Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Israel and Palestine
Earlier in this chapter, we discussed the history of the con-
fl ict over the sacred space of Jerusalem. The region of
Israel and Palestine is home to one of the most contentious
religious confl icts in the world today. In the aftermath
of World War I, European colonialism came to a region
that had previously been controlled and fought over by
Jews, Romans, Christians, Muslims, and Ottomans. A
newly formed League of Nations (a precursor to the United
Nations) recognized British control of the land, calling the
territorial mandate Palestine. At that point, the vast major-
ity of people living in the land were Muslim Palestinians.
The goal of the British government was to meet Zionist
goals and to create, in Palestine, a national homeland for
the Jewish people (who had already begun to migrate to
the area). The British explicitly assured the world that the
religious and civil rights of existing non-Jewish peoples in
Palestine would be protected. The British policy did not
produce a peaceful result, however. Civil disturbances
erupted almost immediately, and, by 1947-1948, Jews and
Palestinians engaged in open warfare.
In the wake of World War II and the Holocaust,
many more Jews moved to the region. Shortly after the
war, the British mandate ended, and the newly formed
United Nations voted to partition Palestine—creating
independent Israeli and Palestinian states. From the
drawing of the fi rst map, the partitioning plan was set for
failure (see Fig. 3.11). Palestinians and Israelis were to live
in noncontiguous states. Surrounding Arab states reacted
violently against the new Jewish state. Israel survived
through numerous wars in which Palestinians lost their
lands, farms, and villages. As a consequence of war and the
consolidation of the Israeli state, Palestinians migrated or
fl ed to refugee camps in neighboring Arab states.
In the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Israel gained con-
trol of the Palestinian lands in Gaza, the West Bank, and
the Golan Heights. The international community calls
these lands the Occupied Territories. The Jewish pres-
ence in Gaza has always been small. But over the last
three decades, the Israelis built Jewish housing settle-
ments throughout the West Bank and have expanded the
city of Jerusalem eastward into the West Bank (razing
Palestinian houses along the way) to gain more control
of territory. The Israeli government severely restricts
new building by Palestinians, even on lands in the
Palestinian zones of the West Bank. Events in the early
and mid-1990s began to change this religious-political
mosaic as self-government was awarded to Gaza and to
small areas inside the West Bank. Palestinian Arabs were
empowered to run their own affairs within these zones.
Stability and satisfactory coexistence could lead to fur-
ther adjustments, some thought—and eventually a full-
fl edged Palestinian state, but mistrust on both sides has
kept that from happening.
In September 2005, the Israeli government shifted
its policy toward the Gaza Strip. Israel evacuated the
settlements that had been built there, burned down the
buildings that remained (Fig. 7.35), and then granted
autonomy to Gaza. The Palestinians living in the Gaza
Strip rejoiced—visiting the beaches that were previously
open only to Israeli settlers and traveling across the bor-
der into Egypt to purchase goods. Although Palestinians
now have greater freedom within the Gaza Strip, they
are economically isolated and the standard of living has
dropped.
The Israeli government tightly controls the fl ow of
Palestinians and goods into and out of the West Bank and
Gaza Strip. Gaza is surrounded by fences, and in some
places a wall—with land mines in certain areas and dust
road to show footprints. Most controversially, however,
the Israelis have set about constructing a security fence in
the West Bank, which does not follow the 1947 West Bank
border but dips into the West Bank to include some of
the larger Israeli settlements on Israel's side of the fence.
This may greatly complicate any future territorial settle-
ment, and some Israelis are opposed to it. But many oth-
ers argue that Palestinians continue to fi ght a war against
the Israelis—with terrorism. Palestinian attacks against
Israelis threaten the everyday lives of the Israeli people;
no bus, coffee shop, restaurant, or sidewalk is safe from
the threat of terrorist attack. Similarly, in the aftermath
of a terrorist attack, the Israeli military hunts the suspects,
shedding blood in Palestinian neighborhoods, further
exacerbating tensions.
The situation in Israel and Palestine today does not
refl ect a simple interfaith boundary. The tiny region has a
multitude of interfaith boundaries, especially in the West
Bank (Fig. 7.36). The settlements in the West Bank have
produced many miles of interfaith boundaries within a
small political territory.
Until 2011 the Palestinians in the West Bank and
Gaza were represented by separate governments—the lat-
ter by Hamas, a group long opposed to Israel's existence.
A 2011 accord between the two governments altered the
political landscape, but the prospects for peace between
Israelis and Palestinians are greatly complicated by the
fact that each side feels it has a historic (in the minds of
some, even a divine) right to the land and by the violence
infl icted on each side by the other.
Nigeria
As Figure 7.34 makes clear, many of the countries of West
Africa are predominantly Muslim in the North, but not
in the South. Nigeria is a prime example. With over 155
million people, Nigeria is Africa's most populous coun-
try, and it is fairly evenly divided between Muslims in the
North and Christians in the South (see Fig. 8.11). Since
