The persecution of the Jews in the Russian empire as well as in Nazi Germany during the Holocaust were the main reasons as to why the formation of a Jewish state occurred. Throughout history, Jews had been viewed as wanderers traversing Europe as merchants, lenders, and financiers. Due to their wandering nature, Jews were not viewed as nationals of any country. In the Russian empire, the security forces carried out programs that were referred to as the pogroms that were aimed at persecuting and massacring Jews in large numbers (Miller, 2009). Moreover, the Holocaust provided another event where Jews were persecuted due to their ethnic status as well as due to their religion. During the Holocaust, the Nazi German alongside their allies and their collaborators exterminated a total of six million Jews that were up to two-thirds of the total Jewish population that resided in Europe.
The systematic persecution and massacre of Jews in Europe led to the formation of the Zion movement whose aim was to agitate for the creation of a Jewish state where Jews could call home. The Zionist movement chose Palestine as their preferred region given that the land in Palestine was their ancestral land according to the Bible (Snetsinger, 2004). After the fall of the Ottoman empire in the First World War, the British took over the Palestine region under the British mandate over Palestine. In 1917, the British made the Balfour Declaration expressly showing British intention to create a Jewish state in the Palestine region. The declaration was met with opposition especially from the Arab states that did not favor the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. The declaration was followed by fighting between Jews and Arabs in the Palestinian region in an attempt to expel each other from the land. Following the expiration of the British mandate, the British government referred the issue to the United States to obtain a practical solution for the problem (Snetsinger, 2004). The United States elected to divide the Palestinian region in half one going to the Jews and the other half to the Arab Palestinians. Despite the Arab opposition, the Jews accepted the verdict and set up a government in Tel Aviv as their capital leading to the emergence of Israel as the Jewish state.
The successful creation of the state of Israel in 1948 was as a result of the US vote to divide mandatory Palestine into two one going to Israel and the other half going to Palestine Arabs. Before the creation of the Jewish state, during the Ottoman rule and the British mandatory rule, the Palestinian land regions exclusively belonged to the Palestinian Arabs (Miller, 2009). Due to the US decision to create a Jewish state in Palestine, it meant that Palestinian Arabs will have to share the lands and political power with the newly created Palestinian state. This created a political conflict that escalated into a military conflict between Israel forces and the Palestinian Arab backed forces.
Religious conflict is largely the biggest driver of the ensuing conflict between Israel and Palestine. Both religious clerics from the Islam and Judaism religion believe that their religions should be in control of the holy sites such as the city of Jerusalem and the temple. Moreover, extremist Zionists in Israel believe that they are the guardians and definers of how a Jewish state should be and are extremely stringent when it comes to any concessions that are to be made to the Arabs (Miller, 2009). On the other hand, Arabs in Palestine and other Arabic regions believe that it is the responsibility of Muslims to liberate the holy lands and preach violence and hatred against Israel. This escalates the conflict even further preventing the achievement of long-lasting peace between the warring factions.
The divisions between Israel and Palestine still exists till today for various geographical, political, and religious reasons. The original decision by the US to divide mandatory Palestine into two was opposed by Arabs and Palestinians under the rationale that Jews did not make half the population in Palestine and thus did not qualify for half the Palestinian lands (Hazony, 2009). For that reason, the Palestinian people disagreed on the division of the region between the Jews and the Arabs. The second reason as to why the conflict still exists is the historical killings that have occurred between Palestine and Israel. Due to the historical killings, both parties are out for revenge against each other. As a result of the desire for vengeance, the violence has consistently escalated over time. Lastly, the other reason as to why the conflict still exists is due to the religious differences between the two factions. Extremist Zionists in Israel believe that they are the guardians and definers of how a Jewish state should be and are extremely stringent when it comes to any concessions that are to be made to the Arabs (Hazony, 2009). On the other hand, Arabs in Palestine and other Arabic regions believe that it is the responsibility of Muslims to liberate the holy lands and preach violence and hatred against Israel.
Reference
- Miller, R. (2009).
