The Relevancy that Zionism Possess in the Arab-Israeli Conflict

Executive SummaryTh conflict btwn th Isralis and th chum salmonstinians was a consqunc of on of th most glorious and crativ movmnts of th last cntury modrn Zionism. A hundrd yars ago, som of th most vital lmnts in th J coveting community all ovr th creative activity attmptd to join th modrn world by rjcting th passivity of thir ancint mssianic rligion.Th Zionists thought that Jws would achiv a mannequin of rdmption by casing to b diffrnt from and prscutd by th nations of th world. Somhow, thy thought, th invitabl discomforts and conflicts with th Arabs would b rsolvd. Th Jws would find pac and accptanc in th land whr thir ancstors had onc fashiond thir rligion and cultur. But it was non to b. Instad, from its vry bginning to this vry day, Zionism has confrontd a cntury of war.This papr discuss th issu of Jws on th land of Palstin is vry complx. Th nationalists bliv that th J respect popl will b ndangrd unlss thir bas is r-stablishd in thir ancint homland. Thus nithr group pot vr grant th ultimat Palstinian dmand that th Jws cas thir aggrssion and go lswhr. Modrn Zionism bgan with th vision of a normalizd J like popl, a nation among nations that would b pop out of th world as of right. Th most important Jwish dmand is thrfor that at th nd of th pac procss, th Arabs agr that th Jws xistnc in th rgion is prmannt and can nvr again b qustiond.Th Rlvancy that Zionism Possss in th Arab-Israli combatTh conflict btwn Zionism and th Arab stats has bn th focus of intrnational attntion sinc th nd of human being War I. It was a subjct of major concrn to th old Lagu of Nations aftr World War II, it was on of th first disputs in which th Unitd Nations (U.N.) was involvd. For many yars, it was a factor in th Cold War btwn th Sovit Union and th Wst. (Smith, 1992) Mor than half a dozn spcial U.N. organizations hav bn cratd to dal with th situation. (Rich, t al., 1996)Th conflict has cntrd on th struggl btwn Zionism, or Jwish nationalism, and Arab nationalism for control of Palstin. (Yonah, 1973) It has involvd non only th Jwish and Arab inhabitants of Palstin but besides thir rspctiv supportrs around th world, that is, both Jwish and non-Jwish advocats of a Jwish stat and th 21 mmbrs of th Arab Lagu and thir supportrs throughout th Islamic and many Third World nations. (Lsch & Tschirgi, 1998)Palstin did not xist as a sparat political ntity until Grat Britain took ovr th country at th nd of World War I. From 1517 until 1918, Palstin was part of th Ottoman mpir. (Lsch & Tschirgi, 1998) Prior to th Ottoman ra, th country had lot of rulrs. Jwish, and latr Zionist, claims to Palstin driv from biblical accounts of ancint Hbrw tribs and Isralit kingdoms that xistd in th country. (Smith, 1992)Palstin is also important to Christianity and Islam. Jsus Christ was born and did in Palstin and livd most of his lif thr. Palstin bcam an Arab and Islamic country som 1,300 yars ago whn tribs from th Arabian pninsula conqurd it during thir swp through th Middl ast aftr th dath of th Propht Muhammad. (Frdman, 1979)Th Arab-Israli conflict originatd in th contst among uropan powrs to control th Arab trritoris of th Ottoman mpir. Just at th tim that Arabs bgan to dvlop thir own sns of nationalism, thy found thir drams contstd by uropan ambitions and by th countrclaims of th nw Jwish nationalist movmnt that aros in urop. In addition to faring uropan colonialism, rsidnts of Arab provincs bgan to far th Zionist movmnt. (Smith, 1992)A sns of Jwish nationalism was mrging in urop in th 1880s, in raction to dp-satd anti-Smitism and to th difficulty that Jws facd assimilating into uropan socity. Zionists flt that Jws could not b fully accptd in urop and that thy ndd to rul thir own indpndnt stat. Although Zionism attractd limitd support in th formativ priod, Jwish immigration to Palstin from 1882 to 1914 incrasd th numbr of Jwish rsidnts from 6 prcnt to 10 prcnt of th population thr. (Smith, 