One of the most lasting and volatile of all the world's conflicts is the struggle between the Israelis and the Arabs. Although the conflict began around the turn of the 20th century, Christian theologians believe that the conflict actually started with Abraham (known as the father of the Jewish nation) who had two sons, Isaac with his Jewish wife Sara; and Ishmael with Hagar who was Sara's Arab handmaid. Essentially, Sara was too old to bear children and allowed Abraham to lay with Hagar. As a result, Hagar became pregnant. Consequently, Sara became jealous and brought her great affliction. Many years later Sara became pregnant and ordered Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away as she is not willing to allow the son of her handmaid to be an heir to Abraham's possessions. Although this is a biblical story not proven fact, one could assume that the overtones of hate, fear and jealousy resonate in today's events in the Middle East. The overall goal of this essay is to demonstrate the history of the conflict along with the United States" involvement with the Middle East; specifically, the geographical, historical, economical and diplomatic relationships with Israel, Palestine and Iraq.
History of the Conflict.
One could assume that religion is the catalyst for conflict between the two groups. However, although these two groups have different religions, religious differences are not the cause of the conflict. Essentially the struggle is over land. The area of land is actually small (approximately 10,000 square smiles) and lies between the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. Until 1948, the area that both groups claim was known internationally as Palestine. Following the War of 1948 this land was divided into three parts: the state of Israel, the West Bank (of the Jordan River) and the Gaza Strip. Currently the Gaza Strip and the West Bank are disputed territories occupied by Israel.