Israel-Palestinian Conflict in the Media: Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera's headlines are typically fair, but lead to a story with a slight pro-Palestine slant.

Modern Conflict

Since the Oslo Accords negotiated under the Clinton presidency, the West Bank has been governed by the Palestinian Liberation Organization and its political party, Fatah, while remaining under Israel security control, and Gaza has been given more autonomy and the right to be governed on its own as well. Currently Gaza has elected Hamas leaders to power, which has caused problems for Israel since they label Hamas a terrorist group. In 2011, Hamas and Fatah, long-time rivals, reconciled, causing Israel to attack Gaza to stop the union. In 2012, Egypt brokered a ceasefire to end the attack, and it held until June 2014. In June, several events occurred, including the formation of the Palestinian Unity Government, increased attacks on Israel, and Hamas firing rockets into Israel, that led to Operation Brother's Keeper. The operation lasted until the end of August, and many Palestinian civilians and a relatively small amount of Israelis, mostly soldiers, died during the operation. This operation is the main focus of the research done for this blog.

History of the Conflict

Israel currently controls land in Gaza and the West Bank. Israel claims that it has a right to the land as its historical homeland promised to its people in the Torah, but the Muslim population living in the Palestinian Territories claim a right as well in accordance with the Quran. The main dispute is over the city of Jerusalem, which both Jews and Muslims claim as a holy site. Another point of tension is the Israeli creation of settlements in the West Bank and its occupation of the West Bank and the border of Gaza, which keeps the Palestinian people from having a sovereign nation. However, it was not always this way. Although Jewish-Muslim conflict is centuries old, the modern conflict begins with British control of the region. When Britain gained control over Palestine in 1917, they had several problems with internal violence between Israelis and Muslims, and so they proposed a United Nations resolution that aimed to stop the conflict by creating two separate states. The resolution passed in the United Nations, but was rejected by the Arab people living in the region, which led to greater violence and bloodshed. In 1948, the Jewish state was established and recognized by the United States. In a show of force against Israel, surrounding Arab states, including Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq, invaded Israel. Surprisingly, the smaller Israel army won a decisive victory, while keeping control of its own land and gaining control of 60% of the land designated for an Arab state. Since this decisive war in 1948, there have been several conflicts between Israel and neighboring states, but there has also been peace established with some states, such as the peace made between Egypt and Israel through the Camp David Peace Accords.

Israel-Palestinian Conflict in the Media

Monday, December 15, 2014

Al Jazeera

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