Palestiene/ Israeli Conflict
By: Ryan Westlake
Introduction
The Palestine and Israeli conflict started in the late 19th and early 20th century. It is an ongoing issue and many other countries have gotten involved. Both sides are very violent and although it is between Palestien and Israel, this conflict also effects some other parts of the world.
Geography
The land variously called Israel and Palestine is a small, (10,000 square miles at present) land at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. During its long history, its area, population and ownership varied greatly. The present state of Israel occupies all the land from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean ocean, bounded by Egypt in the south, Lebanon in the north, and Jordan in the East. The recognized borders of Israel constitute about 78% of the land. The remainder is divided between land occupied by Israel since the 1967 6-day war and the autonomous regions under the control of the Palestinian autonomy. The Gaza strip occupies an additional 141 square miles south of Israel, and is under the control of the Palestinian authority.
History
In the late 1800's, a Jewish group called the Zionists from Europe decided to colonize the Palestine land. When more and more Zionists came to the land the Palestinians got scared and violent fighting broke out. Hitler's rise to power, combined with Zionist activities to sabotage efforts to place Jewish refugees in western countries, led to increased Jewish immigration to Palestine, and conflict grew. In 1947 the UN tried to divide the land, they wanted to give 55% of Palestine to a Jewish state – despite the fact that this group represented only about 30% of the total population, and owned under 7% of the land. War broke out in 1947 and lasted until 1949 though there were 5 Arab Armies, the Zionists outnumbered all Arab and Palestinian forces combined. By the end of the war, the Zionists had 33 masacares killing many Palestinians and controled 78% of Palestine land. In 1967, the countries went into the 6 day war. During this war Israel attacked a US Navy ship, the USS Liberty, killing and injuring over 200 American servicemen. After the war Israeli forces made a successful surprise attack on Egypt, Israel occupied the final 22% of Palestine – the West Bank and Gaza Strip. But, according to the l=international law countries can not take territory by war so technically, these territories do not belong to Israel.