Imagine sitting outside and enjoying the bright blue Israeli sky, listening to the hustle and bustle of people around you. Suddenly you hear a huge explosion and screams of women and children. The restaurant across the street has been bombed by a suicide bomber. Bodies lay across the street as you run to see what help you can give. People are dying because of an age old conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
Long ago, Israel was ruled by Jews, their native people. Later, Romans took the land and renamed it Palestine. Next, Arabs took over this much sought of land. Many years after this, in the 1800, Jews were searching for a homeland. They wanted to live in Palestine. And so, Jews started to immigrate into Palestine. At first, it created no problems, but as more and more Jews started to arrive, the Palestinians began to get mad.
On November 2, 1917, the British Government signed the Balfour Declaration. This decree stated that Jews should be able to populate their homeland. At that time Arabs, now called Palestinians, still populated most of Israel and did not want to give up their land to the Jews. Jews coming back to Palestine enraged the Arabs, leading to much civil unrest and fighting.
After the Holocaust, where 6 million Jews were killed, the United Nations stepped in and gave 55 percent of the Palestinian land for the Jew’s homeland. After this came the 1947-1949 war, where the Jews took over 78 percent of Palestine and killed thousands of people in 33 massacres across the country. The Jews wanted to erase any memory of Arabs living in Palestine, so they even made a new map of the country, renaming every town and geological feature.
The result of this war led to 726000 Palestinian refugees that fled to places where Palestinians could live. They ran to the West Bank and the Gaza strip, two areas in Israel that were still owned by the Palestinians. They also went to Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. The amount of Palestinian refugees has since increased to 4 million. Many live in temporary shelters or tents.
The six day war came when Israelis took back the part of the land they had not been able to get before, The Gaza Strip and the West Bank. They also completed a surprise attack on Egypt and in that way acquiring even more land. Although the Gaza Strip and the West Bank are under Israeli occupation, these lands still technically belong to the Palestinians.
These events lead to much hatred on both sides of the conflict leading to a lot of fighting. The Palestinians are intent upon destroying Israel with violence, resulting in things like suicide bombings and riots. Thousands of Jews have been killed and injured in these attacks.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has plagued the lives of people for ages. Thousands of people on both sides of the conflict are killed each year in this seemingly never-ending war. And with new riots breaking out everyday, the question is, will it ever stop?
No comments:
Post a Comment