In this lesson, we did have a conference which was headed by a person who comes from Israel and has lived the conflict closer.
1. What did I learn?
Israel is a country of the middle east, it is considered a strategic point due to its petroleum and coal resources. it is a small country, actually Colombia is bigger 52 times, so we can imagine how small is its territory. We are talking about a 7 millions population which 78 percent are jewish, 16.1 percent musulmans, 2.1 percent are cristians, among others. Its main cities are: Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Israel has got a Parliament Democracy, elections are run every 4 years, there are political parties form right and left wing which at the end of the day those parties has got a central view since they are not well defined, the parliament is called Knéset. There is a primer minister who belongs to the biggest political party. Also there is a president, the current primer minister is Ehud Olmert and the president is Shimon Peres.
The education is such an important issue in Israel; it is an obligation to go to school to those children from 5 years old to 18 years old. It is a prohibiton to hire children to work, unless the job is a summer season one. After 18 years old, everyone is taken to the army, regardless whether women or men. After 21 age, it is forced people to practice the war in the army, most people is dedicated still to this kind of taks.
Moving to other perspective, Israel has got the 4 seasons, which is appropriate for the agriculture sector. There is a great water scarcity, unemployment is another issue, there is 8 to 9 percent and the minimum salary is around USD 1000 . The government gives salaries for nine months if the person has not got a job.
Culturally, Israel is a immigrants country, there are several culures, the official languages are Arabic and Hebreo but english is well understood in many cities; they have got 2 calendars, the gregorian one and the jewish , the lattest is a moon calendar.
THE CONFLICT
Until 1916 Israel was part of the otoman imperialism, after France and Great Britain divided the half the zone. Sinai was french and palestina and Jordania, english.
In 1947, the UN carried out the partition plan which result was 2 territories: Israelians and Arabians.
In 1948 there was an independency war, Israelians Vs Arabians in order to take lands.
The six days war, Israel attacked Egypt, conquering the Sinai peninsula until the Suez Chanel, also Cisjordania and West Jerusalem. Nowadays, israelians troops presence remain in those territories. Moreover, troops from United States went in order to stop the conflict in the zone.
The rebel group Hammas is which wants to establish a Islamic state is hte Palestinian zone. It has been declarade as a terrorist group by the UN, UE, USA, Japan, Canada and Australia.
At the end of the conference we did see a documental which showed off the reality, the cruel reality and the violence experienced in that zone of middle east tension. I must say that i did not stand the images of that document, they were very cold, unfortunatelly we are talking about a reality.
2. Question: Could the Islam and West be compatible someday?
3. Answer: The conflict comes from the arabian invasion to the Iberic peninsula at the beggining of S. VIII. Facts such as the 9/11 attacks, makes think a rebirth of past conflicts. At the same time, the irak invasion and the palestian- israelian conflict open fear about the old rivalries between west and the islamic world.
4. Sources:
- Conference by a Israelian person: Palestian - israelian conflict.
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