Jubelle Angeli C.

Maturan
PS4B - International Organization Position Paper on Israel-Palestine Conflict
The Israel-Palestine conflict has been withstanding for a long period of time already.
Massive loss of innocent lives, destroyed buildings & shelters and two headstrong leaders who
wont give way for the other dominated the Israel-Palestine scene. Both of them come from deep
reasons on why they are fighting on a piece of land. Yet, on which side I will be siding?
I go for Palestine. They have been inhabitants of that land for so long even before the
World Wars. They even represented the demographic majority in that place until 1948 (Beinin &
Hajjar, 2014). The reason why their status as a state is being disputed and is somehow being put
under Israeli rule is because of the British Mandate, Balfour Declaration and the Zionist
Movement, which caused the massive immigration of Jews from different parts of the world
(Beinin & Hajjar, 2014; Carter, Irani, & Volkan, 2009).
Eventually, these diaspora Jews were claiming a land which was not originally theirs, on
the biblical account that this land was the Promised Land to Prophet Abraham and his
descendants. It is also considered as the site of Jewish origin (Beinin & Hajjar, 2014). As I look
at it, this is somehow a form of land grabbing grounded on religious principles. I would like to
confer that aside from their biblical stance, there were no other evidences that will prove their
rights to that disputed land.
Fast forward to the present time, the immigrant Jews successfully established Israel, the
Palestinians are already experiencing being treated as second-class citizens by anyone else, and
these two are still being embroiled in a long standing and bloody conflict, where the situation is
somehow favorable to Israel. This had left Palestine suffer more damages in a lot of aspects.
Their application to be recognized as a state was not accepted by the United Nations and Israel is
still controlling the Palestinian Territories (Beinin & Hajjar, 2014). It seems like the ethnocentric
Israel wants to take it all at the expense of Palestinian Arabs, which originally owned and
inhabited the place. Added to the Palestinian suffering (and Israels privileges) would be
Americas support.
However, I am not saying that Palestine is all that good. Palestine had also their share of
suicide bombers and forms of terrorism brought to Israeli society. However, this motive started
as a reaction to the massive number of Jewish immigration in that land, which made them
displaced up to the present time. Although Israel had also their own claims on why they should
be the victors, the Palestinians were just fighting for what is rightfully theirs. Aside from the
biblical aspect where that land was the one promised to Abraham and his descendants, Israel has
no other proof that the land they are fighting for is rightfully theirs.
I think that giving Israel and Palestine their separate lands would be a good solution.
However, Palestine should be recognized as a state and their socially embedded status as second-
class citizens must already stop. They originally inhabited the land and was just a victim of
colonization and foreign manipulation. Give Palestine a chance.
REFERENCES:
Beinin, J., & Hajjar, L. (2014). Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Primer. Washington, DC: Middle East Research and Information Project. Retrieved
August 10, 2014, from http://www.merip.org/sites/default/files/Primer_on_Palestine-Israel(MERIP_February2014)final.pdf
Carter, J., Irani, G. & Volkan, V.D. (eds.). (2009). Regional and ethnic conflicts: Perspectives from the front lines. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.