Middle East Essays (3412 words) - Geography Of Asia, Asia

Middle East Middle East has not known peace for many years; Israel-Arabic conflicts have seen many lives wasted as each camp argues its rights to the land in dispute. The cause of the conflicts is very complicated. The present Israel nation was originally Canaan and was conquered in 1250 B.C by the Jews. King Solomon reigned over the land from 961-922 B.C after which the land was split into two kingdoms. The southern region (Judah) was conquered by Babylonians who chased the residents (Jews) to exile. It was not after 70 years that the Jews started going back to Israel and reconstructed the Solomon temple that had been destroyed. The Jews settled in the land but 63 B.C Judea was incorporated as a Roman province in Palestine. The Jews kept protesting against the Roman rule, the protests were put down by Emperor Titus. The Temple of Solomon was destroyed shortly after this (70 A.D). This was the beginning of the Jewish Diaspora. Emperor Hadrian allowed the Jews to return back to Israel during his reign; 118-138 BC. Then there was a revolt in 133 A.D the Jews were burnished from Jerusalem, and it was utterly destroyed. In 638 A.D the Arabs conquered the former land of Israel and occupied it. They latter established mosques in the land especially at Al- Asqa where Jerusalem was located and Al- Qods , at an area where the Muslims believe Prophet Mohamed ascended. The land remained under the control of Muslims until the Jews were mandated to occupy the land by the United Nations so as to establish Israel (Thompson, 1992). Zionist Movement- Return Of Israelites Zionist movement (Jews in Diaspora) started claiming back the land that was originally theirs: where Israel stood. When in 1897 they started taking root and demanding their land back, the Palestinians had already fully occupied that land. The core of the conflict between the Jews/ Israel and the Arabs/ Palestinians is: both claim the same land to be rightfully theirs. 25,000 Jewish immigrants moved into Palestine in 1903 and between 1904 and 1914 another batch of 40,000 immigrants came in. They started living amidst 500,000 Arabs. Ottoman Turks controlled Palestine until they were forced out by British and Arab forces. Latter on (1917), the British colonial power committed themselves to help restore Palestine to the Jews (Balfour declaration). Over the following years the Zionist movement continued to bring in more Jews to Palestine (Eisenberg, 2002). Start Of Conflict- Establishment Of Israel The increase of the Jews in Palestine stirred up the Arabs to oppose their threatened nation. In 1937 the British proposed a need to divide the land between Jews and Palestinians. The Jews were to take 1/3rd of the land including the coastal plain and Galilee. The Arabs rejected the proposal demanding the end of Jewish migration. They embarked on establishing a single and unified Arabic state but with a provision to provide protection for the minority (Jews). The UN was handed the mandate of handling the conflict by the British in 1947. Immense conflicts were faced as hundreds of thousands of Jews were displaced by the Nazis. The UN proposed for division of the land (56.47% to Arabs and 43.53% to Jews) a proposal that was rejected by the Arabs. The Jews started forcing the Palestinians out of their villages by 1947 December ( Tessler , 1994). On 14th May 1948 the Nation of Israel was proclaimed, and without delay the British troops left. This was followed by frequent wars between the Arabs and Israel. The Jews made more progress towards the Palestinian land. There was massacre upon Palestinians and many freed to Egypt, Lebanon and Trans-Jordan. The Jews conquered the coastal plains, Negev and Galilee. Just one day after the establishment of Israel nation, forces from Iraqi, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan invaded Israel only to be crushed. Egypt took the Strip of Gaza as Jordan took the land around Jerusalem: West Bank totaling to 25% of Palestinians land ( Tessler , 1994). Arab Attack Of Israel Since 1948 the Arab nations have kept on plotting their attack of Israel to capture back the land they believe is theirs. Arab governments formed Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)