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Analyze the causes of the Arab Israeli conflict
Arab-israeli conflict
Arab-israeli conflict
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The Arab-Israeli conflict, initiated over one-hundred years ago and still continuing, has confounded both policy-makers and citizens; despite the best efforts of foreign leaders, only one substantial accord has materialized in the decades of negotiations: the Israel-Egypt peace treaty of 1979. Before one undertakes to understand such a complex topic as the Israel-Egypt peace treaty, however, a broad knowledge of the historical background of the two countries involved is essential to understanding the motivations and aspirations of both parties, which in turn will shed light on the peace treaty itself. Foreign policy can’t be viewed in a vacuum; rather, each country must be viewed as a nation with legitimate historical and political aspirations . Also, when evaluating foreign policy, there are two methods of analysis: one is to concentrate on the output and documents produced by working backwards, deducing the intents of the various leaders from the end result; the other method is to focus on the politics of decisionmaking, viewing foreign policy as a result of individual political aims. The first approach focuses on the primary sources, while the other concentrates on the parties themselves. In this paper, I will give a comprehensive background of Israel-Egypt relations, and utilize the two forms of analyses to deduce what the goals of each party were at the time the treaty was signed, and use the lens of hindsight to evaluate whether their goals were met.
The dispute over the territory called Palestine began relatively recently. Palestinian Arabs had lived as impoverished peasants under corrupt, continuous Ottoman rule for centuries ; political identification as a Palestinian within the broad current of Arab nationalism only...
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...h before Israel’s establishment. Though at the time, Begin’s entry into the cabinet wasn’t a particularly notable development (as his promotion ostensibly was to ensure Israel’s unity in the face of a crisis), it was in fact a very significant development that allowed Begin to reenter mainstream politics and shed his radical label. Yoram Peri, Between Battles and Ballots: Israeli Military in Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), p. 250 goes so far as to call Begin’s appointment “a revolutionary change in Israeli political history”.
For a detailed chronology of the Six Day War, see “Six Day War Timeline (Israeli-Arab Six Day War Chronlogy)”. Zionism and Israel. Web. 27 Feb. 2011.
For the relatively short text of the resolution, see Laqueur and Rubin, pp. 365-366.
Tessler p. 420.
As soon as Jewish immigration increased, so did the tension between the two groups because each felt like they deserved the Palestine land. Zionism began early in the history of Judiasm and it was the movement for the Jews to establish a home in Palestine, and return to their holy land. During the Holocaust, six million Jews were killed and the deep-seeded hatre against them increased
The Middle East has historically rebuked Western influence during their process of establishing independence. When Britain and France left the Middle East after World War II, the region saw an unprecedented opportunity to establish independent and self-sufficient states free from the Western influence they had felt for hundreds of years. In an attempt to promote nationalistic independence, the states of the region immediately formed the League of Arab States in 1945. The League recognized and promoted the autonomy of its members and collaborated in regional opposition against the West until 1948 when Israel declared independence. Israel represented then and now an intrusive Western presence in the Arab world. The ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict typifies this cultural antagonism. The Cold War refocused attention to the Middle East as a site of economic and strategic importance for both sides, yet the two hegemons of the Cold War now needed to recognize the sovereignty of the Middle Eastern states. With their statehood and power cemented, the Middle Easte...
Late into the 19th century, Zionism (a biblical name for Jerusalem) started to rise when Theodor Herzl published an article that concluded Jewish assimilation and emancipation could not work in Europe. It was this that started plans for the creation of a Jewish statehood. During this time, the population of Jews were spread out across different countries, and in each of these countries, they had represented a minority. Throughout this period, they had longed for a state in which they called Eretz Israel, the land of Israel. Herzl’s proposed solution was for the revival of a Jewish homeland where they could set up a state belonging to themselves. Following his publishings, the First Zionist Congress was held in Switzerland. The program state that “The aim of Zionism is to create for the Jewish people a homeland in Palestine secure by public law”. Much of the Jewish community at this point held mixed views about this movement but it was this time period of the late 19th ce...
Since the Arabs were living in Palestine when the Ottoman Empire control it. Since the Arabs defeated the Ottoman Empire with the help of from Germany, “Just short of 6 months the Palestinians were crushed, militarily and psychologically” (document 8) On the other hand, Israel grew beyond the partition lines, gained more defensible borders and they destroyed Arab homes reducing their population. The Palestinians rightly felt that the Israelis were taking over the area and were pushing out of lands promised to them in both the Balfour Declaration and the UN 1947 Partition.
In the novel War and Peace In the Middle East, author Avi Shlaim argues that Arab nations have been unable to escape the post-Ottoman syndrome. In particular he describes how the various powers inside and outside the region have failed to produce peace. While some of Shlaim's arguments hinder the message, I agree with his overall thesis that the Middle East problems were caused and prolonged by the failure of both powers and superpowers to take into account the regional interests of the local states.
