Political Science

The conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians began over a thousand years ago. For centuries before the birth of Christ, the people of Israel had been surviving invasions. From the Assyrians to the Persians to the Romans, Israel was an ongoing target. During the Roman occupation, the Jews were forced to leave Israel, and the name Palestine was given to this region and this name would remain for almost two centuries.

Conflicts and invasions continued and Jews never stopped attempting to return to their homeland. After World War I and the fall of the Ottoman Empire, talks began to create a Jewish nation where Palestine currently was. The Palestinians, mostly Arab Muslims, who had been living in the region for centuries, of course met this with major resistance. Eventually, following the Second World War and the Holocaust, more nations supported a Jewish state, and Israel was finally founded in 1948.
In creating Israel, the state of Palestine was erratically divided. Jews in Palestine and Arabs in what was now Israel lived in extreme conflict and wars were declared and fought. The area that Israel occupies has grown, along with its military, economy, and international recognition while Palestine continues to struggle. Because of these on-going conditions, there is massive hostility between the two states.

The majority of people living in Israel and Palestine want peace. They are normal people who want to live normal lives with their neighbors. Unfortunately, both governments have other agendas and routinely refuse to work together for peace. Each state has a strong sense of religious pride and knowledge of history. The Israel military has a strong presence in the life of the Palestinians and in return, there are many political and militant groups in Palestine attempting to gain back what they believe is rightly theirs. Israel is strong allies with the United States and is one of the top recipients of U.S. foreign aid, making the standard of living quite good. The majority of this aid goes towards the Israeli military. Palestine has a struggling economy and does not have the money to support a large military, thus tends to resort towards more guerilla war tactics. They do receive international aid from other countries but Palestine has not seen the same financialeducational international success as Israel.

In order for these two states to move towards living in peace, the playing field needs to be evaluated and evened. Right now Israel is fighting to remain as it is and Palestine is fighting to be more. The United States needs to stop supporting Israel or needs to start supporting Palestine more. As long as the Palestinians continue to live in despair, they will continue to fight for whatever they can. The people in charge of both governments need to realize the value of life is more important than historic pride. The Israeli government needs to leave Palestine and with this withdrawal, the militants of Palestine must stop interfering in Israel. The countries need to work together and with other countries, especially those in the same region.

Unfortunately, there are too many people on both sides who do not want peace and will stop at nothing to create havoc. Each country needs to hold these people accountable for their actions, whether they are guerillas or actual military, and show the citizens that that type of behavior is unacceptable.

Hopefully after the next peace talks, the two nations will recognize the urgency of the situation and be ready to start working towards actual progress but I think this is unlikely. In the past, peace talks have ended somewhat successfully just for the world to see nothing change. After the Oslo Peace Accords, more people suffered on both sides.  The assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, the prime minister of Israel and a key player in the peace process, by a fellow Israeli, shocked the world and made the peace talks seem like a waste of time.Before peace can come to this region, the people leading need to actually want peace and be willing to work and sacrifice for it. Until all the leaders have this attitude, peace will be impossible.