Israel and Palestine My understanding of the Israel and Palestine conflict was this; both Israel and Palestine

are unrelenting in their pursuit of the areas of land, The West Bank, The Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. I viewed the nations as both equally ridiculous and the conflict childish, but I was wrong. Families that are forced to flee their homes due to invasion, unjust government rulings and people having no voice or say in how their lives are run are all elements of a hated and shameful human history. To find out that the elements of the past are now, still a part of our present world is even more shameful and jarring. what's even more jarring is that we didn't know the injustice was happening though we have countless news providers around the world. Whenever I walk into my parents family room, I always catch snippets of the news. My father always has the news on in their house. Every now and again I will catch a word or phrase of a current event that will staple itself in my subconscious. My limited information is then awoken at the mention of the topic. After catching several snippets of information concerning Israel and Palestine, I was confused. I decided it was time to research the topic further and gain more understanding of the issue. What I found made me angry. My perspectives were drastically changed about the two nations. Palestine and Israel should seek to divide up the land that is causing the conflict. The two governments should come together, make an ultimate decision and form a treaty.

Making a treaty will help to dissolve the conflict between the two nations and bring an amount of peace and security to the people of Palestine as well as Israel. The treaty of Neuilly was a peace treaty with Bulgaria signed right after World War I. Bulgaria had forcibly taken land that was not their own. The treaty stated that they were required to give the land to what would be Yugoslavia and pay war reparations. I believe that Israel should do a similar thing for Palestine. Israel, like Bulgaria, has taken land that was not theirs. Since 1948, when they moved onto the land, they have been expanding. The actions of Israel have forced a majority of Palestinians to become refugees. The refugees of palestine do not feel safe or at peace. They have nowhere to live because they have been forced out of their homes and are persecuted if they stay. If they were given their land back, it would help to resolve the issue. In fact, The United Nations told Israel to withdraw from The West Bank, The Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem all Palestinian territory. Israel only withdrew from The Gaza Strip. Israel failed to cooperate with the United Nations requests. In 2002, Israel began construction on a wall deep in the Palestine territory to keep out Palestinian suicide bombers (GPF). Maybe if the land they are protecting wasnt stolen, they would not be having issues with suicide bombers. A treaty would help to put the inhabitants at ease. If the two nations worked together, the strong helping the weak, then no one would have to worry about suicide bombers or having a home.

I believe that Israel is in the wrong because it was not their land to take and persecute the people that live there just to gain power. Eva Bartlett, with Global Policy Forum interviewed a local Palestinian fisherman of the eastern Gaza Strip territory. The

man helped to renew the boycott of Israeli goods due to claims of agricultural oppression. Evas article states that Israeli forces attack very close to the border making a large percent of farmland unavailable to the farmers. Bartlett writes, The boycott action is two-fold. It calls for the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 242, which requests the withdrawal of occupation forces from the Gaza Strip. It simultaneously raises awareness of how Israeli settlements benefit from the oppression of Palestinian farmers (Bartlett). No country should be allowed to benefit from the oppression of another. The West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem should be given back to Palestine. The United Nations have told Israel to do so, but they have not listened. To validate and solidify the requests of the United Nations something in writing must be made. That is why I think a treaty would be best suited to rid the nations of this conflict.

Because It will boost both economies because they can focus on the peoples needs rather than conflict and military advancement. Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz wrote, Today, we know that this is nonsense. The 1990s boom showed that peace is economically far better than war. The Gulf War of 1991 demonstrated that wars can actually be bad for an economy (Pointon). War has a full circle affect. While Iraq was making threats against Kuwait, other nations were just getting over the cold war. Their focus was strictly on ending the war, so the nations did not heed Iraqs threats as credible. If they had not been involved in a war then it would have been possible to have paid more attention to Iraqs intentions. If there were no other wars happening, the Gulf war might have been prevented and many oil plants would not have been destroyed. An example of wars effects on an economy from the Gulf war is, after Iraq's invasion into Kuwait, oil

prices rose from $20 to $30 because of the peoples fear and unrest. The rise in prices is inflation. A large percentage of Kuwaits oil was destroyed from the conflict and it took them years to recover.

