Middle East

22 Pages 5620 Words

Conflict on Holy Ground
The Arab-Israeli conflict is one of the most prolonged and bloody conflicts in not only modern history, but in the ancient world as well. The roots of the conflict, as well as the arguments on both sides, are as diversified and complicated as the conflict itself. The conflict between the Arabs and the Israelis has gone on for many years with both sides believing the other to be the cause. The aftermath of the First World War saw the worlds first foreshadow of things to come. Many Arabs believe that the existence of Israel is an act of war. Therefore making the mind set that permeates throughout the region irrational at best. To better understand the conflict. The history of the two parties involved must first be understood. To better understand we must first think of the conflict as a clash between two separate but equally powerful ideologies, the Arab or Islamic and the Jewish or Zionist ideology.
Arabs have a long history in the Middle East but that history is not easily explained. Before there was Islam and the area was unified the Arabs were conquered and ruled over by various groups, including the Romans at one point (Glubb 23). At this point in history, most of the Arabic peninsula was inhabited by nomadic tribes who raised various livestock (Glubb 25). There are few accurate historical accounts about the Arabic people. Most of what is known about the Arabic people in that region comes from travelers such as Herodotus, who although he a great historian, did not fully understand the peoples way of life, and therefore could not accurately paint a picture of what their lives were like (Payne 3). The accounts that he does give are not to be taken as accurate truth about the land or the people. One account of the landscapes demonstrates Herodotus’ lack of knowledge on the subject; he says, “frankincense trees are always surrounded by a swarm of winged and brightly colored serpents” (Payne 3). The fac...