HCOM

The Arab-Israel conflict.

It is basically a dispute between Palestine and Israel over land. The Jews claim that they own the land according to their Holy Book ‘The Torah’ which states that “

For they are my slaves whom I took out from the land of Egypt; they may not become the property of another.” (Leviticus, 25:42) , whereas Arab Muslims and Christen Arabs believe that it is their homeland since biblical times.

This issue came about shortly after World War I after Germany lost the war. At that time, Palestine was under British mandate. In 1917, Great Britain issued a Balfour Declaration, which is a statement, to establish Palestine as a national home for the Jewish people. This is when the Jewish refugees started immigrating to Palestine to build their own community and as they claimed, to take back their territory.

In 1939, the British interrupted the Jewish Immigration to Palestine just when the European Jews were undergoing World War 2 horrors, which was the Holocaust. Local Arab did not accept this foreign invasion.

Both Palestinians and Jews had been clashing in British governed Palestine; therefore, in 1947, the United Nations brought British mandate to an end. This when British had no control anymore on the land.

The United Nations decided to divide the territory into two lands between Palestine and Israel. The Jews approved the plan، while Palestine opposed it believing that they should claim back the whole land. Since Palestine was weaker than Israel, Palestine asked help from surrounding countries which were Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Today’s Jordan. These countries fought against the Jews for several months.

In 1967, not only did Israel hit Palestine and destroyed the Arab Forces with taking over large area of the land, but also Israel conquered the West Bank of Jordan, the Golan Heights of Syria, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt. In 1973, Egypt and Syria worked aside to attack Israel in order to take back their lands, which they successfully did.

In 1977, while the former Egyptian President Anwar AlSadat was visiting Jerusalem, he agreed to sign an agreement called Camp David peace with the former Israel Prime Minister Menachem Begin, this was in the USA in 1978. The following year, they signed a peace treaty.

In December 1987, a certain Israeli soldier killed a group of four Palatines, which led particular group of Palatines to throw stones on Israeli soldiers which also led the soldiers to start firing, but no one died. This was the first Intifadeh.

In 1993, Yasser Arafat, who was the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signed the first Oslo Peace agreement, which assisted Palestine to gain back half of Gaza and the city of Jericho in the West Bank with Israel promising Palestine for more territory to come.

In the end of 1999, the time was over for Israel to apply the final scheduled Oslo deal. In addition to violent practices done by them. This is when the second intifadeh stared.

In order for peace to happen, the Palestinians must accept Jews existence in the land and the Jews must give back the territories that was take by them in 1967 war and allow Palestine to set up their capital in East Jerusalem, which is the third holiest spot to Muslims after Mecca and AL Medina.

Overall, the estimated number of Palestinese victims exceeds the number of Israeli victims. Furthermore, the fight between the two nations won’t end and there will never be an acceptable peace between the two countries.

Finally, through analyzing various sources, in my point of view and not as a Muslim, but as a human being, I believe that the Palestinians bear the greatest right of the land because they were the first to live there for centuries, prior to the European Jews who now make up the majority of the population of Palestine. Also, I believe that the Jews were the ones who provoked the Palestinians and started the war.