Security Dilemma in the Israel-Palestine War Essay

Introduction

Scholars have critically evaluated war since days in memorial; they have researched the 1^st and 2^nd World Wars, the cold war, the gulf war and other wars like the Israeli Palestine war.

They ended up with different theories that are used to explain the exact causes of these wars, some of the most notable theories that the scholars came up with included the war theory, the game theory and the security dilemma. These theories will play a vital role in covering the paper thus coming up with a proper proposal that is likely going to oversee the end of the Israel Palestine conflict.

The hypothesis

This paper will highlight the security dilemma; the theory indicates that a nation’s security is in a position of strengthening or weakening as a result of its actions and interaction with other nations surrounding it. Thus both theories exhibit the independent and dependent variables (Glaser, pgs 171-201).

The independent variable in security dilemma indicates that a nation is stronger than its neighbors thus it is in a position of protecting itself from the other neighboring nations that might pose any threat to it, while the dependent variable indicates that a given nation is weaker than its neighbors and the latter will take a great advantage and invade the country in order to show that they are more superior.

Therefore, both the independent and dependent theories are viewed as factors that affect the existence of peace internationally (Jervis186-214). The Middle East crisis that is also known as the Israel-Palestine war is a great example, the Middle East (Israel-Palestine war) crisis will form the basis of the paper as strategic analysis of the crisis are going to be conducted.

The Independent and Dependent Variables in Security Dilemma

As suggested by Xin 5, independent variable in the security dilemma is seen as the constant and more predominant factor that causes a war, in security dilemma the most notable factor that causes a war is the superior nature of a nation over its neighbors, which includes a wide range of military equipments, well trained military personnel and a sound economy.

Therefore, a nation that is financially stable and also has the best experienced military personnel will be in a position of being proactive to its neighboring nations (Glaser 201).

Dependent variables in security dilemma are seen to be factors that push a nation that is relatively weaker to the extent of being aggressive or hostile towards its neighbors as a way of safeguarding its sovereignty (Xin 7).

The factors that contribute to the variable include the military, financial, technical support by allies of the nation, territorial disputes, self defense or even reaction to an invasion from another nation amongst other aspects that will disrupt the peace between the nations (Huth 45).

War as a result of Security Dilemma is said to be constituted by these different variables, thus, resulting in the existence of war between the nations, in this case war between nations occurs as a result of a dependent variable that triggers the independent variable that eventually results in the war between these nations (Jervis 214).

Example of a war in the Middle East crisis (Israel-Palestine war)

The most commonly known war that demonstrates the security dilemma theory is the Israel-Palestine war. The war was triggered by the sudden invasion of the Jews into Palestinian land. This is where the Jews were extending their territorial boundaries while the Palestinians were protecting their land from foreign invasion; this conflict definitely resulted in the conflict that is currently being encountered in the Middle East.

Negative implication of the security dilemma theory

War is considered as the main option or resort in case the dialogue fails to yield desired results. It should be noted that war has got negative impacts on both the nation and its people; it happens because economy will be seriously influenced. On the same note, innocent lives are lost in the process of the war, thus, reducing the total income generation of the nation.

Similarly the war would negatively affect the health of people in the nation since the healthcare sector may experience shortage of the necessary requirements such as food, proper medical care amongst other necessary requirements that sustain good health (Ishmael 2-8).

Alternative theory

The most appropriate theory in this case would be the game theory, this is where one nation will be willing to lose to the extent of a win by another nation. The theory tends to ensure that the war ends up in a purely zero sum situation where one nation will totally lose while the other one will win resulting in the end of the war (McIntosh par 4).

Explanation of the theories in my own words

According to my own understanding, the security dilemma theory is the theory that aims at ensuring that a nation and its citizens are secure, this is where a country strives in making itself and its citizens more secure from any form of foreign invasions.

The theory indicates that when a country is striving to make itself more secure by improvising or introducing measures that will make it more secure, it is indirectly making itself insecure as its neighbors will be thinking that the nation is preparing to attack them. For this reason they (the later country) attack the nation before it becomes too stronger and definitely resulting in the war (Glaser 171).

This is noted in the Israel-Palestine war as the Israelites equip themselves with modern equipments from their allies like the United States of America and the United Kingdom.

This is seen by the Palestines as a great challenge or threat and in the process Palestine attacked the Israel as a result of the fear that Israel is equipping itself solemnly to attack Palestine. To water down Israel’s strength, Palestine believes that the only way is to attack Israel before its territories start attacking (Huth 48).

The main contributors of war according to this theory includes

There are constant cases of threats that are being reported, this is where leaders of the respective nations give threats to other leaders. This creates tension which culminates in war because the leaders of the respective nations do not know what the other leaders are thinking which results in a continued conflict between the nations as the leaders are not straight in their efforts at stopping the war (Xin 5-8).

Institutions create peace by decreasing transaction costs; Institutions like the United Nations are seen as some of the leading organizations that are aimed at ensuring that peace in the Middle East is reached; this institution plays a significant role in determining the most appropriate measures that will ensure that peace in the Middle East is realized.

This is when major sanctions on the warring nations are applied in order to ensure that they abide by the rules thus restoring peace between the two warring nations (Jervis186-214).

Case study (The Israel- Palestine war)

The theory of security dilemma is well portrayed in The Israel- Palestine war; this is because one nation aims at securing itself at the expense of her neighbor. Each country is becoming more insecure, as a result of constant attacks from its neighbor (Ishmael 2).

The conflict between Israel and Palestine is seen as a security dilemma theory where the nations don’t trust one another, which is possibly because of the rampart threats and attacks that both the nation leaders and citizens conduct (McIntosh par 4).

The former Palestine and Israel leaders Yasser Arafat and Ariel Sharon think that given perspective in that they would hold closed door today and later on after the meeting, they would go against the proposed solutions. Their acts imposed threats on their neighbors, these threats resulted in war that triggered by the words of the leaders (Jervis 186).

The citizens of the respective nations also played a vital role in promoting of the war; this is when the Palestine civilians (suicide bombers) would conduct suicide bomb attacks on the Israeli civilians.

In this case the suicide bombers would attack the innocent and unarmed Israeli citizens in public places, the Palestinians would also launch missile attacks in places where the Israeli’s are thus provoking the Israeli military forces into attacking the Palestinian militia groups (Ishmael 8).

Israel’s long list of foreign allies has also played a very significant role in the security dilemma theory, Israel receives a lot of financial, technological and military assistance from its allies which helps Israel to increase its military power over Palestine. This definitely results in Palestine attacking Israel as a result of fear of being attacked first by Israel (Huth 48).

Works sited

Glaser, Charles. “The Security Dilemma Revisited.” World Politics 50.1 (1997): 100-225. Print.

Huth, Paul. Deterrence and International Conflict: Empirical findings and theoretical debates. Oxford University: Oxford University Press, 1999. Print.

Ishmael, Peterson “Theory of War and Its Implementation in Palestine-Israel Case” Final Paper of Politics and International Security Subject. 2003. Web.

Jervis, Robert. “Cooperation under the Security Dilemma” World Politics 30.2 (1978): 23-98. Print.

McIntosh, Christine. “Palestine, Israel and the Just War theory” 2009. Web.

Xin, Benjian. “Security Dilemma, Balance of Power vs. US Policy towards China in the Post-Cold War Era”. 2001. Web.