War has a profound effect on the economy, our government and its fiscal and monetary policies. These effects have consistently led to high inflation (Blanchard Economic Research:). War causes inflation; credible economist, James Galbraith agrees as well as libertarian Ron paul and Professor of economic history, David Hackett Fischer. The men listed above, agree that war causes inflation based on their experience and research. They also agree that because most countries have never seen a long enough laps from war, they have never been able to recover completely. Because of unrest in countries, inflation is still up. Fischer says this, In its economic impact the Korean War was similar to the world wars that had preceded it. Once again, inflationary pressures surged throughout the world. In 1950, wholesale prices jumped 12% in the United States, 18% in Germany, 21% in Britain, 28% in France, and 32% in Sweden (Fischer). Though this was over 50 years ago, the same concept holds true. All around the world, countries experience inflation and economic unrest due to war times. Another concept that Fischer presents is called inflationary expectations. He says that because of peoples fear of change they will react prior to any act of war. They start to raise prices for fear of change so they will be prepared incase something bad happens. If the people did not have to worry about the threat of war and what it might cause, we would not have this problem. If more wars were settled, there would be less inflation. Right now, Israel is benefitting from the oppression of Palestine. How long will the benefits last if they are products of

war and oppression? The Palestinians are rising up and starting boycotts to Israeli goods, like the fisherman in the Gaza Strip. Eventually something has to give, and I am betting it will be to Israel's loss.

The settling of the conflict will allow the Palestinians who fled or were forced out of their towns to return to their homes. If everyone played by the rules, we would have every refugee back home but there's a double standard with the laws in Jerusalem. Jewish Israelis are allowed to take land that was owned before 1948, but Palestinians are not allowed to do the same. An incident occurred where 23 palestinian families were promised the deed to land but they were never given the deed and the land was taken from underneath them by the Israeli court. Many Palestinians have had their homes destroyed and have been made refugees due to the injustices of Israel and their refusal to honor the UN agreement to withdraw from the remaining areas of land. A professor at a university in Gaza, Dr Haidar Eid says,...The second demand is the implementation of the United Nations resolution 194, the return of all Palestinian refugees to the towns and villages from which they were ethnically cleansed in 1948. The third demand is the end to Israels apartheid policies in Palestine 1948. We want equality (Eid).

I believe what Israel is doing is unjust and wrong. I do not think they are justified in their seizure of the three areas of land. I find it mind boggling that this has been going on since 1948 and no one has acted firmly enough to end it. These Palestinians are homeless because of one countries tyranny. The land is rightfully the Palestinians and again I believe the countries should come together and make a treaty to end the land

conflict, and Israel should give back the three areas of land. When human lives are in the balance, pride should be put aside for the good of fellow human beings. Societal injustices should be of the past, which is why an end to the Palestine Israel land conflict is necessary.

Works Cited

Trueman, Chris. "The Treaty of Neuilly." The Treaty of Neuilly.<http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/treaty_of_neuilly.htm>N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2013. "War Is Widely Thought To Be Linked To Economic Good Times NONSENSE."Washingtons Blog.<http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/11/nobelprize-winning-economist-war-is-widely-thought-to-be-linked-to-economic-good-timesnonsense.html> Washingtons Blog, 1 Nov. 2011. Web. 7 Oct. 2013. "War Causes Inflation And Inflation Allows The Government to Start Unnecessary Wars." Washingtons Blog.<http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/01/war-causesinflation-and-inflation-allows-the-government-to-start-unnecessary-wars.html> Washingtons Blog, 2 Jan. 2011. Web. 18 Oct. 2013.

Pointon, Dugdale. "The Gulf War 1990/1991." The Gulf War 1990/1991.<http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_gulf1990.html> N.p., 2 June 2002. Web. 18 Oct. 2013.

Lapidoth, Ruth. "Palestinian Refugees:Do Palestinian Refugees Have a Legal "Right of Return" to Israel?" Do Palestinian Refugees Have a Legal "Right of Return" to Israel?<http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/refreturn.html> AmericanIsraeli Cooperative Enterprise, n.d. Web. 9 Oct. 2013.

Hatuqa, Dalia. "Land: The Heart of the Conflict Between Palestine and Israel." AlMonitor.<http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/05/palestine-israel-conflictland.html> Al-Monitor Palestine Pulse, 18 Mar. 2013. Web. 9 Oct. 2013.

"Global Policy Forum." Land and Settlement Issues. <http://www.globalpolicy.org/security-council/index-of-countries-on-the-securitycouncil-agenda/israel-palestine-and-the-occupied-territories/land-and-settlementissues.html> Global Policy Forum, n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2013.

Bartlett, Eva. "Global Policy Forum." We Grow, They Bulldoze, We Re-Plant. <http://www.globalpolicy.org/security-council/index-of-countries-on-the-securitycouncil-agenda/israel-palestine-and-the-occupied-territories/land-and-settlement-

issues/52264-we-grow-they-bulldoze-we-re-plant.html?itemid=id#38340> N.p., 10 Feb. 2013. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.