The general assembly of UN approved an arrangement for dividing Palestine in 1947, which offered a chance for the establishment of Jewish State, as well as Arab State and Jerusalem, left under worldwide status. The Jewish and the Arab States rejected such an arrangement. The United Kingdom dropped its mandate or control on Palestine, which led to the proclamation of Israel state. As a result, the Palestinians with the help of Arab States declared war on Israel (Koops et al., 2015). Israel also fought many wars with other states; however, this paper focuses on factors causing internal conflicts within Israel. Some of the factors covered include religious, racial, gender, cultural, economic, as well as political concerns that lead to conflict or instability in Israel. Additionally, it covers the role of the United Nations as a peacekeeper within Israel.
Israeli Religious Internal Conflicts
Fanatical religious bodies employ their religious convictions to cause conflict in Israel, on the contrary, peaceful religious bodies employ their teachings to promote peace. Jewish as well as Christian fanatical religious bodies cause internal conflict in Israel. The citizens deny each other basic rights based on one being Muslim or Christian because of Jewish chauvinism. The government discriminates and mistreats non-Jews in support of Jews in several aspects of life (Norwine, 2014). Some of these rights include a right to work, residency right, as well as equality before the country's laws. Such discrimination causes internal conflict within Israel.
Presently fanaticisms have occurred in Israel. Christians have worked together with Jewish Zionists to discriminate on non-Jews. Some of the Christians obey earlier theology referred as dispensationalism where secret scripts are interpreted or construed to forecast a chain of conflict events, which will result in the coming of the Savior, Jesus (Norwine, 2014). The belief demanded that all Jews return to Israel that will bring cataclysmic war where over one hundred and twenty thousand Jews will become Christians. The remaining Jews will be assassinated in an unkind as well as a bloody war that will cause the return of Christ (Norwine, 2014).
Israeli Cultural Issues causing Internal Conflict
Culture represents one of the factors causing internal conflict in Israel. Fights or wars have existed over music, plays, books, funding for academic awards as well as arts. Such wars have been strengthened by furious allegorical exchanges on democracy, identity, zealotry, fascism, as well as the prospect of the country or the Jews’ fate. Every week, there is a novel front of conflict, resulting from consequences of change within Israel attitudes, politics, as well as demographics, which are disabling the peace.
The current population of Israel represents a religious as well as less indebted society to the inheritance or values of the ancient, or Europeanized people. The people are unapologetic to one another or within their nationalism as well as not bothered by disapproval by global leaders or liberal activists (Peleg & Waxman, 2011). This causes internal conflict within Israel as none forgives the other. The struggle is also about individuals considered committed elites or legal heirs and successors of Zionist movement, which created the country.
There are cultural boycotts, which are discriminatory as well as divisive disrupt peace in Israel. This has created less interaction as well as dialogue in the society that has limited mutual acceptance and understanding. The outcome is the differences among the citizens in solving some of the problems amongst them. The citizens of Israel came from two different backgrounds. The identity of one group stems from contemporary as well as the historical desire for political recognition. Another group stems from their ancestors' background. The Christian Arabs, Zionism, as well as Muslims consider themselves as originating from Palestine (Peleg & Waxman, 2011). The differences in place of origin and claiming land in Israel as ancestral land causes conflict. Claims of different groups that they are the legitimate heirs to inherit the land in Israel create mistrust as well as bloodshed in the country.
The culture of Arabs lies on the social ideas that combine family, clan, as well as national existence. An Arab feels indebted and gives loyalty to his or her birth group. They are members of their village and family. One cannot run away from their tribe, and it is impossible to change an individual’s family. In fact, there is no any other social unity strong enough as that of blood ties. The Bedouin man belongs to his family and tribe. From that premise, Arabs do not have trust in any alien. There is a lack of confidence among citizen having no blood ties, an alien or someone not related by blood is easily suspected for treachery as well as manipulation. This causes internal conflict in Israel (Peleg & Waxman, 2011).
The past normally defines or shapes the future for Arabs. History acts as anchors for facets of aspirations as well as identity. A legendary fascination with forefathers exist, which is combined with some self-evident belief that regards the future as emerging or repeating significant Arab past. It has resulted into patience as well as iron-will that is expected to last until a victory. The tension has led to the animosity that will rewind the Islamic conquering of the old days. Even the change in power does not interfere with the belief, and the issue remains and acts as a source of conflict.
The self-consciousness of Arabs offers a psychological basis for enforcing a collective aspiration or will on other individuals. Arabs, as well as Muslims, consider themselves chosen people of Allah, which make them self-justified. This makes them blame failures as well as misfortunes on non-Arabs or non-Muslims. Many believe that non-Arabs, as well as non-Muslims, are responsible for the enmity within the region, but the violence is Arabs cultural motives that do create violence or aggression (Peleg & Waxman, 2011). Whatsoever, the self-possessed Arab can never admit wrongdoing. Due to the self-believe, non-Muslims are seen as the cause of war in the region, which is believed to have started in 1948. With a long lasting self-criticism, the Jewish practice of the mentioned culture created some imbalance in the ethical equation, which undermines radicalization of the Arabs while demoralizes the Jews.
