Why is the Arab-Israeli Conflict difficult to solve?

Answer 1

Answer 1

The problem is that both sides have legitimacy in certain claims and extremists who would rather derail the process of negotiations than not get everything in their wishlists. The Israelis and the Palestinians who truly want to live together in peace respecting each others' Rights to Exist have had to consistently those who would rather stir up antagonism and hatred on both sides.

Arab Answer

Simply, because of the Arab lands occupied by the Israelis. The Arabs, through the Arab League made the initiative that Israelis withdraw from the Arab lands occupied in war 1967 and all the Arab States start political, economic and diplomatic relations with Israel. However, the Israelis ignored the initiative completely.

Israeli Answer

The above answer is disingenuous about what the Arab League Initiative represents and while it does say that all Arab nations will have peaceful and diplomatic relations with the State of Israel at its conclusion, the Initiative does not provide for major Israeli concerns. The foremost of these concerns is that not every Palestinian can live in the Jewish State of Israel. Doing this would remove its Jewish Character and make Israel a de facto Arab State. This is a non-starter. The Arabs are to be commended for making a great compromise, but they refused to negotiate any terms in the Saudi Peace Initiative and made it a "take it or leave it" deal. This inability of the Arabs to seriously mind Israeli concerns and be open to a full negotiation is the reason why the Initiative failed, not an unwillingness of the Israelis to accept peace.

However, the Arabs are not the only ones furthering the conflict. The Israeli government currently is belligerent and encourages settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, hampering the peace process. On the flip side, Gaza is run by the Militant Terrorist Organization Hamas which constantly attacks Israel and is not interested in fruitful negotiations. Both sides are At Fault for the current rounds of fighting, but the bottom line is that at the end of the day, most Israelis and Palestinians in the former British Mandate of Palestine realize that a Two-State Solution is the only one that is viable. It is Jews and Arabs outside of this area who still demand total victory for their side.

Answer 3

Religion. Jews and Muslims don't like each other.

Answer 4

Many years ago the region of Palestine had Jews, Christians, and Muslims with relatively minimal violence.

Lots of Jews in other countries were being pushed out because people were jealous of their wealth or just wanted their farms, so certain politicians and rulers who believed that The Bible was true decided to allow some of the Jews to live in Palestine.

Those who arrived in Palestine decided that, as this was their home, more Jews should live there.

In 1948 the politicians in other countries agreed to split Palestine into separate areas for Jews and Palestinians, this started a war between the Palestinians and the Jews which the Jews won.

Ever since that time the Jews, (Israelis), have been pushing out the Palestinians, (mostly Muslims), from their land and the other Muslim states have been helping the Palestinians.

Additional Information

There are many additional reasons. Please see the Related Question to read about the Causes of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, many of which have not yet been resolved.

Answer 2

The Arab-Israeli Conflict is actually quite easy to solve and has been solved in numerous thinktanks across the world. The problem is that any particular solution will anger one or more parties since many parties are not willing to be conciliatory enough to implement any of those ideas.

Both sides have some realistic demands and some unrealistic demands. When leaders can sit down and have an honest conversation to their people. Negotiations and solutions require that each party to the dispute face a certain and repulsive truth, which is that they will have to sacrifice some of their wants for their needs. There are large contingents on both sides that want everything on their wishlist or nothing at all and the leadership on both sides has either actively encouraged this idea or said nothing to abate it. The reason is that telling people unpopular truths does not result in people liking the politician, but bellicose words can definitely improve ratings.

In terms of the general issues holding the two groups back, please see the Related Question below which discusses the problems in detail.

Answer 3

International focus groups and thinktanks have come up with solutions and there have been several peace treaties attempted, but there are too many people who are too unwilling to compromise to implement them. People on both sides are far too interested in justice and not interested enough in peace and tranquility.

Answer 4

All of the parties involved have made strong and deliberate actions to avoid a peaceful settlement. Israelis are continuing to build settlements in the West Bank and Blockade Gaza, preventing the Palestinians from properly developing a State of their own. Palestinian organizations like Hamas refuse to recognize Israel as a Jewish State and only recognize "partial truces" with it. American benefactors support Israel without encouraging it to abandon the practice of the settlements. Arab Nations do not try to engage Israel openly and honestly and believe in holding the Palestinians in refugee camps while they continue to demand that Israel host all of the refugees, something which they know is a non-starter with Israel.