The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is perhaps the longest running ethno-political struggle in modern history. For sixty years these two peoples have disputed the ownership and sovereignty rights of the lands east of the Mediterranean. In this post, Team Europa will present four reasons why the claims of Israel should be preferred over those of her Arabian neighbors, and conclude with what we think Israel would agree to as a solution to the conflict.
1) Israel has an original claim to the land from the early 11th century. From this time period the early Jewish kingdoms established their God given right to the land. Over the years the Israelites were forced out of their land. Great Britain was given a mandate over Palestinian land in 1922. This was under the premises that a Jewish national home would be established. This gave legal right to claim their independence as the British Mandate was only to be in place until the time of when the territories could stand alone. The United Nations voted on November 29th 1947 for the partition of the British Mandate territory of Palestine. Israel claimed its independence while the British Mandate was still active. So the creation of Israel was encouraged and supported by the international community (MidEastWeb, 2007).
2) Israel does not suicide bomb or target innocent civilians. Because of this, we think Israel has the moral high ground. Israel has the right to protect its citizens, and should only consider lifting boundaries in Gaza and the West Bank and grant the Palestinians their own state if and when Arab terrorism toward Israeli citizens had stopped. Israel is clearly the bigger, better and stronger army, but the Palestinians have the will and the heart to do more violence through suicide bombings against civilians. In addition, Israel has never been the initiator of aggressions. They agreed to the United Nations partitioning plan in 1948, and only went to war after several Arabian neighbors invaded. Likewise in 1967, the Arabs were the aggressors. Egyptian President Gamal Nasser, during a May 16, 1967 Radio Cairo broadcast stated: "The existence of Israel has continued too long. We welcome the Israeli aggression. We welcome the battle we have long awaited. The peak hour has come. The battle has come in which we shall destroy Israel”. A few days later he closed the straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping (MidEastWeb, 2007). Israel has always resorted to violence only after being attacked by its neighbors.
3) Israel has tried to offer the Palestinian Arabs a peaceful coexistence. An example of this is given on the Masada2000 website. The site says that after the 1967 war, Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were ready to leave following their defeat, but General Moshe Dayan sent forth a message of reconciliation (2007). According to this website, Dayan's plan was to offer them integration into Israeli society, and provide education, medicine, and employment to Arabs remaining in Palestine. He thought this would be a way to bridge the two cultures. Another example of Israeli willingness to peacefully coexist is that they have left the Mosque in Jerusalem intact.
4) Israel has shown a willingness to negotiate. Perhaps the most stunning example of this is the peace accord between Egypt and Israel. In 1982 Israel returned all of the land in the Sinai Peninsula acquired during the 1967 war. Many were critical of this decision, as the area acts as a buffer zone between the two countries, and is strategically important because of its proximity to shipping lanes from the Mediterranean Sea (Masada2000). None of the Arab countries involved in this conflict have ever made such a concession.
A majority of Israeli citizens favor peace with Palestinians living in the region (Press, 2007). We think that Israel would agree to a two-state solution along the lines of the original UN partitioning of the area. During the recent summit in Annapolis, both sides of the conflict agreed to try and reach a resolution by the end of 2008. Hopefully these talks will be the beginning of a lasting peace for the region and its citizens.
References
Masada2000. (2007). History of israel and palestine in VERY easy to understand maps. Retrieved 12/2/2007, 2007, from http://www.masada2000.org/historical.html
MidEastWeb. (2007). Brief history of of palestine, israel and the israeli palestinian conflict (arab-israeli conflict, middle east conflict). Retrieved 12/2/2007, 2007, from http://www.mideastweb.org/briefhistory.htm
Press, E. (2007). The optimist: Uri Avnery and the fate of the two-state solution. The Nation, 285(18) 16-22.
