Arab vs Israel essay

Stanton Murray
History Essay on Arab and Israel

Between 1948 and 1967, the nation of Israel was responsible for creating the Palestinian refugee problem. Arab people were driven out of their homeland by the troops from Israel, who used terror as their main weapon. Israel attacked its neighbouring countries first and occupied Arab territory. In addition, Jews bought land from the Arab people. However, Arab leaders used the power of propaganda to make the Arab people leave their homes thinking they would easily win the war.

With terror as their main weapon, the Israeli troops drove the Palestinian people out of their homeland from 1948. In his book “Conflict in the Middle East” J. Brooman quotes two Israeli journalist who documented the 1948 War of Liberation as saying that advancing Israeli troops created “confusion and a degree of terror among the population”(Source D). This happened as they drove into the town of Lidda opening fire randomly which led to the Arab population of 30 000 fleeing to Ramallah (Source D). This flight of Palestinian refugees is further documented in “ The Readers Digest: great events of the Twentieth Century” which states that “after the war of 1948 about half a million Palestinians fled from Israel” (Source K). Most of the refugee camps that the Palestinians were forced to live in is known as the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (Source K). An example of the terrible and overcrowded living conditions exists in the photograph of a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan taken in 1969. The caption states these Palestinians “ who fled from the territories seized by Israel”. Were accommodated in tents (Source L). These overcrowded Palestinian refugee camps were created by the terror and fear caused by advancing Israeli troops during the 1948 War of Liberation.

With Israel attacking its neighbouring countries first, they ended up occupying the Arab territory. In his book “ Conflict in the Middle East “. J. Brooman used a map of the Israeli gains of Arab territory during the Six Day War in 1967. In the map it clearly shows the gains the Israelis made on Sinai, the West Bank and the Golan Heights. (Source G). This all happened as the Israeli troops attacked from different directions on different days during the Six Day War (Source F). This is shown that the Israeli’s attacked first in the “Readers Digest: Great Events of the Twentieth century” which states that “ Israel struck first on the 5th June 1967, using wave after wave of fighter bombers to destroy the Egyptian air force” (Source K).

With Jews buying land from the Arabs and immigration increasing, the Arabs had to move to areas which were occupied by the Arabs or even neighbouring countries as done in 1946. In an “ Arab Case Against Creating Israel” it states “ Continued land-purchase and immigration by Jews is pushing the Arab population to the margin of cultivation and converging them into a landless proletariat” (Source A).

However, the Palestinian people left the land that they were attached to very easily and without much provocation. The Palestinians were encouraged to leave Palestine by the Arab leader. In “Conflict in the Middle East” J. Booman states that the Arab leaders were “expecting a quick victory by their five combined armies over Israel” and that these same leaders promised the Palestinians that they would return and take the land of the Israeli’s after the war as well” (Source E). The map entitled “ Arab Refugees (1948).” Indicates that the Palestinians fled in the direction of Iraq, Jordan, Syria, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank where refugee camps were established. (Source B). Brooman further claims that the Arab leaders in order used propaganda to install fear in the Palestinians about their certain fate if they chose to stay in Palestine and that they would be considered traitors by the majority of Arabs (Source E).

Israel was responsible for creating the Palestinian refugee problem. They achieved this by driving the Arab people out of their homeland by using terror to attack its neighbouring countries that were occupied by Arabs. Jews had also bought land from the Arabs.