Americans Today Tend to Believe That Israel Has Always Been the Victim in Conflicts Between Neighboring CountriesAmericans today tend to believe that Israel has always been the victim in conflicts between neighboring countries. This has become the common belief among Americans since Israel has been supported by United States and the information the public receives tends to be one sided. In reality the conflict between Israel and other ethnic groups, in particular the Islamic Palestinians has been an ongoing conflict, which refuses to be suppressed. There hasn’t been an official war between the two ethnicities; however, there have been skirmishes and hostile actions between them. Even though the Islamic Palestinians don’t have a country of their own, they reside in the Islamic nations that surround Israel. Syria one of the neighboring nations of Israel was recently involved in hostile actions against Israel. The only thing that prevented all out war from breaking out and a possible invasion of Israel was Israel’s alliance with the United States. Israel hasn’t developed enough as a nation as a whole to endure an all out war with one of the more powerful Islamic nations; even though, they had the United States as an ally and had some of the best trained militaries in the world, their country would survive an all out assault without major intervention from the United States. Israel has become one of the most feared nations in the area purely due to their alliance with the United States; this is why attacks on Israel have ceased and only small skirmishes occur (Bresheeth 280). With the United States continued aid to Israel over a long period of time, Israel as one of the strongest nations in that geographical region. This empowerment of the Israelis has enabled them to rule the region and create some inhumane laws (Bresheeth 280). The Israelis ancestors had been oppressed for centuries ever since the rule of the Roman Catholic Empire, in modern time the tides have shifted and now the Israelis rule the region. This shift has caused many conflicts between the ethnicities that has divided this region of the world for half a century.
Many basic history classes don’t cover the conflicts that occur in this region of the world and the history behind them; this is why many Americans believe that the conflicts between these nations are events occurring in the 21st century and not a reoccuring issue. In fact, the conflict between these countries is quite the opposite having occurred for hundreds of years and originating between the Palestinians and the Israelis even back then. Although these groups have different religions (Palestine including Muslims, Christians and Druze), religious differences are not the cause of the conflict. It is essentially a struggle over land. Until 1948, the area that both groups claimed was known internationally as Palestine. But following the war of 1948-49, this land was divided into three parts: the state of Israel, the West Bank (of the Jordan River) and the Gaza Strip (Klug 60). Jewish claims’ to
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In the 1990s, a settlement on the West Bank became the Palestinian capital since most people believe the settlement is based in the West Bank and are still living there. One might argue that, although the settlements have not been officially recognized or recognized as a state before 1946, it could be considered part of a larger settlement. This was not the case after 1948. However, at least half of the territories in the West Bank were already settled before 1948, and even though Israel and Palestine became both independent in 1948, this status continued to exist until 1948. Since the 1948 war, only six states, with a total population of 21 million, have accepted Israel’s annexation of over 5.5 million square kilometers of Palestinian territory (Ya 2.0 billion+), with less than 4% of the population of Palestine. Other countries, including the United States, have accepted Palestine’s status as territory of the European Union, a state that has been described by Benjamin Nye to be in a state of crisis, as he has stated when he stated “in the first place that we would not accept this settlement.”
This question of Palestine being part of a state, however, is not the only important one on which Palestinian rights are often discussed. There exists another issue that occurs when people discuss the topic: how Israel is violating human rights. In this matter, Palestinians are a target for violence, and in recent years Israel has used it to advance its own interests without much of a rebuttal from the public. According to the recent report released by the Israeli Justice Council, in addition to a growing number of murders, attacks and killings, the security forces have used more lethal force against Palestinians since 2006, and the Israeli security forces have killed Palestinian civilians and people with knives, machetes, water cannons and other weapons. In one case, on May 27, 2007, 18 Palestinian civilians were shot dead by Israeli security forces during Israeli security forces’ use of tear gas. It was not immediately clear what prompted the death, but the security agents had previously claimed the Palestinian civilians were targeted by firecrackers when they were protesting against Israeli settlements. According to the report, in an incident at a West Bank village on April 30, 2008, armed security officers “fired several times into the ground of a crowd of people and were unable to enter.”
In recent years, security analysts have come under growing criticism for their lack of reporting of human rights violations, and their refusal to follow the rules, standards and regulations of international law. While the European Court of Human Rights has been reviewing the human rights of Palestinians of all faiths, in 2009, with the unanimous ruling of the European Parliament in favor of human rights in 1948, the European Commission made the following observation: “Human rights are also recognised in the common languages of non-Jews and non-Muslims in the areas of their own language where they are considered to be recognized.” In other words, in addition to those rights that Israel is violating, they are also violating the human rights of Palestinian people from multiple faiths. As noted by the report, “Israeli laws must reflect [the] fact that Israeli settlers in these territories systematically discriminate against Palestinian, non-Jewish, and inter-religious groups, and to this end Palestinians in all territories are threatened by Israeli security forces and firecrackers.” As we noted in a 2006 article about the plight of Palestinians in Judea and Samaria, “Palestinians are threatened by Israeli security forces and firecrackers at the gates of their [Israeli] settlement and village and by people who have been