Judgement Day

– The Middle East Essay, Research Paper

Judgement Day – The Middle East’ It must be peace without victory. Only a peace between equals can last: only apeace, the very principle of which is equality, and a common participation in a commonbenefit. ‘ ( Tiger, 1990, 418)The Holy land of Israel has witnessed the birth of Judaism and Islam. Israel has alsosuffered the wrath of a long and bloody history of conflict between the followers of thesereligions. The hostility has spanned from the early ages to modern day. The bloodshed was duemainly to religious disputes and land. For many Jews, Israel was the realization of a promisemade to them by God; that after centuries of suffering at the hands of anti-semetists, they wouldreturn to this ‘ promise land ‘. The Palestinian Arabs were outraged, as they felt threatened by theJewish immigration to what they thought was their own land which they have occupied forcenturies. Palestinians countered the Jews claim to the land of Israel with one of their own. TheUnited Nations granted the displaced Jews Israel, this ignited the bloody conflict between thetwo. Jews and Palestinians have continually fought over the land of Israel, in order to stake aclaim to it and call it their home. The religious differences between both are marginal. Thereancestors once lived together as one, and now this forgotten era has returned and is now at hand.The past is now disputed in the present, and the present will no doubt dictate the future. Palestine and Israel have similar paths, though 50 years apart. In order to avoid furtherbloodshed, Israel must grant the displaced Palestinians land for settlement, just as the UNgranted land for the displaced Jews after World War II. ‘ History is little more than the register of the crimes, follies and misfortunes ofmankind ‘ ( Webster, 1987, 128). If this quote describes the history of Arab – Israeli relationswell, then peace can be achieved. If on the other hand, history is declined to repeat itself as it isoften quoted, peace between the peoples will never be achieved. Or if history is seen as only thepast and cannot affect the future, then anything is possible. The history of Israeli – Arab conflictstems from the UN proposal in 1948 to create separate states for the Jewish and Arabs. Israel wasborn through this proclamation. This re-birth of a Jewish state prompted outrage from the Arabworld and fighting ensued. From wars with the Arabs in 1948-49, 1956, 1967, 1973 and 1982,Israel emerged with about 50 percent more land than had been originally allotted under the UNplan ( see figure 1.1 and 1.2). This ‘new’ land included the Sinai Peninsula formally Egypt, GolanHeights formally Syria, all of the Galilee, the coast, a reduced Gaza Strip formally Egypt, all ofNegev, and Northwestern Jerusalem. This ‘ acquired’ land forced an exodus of Palestinian Arabsto neighboring Arab countries approximately 726,000 (Omran, 1993, 24). The Palestinians are defined as the people who lived in the territory of Palestine beforethe creation of Israel. Palestine was placed under British colonial rule by the League of Nationsafter W.W.I, this lasted from 1922 to 1948. Palestinians consist mainly of Muslims and speakArabic. It’s population increased rapidly following W.W.II to roughly 6 million today. About 2.5million Palestinians live within the boundaries of the former state of Palestine, which is nowIsrael and the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza. Some have Israeli citizenship ifthey were in Israel at the time it was proclaimed. Over 1.5 million of Palestinians reside inJordan and represent half its population with full citizenship (Omran, 1993, 28). Many otherslive in nearby Syria and Lebanon and the rest of the Middle East. The plight of the Palestinianssince W.W.II is a story of continued dispersion and displacement. This displacement was due tothe establishment of Israel and Arab-Israel conflicts. This dispersion was caused by the lack of aunified voice for the Palestinians, until the Arab League in 1974 recognized the PalestineLiberation Organization ( PLO ) as the sole spokesman for the Palestinians. The PLO is the umbrella political organization which represents the world’s estimated4.5 million Palestinians. It was formed in 1964 to centralize the leadership of variousPalestinian groups that previously operated as clan resistance groups. It came into prominenceafter the Six Day War in 1967. The movement is dedicated to the creation of ‘democratic andsecular’ Palestinian state, and its charter at the time included specifically for the elimination ofIsrael. In 1969, Yassir Arafat leader of the largest Palestinian group al – Fatah was named as chairmanof the PLO. The PLO was accepted as the sole representative of the Palestinians in 1974. ThePLO the was to be the voice of the Palestinians. The PLO wanted the world to hear that thePalestinians have been oppressed, ridiculed and abruptly forced off the land they called homefor centuries by the Jews. They expressed their anger and hostility in the form of terrorism,because according to the PLO it was the only way to get the world’s attention ( Globe&Mail,1993, 1). Years later the world finally did and pressured Israel into negotiating peace with thePLO to stop the terrorism and grant the displaced Palestinians land for settlement.’ If we are to live together in peace, we must come to know each other better ‘ (Webster,1987, 183). On September 13, 1993 the ‘unthinkable’ happened, a