To be honest, I also do not know much about what is happening in the Middle East at the moment, but through reading a few articles, as well as your post, I have managed to gain some understanding of where this issue stands at the moment.
I know that in your comment you mentioned religion a lot, but only in passing. Do you think that this conflict may be the result of clashing religious views within Palestine, Israel, and surrounding countries? Or, is it possible that it could also be a conflict fueled by the desire for more land, more specifically, land that has religious importance to both states?
Through the research I did it also stated that, as you know, Jerusalem has important significance to both religions and it said that both states want their own land with Jerusalem as it's capital. I think it is a combination of this and the fact that Israel has continuously taken land from Palestine since this whole thing started. I recommend looking up a map of this to put it in perspective.
I'm angry! About the US giving a large sum of money to the IDF! I didn't know about that 30 billion! Israel is basically committing mass genocide on the people of Palestine, and have been targeting places like hospitals, schools, first aid responders, the list goes on. 400 CHILDREN have been killed with US-funded weaponry. Somehow this hardly seems like a war anymore. Palestine is a toothpick and Israel is fighting back with a flame thrower.
And what is this war over? The sharing of Jerusalem and the Gaza. I had dolls in kindergarten that I didn't want to share, but I didn't kill all my classmates over it. This war is seemingly never-ending, as well as, in my opinion, a very trivial pursuit. Instead of putting money into one side or the other and encouraging the killing to continue, other nations should look to find a way to peacefully end the dispute.
This is my weekly post.
ReplyDeleteI would just like to start off by saying that I had absolutely no idea of the events in these States before I researched it and I plan on continuing to follow them.
This conflict dates all the way back to the Ottoman Empire (1492-1839). The Ottoman Empire was a dominantly Islamic Empire. After WW1, France and Britain split up a section of this Empire leaving Palestine under British mandate.
The Zionist movement was also gaining momentum. This movement was the belief that the Land of Israel was given to the Jewish people by God and that's where they belonged. In the early 1900's a mass immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel occurred. After WW2 more than 500,000 more Jews immigrated to the land. The Jews went to the UN requesting a place to live and in 1947 they were allotted a small section of Palestine to inhabit. In May 1948, the State of Israel was created.
Since the state of Palestine was under British Mandate, the British allowed continuous Jewish immigration into the land which caused these Jewish people to buy more land than was allocated for them by the UN. This then cause Palestinian outrage and the war started. Palestinians in Israeli land fled to refugee camps and Jewish people in Palestinian land fled to Israel.
This was causing an uproar not only by Palestinians but also by the surrounding regions. In 1956, Eqypt blocked the Suez canal (connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea) to cut their ties to Israel. However, this also blocked Britain's route to India so the British aided Israel in taking over this area.
After each conflict Israel expanded out into more and more Palestinian land which caused endless feuds between the two states. To worsen the situation, the United States is backing the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces). The States have given over $30 billion dollars to the IDF allowing for modern warfare technologies and a budget of around $16.5 billion dollars. The PLA ( Palestinian Liberation Army), however; does not have this sort of military support which forces them to use whatever weapons they can create or buy for small sums of money.
There have been multiple attempts to create peace between these two armies such as the Oslo Accord of 1993. This stated that Israel would return some of the land to Palestine in exchange for peace. This is the closest they have ever come to resolution but as of late there have been numerous kidnappings and killings of innocent people from both the IDF and the PLA and no sign of peace.
Sources:
- "The History of the Conflict in the Middle East." Hutchinson Encyclopedia. 2011. eLibrary. Web. 14 Sep. 2014.
- Anonymous. "The roots of rage." Scholastic News (Senior Edition). 15 Apr. 2002: 4. eLibrary. Web. 14 Sep. 2014.
- Israel-Palestine Situation Explained
- "The Ottoman Empire, 1492-1839." History Study Centre. ProQuest LLC. 2010. Web. 14 Sept. 2014
- "Egypt and the Suez Canal, 1869-1956." History Study Centre. ProQuest LLC. 2010. Web. 14 Sept. 2014
To be honest, I also do not know much about what is happening in the Middle East at the moment, but through reading a few articles, as well as your post, I have managed to gain some understanding of where this issue stands at the moment.
DeleteI know that in your comment you mentioned religion a lot, but only in passing. Do you think that this conflict may be the result of clashing religious views within Palestine, Israel, and surrounding countries? Or, is it possible that it could also be a conflict fueled by the desire for more land, more specifically, land that has religious importance to both states?
Through the research I did it also stated that, as you know, Jerusalem has important significance to both religions and it said that both states want their own land with Jerusalem as it's capital. I think it is a combination of this and the fact that Israel has continuously taken land from Palestine since this whole thing started. I recommend looking up a map of this to put it in perspective.
DeleteHello, friends! Here to talk about this topic!
DeleteI'm angry! About the US giving a large sum of money to the IDF! I didn't know about that 30 billion!
Israel is basically committing mass genocide on the people of Palestine, and have been targeting places like hospitals, schools, first aid responders, the list goes on. 400 CHILDREN have been killed with US-funded weaponry. Somehow this hardly seems like a war anymore. Palestine is a toothpick and Israel is fighting back with a flame thrower.
And what is this war over? The sharing of Jerusalem and the Gaza. I had dolls in kindergarten that I didn't want to share, but I didn't kill all my classmates over it. This war is seemingly never-ending, as well as, in my opinion, a very trivial pursuit. Instead of putting money into one side or the other and encouraging the killing to continue, other nations should look to find a way to peacefully end the dispute.