Teh Arab Israeli Conflict Essay Research Paper

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Teh Arab Israeli Conflict Essay, Research Paper How accurate is the standard portrayal of Arab-Israeli conflict has been the small and surrounded Jewish nation facing up and repelling overwhelming Muslim aggressors? The standard portrayal of Israel as a Jewish nation facing up and repelling overwhelming Muslim aggressors in the Arab-Israeli conflict is misleading, merely a perception. It placed Israel in the light of the victim, simply reacting to circumstances, whereas history has proven that this is not always the case. It assumes that the conflict is homogenous throughout its existence, consistent in that the Jews were fighting off Muslims, when there is the issue of the Palestinians as well. To challenge the standard portrayal, one chooses to look first to the first four

Arab-Israeli wars, particularly the Six-Day War of 1967, and the resulting controversies, which would allow one to understand the precipitation of the Arab-Israeli conflict. But certain premises will have to be addressed. The term Muslim is misleading. Muslim refers to the people of Islamic faith, and whereas it is true that the state religion of the states surrounding Israel is Islam, the people are not homogenous, with the same religion. In accord to the term Arab-Israeli conflict , it will be more accurate to address them as the Arabs. The Arabs are the people who regardless of their religion or faith originate from an Arab state, or a member state often League of Arab States, who inhabit any Arab territory that was any part of the Islamic nation… Arabs are not necessarily

Muslims, a substantial amount of people living in these states are Christians. The same applies to the Israelis. Though it was st out to be a Jewish homeland, some of her people are Christians or even Muslim. Religion, like it has been throughout history, is merely the spark, one that is used for the parties involved to meet their own purposes. To say that Israel is surrounded by the Arabs is extremely true. She shared borders with Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia (the last to a lesser extent.) From the beginning it seemed that Israel had been in the position of strength, particularly when the strongest nation, the United States of America, was supporting her. In the Palestine War 1948-49, the war to Israel s independence, Israel defeated the combined forces of

the Arab states, and made considerable territorial gains, which were not included under the United Nations partition. In light of the standard portrayal, it is true that the very location of Israel, a Jewish nation against the hostile Islamic states, makes it susceptible to attacks by the Arab nations. However it is not as vulnerable as implied. If anything they were military superiors. It is a fallacy to conclude as such from the evidence of a war. But in the three other major Arab-Israeli wars, Israel had emerged the victor, regardless of the margin by which they won and by what means. The Sinai Campaign, or the Suez War of 1956, saw Israel co-operating with the British and the French to invade Egypt covering territory to as far as the bank of the Suez canal. In this case, it

becomes questionable as to whether the Arab state of Egypt was the aggressor and whether Israel was acting in defence, facing up and repelling opposition . Under international law at the point in time, the priority priciple stated that the first to attack was the aggressor, but this is difficult to determine. Israel was given the right of defence as per article 51 of the UN Charter [1], as the Egyptians had declared their plan for hegemony by eliminating Israel, and their attacks from the fedayeen bases However this might not be sufficient to justify their actions in 1956. The premise for self defence is necessity, yet Israel had collaborated with the British and the French months before their attack. Majority of countries condemned the Israelis actions as they found that the