Israel is one of the most militarily powerful nations in the world, yet it can not seem to settle issues between itself and other Arab nations around them. There have been three main things that kept Israel and the other Arab states from resolving their problems. The first thing is the Arab’s refusal to recognize Israel as a state. In May of 1948, Palestine was divided into Jordan and Israel. This was a 2000 year old dream come true for the Jews to finally have their own country. The surrounding Arab nations were angry, though. This land was sacred to them and their religion, Islam. The Arab nations refused to recognize Israel because they felt like they still had a legitimate claim to the land. Since they thought Israel had the land unrightfully, they felt as though Israel was not an official state, and they, therefore, did not have to recognize it as such.

The next problem Israel and Arab nations faced is the issue of the Palestinian Arabs. When Israel was created, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq invaded Israel, but they failed to unite and were all defeated. As a result of this, Israel annexed part of Jordan, displacing 700,000 Arabs who were later forced to live in refugee and pay taxes to Israel. Arabs living in Israeli-occupied lands want to build a Palestinian homeland, but Israel refuses to give up the land because it believes it needs the land to properly defend itself. Arabs who live there think it is all part of an Israeli long-term plan to eventually clear all of the Arabs out of the Israeli-occupied lands.

The final main problem that Israel and Arab nations face is the future of Israeli-occupied lands. Not all Israelis agree on what to do about this problem. Some think the best solution would be to drive out all the Arabs from the West Bank. Others think a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River would be okay under certain conditions. Obviously, all Arabs would like to see a Arab Palestinian state created with no conditions, but Israel does not seem like they are going to let that happen any time soon. Because of recent Arab uprisings on the West Bank and in Gaza, diplomats from the United Nations, United States, and other nations have been led to try to come up with a feasible plan that would compromise the needs of the Israelis, the Palestinians, and other neighboring states. No plan to date has succeeded in getting all of the groups to agree.

I do not believe that a solution is possible as long as Judaism and Islam are still active and practiced religions in the Middle East. Religion creates a much stronger bond between people than almost anything else whether it be race, societal class, or nationality. This is very apparent in the fact that even though some Middle Eastern nations despise Iraq, if Israel fires missiles on Iraq, the other nations will not hesitate to attack Israel. Israel believes that God gave the land to the Jews through Moses and that they have a rightful claim to it. The Moslems believe that Mohammed (the founder of Islam) ascended into heaven from Jerusalem, so the land is holy to them. Also, they controlled the land since during the 600’s until December 1917. They believe they have a rightful claim to the land. There are other factors, but I believe the main factor is that the land is holy to both Jews and Moslems. They both think that God wants them to have it. I don’t believe that either group will be totally willing to compromise their Holy Land to end a conflict. They are fighting for what they believe in and will continue to fight until one side has officially won hands down. This time will never come, though, because each side thinks it has the divine right to eventually control the land, and neither side will give up until God has granted them absolute victory.