Israel-Palestine Conflict over Gaza - Research Paper Example

 Israel-Palestine Conflict over Gaza Inter-state conflict has been a major hindrance to societal development; efforts to create peace on such conflicts have been also been hindered by the occurrences of intra-state conflicts. A good case of Inter-state conflict has been noted between Israel and Palestine that has taken place overtime. The cause of this conflict has been ascribed to the ownership of the Gaza strip as each nation strives to attain a complete ownership of this strip. The effect of this conflict has raised concerns among international stakeholders as well as other nations like the United States of America (Sterio 2010). Deterioration of Socio-economic factors Despite the efforts placed by the concerned stakeholders as well as the leaders of the affected nations, there has been little success as the conflict continuously affects various facets of the society. Apparently various researches and reports have shown that the most affected region is the Gaza strip where; lots of lives have been lost; properties as well as other social amenities have been affected (Mandell 1985). Tribal Conflicts in Palestine The occurrence of conflicts between the Palestine tribes has also created a major setback on the efforts of the international community that has been placed to facilitate peace negotiation between the two countries. Conflicts between the Sunnis and the Shiites have created divisions among the Palestine leaders hence diverting their attention from the peace negotiations towards resolving these internal conflicts (Migdalovitz 2010). Discussion Israel- Palestine Conflict Various social researchers as well as other concerned International Stakeholders have undertaken studies to find the causes of the Israeli and Palestine conflict. The most obvious factor that has emerged is that the conflicts were triggered by the struggle on who owns Gaza; however, bodies such as the media have failed to provide comprehensive information concerning the causes of conflict between the two nations. That is, there are cases where the media has portrayed Israel as an innocent nation that is making an attempt to save the aggressive Palestine from causing harm to its citizens. This has raised lot of concern from the various stakeholders especially among the Palestine leaders. Escalation of the Israeli-Palestine war International Organizations such as the United Nations, World Health Organizations as well as other stakeholder countries have made different efforts to ensure that peace and stability exist between the two nations. However, their efforts have not been successful owing to a number of reasons. The first reason emerges from the inter-ethnic group among the Palestine Tribes; these tribal conflicts have been propagated by the differences emerging the specific inter-ethnic affiliations. That is, certain groups such as the Shiites have experienced tremendous hatred from the Sunnis who have perceived them to be affiliated with Iran. On the other hand, the death of certain key Muslim leaders as a form of revenge has also been another factor. These factors have propagated the occurrences of Israeli-Palestine Conflict mainly because they have jeopardized the efforts placed by stakeholders to create peace (Cowley 2012). Moreover, certain utterances by Israeli leaders that has been made through speaking, writing as well as through the media, has been noted to escalate the conflict due since they are perceived as intimidating of inciting the other parties. For instance in the month of November, 19th 2012, a letter from the Israeli government, specifically, Netanyahu Binyamin was high criticized by the various stakeholders such as the United States of America’s Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who noted that the letter was intimidating in nature and could jeopardize peace talks between the two nations (Cowley 2012). In that letter Netanyahu indicated that despite all the efforts by the Palestine military and other Arab nations to cause harm to the Israeli citizens, the Israeli government was prepared to take any action in order to protect its citizens. In the letter, Netanyahu also criticized the United States President by indicating that he has not taken any action to ensure that the peace negotiations between the two nations become a success but, instead spends his time flying around Asia. The letter also blamed other Arab nations like Egypt for supporting Gaza. This has also been noted to be among the escalating factors of the Israeli-Palestine conflict (Cowley 2012). The other factor that has led to the escalated conflict between Israel and Palestine is the jeopardy of the peace negotiations especially by the Israelites has emerged from the Iran’s nuclear weapons. Israel had blamed various International organizations for not taking a keen interest of the nuclear weapon manufactured by Iran but has focused their attention on Israel’s efforts to protect its citizens. Israel, believes that military options against such countries, are among the best solutions to the creation of peace and stability (Cowley 2012). Moreover, there have been cases where the Israeli has accused Palestine, specifically, the Hamas for the application of “double war crimes” in that; they have applied strategies that target the local civilians by mostly hiding among the Gaza civilians. In this respect, Israeli have resorted to the application of air attacks by bombing areas suspected to be hosting some of the Hamas; the Israeli believes that their modus operandi in the Gaza Strip is justifiable in the sense that, its actions have been caused by the intimidation and the aggression of the Palestine Militants and believes that its sophisticated technologies and precision in operation are the best solutions. Consequently, in the letter written by Netanyahu, he clearly indicated that the economic facets of the Israeli have taken a center stage in all the government as well as civilian activities hence diverting their efforts from the peace negotiations. Netanyahu has noted that, despite the fact that Israel has a low population of approximately eight million people with limited natural resources, it has been in a position to develop a higher number of industries as compared to other international economies like Japan, Britain, Canada, China and Korea, asserting that such developments have taken a center stage than the peace negotiation processes (Cowley 2012). On the other hand, Israeli citizen have also directed a lot of focus towards attaining their basic needs such as houses and food while neglecting issues related to their safety; this has also minimized the chances of creating peace between the two nations. The efforts directed by various stakeholders to create peace and stability between the two nations have not been successful due to various factors, for instance: The existence of the inter-group or tribal conflicts within Palestine and the escalation of the war by the Israeli due to certain leadership positions taken by the Israeli government (United Nations 2012). As a result of the conflicts between Israel and Palestine, there has been extreme losses experienced mostly in the Gaza Strip where thousands have lost their lives, people have lost high amounts of property. Other socio-economic factors such as schools have also been affected by destruction of various infrastructures such as schools and health service institutions. Studies have also shown that social amenities such as water and sanitation lines have also been affected hence creating higher health risks to the Gaza populace (United Nations 2012). Conclusion The conflicts have led to various losses ranging from loss of lives and the loss of property; a good example has been noted in the conflict between Israel and Palestine that has emerged as a result of who has the ownership rights of the Gaza Strip. Moreover, it apparent that inter-state conflicts have hindered developments, specifically socio-economic development. Such a case has been noted in Gaza where various facets of the society like schools and health service provision have been affected due to the on-going conflicts. International organizations such as the United Nations as well as other stakeholder countries play imperative roles in promoting peace as have been realized in the conflicts between Israel and Palestine; however, the effort of these stakeholders in promoting peace may be affected by myriad intra-state conflicts, especially those that occur between tribes. Peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine have been affected by the on-going conflicts that has been occurring within the Palestine tribes for instance; conflicts between Sunni and the Shia. References Mandell, J. (1985). Gaza: Israel's Soweto. West Bank: MERIP. Migdalovitz, C. (2010). Israel's Blockade of Gaza, the Mavimarmara Incident and its Aftermath. Washington, D.C.: CRS. Sterio, M. (2010). The Gaza Strip: Israel, its Foreign Policy and the Goldstone Report. Cleveland: Cleveland State University. Cowley, J. (2012). Letter From Israel: The Endless War. New York, NY: New Statesman. United Nations. (2012). Gaza in 2020: A livable Place? Washington, D.C.: United Nations. Read More