Wars in modern Arab history has been caused by quite a number of factors. The armed conflict being experienced in Arab world today is not a new phenomenon at all. Historical records demonstrate that widespread conflict in Arab world can be traced back from over 500 years ago.
However, the Arab-Palestinian conflict is a vivid example of armed conflict that has led to massive human suffering. This essay briefly examines the history, causes, events and consequences of armed conflicts in modern Arab history.
To begin with, religious civilization in Arab has its roots in the 7th century. History expounds that Islamic religion was founded by Mohammad (Anon. 2010). The idea behind holy war (jihad) entailed armed conflict to protect Islamic religion (Fulford, 2010).
On the same note, religious matters in Arab world have been a major cause of armed conflict between Islamic nations and infidels. Today, xenophobia and nationalism have apparently spread very fast due to religion (Ghazal, 2010). Additionally, Arabs have formed a very large empire in Asia, Africa and other parts of the world.
In their declaration, Muslims intended to replace secular governments with their rule based on sharia (Anon. 2010). This has been the main reason why a call for unity in Islamic religion is crucial among its believers.
Through religion, Arabs have declared intolerance among Christians and Jews. Instances of brutal killings meted on Christians and non-Muslims are on the raise.
Moreover, inhuman acts such as terrorism and suicide bombings of non-Muslims have often been perpetrated by Muslims as they seek to protect their religious ideals and supreme God-Allah (Fulford, 2010). Due to this, modern Arab world is seriously engaging itself in armed conflict with nations that oppose such religious practices.
Before the rise of Islam, nation of Israel had already been established back in 1300 BCE (Bowman & Wilson, 2010). The Israelites trace their roots from their founding father Abraham, and as such, they have sustained and maintained culture and language shaped by their religion and heritage that still stand to date having passed through many generations (Takeyh, 2010).
For the last 3300 years to date, Jewish community has continued to occupy their land even after they lost dominance over it 2000 years ago (Anon. 2010). It is important to note that Israel lost control of their land after Romans conquered Jerusalem. Their land was occupied by crusaders, Arabs and Romans among others.
In 1948, Jews who had been dispersed from the Diaspora trickled back into their land. After settling down, a group known as Palestinians came and occupied part of that same land (Ghazal, 2010). By fact, Palestinians are Arabs even though they have a distinct culture from Arabs.
One of the reasons why Arabs and Israelites are always in conflict is the fight to win control of Palestinian land. It is important to note that United Nation partitioned the land that is being fought over in 1948 with an aim of ending continuous conflict between Arabs and Israelites (Bowman & Wilson, 2010).
Palestine was placed between Israel and the Arab state. However, the desire to control the Gaza strip and West Bank which is currently being controlled byJordan, has been one of the major reasons for modern Arab wars (Herf, 2009). The Arabs are displeased with Israeli military occupation and control of Palestinian borders.
Furthermore, the Palestinians are under constant harassment by Israeli forces manning their borders and who also kill, kidnap, injure, beat and strip women, children and men (Ghazal, 2010). They also bar medicine and food from reaching Palestinians and block pregnant women from accessing healthcare facilities.
These events have all culminated to massive human suffering not to mention high human casualty recorded each year.. The worsening living conditions has pushed most Arabs into armed conflicts in order to defend their rights and sovereignty.
After Israel was conquered by Romans, most of them went into exile. Upon returning, there was need to resettle them. However, before they could fully settle, the idea of Palestinians and land issues caused a problem between them and the Arabs. The Arabs strongly opposed partition of the land as proposed and done by United Nations since there was need to resettle refugees.
As a result, they promised Israel a holy war not unless they gain full possession of the land in question (Anon., 2010). The years following partition of the land by UN were marked with pograms and persecutions on the Jews meted by Arabs. Today, Jewish refugees from Arab countries are extremely larger in number similar to Arab refugees during partition (Fulford, 2010).
The estimated number of Jewish refugees is one million. The need to resettle them, the land to resettle them into and the means are some of the causes of conflicts between them and the non-Muslim Israeli.
As already hinted out, modern war embroiling Arab nations has resulted into calamitous consequences in the society. For instance, the fight over Palestinian land has put lives of Palestinians under danger from Israeli troops who have continued to treat the locals cruelly by killing, kidnapping, injuring, beating and strip searching women, children and men (Takeyh, 2010).
They also bar medicine and food from reaching Palestinians and block pregnant women from reaching hospitals causing a humanitarian crisis (Bowman, & Wilson, 2010). Additionally, terrorism acts and counter- terrorism actions has jeopardized both human lives and property.
Moreover, there is a growing number of civilians who have been displaced only to worsen refugee crisis in the region. Needless to say, the various armed conflicts have grossly thwarted development in the region due to insecurity concerns. This has apparently scared off both local and foreign investors.
References
Anon. (2010). Letters to the Editor. The Journal of American History, 97(3), 921-924. Bowman, J., & Wilson, R (2010). Recent publications. The Middle East Journal, 64(2), 325-329.
Fulford, R. (2010). The spirit of the west in the jihad era. Queen’s Quarterly, 117(4), 507-515.
Ghazal, A. (2010). The other frontiers of Arab nationalism: Ibadis, Berbers, and the Arabist-Salafi press in the interwar period. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 42(1), 105-122.
Herf, J. (2009). Nazi Germany’s Propaganda Aimed at Arabs and Muslims During World War II and the Holocaust: Old Themes, New Archival Findings. Central European History, 42(4), 709-736.
Takeyh, R. (2010). The Iran-Iraq War: A Reassessment. The Middle East Journal, 64(3), 365-383.