Racial issues causing Internal conflict in Israel
Race in many nations is not always internally homogeneous. Many groups are self-identifying Arabs, Jews, Africans, as well as whites in Israel. The diversity of population in Israel is beginning to be identified, which has permitted racial alliances to be created that simultaneously marginalize other groups based on race. Africans are attacked in Israel based on their race. Israelis broke conflict in a kindergarten meant for African children within Tel Aviv, which started a war against Africans within Israel (Medding, 2010). The Jews are denied entry into Arab towns or villages. The Jews avoids boarding Arab bus. Nonetheless, Arabs are safe within the Jewish colleges, towns, buses, as well as towns.
Arabs have a segregated system of school, which run independently as well as teaches PA-approved lies or propaganda. It is the demand of Arab and not an idea of Israeli. Arabs are de-facto excused from adhering to Israeli law, as the government of Israel is reluctant to implement the law on Arabs, knowing they can be accused of racist for enforcing the law of Arabs (Medding, 2010).
The Jews are not allowed to enter their holiest site by the government and the Muslims. However, they may enter their Temple with supervision by Muslim as well as under strict barbarian conditions, for example, no praying by non-Muslim, no ceremonies by non-Muslims, as well as no articles that are non-Muslims (Medding, 2010). There are also routes or doorways, which are only used by Muslims and not Christians or Jews.
Political Factors causing Israel’s Internal War
The most certain, painful, as well as long-lasting trend, which has been noted in the Israeli politics that is associated with the Palestinian factor is the linkage or association itself. In fact, the Palestinian issue has been the particular catalyst behind the downfall of all governing political parties or the Israeli coalition in the last twenty years (Yossi, 2015). Leaders like Rabin, Peres, His honor Netanyahu, Barak, as well as Sharon; all as Prime Ministers, have failed in their attempts to convert their political mandate as pertains the Palestinian factor into a viable or productive coalition for reforms or change. In the span of the last twenty years, one trial to brand political outlook; that is, direct election of the previous leader, had to be boycotted because it worsened the existing situation. Besides, the general quality of the Israeli politics, as well as its politicians, has deteriorated over time (Hasson, 2013).
Moreover, Israel's nationwide proportional voting criteria (which treats the overall nation as one constituency, hence awarding seats or positions in the Knesset on the grounds of the ratio of the popular vote won by every party slate) ascertains that issues, which are unrelated to the existing Palestinian problems. For instance, issues of religion or state are determinants of the voting patterns in line with adherents of certain parties. Israel being a heterogeneous society, there is production or formation of fragile coalitions whose subscribers are guided by diverse as well as conflicting political desires or agendas. Therefore, the Israeli political class, instead of providing a lasting mechanism for tackling Israeli’s internal war, it has rather become a major obstacle to a solution. Besides, the government coalitions are equally inherently unstable as well as incapable to survive the dramatic peace-related drives (Hasson, 2013).
Economic Issues causing Israel’s Internal Conflict
The current wave of international trade in the world has assisted in abating international conflicts. Besides, economic interdependence contributes significantly to reducing the existence of violent conflicts. This is achieved through the building of mutual trust among leaders of the conflicting states. However, in the case of the Israel, there is a perennial mistrust, not just between leaders but also among respective citizens. Moreover, in 1967 the Israeli government occupied major parts such as West Bank as well as Gaza Strip, thus integrating their underlying markets into its existing market portfolios. Thereby, Israel's economic outfit at that time was approximately ten folds the size of the Palestinian's. Furthermore, its product diversification was equally much greater, compounded with a stronger Gross Domestic Income (Yossi, 2015). Israelis who have friends in Palestine promote the internal conflicts arising from economic issues. Palestine being in war with Israel, her citizens cannot support the economic prosperity of Israel.
Therefore, the impetus of such delineation of the two states shall persistently result in conflicts. Israel has consistently defended its assets in Gaza and West Bank despite the international community’s push for it to relegate these two hubs to Palestinians. However, Israel has recently taken unprecedented steps of allowing the World Bank to conduct supervisions during the transfer of the Israeli assets based in Gaza to the Palestinians leadership. It has also permitted the body to coordinate plans geared towards economic development in the disputed Strip. This has not been easy, as Israel has continued to place border-crossing points. It has also denied full access to exclusive settling in the West Bank by the Palestinians. This has prompted internal conflicts (Yossi, 2015).
