Palestine Essay

The area of Palestine is one of the most disputed in the world, and has been for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Even the area that is considered Palestine is not agreed upon, and those who generally concur on Palestine’s borders differ on who rightfully owns the land and who should be allowed to stay there. Palestine, defined by most sources as Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza (Dershowitz pg), has been fought over from the time Hebrews arrived in their promised land around 1400 ʙᴄᴇ to the present day, and has such a convoluted and disagreed upon history that it is nearly impossible to tell who has the best historical claim to the region. At the present time, the two groups fighting over the region are the Israelis and the Palestinians …show more content…
During the Arabic literary revival in the mid 19th century, the differences between the Arabs of Palestine and the Ottoman Turks that they were living under began to become more apparent. The movement started both Arabic and Turkish nationalist sentiment that continues to this day. The Arabs felt that they deserved their own land, similar to how the Jewish people wish for a land of their own, where they could live in peace and not be ruled over by a foreign government. Arabs argued that since they had been living in Palestine for nearly 1400 years, albeit under different rulers, they deserved to finally rule over themselves, and that the land belonged to them (Peretz 5-6). This nationalist sentiment has lasted until today, with the Arabs still fighting for a land of their own, just as the Jews are. The Arab nationalists believe that the entirety of Palestine should be theirs, and do not want to give away their land to those who had not inhabited the land for nearly 2000 years, and had not even been there for as long as they had. Also similar to the Jewish argument, Arabs also argue that they deserve Palestine because they have a religious connection to the land, as it is holy to all