The 65 Year Old Game of Uncle

Since 1948 a conflict between Israel and the Arab nations surrounding it, especially Palestine, has killed thousands and has instilled hatred into the hearts of the people who are currently living in these countries. After World War Two, Zionists came to the United Nations asking for the partition of Palestine so that the Jewish people could have a homeland. The Zionists believed that if the Jews had had a homeland prior to the atrocities of the Holocaust, they could have escaped persecution from the Nazis. While many fled thier countries to avoid being killed, Zionists believed that they would be more successful in surviving the Holocaust has they been able to flee to a safe homeland. The United Nations heard the Zionists plea and partitioned Palestine. The newly declared Israel was given 55% of the land and Palestine was only given 45%. This angered Palestine and Arab nations surrounding Israel such as Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. The day after Israel declared independence, on May 15th 1948, it was attacked by all six surrounding Arab nations. The Arab nations surrounding Israel attacked individually and lost for that reason. Had they attacked as one single group, Israel would probably cease to exist. Israel gained its independence and began to expand into areas that had been previously occupied by Arab nations. This angered the civilians of Palestine who had been in the area that Israel expanded into and now were under the Jewish states administration. 

Then came the Six Days War. Israel, expecting an combined attack from Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, surprise attacked these nations and crippled them. They brought them down systematically and gained territories such as the West Bank, Golan Heights, and the Sinai. This was a problem because in the West Bank were approximately 600,000 Arabs who now were under the administration of the Jewish state. Since then, there has been two Intifadas or revolts in which Palestinian terrorists have attacked Israel and Israel has responded with military action. Violence continues today with no peace agreement in sight. This has been going on for a little more than 60 years. This has become every day life for these two countries. While Palestine is still a country 60.1% of the West Bank in which Israel retains the right to be responsible for civility and security. Only 18.2% of the West Bank is the Palestinian authority's civil and security responsibility and even the. The Israeli government performs incursions for security reasons. For the rest- 21.7% of the West Bank, the Palestinian authority is only responsible for civil affairs and law and order. These facts show how involved Israel is in Palestinian affairs. It also shows how frustrated the civilians of Palestine must be to have thier land split and not even get a fair share. Then they have to deal with expansion and needless control from Israel. Imagine how frustrated you would be if someone took 55% percent of your land, then expanded into it, and THEN overlooked it by taking civil and security responsibility for 60% of it. Wouldn't it be frustrating? I assure you it would. 
 
In the book Hour of Sunlight by Sami al Jundi, the author resorts to violence to contribute to his fight against Israeli occupation. He writes about what lead to him deciding to build a bomb, and how he realized in his ten years of jail that violence is not the answer but peace talks and negotiations. He loses friends in the process of building this bomb and suffers abuse from Israelis who think that he is trash. Sami shows that an individual can make a big change for bad or for good. A single person can change the history I the world with extreme evil while another person can change the world with extreme good. Sami showcases both as he shows that he can make change by killing people with a bomb and that he can make change by creating a program that integrates the youths of two cultures by teaching them that they are not different but the same so that the next generation of youth does not feel hate towards each other. Sami wants them to work together towards peace instead of working against each other towards violence. Both have been working against each other for so long that peace agreements seem like an unlikely occurrence yet it can happen. If both sides can realistically express thier needs without encroaching too much on the others, and not asking for too much. Both sides need to grow up and accept facts. Both are doing wrong things or have done wrong things. Israel expanding Into Palestinian territory was not right but responding with terrorism is not right either. Killing innocent lives isn't right at all. Many wrong things have happened yet continuing violence will only make things worse.
 
I understand that getting these two countries to sit down and do all of this might be too much but this seems like the only way to avoid escalating violence. If this conflict does not come to an end, we could see more Intifadas and more killing. This is much more likely considering that the Arab Spring has recently happened. The world should follow after Sami's example and try to work towards peace rather than trying to destroy each other to gain what they believe is theirs. The younger generation has had to listen to the older generation whisper in their ear their whole lives about how bad Israel is or how bad Palestine is. They go out to kill people they don't know and go to fight a conflict they dont really know anything about. They hear about all the bad things the other side is doing but they never hear what their side is doing, because their side is always acting in "self defense". Niether side is innocent here and to teach younger kids false things so that they'll fight for your cause is the worst. There is no end insight but there is hope for a solution. The deadly game of Uncle continues.