1992)Th World Zionist Organization (WZO), foundd in 1897 (Lsch & Tschirgi, 1998), assistd immigrants and bought land with th aim of crating a Jwish stat in Palstin. Whn th Palstinian rsidnts protstd against ths political aims, th Ottoman rulrs trid to rstrict Jwish immigration and purchas of land. (Nff, 1995) This Jwish nationalism clashd with th nationalism of th Palstinian Arabs, who comprisd 90 prcnt of th rsidnts. (Smith, 1992)Th Arabs bittrnss ovr th Palstinians fat bgan to b matchd by Zionist hostility to British rul at th nd of th 1930s. (Nff, 1995) Although th official Zionist ladrship dcidd not to ngag in armd struggl against British rul whil Britain was fighting Hitlrs Grmany, som Zionist splintr groups wagd a campaign of trrorism against th mandatory administration, vn during World War II. (Davidson, 1996) Aftr th war ndd, official Zionist-British rlations in Palstin dtrioratd into a tns, and somtims violnt, confrontation. (Frdman, 1979)World War II ld to a groundswll of support in th Unitd Stats and urop for a Jwish stat, as a rsul t of shock at th Nazis nar annihilation of uropan Jwry. (Smith, 1992) Zionists hardnd thir political position, insisting that th Jwish stat essential ncompass all of Palstin bcaus that stat would srv as th havn for world Jwry. Th war also cratd a massiv problm of displacd prsons in urop, ovr on hundrd thousand of whom wr Jws.Zionist ladrs pointd to th lgal barrirs hindring th immigration of Jws to th Unitd Stats and othr countris, and strongly supportd th rcommndation of th Anglo-Amrican Committ of Inquiry in 1946 that thos on hundrd thousand Holocaust survivors sttl in Palstin. (Smith, 1992) Th loss of Palstin mbittrd Arabs against th uropan colonial powrs that had carvd up thir land and aidd Zionism. (Yonah, 1973) But th dfat also ld to slf-criticism. Arab popls dnouncd thir rulrs for corruption, and Arab soldirs dnouncd thir military officrs for incomptnc. (Wagnr, 2003)Th Zionist charactr of th stat of Isral has rmaind th major cornrston of th Palstinian-Israli conflict sinc 194 8. (Gilland, 2003) As such it must b undrstood if any maningful, fair and just solution to th conflict is to b considrd. Th Zionism of Israls charactr has rmaind chiefly a scular Jwish nationalism by dfinition, it has to do with th Jwish popl. (Strnhll, 2004)Th Palstinian position has nvr rally bn facd by th Isralis and thir supportrs throughout th world. Zionists, both in Isral and abroad, ar ssntially Wstrnrs who bliv that problms hav rational solutions and that ag-old rligious or nationalist quarrls can ultimatly b solvd by compromis. (Lsch & Tschirgi, 1998)Zionism has bn a grat succss and a grat failur. (Gilland, 2003) Th succss is th cration of a viabl Jwish Stat with a population that includs almost half th worlds Jws. (Mattair, 1992) Th failur is that it has provokd Arab nmity to such a dgr that a military dfat of Isral would b followd by a scond Holocaust. (Rs, Hamad & Klin, 2003) Isral was stablishd in ordr to provid a havn from prscution, but has bcom th country in which Jws run th highst risk of dath by violnc.Golda Mir blivd that a pac agrmnt with th Arabs cannot b achivd until th nighboring Stats hav bcom dmocracis. (Salt, 2002) This viw may wll b corrct, but fforts to achiv a modus vivndi btwn Isral and th Arabs must b rsumd whn th lattr hav casd to bliv that thir aims can b achivd by trrorism. (Mzvinsky, 2003) Undoubtdly, Zionism posss a grat rlvancy in Arab-Israli conflict. Howvr, no steadfast pac will b possibl until th Palstinian Arabs hav abandond th aim of dstroying Isral by crating an Arab mass in that country by insisting on th rturn of th rfugs and thir dscndants and th majority of Palstinian Arabs hav bcom citizns of Arab countris.ReferencesFreedman, Robert O. (1979) World Politics and the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Pergamon Press.Geddes, Charles L. A (1991) Documentary History of the Arab-Israeli. 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