The Arab-Israeli Conflict D.B.Q.

The Arab-Israeli Conflict began many years ago in 1947 when the United Nations granted the Jewish people a homeland, Israel. Still, nearly 70 years and multiple wars and conflicts later there is still no peace for the two cultures in sight. The two causes were political factors and social tension. Many people know about the tension in the Middle East, but not why it’s there. These documents will explain why, and how all of the tension began.

Many of the causes of the Arab-Israeli conflict are political the following documents of 1 "The Balfour Declaration", 4 "Statement by President Nasser", and 6 "Maps of Palestine" explain just what caused the political tensions between the countries. In the year 1917, Arthur James Balfour contacted Lord Rothschild saying the majesty’s government approves of a home establishment in Palestine for the Jewish people, beginning the whole event of Jews getting a homeland. The whole problem of the Arab-Israeli conflict is the Arabs were angry that the Jews came in and stole their land, making this document, one of the first causes of the conflict.

The fourth document explains the more recent tensions between Egypt and Israel in the past seventy years. Document four references the 1956 Suez crisis and Egypt’s victory. It also mentions how Egypt is again ready for anything, including war with Israel. The last document that provides us with evidence of political tension with Egypt and Israel is Document Six. Document Six shows the map of land drawn out in 1946 that Israel was to get. In years since then Israel has taken over and claimed much more land than it physically had in 1948. This shows the increase in Israel power and them pushing out even more Arabs. This could be an obvious cause of tension between the two countries because the Arabs or more specifically the Palestinians did not want to be kicked out of the place they once called home. These are some obvious causes of Arab-Israeli conflict.

Along with the major political tension between the Arabs and Jews, there was also a lot of social tension between them. The Jews and Arab cultural differences make them perfect candidates to disagree with each other. These disagreements stem from the geographic distance of the states, the practices, and the religions they practice themselves. The first example of social tension is shown in document two "The Zionist Case" when it talks about Jews being treated unfairly and how they should be masters of their own fate. They talk about wanting the doors of Palestine to be open to all the Jews. This could anger the Palestinians which are part of the Arab group and make the two cultures dislike each other, which is an example of social tension.

The second example of evidence that follows document two is document three or "Children of a Tenth-Class God?" talks about a Palestinians feelings towards the Israel society and how they wish they had no hatred towards another group of people but that's just the way the Israelis make them feel. This is an obvious first-hand account of the tension shared between the Israeli and Arab societies. The last example of Jewish-Arab social tension comes from Document Five. Document Five, or, "Excerpts from the Hamas Charter"describes how some Arabs fear Israel's expansionist like qualities and how they fear that Israel will "Aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates" Obviously this never truly occurred but it describes what the Arabs felt, showing the tension and distrust they felt towards one another. All these examples show the social tensions these cultures had towards one another, and not just the government's hatred in the terms of political tension.

With peace nowhere in sight, it brings to question whether or not we will truly ever see peace on the Sinai Peninsula, specifically between Israel and other Arab nations. These documents and examples showed why these cultures have tension and distrust towards one another, and why these wounds are difficult to mend.

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