The Arab-Israeli Conflict - Dissertation Example

The Arab-Israeli Conflict Introduction There is little doubt that the Arab – Israel conflict has been one of the longest serving conflicts in the political arena of the world. The conflict that has rocked the geographical area of the Middle – East time and again along with the entire periphery of the international relationships, can be rooted to the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the second decade of the 20th century. The research scholars have observed that the deep inside the conflict there lays the various reasons that have contributed towards the ongoing dispute which has ranged almost a century now. The conflicts are though political in nature, they also have religious, cultural and national differences imbibed in it. Moreover, the foreign policies of the super power countries like that United States and that of United Kingdom also have been responsible to some extent for the age old conflict. Some of the other schools of thought believe that the conflict has been primarily because of the fight for land as the state of Israel, after being formed in the year of 1948, displaced many of the original inhabitants. The aggressive policy of the country and clubbing Palestinian activists with that of the terrorists also further enhanced the problem. The notable feature of the conflict has been that the countries of the Arabian fraternity have always supported the Palestine. Also, it can be said without much hesitation that the various conflict resolution techniques proposed by the international players did not prove to be much effective to resolve the conflicts and failed in one way or the other. The essay examines the various reasons of the ongoing conflict and also looks in to the reasons of failure of various conflicts resolution techniques. The chapter also tries to look into the various problems that might arise in terms of regional instability because of the Arab – Israeli conflict. Issues of Conflict The modern state of Israel, established in 1948, developed as a powerful nation in the short span of time as there was high rate of growth in industries and agriculture. The country has been populated with more than six million inhabitants, mostly Jewish people, from different countries. Also, the land has about three million Palestinian Arabs living in the areas of West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, also referred as ‘Occupied Territories’ by the Israelis. Though the Palestinian Authority deals with local affairs of the region of the ‘Occupied Territories’, the Israeli army controls these territories using force. The crux of the dispute has been that the nation of Israel has been regarded as an enemy of the Arab states, since its inception in 1948. The age - old conflict among the Arabian fraternity and the Palestinian world has been because of the number of reasons. The most important among all the factors have been that of the religious differences. The holy land of Jerusalem has been the breeding ground of three of the most important religions of the world namely the Christianity, the Judaism and the Islam. Therefore, there has always been tremendous debate over the control of Jerusalem. This is so because all the religions try to have the holy land under their control. As it has been a matter of belief and faith rather than politics, even the international community could not pressurize the demanding religions and conflicting countries. The present population structure of the Jerusalem depicts the picture that the eastern part of the city is comprised of Palestinian population that have Islam has the primary religion. On the other hand, the western part of the city has mostly the Israeli population with Judaism as the primary religion. This diagonal division of the holy city has called for the long lasting disputes. Prior to the war of 1948, a few parts of the city of Jerusalem were under the Arabian control (or that of Palestinian control). But after the war, all the areas near the city of Jerusalem were captured by the Israeli troops. One of the basic reasons of the conflict has been the demand of the eastern part of the city by the Palestinians. Presently, they are even not demanding the entire eastern Jerusalem but only few of the outskirts that were under their control before the war of 1948. But Israeli authorities do not agree citing security reasons. Israel thinks if they allow control of Palestine in those areas, it would make their residents susceptible to attacks. Still, the Israel administration ‘reviewed’ the thought of granting power to the Palestine Authority to rule few of the villages that were situated outside the city of Jerusalem and was dominated by the Palestinian populace. But the result that the review had was not positive at all as it said, “Terrorists will be able to exploit the short distances, sometimes involving no more than crossing a street, to cause damage to people or property. A terrorist will be able to stand on the other side of the road, shoot at an Israeli or throw a bomb, and it may be impossible to do anything about it. The road will constitute the border” (The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, n.d.). If the previous point of dispute could be classified as the religious reason of the conflict, the political reason was primarily based upon the status of the Arabian refugees after the war of 1948. As in the year of 1948, when the state of Israel was formed many of the settlements of Palestinians were attacked which compelled the killing or running away of major part of the populace from their original homeland. Along with the regaining of those lost land, another contention of the Palestinian population and that of Arabian fraternity has been the status of the Palestine refugees. According to one of the wings of the United Nations, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), a person can be referred as a Palestinian refugee if his or her original place of residence was at Palestine in between the period of June 1946 and May 1948 but if he or she lost the home along with the source of earning or livelihood because of the Arab – Israel conflict of 1948 (UNRWA, n.d.). Most of the people that fled from the areas of the disputed land took