The Palestinian Israeli conflict Benjamin Wait A2 English, Freestone 10/21/12

In 1948, a new Jewish state was created. Israel was a place where the Jewish people could go without discrimination, and after the heinous atrocities committed in the holocaust, it was something that was sorely needed by the Jewish people. It all sounds perfect in theory, but is it really? The land was chosen because of its religious significance, having been the land ruled by king David and King Solomon, and being the place of several religiously significant sites. To say though, that this land belongs with indelible rights to the Jewish people is far from prudent, for this is also the home of the Palestinian people, whose Islamic population has lived there for, Oh I dont know, like 1500 years! It is difficult indeed to take a side or draw a line as to who is right or wrong, but we can at least get all the facts right. Though Israel is the fighting place of these two civilizations, would it surprise you that, in the beginning, this land didnt belong to either of them? The first people to settle Palestine was a civilization known as the Canaanites, a mainly agricultural, and most importantly, a mix of many different religions and descendants of many different countries. They ruled there from 3000 b. c. to 1100 b. c. and were eventually phased out as the Hebrew presence became stronger since they migrated from 1800 b. c. The land never originally belonged to either the Muslims or the Jews, it has simply changed hands between them, and many other different civilizations.

In Palestine, I had always assumed that the Jewish people had forced their way in with the backing of many powerful countries, but after delving into the subject, I learned that this is far from the truth. The Jewish people, through a program called the Zionist movement, began to systematically buy the land from the Palestinians. You might think, thats fair, but give it a second. The Palestinians had to move away from the Jewish presence in Palestine. They had no intention of sharing their land, intending to make Israel a state for the Jewish people, not for its citizens, and oppressing heavily the Palestinians who had once lived there with freedom. In Palestine, the racism has fault on both sides. The anti Semitism of the Islamic people is only enhanced by the fact that they are being taken from the land they presume to be theirs. The Jewish people on the other hand, seem to have completely forgotten the ways of religious prosecution, as they slowly, but surely, make life for every non-Jew within the border of Israel. Reading about the subject of the conflict in Israel/Palestine has helped to remove many misconceptions of mine on the matter. I know now that choosing a side is almost impossible, and possible solutions for the problem are endless in number but futile to strike the heart of the matter. Each of them truly believes that Israel/Palestine is theirs, and in many different aspects both of them are right, but at the same time, both parties cannot own the land. The nature of the debate and the sheer weight of the consequences given if either side should win, make the argument impossible to choose a side on.