Palestine Conflict Most People Are Aware of

Palestine Conflict Most people are aware of the conflicts between Palestinians and Israelis, and are aware that what the two sides are incompatible with each other. This incompatibility between what the two sides wants is what has made finding a permanent solution both sides could live with so difficult. However, not everyone is aware of the very long time line on these differences.

The tensions between Palestinians and Jews came to a head in 1947, when the very new United Nations decided to "partition" the land, so that both Palestinians and Israelis could have land in what was then Palestine. The United Nations was well aware that Hitler had tried to exterminate every Jew in Europe, killing over 6,000,000 Jews (and other people deemed "undesirable") during his reign of terror. The idea of Jewish homeland where Jews could live safe from persecution resonated.

But what the United Nations and many Western countries viewed as a vital response to the horrors and excesses of World War II looked to the Palestinians as just another Western land grab in a centuries-long list of outrages committed by the West toward the Arab World (Friedman, 2002).

Entrenched views regarding the main obstacles to a peace solution, which include the status of Jerusalem as a city regarded as holy by three major groups of religions, recurring violence, and of course, land, keep opposing groups in a constant state of conflict and anger (Friedman, 2002). Those from Western countries do not always take as long a view of the history of the region as Palestinians and other Arabs sometimes do.

The Arabs of the region remember, the way we remember the Civil War, that they were once one of the world's greatest civilizations. From the time of Islam's founding in the 7th century, the religion spread rapidly across most of Asia, parts of Africa and even parts of Spain (Ismael, 1999). They developed a governmental form that worked to accommodate at least to some extent the cultures the conquered.

However, by the time Islam had reached present-day Spain, a highly Christian and Catholic area, Europeans were alarmed by the spread of this culture and religion. Arab power had reached its peak by the 10th century. Westerners responded with the Crusades, which took place in the 11th and 12th centuries. The Crusades had both religious and economic goals. The Crusaders wanted to see the Holy Land under the control of Christians.

At the same time, they were looking for a safer and more economical route to Asia, so they could trade for such things as spices and silk. During this time, while Europe was challenging Arab power from the West, Mongols were attacking from the East (Ismael, 1999). Except for Egypt, the area.