shelter in the countries of Syria, Jordan and Lebanon along with the areas of Gaza Strip and West Bank. The United Nations have inducted several resolutions that opined for letting back the willing refugees to the land of original inhabitance but the attitude of the Israel has not been affirmative in this respect. Israel basically denies the entry of Palestinian refugees in the country charging the refugees with the terrorist connections even though Israel has accepted the fact of Palestinian Diaspora (Lapidoth, 2001). To add fuel to the fire, Israel has invited Jews from all over the world in the land of Israel and has offered citizenships to them. This fact has also aggrieved the Palestinians as the original inhabitants are not allowed to let in the country while foreigners are being offered citizenship on the basis of the religion. The reasons of dispute among the Israel and that of Arabian group also included certain cultural and national issues but it can be said without much doubt that such reasons were rooted to the above two major issues i.e. the religious reason and the political reason. The foreign policies of the super powers of the world like that of the United States and that of United Kingdom are also responsible for that of the ongoing conflict of the Arab and the Israel. At the first instance, the western countries definitely supported the cause of Israel. In fact the scholars across the globe have always maintained that the crux of the conflict in between the Arabian world (or more specifically, the Palestine) with that of Israel has been the two nation theory as prescribed by the Great Britain. The partition or the division of the regions, whatever it is called, has been the prime reason for the commencement of the conflict. Compared to the United Kingdom, the role played by the United States were more affirmative as it tried to resolve the issues off late especially under the Presidentship of Bill Clinton. Conflict Resolution Conflicts are part and parcel of international politics and relationships. Often a country overwrites others area of interest that result to international conflict. But the most special aspect of the conflict in between Arabian nations and that of Israel has been that of the period of conflict. The conflict that has commenced with the making of the state of Israel has no tendency to end till date. Such a long lasting international conflict is definitely rare. Other example of such long lasting conflict can be the dispute between India and Pakistan. The one of the prime factors that has resulted in such long period of conflicts is definitely the failure of conflict resolution mechanisms. A deep exploration of the past history of the Arab -Israeli conflict depicts that the scope of negotiations has always been open. At the outset, it was the neighbouring states of the Middle – East that tried to resolve the issues of dispute but as the initiatives was unsuccessful, the assistance of the super powers of the world has often been sought for. The process of negotiations mostly comprised of non-violent conflict mechanism techniques, diplomacy as well as force. Ben – Yehuda and Sanders observed in the year of 2002, “In the Arab-Israeli conflict, negotiations and nonviolent CMT are part of an overall strategy combining diplomacy and force” (Ben - Yehuda and Sandler, 2002). The super powers of the world indeed tried to bring about peace and stability in the region through series of negotiations though with little success. The fact is that the international community has never succeeded to impose peace in the several negotiating attempts, mostly because of the fact that political legitimacy is a regional issue and the conflicting parties often find it tough to get align with the external impositions from a country that is located far away. K. A. Feste in his book “Plans for peace: negotiation and the Arab-Israeli conflict” rightly questioned if there is at all any chance of resolving the Israeli – Arab conflicts through negotiations. He asked, “Is it possible to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict through negotiation? The long-standing, resilient Arab-Israeli dispute is an intriguing conflict because no method of resolution has produced a peaceful outcome of any duration. Neither violent means nor negotiation attempts have led to a satisfactory solution for all parties”. Feste further noted in the same book that, “Instead, the intense feelings that underlie policy objectives for each side have served continuously as a catalyst both for renewed physical fighting and for consideration of the plans, proposals, and prospects for peace” (Feste, 1991). Therefore, it is the fact that there has always been scope for negotiations, especially incorporating the powerful nations of the world, although the negotiations were not successful in achieving the long - awaited peace and stability in the region of the Middle - East. Various attempts of bilateral negotiations were supported by the great powers of the world and most of these negotiations were led by the U.S. and the U.K. In this regard, Caplan noted an important point. The scholar thought, though the Middle – Eastern countries (that of Syria, Egypt and Jordan) tried repeatedly to resolve the issue just after the years of first conflict of the Arab and Israel, these countries always looked towards the approval of the big powers like the United States and the United Kingdom to mediate the negotiation process. Therefore, the trials and the initiatives of these countries were mostly limited to draw the attention of the big powers to resolve the issue (Caplan, 1997). Though the Arab - Israeli conflict is widely recognised as a continuing conflict affecting the peace processes of the region, yet there have been repeated initiatives of negotiation policies with Palestine as well as other countries of the Arabian Bloc. In 2003, a peace agreement was signed between the state of Israel and its neighbours, Egypt and Jordan. Some of the scholars of the discipline have accused the unpopular governments of the region of Middle – East for the repeated failures. Senker viewed in the year of 2004 (after the agreement was signed among Israel, Jordan and Egypt, “The international community has an interest in achieving stability