The position on Zionism and Israel shows one of the major changes that the Reform Judaism has undergone. In the Pittsburgh Platform written in 1885, it displays the first look into what the goals were for the Reform movement. The Pittsburgh Platform states that the movement does not support the idea of a Jewish homeland. The Reform movement has given up on the idea of going back to Israel, and having a Jewish homeland. “ We consider ourselves no longer a nation, but a religious community, and therefore expect neither a return to Palestine…” (Roiter, Urowitz, Zeliger 131). This passage conveys the idea that a Jewish state is no longer needed because they consider themselves no l...
The Middle East has since time immemorial been on the global scope because of its explosive disposition. The Arab Israeli conflict has not been an exception as it has stood out to be one of the major endless conflicts not only in the region but also in the world. Its impact continues to be felt all over the world while a satisfying solution still remains intangible. A lot has also been said and written on the conflict, both factual and fallacious with some allegations being obviously evocative. All these allegations offer an array of disparate views on the conflict. This essay presents an overview of some of the major literature on the controversial conflict by offering precise and clear insights into the cause, nature, evolution and future of the Israel Arab conflict.
Proceeding from a simplistic perception of regional stability, Washington utilized the surrogate strategy to control the outcomes of regional interactions in the Middle East and chose Israel to play the role of regional surrogate. But Israel, in many cases, instead of maintaining regional stability on behalf of the US, served its own interests which were not always consistent with US interest in regional stability. The Israeli violations, however, were either condoned or even approved by the US administrations. These reactions comprised what this chapter addressed as a pro-Israel model of intervention.
A possible solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the two-state solution. The two-state solution would become a peace agreement in which establishes a Palestinian state alongside the current state of Israel (Bourke). In the opinion of the Maghar Druze’s community, peace is the main objective in which the two-state solution could provide. As follows, most Israeli Druze’s would encourage the current peace talks in aim of a two-state agreement. Despite the fact that the two-state solution requires compromise in which it is believed the Palestinian are not able to accommodate. In particular, the Maghar Druze’s do not believe the Palestinians will ever be satisfied with a two-state agreement because of the need for retaliation fo...
There are different historical views on what really provoced the war of 1967, the Israelis would clearly blame the Egyptians and point at Nasser's agressions as the main provocation leading to the war. Another view is that Nasser did not have the intention to fight Israel at that point, but when the UN troops in the Sinai were withdrawn suprisingly after Nasser's demand, Nasser had to make true his big promises to defeat Israel to the other Arab nations. He wanted to keep his reputation as the ultimate leader of the pan-Arabian league and he could only do so by moving his troops towards Israel, which no longer had a protection buffer by the UN troops in the Sinai. Another view is that "the Six Day War was the result of Egyptian- Israeli brinkmanship that went over the brink". Pressured by each others arms build up, the race kept going and the deciding spark was given by Egypts move of closing the Straits of Tiran for Israeli ships. Additionally, there is a view that US-Soviet manipulation on both sides in the Cold War context casued the war.
Andersen, Roy, Robert F. Seibert, and Jon G. Wagner. Politics and change in the Middle East: sources of conflict and accommodation. 9th ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1982. Print.
The War of 1948, also known as the War of Independence, was fought between Israel and its Arab neighbors. The war began May 15, 1948 when units from the armies of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq invaded Israel launching a war that lasted until December 1948.# The war resulted in the defeat of the Arab forces and the success of Israel as a newly established state. It is evident that the Arab forces were not successful in the first Arab-Israeli war because the Arab army lacked motivation, education, and proper equipment.# Despite the support from Arab states outside of Palestine, the Arabs were unable to gain enough strength to overcome the Israeli forces. In contrast, the Israeli army was able to succeed because they had unconditional support from the Jewish community, efficient infrastructures, and modern equipment. Israel also used significant strategies that proved lethal against the competing Arab forces. With the Arab communities unorganized attempt to go to war in 1948, it was inevitable that Israel would come out of the war as the victor.
“ In 1959, Dayan joined MAPAI, the leftist party in Israeli politics. Until 1964 he served as the minister of agriculture in Israel, and in 1967, Eshkol (current prime minister) decided to give him the position of Minister of Defense.”2
The Six-Day War took place in June 1967. It took place all because of hostilities between the Arab nations, and the Jews had already been at a high point. The Arab nations refused to accept the fact that Israel could be a Jewish state, and so, President Nasser of Egypt called for the destruction of Israel. At first, there were just attacks on civilians once and a while, but the attacks became more and more ferocious, until it came to Israeli villages being heavily shelled by Syrian troops from Golan Heights. Such an act was an act of war, but what they did not know was that Israel would react with full force.
...estinians. The indigenous Arab population of Palestine has been systematically discriminated against since the Balfour Declaration in 1917, which created Israel for the Jews at the expense of a native population, which has been denied its own nationhood and become dispossessed, marginalized people (Beginners).”