For a long time, the world has been characterized by various political conflicts and disputes. The Palestine and Israeli conflict stands out among all the other conflicts mostly due to the fact that it has been inexistence for a long time. It is multifaceted as it is a result of many factors such as control of Jerusalem, border disputes, security, freedom of movement of Palestinians, water rights and settlement of Israel, to mention just a few.
The conflict has generated a lot of violence which has been a mater of international concern and various actions have been taken against both parties in an attempt to reduce or eliminate it. The problem worsened after the Oslo peace records collapsed in September 2002. There may have been many factors that may have led to the failure of Oslo, but most studies illustrate that culture played a great role in the same.
This is due to the fact that it influences the preferences and the strategies of various political leaders, determines domestic politics as well as affecting the perception, behavior and intentions of the parties involved (Wittes pp. 7). Palestine and Israel conflict is a far much complicated issue. Therefore, this essay shall discuss cultural aspects of the same, laying more focus on Palestine.
Political culture is defined as “attitudes towards the political system and its various parts, and attitudes towards the role the self in the system” (Wittes pp. 5). It is easy to conclude that differences in political culture contribute greatly to the conflict. However, this does not apply while focusing on Israel and Palestine as the two have never been cultural strangers.
Nonetheless, their cultural understanding towards each other not only contributes to the conflict but hampers the negotiation process. For instance, Palestinians believe that Israel came about due to crimes which were committed by Hitler. Therefore, they believe that they are not supposed to shoulder the responsibility that was as a result of the Western colonial era.
Additionally, Palestinians view themselves as victims of the Nkaba which took part in the year 1948 and 1949 and they have continued to harbor bitterness especially due to the loss that was incurred during that particular period. Palestine continues to hold Israel responsible for the loss and have much trouble with the stand of Israel of not allowing the refugee from Palestine to return back to their homeland.
While Israel is not ready to accept anything that questions their existence as a Jewish State, Palestine is not ready to accept anything which was unacceptable initially as studies of Wittes (pp.10) illustrate. For instance, changing the Palestine Liberation Organization was not easy and it took quite some time.
On the same note, it is important to mention that, due to the same issue, politicians from Israel were not ready to discuss the issue of refugee return publicly. In addition, Palestine emphasizes too much on some key principles like the right of self determination as well as the fact that a territory ought not to be acquired by war at all costs.
Such issues increase the sensitivity on both sides and it becomes quite difficult to carry out any negotiation. Each country believes that it is politically superior to the other and due to that, none is ready to give in during negotiation aimed at resolving the conflict (Goldberg Para 2 % Al-Masri Para 6 ).
Religion has also had a great role to play on the conflict between Israel and Palestine despite the fact that there are only three religions in the region which are inclusive of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Since Jerusalem city is significant to the three religions, conflict arises since both countries seek to retain Jerusalem for religious purposes.
Palestine has been claiming all the parts of Jerusalem that were not initially part of Israel before 1967. United States proposed a plan which was aimed at resolving the Jerusalem conflict in the year 2000 and 2001.
The plan had proposed that the Jewish parts of the city were to be retained by Israel while the Arab parts were to be retained by Palestine. Although both countries had accepted the proposal, the summit failed and the conflict was not resolved (Oren, Bar-Tal & David pp. 134).
Ethnic aspect of Palestine and Israel contributes to the conflict greatly and hinders some attempts aimed at resolving the same conflict. Israel consists mainly of Jews while Palestinians consist mainly of Arabs and the two ethnic groups have got different political views and principles. For example, Palestinians believe that they have suffered greatly from Israel violent attacks and continue to be victims up to date.
On the other hand, study of the history illustrates that Arabs from Palestine have been conducting various violent attacks not only in Israel but also in other places especially after the establishment of Oslo records. Palestinians believe that they only get involved in wars as a result of Israeli’s aggression.
Study has indicated that despite the fact that the conflict is an international concern, it might persist unless a sound intervention is sought. It is not possible to underestimate the contribution of various programs and summits that have been established.
Nevertheless, it is important to take into consideration the cultural contribution to the conflict since various studies have demonstrated that ethos contributes greatly to the same (Yaalon pp. 149). Each party has got its own society beliefs that are a major hindrance to resolving the conflict. Any peace mission should be aimed at changing the beliefs of every society especially concerning the goals of the conflict.
Therefore, cultural beliefs ought to be changed to focus mainly on peace building. Lastly, it is important to create a change that will allow for establishment of trust, respect as well as sensitivity of each party’s needs. Such a step is very important as it can give room for negotiation which can eventually lead to reconciliation.
Works Cited
Al-Masri, Hani. ” Palestinian and Arabib Media and the Issue of Refugees.” Stocktaking Confrence on Palestinian Refugee Research. Otawa, Canada, 2003. Print.
Goldberg, Effrey. No Common Ground. 2009. Web.
Oren, Neta, Daniel Bar-Tal and Ohad David. “Conflict, Identity and Ethos: The Islrael Palestine Case.” Psychology of Ethnic and Cultural Conflict. Print.
Wittes,Tamara, Cofman. How Israelis and Palestinians negotiate: a cross-cultural analysis of the Oslo peace process. Washington: US Institute of Peace Press, 2005. Print.
Yaalon, Moshe. “A New Strategy for the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.” Jerusalem Issue Briefs 2 September 2008. Print.