Question

examine the origins of the Arab Israeli conflict from its beginning some for thousand years ago and how it has evolved and evolved over the centuries to current time

Answer 1

In the late 19th century, Palestine’s Jewish population stood at less than 5 per cent. Tensions between the Jews and Arabs of the area did not begin to grow until after 1917, when British Secretary for Foreign Affairs Arthur Balfour announced that the British authorities "see in favor of creating a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine and will use their best efforts to promote the achievement of this goal." There came the first serious outbreak of violence in 1929

In the years since, both left and right Israeli governments have consistently encouraged the settlement business with financial, infrastructural, and military support. About 500,000 Israeli citizens now live in over 130 settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and in over 100 "outposts" that the state has not yet formally approved. Forty-two per cent of West Bank land currently falls under the control of the settlers.

Intended as a temporary measure until "permanent status negotiations" were completed, Oslo divided the West Bank into zones of Israeli and Palestinian control, giving Israel's military control over 61 per cent of the West Bank. The agreement established the Palestinian Authority and assigned responsibility for the security, health and education of Palestinians living in the eighteen per cent of the West Bank over which it exercises a very restricted form of control. Israel continues to monitor Palestinian borders, travel, economic ties, airspace, telecommunications, water and other resource access.

Notwithstanding its ostensible security intent, the barrier worked primarily to occupy Palestinian land: 85% of its length falls within the Green Line's Palestinian side, annexing almost 10% of the West Bank. It snakes deep into the territory of Palestine, dividing communities from each other and farmers from their fields. The Israeli architect and theorist Eyal Weizman described the wall as "a discontinuous and fractured set of self-enclosed barriers that could be best interpreted as a prevalent 'state' of segregation rather than a continuous line dividing the territory smoothly into two.

In many cases Palestinians are now required to apply for visiting and farming permits to their own land. Over half of the West Bank's nearly 100 permanent checkpoints regulate travel within Palestinian territory, prevent the free movement of people and goods and make fear, humiliation, and uncertainty an essential part of Palestinian life. Checkpoints are often sites of clashes and the deaths of Palestinians by Israeli security forces.

Inspired by the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, 170 Palestinian civil society groups made an appeal in 2005 for a non-violent, international boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel. The campaign has won some major victories recently, with several multinational corporations and national investment funds breaking ties with Israeli firms. It has been under attack, too. U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton characterized the BDS movement as anti-Semitic in a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's pro-Israel lobbying group, and several U.S. states have passed laws to penalize those who boycott Israel.