Israel-Arab Conflict

Israel is a country in Asia situated in the Middle East. The country shares borders with countries such as Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine. These three countries are always in conflict with Israel over territories and places of worship such as Jerusalem. Israel has been experiencing terror attacks for quite a long time. The terror attacks have been happening since 1920s at that point; terrorism was not organized until in the late 1920s. At that point, numerous attacks targeted Israelite civilians. The terrorists targeted restaurants and bus buses. Before the Jewish state was founded, Israels enemies have been targeting the civilians. They used the offensive tactics to instill fear among the citizens. Additionally, they also attacked the air traffic, Olympics, and others.

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The primary purpose of the terrorist attacks at this time was less of destroying the Israel state but more of calling the worlds attention to the plight of the Palestine. In 1980, Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Liberation Organization agreed to end the terrorism in Israel. The two parties did not negotiate on how to stop terrorism. The terror attacks continued even in the year 1994. At this time, Israel. In February 1994, a terror attack was carried out in the Hebron mosque which killed 29 people (Shlaim, 2001). There were more suicide bombings at that time. In 1997, Mescal, a chief in Israel, gave Israel an offered to agree to a thirty-year ceasefire, but Israel refused the offer. After a few days, some Israel operatives endeavored to assassinate Mescal.

Describing the Conflict in Israel

Territory conflict

The nature of the conflict in Israel has experienced changes for over an extended period. The conflict which Israel had with its neighbors was due to competition for land. Two ethnic groups were competing for the same land. The Israel conflict was in the form of state-to-state conflict which followed the invasion of Arabs to the city of Israel in the year 1948. From the perspective of the Palestinians, the conflict that Israel had with its neighbors was viewed as a zero sum between two national movements which were struggling for the exclusive ownership of land until the first Intifada, which occurred in 1987 and the Oslo peace agreement which took place in 1993.the two parties started a process that was aimed at establishing the state of Palestine hence promising to convert the conflict into an existential struggle to a border dispute.

Religious conflict

The never-ending the conflict between Israel and the Arab conflicts is sometimes blamed on religion. Israel and the Arab world have different religions, with Israel being Jewish and the Arabs Muslims. The other religious conflict id the notion of the Promised Land and the chosen people as well as Jerusalem the Chosen City. According to Hebrew Bible, the Israeli land is the Promised Land by God. On the other hand, the Muslims believe that the Jewish state is mentioned in the Quran a lot and also referred to as the Promised Land. Both the Jews and the Muslims view the land located in Israel as holy and believe it was preserved for the holy people (Morris, 2011).

The Jews believe that the descendants of Isaac, Abraham's son as the rightful owners of the land but Ishmael's descendants, Muslims were given the land of Canaan. Conversely the Muslims, worship some sites that are in the land of Israel such as cave of patriarchs and the temple mount and over the years the Muslims have built their places of worship on the Temple Mount, which has caused serious conflict. The possession of Jerusalem has always been a primary concern as Muslims believe that Muhammad was the first to pass through Jerusalem.

Another part of Israel that brings conflict is Gaza Strip that is governed by the Hamas, who claim that all Israel and Palestine territories belong to Waqf that ought to be ruled by Muslim. Other contributors to the conflict are the Christian Zionist, who often support the Israel due to the notion of the Holy land. Again the Christians believe that the return of the Jews to Israel is in line with Jesus Christs second coming.

The terrorist connection

Syria has been known to Palestinian harbor terrorist, that is, Hamas, Islamic Jihad among others all which do not want any peace deals with Israel. These terrorist attacks have attacked innocent Israeli citizens resulting in mass causalities. Notably, Lebanon was controlled by Syria for many years; thus, it became the home of the most radical Islamic organizations such as the Hezbollah (Party of God) which was used by Syria to attack Israel (Fraser, 2015).

Israel has had conflicts and wars in the past with her neighbors who are still evident today. For instance, the attacks on Lebanon, which resulted in mass casualties but later there were cease-fires for some time. However, in 1993 and 1996, Israel launched major attacks on the Hezbollah militia which was a major threat to Israel and the peace in Lebanon. In 2006, Israel responded to the Hezbollah cross-border raid with a series of air strikes in south Lebanon. The war in Lebanon lasted for 34 days which resulted in the creation of a buffer zone.

Israel and Syria have been at fighting since the establishment of the state of Israel. These countries have so far fought three major wars, in 1948, 1967, and 1973. Syria asserts that it does not recognize Israel and thus, does not even accept Israeli passports. On the other hand, Israel refers Syria as an enemy state. Due to these conflicts, there have never been any diplomatic relationships between them. Additionally, economic and cultural ties do not exist, and their citizens barely move to either country.

Notably, Syria has been a supporter of the Arab boycott of Israel. Syria has aliased with other Arab countries to attack Israel. During the Lebanese war with Israel Syria aided the Hezbollah against Israel. In the current war in Syria, Syria has accused Israel of invading its country through attacks. Even though Israel has defeated Syria in many major wars, Syria remains one of her immediate military threat. Today, Syria has been known to fund the Hamas and the Hezbollah, who are nearer to Israel to perform terrorist attacks on the country.

The Arab community is evidently united against the existence of Israel in the Middle East. All Arab countries believe that Israel is on a land that belongs to the Muslims, who are the larger percentage in the Arab world. For instance, Iran and Syria have joined forces on regional issues, and both do not have friendly relations with Israel. The Syrian prime minister once condemned any peace negotiations with Israel (Smith, 2007).

The current situation in Syria and Israel is the civil war that is happening in Syria at the moment. The fighting in Syria has created concerns over stability in the northern border of Israel. Moreover, this conflict war in Syria has seen the rise of radical Islamic groups which has rendered any hope of peace in the Middle East useless. The civil war has threatened to spill over to the Israel territory in the northern border. In fact, Israel has been attacked may time through propelled rockets. Syria has in the past allied with countries like Iran in making weapons for mass destruction which is an obvious target for Israelites. It has been noted that Syria intends to have the scud-D missile capable of destroying the whole of Israel.

As discussed, Israel has had strained relationships with her neighbors ever since she was established in the Arab land. The country has been attacked by many of Palestinian attacks to Syrian aided terrorist attacks. The country has gone to war many times in the past and still in the modern days the conflict still looms. Israel has tried to make reconciliation with the Arab countries such as Syria and Palestine, but these efforts have been smashed due to their hatred of the Israelites. Arab states have always been united against Israel, even though Israel has managed to win in most wars. The conflict over her borders with Palestine has been one of the most known in all the years. This conflict has created enmity between the Israelites and other Arab nations. Therefore, the unity among the Arab nation has caused the lack of peace between Israel and her neighbors.

References

Fraser, T. G. (2015). The Arab-Israeli Conflict. Palgrave Macmillan.

Morris, B. (2011). Righteous victims: a history of the Zionist-Arab conflict, 1881-1998. Vintage.

Shlaim, A. (2001). The iron wall: Israel and the Arab world. WW Norton & Company.

Smith, C. D. (2007). Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict: A history with documents. Macmillan.