[pic 1]
The Israeli economy and the Arab- Israeli Conflict from 1948 to the present
POS 403: Arab - Israeli Conflict
Prepared by: Jill Barakat - 20131988
Prepared to: Dr. Farid El Khazen
Outline
Introduction ………………………………………………………….. p.
- Refugees:
- Present Absentees …….………………………..…………………………. p.
- Bedouins ….…………………………..…………………………. p.
- Settlements .………………………………………………………… p.
- Jerusalem and Holy Sites ....……………………………………………………… p.
- Foreign Aid ………………………………………………………… p.
Conclusion ………………………………………………………… p.
“Security and Economic Development are Two Sides of the Same Coin” (A Shish Kumar Sin, Atlantic council Newspaper, January 12, 2016). It is generally assumed by economic theorists that security is a prerequisite to economic growth; however, the case of Israel counter-argues this assumption. Israel’s war-torn history has not hindered it from developing a modern, diversified, and rigid economy. Israel has been a major player or even the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict since its official establishment and independence in 1948 and even before. Its economy is ranked in the 18 nations in the world according to the UN’s Human Development Index, 2015.
Nevertheless, many issues have been piling up since the first Zionist delegation have been sent to settle in Palestinian Land in the early 90s. Despite the fact that Israel have been recognized as an independent state in 1948, many issues keep on challenging its economy because its requirements prior to establishment were people’s immigration to a country which already has a population, resources of which some are already being used by an Arab population, a land with no specific borders… resulting in daily minor and major clashes and identity crisis among them.
- Refugees:
- Present Absentees:
People who initially lived in this territory were known as Palestinian Arabs or Palestinians and the main clashes that were happening were between Arabs and Israelis to protect those people’s right in staying in their homes and to prevent them from foreign occupation. Yet, this never worked; the state of Israel got recognized by the major powers then, immediately after its independence and a lot of Arab Palestinians were forcely removed or expelled from their homes but remained in the area. Present absentees are not permitted to live in the homes they formerly lived in, even if the property still exists. They are regarded as absent by the Israeli government because they were missing from their homes on an average of a few days, even if they left them involuntarily. Present absentees are mainly constituted of non-Jews thus causing a lot of inner conflicts preventing stability within the country. Displacement did not end with the 1948 war (Al-Naqba), it remained till the present time.
Other internally displaced persons are those who were displaced by ongoing home demolitions performed against unlicensed structures or in unrecognized areas of living. Also, recently, Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories and who have been displaced because of the construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier have also been added to this margin of the population. As it was for most other Palestinian refugees, the homes and properties of internally displaced Palestinians were placed under the control of a government body; unlike other Palestinian refugees, the internally displaced Palestinians and others who remained inside what became Israel were made citizens by the Citizenship Law of July 1952. That same year Israel requested that UNRWA transfer responsibility for registering and caring for internally displaced persons to Israel and basic humanitarian assistance was provided to the internally displaced for a time