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[pos495l-167world]

Israel – Palestine

One of the seven characteristics that Donald Snow, in his book “Cases in International Relations” is that territorial conflicts, like the one between Israel and Palestine, tend to be extremely emotional, deep and fundamental. The claims are rooted in some fundamental division such as religion, ethnicity, etc. The fundamental source of division also makes compromise solutions extremely difficult to discover (Snow, 2014). The Vox (2015) explains that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is over who gets what land and how it's controlled. Israel, is the only Jewish state in the world, and is located just east of the Mediterranean Sea, Palestinians in the other hand, is the Arab population that hails from the land Israel now controls. This political conflict began in the early 20th century, and has lead to two wars already, the first one in 1948 and the second one in 1967. The second war, left a huge impact in today’s politics, Israel took control of the west bank and Gaza strip, which are two big territories full of Palestinian families. The only way that either country could conceivably do so, would be to escalate the conflict to the point that it might become nuclear, which is an alternative that the international community would find unacceptable (Snow, 2014). The conflict between Israel and Palestine, meets all the requirements for an irresolvable conflict, the dispute over the ownership and sovereign control of the territory known to Muslims and Palestine and now largely controlled by Israel.

What’s the role of the United States in this whole situation then? According to the NewsHour (2006) historically, Washington has viewed Israel as a crucial political and economic ally in the oil-rich Middle East, and has provided Israel with the highest amount of financial and military assistance of any other foreign country. The U.S. supported Israel from its birth. The Truman administration recognized the newly declared state of Israel on May 14, 1948 literally minutes after this unilateral declaration was made (Admin, May 11, 2006). According to Devon (2013) what we think of today in terms of U.S. support, however really began in earnest following the 1967 war, when Israel demonstrated its worth as a regional partner by defeating the combined armies of the neighboring Arab states in just six days, following its surprise attack on Egypt that started the war on June 5. Israel consistently votes with the US at the UN, and even highly controversial US actions, for example the invasion of Grenada or the 1986 bombing of Libya. Israel and the US collaborate closely on intelligence gathering. Most of this is classified, of course, but of the publicly available material, in this big argument, the position of The United States, is obvious.

 The Vox (2015). Everything you need to know about Israel-Palestine. Retrieved July 13, 2015, from: http://www.vox.com/cards/israel-palestine/intro

Snow, D. (2014). Cases in International  Relations. Boston: Pearson.

Admin (May 11, 2006). U.S. Role in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. PBS NewsHour. Retrieved July 13, 2015, from: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/middle_east-jan-june06-us_05-11/

Devon, Douglas (December 2, 2013). The U.S. Role In the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Foreign Policy Journal. Retrieved July 13, 2015, from: http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2013/12/02/the-u-s-role-in-the-israeli-palestinian-conflict/

[pos495l-167world]

Iran, characterizes itself as the most consequential state in the region and as the dominant state in the Persian Gulf region, as well on the basis of that perception, it believes its interests are of paramount importance in the region and even beyond. The U.S and Iran, since 1979, have been involved in a superpower pivotal state struggle. For the U.S secretary of state, Iran constitutes the single most important single state challenge to the United States, and the kind of Middle East we seek. According to the New York Times (March 2, 2015), the United States wants a rigorous inspections and limits to the agreement that will prevent Iran from producing enough fuel for a nuclear weapon within a year. Iran, in the other hand, says that they should be able to produce nuclear energy for medical purposes; they reject the fact that negotiations and agreements don’t go together. The relation between a major power, which is The United States, and a pivotal region power, Iran, is about the disagreement on the “Iran’s nuclear program. The U.S maintains that Iran’s nuclear program is intended to result in nuclear weapons possession, which leads the possibility to share them with terrorist. For the world, Nuclear weapons in the hands of the Iranian regime will have severe repercussions for American security.  Iran having a nuclear weapons capability can potentially directly threaten the United States and its inhabitants. The U.S. Department of Defense, for example, reported in April 2012: “With sufficient foreign assistance, Iran may be technically capable of flight-testing an intercontinental ballistic missile by 2015.”

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