Judaism: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Essay by maguirre2005University, Bachelor'sA+, June 2006

download word file, 3 pages 3.0

Downloaded 52 times

The Israeli Palestinian conflict is not something new; this issue has been going on for more than 4000 years, however, the conflict intensity increased with the declaration of the Israel state on Palestinian land about 60 years ago, in 1948. The hatred among Arabs and Jews goes back to the origin of both nations. Both came from a single father called Abraham. Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac's descendants are the Jew nation and Ishmael's descendants are the Arabs nations. Both nations proclaim to be the bearers of Abraham's legacy and have their sacred books to prove it. The Torah says it was Isaac and The Quran says it was Ishmael. This is the reason why all Arab nations hate Israel. An article written by John H. Adler on June 2, 2006 named "The Illusive Peace" deals with this old issue and its consequences in present time. Adler talks about the "Road Map"- a peace plan made by the Bush's administration to solve the Israeli Arab issue- and why it was destined to fail before it began.

Adler also talks about how peace, if it were possible, would bring only good things to both nations. However, the hatred among these nations is very intense and widespread. We can find a good example in the last election of the Palestinian nation. Palestinians overwhelmingly voted for Hamas which seeks the total destruction of Israel. Hamas goal is the total destruction of Israel without any concessions.

Religious conflict?

Yes it is. The Arab-Israeli (Islam-Judaism) conflict has its roots in religion. Both Palestinians and Israelis believe that God is on their side and both would die before surrender their principles. Another point of conflict is Jerusalem, a sacred city for both nations. We will explain an example that shows how difficult is...