Why should the Middle East compete for land, water, oil and trust? Judging from the geography and topography.

1947, in view of the escalating violence between Jews and Arabs and the frustration of peace efforts, the British government decided to leave the Palestinian trust territory.

Since the end of 19, the number of Jewish immigrants has been increasing steadily. Influenced by the Holocaust in World War II, the idea of Jewish revival has gained more and more international support. 1947110 In October, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations partition plan1947: the Palestinian area was subdivided into two countries (77% of the Palestinian territory was given to Arabs last time and became Jordan today), with Jews and Arabs owning about 55% respectively. The division scheme generally adopts the principle of taking care of traditional settlements and distributing the population equally in developed areas. However, considering the immigration of a large number of Jewish refugees in the future, the sparsely populated Negev desert in the south was included in the Jewish state. As a result, Jews gained more territory with a relatively small population.

1947165438+1October 29th, the day when the United Nations adopted the partition plan, David Ben-Gurion accepted it, but the Arab League did not. The top leader of the Arab League Committee ordered a three-day violent attack on Jewish civilians in Israel, attacking buildings, shops and residential areas, and then the underground militia forces of Jewish organizations fought back. These struggles quickly spread to large-scale conflicts, which led to the Israeli war of independence of 1948.

On May 6th, 2004, David Ben-Gurion declared the founding of Israel.

1948 18 On May 4th, the day before the end of the British trusteeship period, the State of Israel was formally proclaimed. Israel was admitted to the United Nations on May 6th.

1980, Israeli prime minister Bei Jing insisted on moving the capital to Jerusalem despite the protests of his opponents, and declared it the "eternal capital". This move triggered strong opposition from neighboring Arab countries, but most countries refused to recognize it according to UN resolutions. Most embassies are located in Tel Aviv, and Arab countries only recognize Tel Aviv as the capital of Israel. Generally speaking, international news processing and cognition still tend to regard Tel Aviv as the capital of Israel, but only a few countries officially regard it as Jerusalem.

Compete for water resources

Jordan River is a river in West Asia, which originates from Lebanon and Syria, flows through Palestine and Jordan and flows into the Dead Sea, with a total length of 25 1km. Historically and religiously, it is one of the most sacred rivers in the world; In modern times, its precious water resources have also become a dispute factor in this area.

1964, Israel began to build dams to take water from the Sea of Galilee, the main source of the Jordan River. Also in 1964, Jordan built a canal to take water from the Yarmouk River, another main tributary of the Jordan River. Syria has also built a reservoir to intercept the Yarmouk River. Environmentalists accuse Israel, Jordan and Syria of causing great damage to the ecosystem of the Jordan River.

In modern times, 70% to 90% of the water in the Jordan River is used by human beings, and the flow is greatly reduced. Due to this reason and the high evaporation rate of the Dead Sea, the Dead Sea is shrinking. The shallow waters at the southern end of the Dead Sea have all dried up in modern times and become salt flats.

In September 2006, the problem of pollutants appeared: untreated sewage downstream was injected into the river. A small part of the upper Jordan River near the Sea of Galilee remains in its original state. Most of the pollution occurs 60 miles downstream? -? A winding stretch from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea. Environmentalists claim that the ecosystem of the Jordan River has been almost destroyed, and the rescue work may take decades. ? In 2007, Friends of the Earth in the Middle East declared the Jordan River as one of the 65,438+000 endangered ecological sites in the world, partly because of the lack of cooperation between Israel and neighboring Arab countries.

For this arid area, the Jordan River is an extremely important resource, and it is also the focus of controversy among Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel and Palestine.

Fight for oil

Lebanon and Israel have long-standing oil and gas disputes in offshore areas. Although these two countries are located in the energy-rich Middle East, they both rely on imports for oil and gas. Since 2009, important natural gas fields have been discovered in the waters near Israel, which greatly enhances the possibility of Israel's transformation from an energy importer to an exporter. However, neighboring Lebanon also showed great interest in the newly discovered natural gas resources, emphasizing that the sovereignty of resources in the eastern Mediterranean should be owned by coastal countries. Nasrallah, general secretary of Hezbollah in Lebanon, warned Israel not to exploit the oil and gas resources along Lebanon's coast, otherwise Lebanon will defend its resources with rockets. In this regard, several Israeli cabinet members publicly stated that these resources are owned by Israel and will control these oil and gas fields at all costs.

Strive for trust

Jerusalem is also a holy place for Judaism, Christianity and Islam (or "the three revealed religions").

/kloc-At the beginning of the 9th century, Jerusalem had a population of less than 8,000, but it was still an important city for Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Urban residents are divided into four parts: Jews, Christians, Muslims and Armenians.

/kloc-some changes have taken place in Jerusalem in the 0 th and 9 th centuries, which have had a long-term impact on the city. Their influence continues to this day and is the root of the dispute between Palestine and Israel over Jerusalem. First of all, Jews from Tsarist Russia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East moved here to escape religious persecution, which changed the population distribution ratio in the city. The earliest immigrants were ultra-orthodox Jews, some of whom were old people. They came back here, ready to be buried on Mount Auliffe after death. There are also some young students who come here with their families and wait for the arrival of the savior. At the same time, taking advantage of the decline of the Ottoman Empire, European colonial countries began to extend their influence to Jerusalem. This is also the period of Christian revival. Many Christians sent missionaries to Jerusalem to convert Muslims and Jews, believing that this would speed up the second coming of Jesus. Finally, European colonialism and religious enthusiasm also aroused archaeologists' interest in the areas described in the Bible, especially Jerusalem.

Before the establishment of Israel, Jerusalem was the capital of the British Palestinian Trust Territory (including Israel and Jordan today). The British trusteeship government caused great controversy in dealing with Jewish immigrants, and was finally forced to hand over the Palestinian issue to the United Nations. 1948 After the end of an Israeli-Arab war, Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan, and West Jerusalem became the capital of Israel, while East Jerusalem was occupied by Jordan. After 1967, all Jerusalem was under Israeli control.

The status of Palestinians in East Jerusalem is uncertain. According to Israeli law, Palestinians living in East Jerusalem will automatically acquire Israeli citizenship if they give up their original Jordanian citizenship; But most Palestinians refuse to accept Israeli citizenship (because they think it means recognizing Israeli occupation), so they only have permanent residency. They can move freely in Israel, but if they leave Israel (for example, to Palestinian areas), they will lose this right and cannot move back. Therefore, they can't visit their relatives and friends who live in Palestinian areas, even if they live in the West Bank thousands of meters away. Another controversial issue is the status of family members who were not recorded in the census before Israel occupied East Jerusalem. If they want to go back to East Jerusalem to be reunited with their families, they must get permission from the Israeli Ministry of the Interior. Palestinians complained that the Israeli authorities arbitrarily rejected the application because they wanted to limit the Palestinian population in East Jerusalem, and the Israeli authorities said they were fair to the Palestinians. These disputes are often criticized by Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations.

At present, Israel has legislated that Jerusalem is its permanent and inalienable capital.

The Palestinian National Authority also claimed that the capital of the future Palestinian state will be located in East Jerusalem. At present, the most striking official presence of Palestine in this city is Orient House, which was the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization at the end of the 20th century.

The proposal to make Jerusalem an international city was put forward by Christians. Christians are the smallest in Jerusalem, but for them, Jerusalem is also a holy city. This proposal was also supported by the Pope.