in the Middle East. However, throughout the region, most Arab people live under corrupt and deeply unpopular governments. The Middle East remains a tinderbox that could easily ignite into greater conflict than has yet been seen. Ending conflict in the region would involve bringing justice to the Palestinians without damaging Israel. It would also mean resolving the differences between Israel and its Arab neighbours and between Arab governments and their people” (Senker, 2004). A reflective exploration of the negotiations on the Arab - Israeli conflict confirms that various international organizations and nations have attempted to put a permanent solution to the various issues between the two nations. The only super power of today in the arena of international relationships, United States of America, has been one of the major nations which have tried to restore peace in the region. The role of Bill Clinton as the President of United States cannot be ever denied to initiate peace in the region. It was Clinton who had considerable success as he could hold repeated meetings with PLO chief Yasser Arafat and the Israeli Prime Minister Rabin. Also, the Oslo Accords were signed between the conflicting parties during the tenure of Clinton. William Quandt had perfectly noted, “Whenever progress has been made toward Arab-Israeli peace through American mediation, there has always been a joining of substance and procedure. The United States has provided both a sense of direction and a mechanism. That, at its best, is what the ‘peace process’ has been about. At worst, it has been little more than a slogan used to mask the marking of time” (Quandt, 2005). Recent Issues The comparatively recent rows among the Hamas, the extremist front of the PLO and Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency have also contributed toward further worsening the conflicts. It has been observed that both the agencies are responsible in attacking the other party which also leads to loss of civilian lives. In 1997, when a senior leader of PLO, Sheikh Khaled Mashal was attempted to kill in Jordan by two agents of Mossad using Canadian passports, it had a major impact among the two conflicting authorities as Israel had to set free few of the arrested PLO activists in order to get back the agents who otherwise would have been sentenced to death. After the attack on the United States on 11th September of 2001, the administration of the United States declared war on terrorism. Though the initial search was on for Al – Qaeda, it would not be wrong to say that the entire region of the Middle- East was a suspect for the United States as most of the countries had close ties with the terrorist outfits e.g. the Taliban government of Afghanistan or the Saddam Hussein government of Iraq. In such a situation, the nuclear strategy of Iran definitely has imbibed significance. Many of the research scholars speculate that Iran can pass on the technical details of the nuclear power to the Hamas or like - minded organizations that could be real threat to Israel. But the other school of thought does not subscribe the issue as they believe that the chances of sharing the nuclear details in between Iran (a Shia dominated country) and PLO or Hamas (Sunni dominated organizations) are minimal. This school also suggest that even if nuclear strategies are shared, there are minimal chances that it could be implemented as Israel itself is an nuclear empowered country and no country or organization would like to get devastated with such weapons, otherwise United States and Soviet Union could have used against each other long back (during the cold war days) or in recent times, India and Pakistan could have used against each other (Tristam, n.d.). Conclusion The long lasting conflict of the Arabian world and that of the Israel could not be solved even after repeated initiatives by the major powers of the world. In order to resolve the conflicts of Israel and Palestine, it might be better that the two conflicting parties discuss the issue face to face without mediation of any third party. On the other hand, the topic of Arab and Israel conflict opens up huge area of research e.g. if administrative power of Gaza Strip and West Bank, bestowed upon the Palestine Authority, have proved to be counter - productive for Israel. Also, the subsequent chapters would deal with the issues like whether Israel would always use the reason of security concerns for not allowing the refugees to settle in their original land. In other words, if the Palestinians would ever get back the land that they had to evacuate during the conflict of 1948. The introductory chapter provides the base and the subsequent sections would delve deep into the issues. References Ben – Yehuda, H . & Sandler. S. The Arab-Israeli conflict transformed: fifty years of interstate and ethnic crises. SUNY Press, 2002. Caplan, N. Futile Diplomacy: Operation Alpha and the failure of Anglo-American coercive diplomacy in the Arab-Israeli conflict, 1954-1956. Routledge, 1997. Feste, K. A. Plans for peace: negotiation and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1991. Lapidoth, R., 2001. Do Palestinian Refugees Have a Right to Return to Israel. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. [Online] Available at: http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace+Process/Guide+to+the+Peace+Process/Do+Palestinian+Refugees+Have+a+Right+to+Return+to.htm [Accessed April 22, 2010]. Senker, C. The Arab-Israeli Conflict. Black Rabbit Books, 2004. Tristam, P., No Date. Is Iran a Nuclear Threat to Israel? About.Com. [Online] Available at: http://middleeast.about.com/od/iran/f/iran-israel-nukes.htm [Accessed April 22, 2010]. The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, No Date. Jerusalem: The Dangers of Division. JCPA. [Online] Available at: http://www.jcpa.org/text/shragai_last2.pdf [Accessed April 22, 2010]. UNWRA, No Date. Who is a Palestine Refugee? United Nations Relief and Works Agency. Bibliography Edalat, A., 2007. The US can learn from this example of mutual respect. The Guardian. [Online] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/apr/05/comment.military [Accessed April 22, 2010]. Ismael, T. Y. Canada and the Arab world. University of Albert, 1985. Read More