PDP3- The Arab-Israeli Conflict (1967)

PDP3- The Arab-Israeli Conflict (1967)

Author Bio: The author of the first excerpt is Abba Eban. Abba Eban was an Israeli ambassador, diplomat, and politician. He felt that he was a professional protector of Israel; he had a very strong nationalist view of life. He was against Zionism, as well. The Palestinian National Charter, the third excerpt, was drafted by the Palestine Liberation Organization. This organization used armed struggle in order to achieve the liberation of Palestine.

Date/Context: These texts were written during the late twentieth century, in the 1960s, after World War 1. The discrepancies between Arab and Israel had remained constant after World War 1, then exceedingly intensified after Israel declared statehood in the late 1940s which then led to their greatest conflict: “Six Days War” of 1967. This time period was generally consumed by religious and nationalist disagreements and general harshness.

Summary: In Abba Eban’s speech, states that the main topic of his speech will be about the harsh past and hopeful future of the Middle East. His central idea, however, revolves around his homeland of Israel and the unfairness it has received. However, his speech ends by discussing the ways to end this controversy and that is by recognizing the necessity of true cooperation and true contact with other countries. The path to achieving this positive outcome, the author believes, lays within the city limits of Jerusalem. He asks both developing countries and great powers to make changes, or even sacrifices, to the way that they view themselves and other countries or nations. The second excerpt talks about how the Security General and others need to follow the Charter’s guidelines and principles to ensure the best possible outcome for them. The final excerpt then discusses the relationship of Arab Palestinian people and their identity. It also distinguishes the main points of a Palestine community and the different prospects of Arab unity. Finally, the excerpt talks about how necessary the liberation of Palestine is to Arab unity and vice versa and the way that Zionism is very unnecessary and not beneficial to any society, especially Israel.

Key Quotation: “Israel’s rights to peace, security, sovereignty, economic, development and maritime freedom­-indeed its very right to exist-has been forcibly denied and aggressively attacked. This is the true origin of the tension which torments the Middle East.”