In modern society, one of the most important skills is the ability to avoid conflicts and if it is inevitable techniques of solving it. However, this needs that the person should first know what conflicts are as well as their types. Therefore, conflicts and their types was one of the topics of the current affairs course, which aimed to enable us to acquire these important skills. It will enable us to avoid conflicts and understand their nature, because nowadays conflicts are common starting from the work to the ones home. The lecture about conflicts was very interesting and it was conducted by Dr. Foise. The term conflict is derived from the latin word confligree which means strike together, and it refers to overt and coercive behavior initiated by one contending party against another. It is a psychological state of affairs in which the parties are aware of the incompatibility of potential future positions. Based on my understanding, there are usually two or more parties involved the conflict directly or indirectly. Conflicts are often cause by misunderstanding between the parties. Types of conflicts include intral-state conflict, inter-state conflict, non-state conflict, sociocultural conflict and so on. The lecture was too general, so I have chosen Palestine-Israel war which was going on more than half a century. I chose this one over all other conflicts because it has special memory in my life. I used to watch how cruel Israel soldiers torture poor Palestinians and I still remember my mother voice praying Allah to help them. I also used to wonder when I will see free Palestine; hence, I thought this is the perfect chance for me to bring the topic into discussion. Based on what I understood from the lecture and my also knowledge about this conflict, I will try to observe the conflict.
A glimpse of Israel-Palestine Conflict The land of Palestine was inhabited a population of 86% Muslims, 10% Christians and 4% Jewish in the nineteen century and they all lived with harmony and peace. However, it was in the late of twenty century when Europeans decided to create a Jewish homeland in the region. At first the immigration did not create any problems, but as more and more of Jewish people migrate they begin a plan of overtaking the indigenous population. During Hitler’s era, many Jewish people escaped seeking refugee in Palestine. Then the conflict between the two sides started and under the conflict types we studied this comes under sociocultural conflicts because other time Israel was not recognized as an independent country. As the conflicts grew, UN interfered and come with a partition plan which was division of the land. The plan was biased and it favored the Jewish by stating that 55% of Palestine land should be given to the Jewish people who owned less than 7% of the total land. This is how the war has begun and as Israel become an ally to US, it got more help economically and militarily. This allowed them to conquer more land. The war converted into inter-state conflict when Israel was declared as an independent country.
The two primary issues at the core of this continuing conflict are: firstly, conquering more land and oppressing the native Palestinians by launching more attacks on them. Over 10,000 Palestinian men, women, and children are held in Israeli prisons. Few of them have had a legitimate trial; Physical abuse and torture are frequent. Palestinian borders (even internal ones) are controlled by Israeli forces. Periodically men, women, and children are strip searched; people are beaten; women in labor are prevented from reaching hospitals (at times resulting in death); food and medicine are blocked from entering Gaza, producing an escalating humanitarian crisis. Israeli forces invade almost daily, injuring, kidnapping, and sometimes killing inhabitants. Surprisingly, the so-called international community did nothing to help Palestinians or at least reduce their problems by giving aid. Instead of this, many powerful countries in the world like US are aiding financially Israel.
This topic was very interesting, and I have tried to read many other conflicts in the world in order to understand more on conflicts and increase my knowledge. I also learnt that conflicts are not always as they seem which means there are always invisible parties which take part in conflicts. For example, in the case of Isreal-Palestian war, the US is one the main actors but few of the people know that. In addition, there is always a hidden motive for everyone which is different from what is stated in the media.