The integration between Israel and Palestine means that the two economies coalescing to form one economic block. For instance, permitting or enabling free movements of labor as well as capital between the two states. These poses a great fear to the Israeli's economy as there would be a reduction in the export of goods from Palestine to Israel. That means that free trade, as well as free mobility of factors, would slowly wipe out the trade founded on the comparative advantage. Therefore, this causes a prior threat to Israel's economy. Hence, need to constantly defend its territorial echelons (Yossi, 2015).
Gender Issues on the Israeli Conflicts
Women play a meaningful role in the peace-building as well as conflict transformation. In Israel, women have substantially altered the landscape of war. They have played a pivotal role in changing the turning points of the perennial conflicts in the region. On the wake of the first Intifada, a plethora of women agitated for justice as well as peace. Formation of groups existed like the Women in Black (WB), the Women's Organizations for Women Political Prisoners (OPFPP), as well as the Israeli Women Against the Occupation (SHANI). Other groups included the Women's Peace Coalition among others, which played a paramount role in shaping the wars as well as conflicts experienced in the Middle East. They burst onto the weak Israeli’s political arena, triggering numerous or series of demonstrations, petitions, as well as letter-writing initiatives. They conducted solidarity visits to the war tone areas of West Bank as well as the Strip. This has been followed by agitations for long-lasting solutions to peace agreements in the region. They have further attended various local as well as international peace workshops or conferences. These grassroots campaigns were designed to pile pressure on the ruling class and further influence the public opinion so that they could engage or deliberate on peace negotiations (Sharoni, 2012).
The role of United Nations as a peacekeeper within Israel
The role of United Nations as a peacekeeper within Israel is significant. The operations of peacekeeping are managed by DPKO, which operates to establish the environment for durable peace within Israel (Mays, 2011). Parties such operations of peacekeeping consists of civilian personnel, police, as well as military working to ensure security, political, as well as early peace creation support.
The condition of the Middle East has bothered UN from early years. The UN has created principles or standards for a peaceful resolution as well as the creation of many peacekeeping operations in response to many conflicts in Israel. An example of such peacekeeping operation, which was an unarmed mission of an observer, was established within the Middle East (ME) in the year 1948. Additionally, the first forces for peacekeeping were established by 1956 within the Middle East (Mays, 2011).
The UN use peacekeeping operations namely lightly armed soldiers and unarmed observers. Lightly-armed soldiers were only to use their arms for self-defense. The observers were charged with the duty to collect data for the United Nations on actual circumstances existing in the region. Additionally, the observers monitored hostility between Arab States and Israel. The lightly armed soldiers were entrusted to keep apart the conflicting parties as well as maintain order within the region (Mays, 2011).
After the conflict of 1956, an armed United Nations force was created to form a buffer between Egyptian as well as Israeli troops within Sinai. Additionally, a force was formed following the conclusion of the war between Israel and Egypt in the year 1967 to examine the resolution between the conflicting parties (Koops et al., 2015). A United Nations force was established in 1974 on Golan Heights charged with the responsibility to keep the borderline between Israeli as well as Syrian troops.
Another peacekeeping operation of UN was the creation of UNIFIL after the invasion of Lebanon by Israel in the year 1978. The body was charged with the duty to supervise the withdrawal of Israel, keeping the peaceful environment, as well as supporting the government of Lebanon rebuild its power. UN has contributed significantly in reducing conflict between Israel and her enemies (Koops et al., 2015).
The resolutions 340, as well as 341 of Security Council in 1973, created an emergency force two to oversee the truce between Israeli and Egyptian troops. The UN emergency force two was disbursed in 1979 after a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt (Koops et al., 2015). The United Nations also created UN disengagement observer unit in 1974, resolution 350 of Security Council, to oversee ceasefire between Syria and Israel. Additionally, it was to watch over the freeing of Syrian and Israeli troops, as well as manage the separation areas or limitation, as offered in the disengagement agreement (Koops et al., 2015).
References
Hasson, S. (2013). Israel’s Geopolitical Dilemma And the Upheaval in the Middle East; Maryland. ISBN 978-0-615-68565-6. The Joseph and Alma Gildenhorn Institute for Israel Studies, College Park, MD.
Koops, J. A., MacQueen, N., Tardy, T., & Williams, P. D. (2015). The Oxford Handbook of United Nations peacekeeping operations. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
Mays, T. M. (2011). Historical dictionary of multinational peacekeeping. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press.
Medding, P. (2010). Mapai in Israel: Political organization and government in a new society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Norwine, J. (2014). The world after climate change and culture-shift. Dordrecht: Springer.
Peleg, I., & Waxman, D. (2011). Israel's Palestinians: The Conflict within. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sharoni, S. (2012). Gender and Conflict Transformation in Israel/Palestine. Journal of International Women's Studies, 13(4), 113-128. Retrieved from: http://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol13/iss4/8.
Yossi A. (2015). United States Institute of Peace (USIP): Special Report: The Future of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Critical Trends Affecting Israel; 1200 17th Street NW • Washington, DC 20036 • 202.457.1700 • fax 202.429.6063. USIP.
