Middle East Conflict – Israel and Palestine

Last updated on October 8, 2023

1979, three months before I graduated from the Gymnasium, I sat in our classroom in boarding school during our daily homework time and started writing an essay that would cause some controversy between the nuns and our worldly teachers. I wrote about the Middle East conflict. Some thought I was wrong, others thought I was bold, but all agreed I was too young to understand.

For me the subject had come naturally and writing about it seemed logical. My best friend in boarding school was Leila, a girl my age who had been born in Beirut, Libanon. Her parents had fled and somehow they all ended up in the South of Germany where they started to rebuild their lives from scratch. Leila’s Arabic father was a furniture maker, her German mother a stewardess. Leila’s parents seemed as different as night and day, yet a deep love for each other and their twin girls was so obvious that nothing else mattered. Their stories, their history, and their cultural differences fascinated me from the moment I met them.

Through Leila’s eyes I saw parts of the world that I didn’t know about and from her parent’s stories, during my weekend stays with Leila when she invited me home with her, I learned about the Middle East.

They were German/Arabic, I was Austrian/German/Italian, and lived with my Grandmother who was part Jewish. Lots of history around the dining room table.

Where is Israel?

Israel stands at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa. Geographically, it belongs to the Asian continent and is part of the Middle East region. In the west, Israel is bound by the Mediterranean Sea. Lebanon and Syria border it to the north, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the southwest, and the Red Sea to the south.

An area of special importance

The area has a special historical and religious significance for Jews and Muslims, but also for Christians. More than 1,000 years before our era, Jews settled in the area. It was here that the Jewish religion developed. Jerusalem was the site of the Temple that was destroyed by the Romans in the year 70 AD. The Jews were scattered to many parts of the world (Diaspora). The “Promised Land”, as the region is called by many Jews, has always been present in Judaism as part of the religious traditions.

Jewish Immigrants

Since the 16th century, there have been groups of Jewish immigrants who settled in Palestine, as it was called at the time. At the end of the 19th century, some Jews wanted to establish their own state in the area. In the meantime, however, many non-Jewish residents lived there, mainly Muslims, but also Christians. Many of them spoke Arabic. The yellow color shows the size of the Jewish State.

At the beginning of the 20th century, due to increased exclusion in other countries, more and more Jewish immigrants came to the region and the tensions between the Jewish and Arab populations grew. After the First World War, Great Britain received a mandate from the then League of Nations to administer Palestine. It approved limited immigration. Because of displacements in the 1930s, and especially because of the Holocaust, many Jews tried to flee to Palestine.

Establishment of the State of Israel in 1948

In 1947, the United Nations decided to divide the territory and establish a state for the Jews and for the Arab population. As a result, the Jews proclaimed their State of Israel in 1948 but the Arab population and neighboring Arab states rejected the United Nations decision.

It’s a bit like the UN would step in now and would give Texas or California to the Mexicans, or Florida to the Cubans.

The Conflict since 1948

In 1948, the first of several Israeli-Arab wars broke out and over the years, the Middle East has developed into an international flashpoint. The clashes between the Arab States and Israel are part of an ongoing Middle East conflict. The people of the region are suffering from great tensions. 

For example, during the 1948 war, many Arab residents fled their villages to neighboring countries, where they often live in refugee camps to this day. Many Jews who had lived in Arab countries until the establishment of Israel were expelled from there and fled to Israel. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was founded in 1964. Since then, it has fought for the establishment of a separate state for the Palestinians.  

Is it possible to resolve the conflict?

Again and again, there have been attempts to reduce tensions in the Middle East. Negotiations have been held, treaties and agreements have been completed, but to this day no peace has been reached. 

Palestinians have repeatedly carried out violent attacks, and the Israeli army has responded with military strikes against Palestinians. There were casualties on both sides.

The nature of the problem

The Palestinians demand a state of their own, which includes parts of today’s state of Israel. The Israelis demand the recognition of the State of Israel. Is there a solution so that all people in this region can live in peace? And what could this solution look like?

Again and again, religious differences are the cause of political disputes. However, it cannot be said that religion is the decisive cause of the dispute. It’s not the people, but politics that divides them. (Rings a bell?)

There is a lot of criticism of Israel’s settlement policy and rightfully so. The problem is also repeatedly discussed in the UN. However, responsible politicians around the world know that this conflict cannot be solved by force of arms. Unfortunately, now there is a war in the Middle East between Israel and Palestinians.

My opinion?

1979, in my essay I made the statement that WWIII will start in the Middle East and I want this prediction from a young girl to be false, please.

I am scared to even think that Putin might be behind the attack right now because as of yesterday our focus has shifted away from the Ukraine war, which would help him a lot. Putin is a talented puppeteer and controls the strings of many.

As for the attack, I do blame Netanyahu’s obsession with sidelining the Supreme Court’s role as a wall between democracy and autocracy for the lack of readiness within the ranks of Israel’s armed forces. However, the past has shown that Israel can take care of itself, it’s really the Ukraine that troubles me. I hope we don’t abandon them as a result of this unexpected Hamas mini-invasion. The Ukraine needs our support and resources now more than ever!

In my opinion, Israel is not a democracy anymore. Like so many countries, it has shifted to the far-right, with Netanyahu now in a dictator position. The silencing of Israel’s highest court has shown this clearly.

I’m not sure what the actual solution in the Middle East is, but I do know that Israel can’t go on leaving 5 million Palestinians in political limbo indefinitely without violence resulting.

I condemn violence from the bottom of my heart and wish this all would have been solved decades ago between the involved parties because the interference or ‘ordering’ of peace by US Presidents or other world leaders hasn’t worked -and won’t work in the future either.

Also, I do wonder, is Israel at war with Hamas (a terrorist group with an estimated 2 Million people in Palestine), or is Israel at war with Palestine (5 Million people, 3 Million who don’t belong to Hamas)?