Solution To The Ongoing Israel-Palestinian Conflict (Essay Sample)

ISRAEL-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT
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Israel-Palestinian Conflict
The ongoing struggle of peaceful coexistence between Israel and Palestine has been deeply rooted in the aspect of sovereignty. Since 1948, the two countries have fought over the reclamation and rightful possession of the land which the Israelis call Israel and the Palestine refer to it as Palestine. Initially, the two conflicting sides lived in Jerusalem only being separated by religion. In early 19th century, the Old City of Jerusalem constituted of Christians, Muslims, and Jewish natives. Increased population and territorial expansion took effect from the three groups with each staying close to the place of worship. Expansive territorial and stratification of the Christian religion gave rise to several divisions that inherently posed a threat to the Jewish population. Owing to the historical attachment of the city and beliefs by Christians as passed down by Bible character such as Abraham, Moses and David’s reign created a possessive nature. Armstrong depicts this through the statement, “They now saw Jerusalem as the center of the world.” Further, he indicates that the city was the source of life, salvation, fertility and enlightenment.[Ben-Arieh. The Growth of Jerusalem in the Nineteenth Century (Jerusalem, 1994), pp. 252-255. A fourth division constituted the Christian Armenian population. Each of the three religious groups had distinct residential and religious focal points. (Muslims had the Temple Mount area, Christians at Church of Holy Sepulchre and Jewish had the Wailing Wall).] [Armstrong, K. Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths (New York, 1996), pp. 14.]
Similarly, the Muslims have a pertinent attachment to Jerusalem as the holiest land given to them by Allah. Armstrong states that they called it the city of Ahl al-Kitab and was their first qiblah. Hence, the rise of Islamic identity as a distinct religion with Jerusalem being a symbolic city. The Muslims called Jerusalem Madinat Bayt al-magdis referring to it as the City of the temple. Unfortunately, the rising Zionism movement led to many Jews settling in Palestine (Arab state) that resulted in the overthrow of Palestines from Palestine. The hostility continues as each state aims at reclaiming the land through the extensive use of militias and aid from allies. Thus, religion and possession of land have been the major long-term conflict aspects of the Israel-Palestine unending wars.[Ibid, pp. 18.] [Friedland, R. Religion in World Conflict (London, Ramat-Gan and New York: Routledge, 2007).]
On the short-term basis, the UN passed a rule in 1947 to partition Palestine into an Arab and Jewish state as a way of solving the conflicts and unending war. Contrary to expected appraisal, Palestine responded with violence, and war broke out. Consequently, the Zionist military attacks took place in the Arab state intensifying the war between the Jews and the Arabs. The violence has since deepened with the Gaza war after Egypt annexed Gaza in 1949. The use of missile attacks, bombs and rockets have characterized the Gaza war ever since till the recent 2011 Hamas rocket attack in Israel and the 2014 Israel attacks on Gaza. Furthermore, Israelis have construction a wall to demarcate its territory against that of Palestine. Also, the state has raided and taken over some Palestine set areas such as the West Bank causing war intensity arising from counter attacks on the Palestine side. The Israelis population is increasingly taking over the Palestine population in Palestine territories.[Funk, N. & Said, A. Islam and Peacemaking in the Middle East (Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner, 2009).] [Gelvin, James L. The Israel-Palestine conflict: one hundred years of war (Cambridge University Press, 2014).]
A two-state solution would not be a viable way to end the Israel-Palestine impassive. Unfortunately, the 2-state solution has failed to take effect after its proposal by the UN. Contrarily, it led to the breakout of war between the Palestine Arabs and the Israelis. Each side fighting to take possession of what seemed rightfully theirs. Israel and Palestine did not come to an agreement on the division of the land and powers. Moreover, Palestine’s mandate has been taking full possession of the Palestinian land inhabited by the Israelis. Thus, the tendency to favor the common state has recently been on the rise considering the increasing siege of Israel on Arab territories. Israel’s settlement in Palestine has become counterproductive in the proceedings of peaceful negotiations to end the two rivals’ war. The two-state solution would be effective if all the involved parties come to a unilateral agreement concerning pertinent issues such as geographical demarcation, s...