The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been a never-ending problem facing the two states. It began in the 19th century during the Ottoman or British rule. This was between the Arabs living in Palestine and the Jews living in Israel. It was Zionism for the Jews against Arab nationalism. This conflict was known as the Arab-Israeli conflict. The main issues were; border disputes, security, the control of Jerusalem, recognition as well as Palestinian freedom of movement. These issues are what spear headed the intensifying of the conflict thus it became as part of day to day activity between the two states. The Zionists believed that Palestine was their land as according to them it was part of their historic homeland- Land of Israel. The Arabs however already inhabited the place and so there was a misunderstanding between two races. Generally that is when the conflict began till now.

Being that the conflict is not new, some of the issues were solved but unfortunately there are still some current issues. These are; the dispute over ownership of Jerusalem, restoration of Palestinian refugees back to their homelands and security concerns by Israel (Sela 2002). These are the issues which need to be looked at in order to end the conflict as it has had adverse effects even on other nations around the world.

The dispute as to which nation should claim ownership of the city of Jerusalem has been one of the major issues causing the conflict. The Israelis view Jerusalem as part of their historic homeland. It is somewhat a religious city to them owing to the Abraham religions- Judaism, Christianity and Islam (Sela 2002). However Palestinians already claim parts of the city which were not under Israeli jurisdiction. This being the cases, Pales...

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...two countries ought to realize that it is not about the one who shall win in this war. They should be focused on building their social institutions such as the economies in order to improve the lives of the civilians. Negative attitudes towards any of the two countries should be eliminated as this escalates the violence. Free movement of the people within the two nations is imperative not only for economic development but also for the purpose of interaction.

Works Cited

Flapan, S. (2003): The Palestinian Exodus of 1948. Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 16, No. 4. (Summer, 1987), pp. 3-26.

Khalidi, R. (2000): Observations on the Right of Return. Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 21, No. 2. (Winter, 1992), pp. 29-40.

Sela, A (2002)"Jerusalem." The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East. Ed. Avraham Sela. New York: Continuum, 2002. pp. 491-498.