Conflict In Israel

Since the inception of an Israeli nation-state in 1948, violence and conflict has played a major role in Israel’s brief history. In the Sixty-One year’s Israel has been a recognized nation-state, they have fought in 6 interstate wars, 2 civil wars, and over 144 dyadic militarized interstate disputes (MIDs) with some display of military force against other states (Maoz 5). Israel has been involved in constant conflict throughout the past half century. Israel’s tension against other states within the Middle East has spurred vast economic, social, and political unity that has fostered a sense of nationalism and unity in Israel not seen in most other states. Over the next several pages I will try and dissect the reasons for why the nation state of Israel has been emerged in constant conflict and how this conflict has helped foster national unity and identity among the people of Israel.

Israel’s involvement in war is not a new phenomenon. Military conflict has been true all through the history of the Jewish nation. In biblical times the Jewish people were continually engaged in military conflict, often times the aggressor, as Yahweh called them to fight in order to settle in the “promised land” (Joshua 8:1-2 New International Version). The children of Israel’s first military conflict came in 1445 B.C. against the Amalekites during the time of the exodus from Egypt (Exodus 17:10 NIV). Over the next two centuries, the Israelites conquered most of the land now known as Israel battling many different tribes in what was almost constant military conflict (NIV). The tribes of Israel were unified by the establishment of a monarchical system headed by Saul in 1020 B.C. (Benhaim np). David, the second king of Israel created a c...

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...thousands of years from times of nomadic tribes to kings that ruled over millions. While the land covered has been vast and the people many, one thing has been a constant in the history of the Jewish people, conflict. The conflict the people of Israel has faced has caused much destruction and horror in the lives of many, however, Israel has turned the history of conflict into a positive light in order to create a nation unified behind it. Israel has created a fast military force that gives thousands jobs both in factories and within the military itself. They have also created an economic system that creates vast productions of quality goods in order to compete with other countries in the Middle East and around the world. Israel has turned the devastation of war and the worries of continual conflict into a constructive action that has kept Israel alive and powerful.