Answer

Contemporary Israel’s Relationship with Neighboring Countries

Israel lies at the core of the Middle East continent, on the Mediterranean shores within the Levant, which is the region neighbouring the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. This paper discusses the contemporary Israel’s association with neighbouring countries. The areas covered in the paper are countries that threaten Israel, friendly and neutral nations to Israel, and the description of the West Bank fighting. The paper then concludes by illustrating whether Israel has gained or lost ground in the last twenty years.

Israel’s relation with most its neighbors has not be good. Currently, Israel faces significant threats from neighbouring nations like Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Iran, and Syria. When it comes to Israel-Palestinian association, Jerusalem issue, which has often been a source of tension between the two nations, exploded in July of 2017 when Israel decided to install metal detectors at Temple Mount’s entrances after three Israeli Arabs murdered two border policemen (Lynfield Par.3).  Palestinians perceived the act of installing metal detectors at Temple Mount’s doors as an encroachment against the third holiest shrine of Islam (Lynfield par. 3). Besides, Lebanon presents a major threat to Israel in the north-west (Foreign Affairs par. 14).

Israel’s relation with Jordan has also been hostile. The hostility between the two nations reemerged in 2017 following two incidences (Tarnopolsky par.1). The first incident involved Israel’s installation of metal detectors at entrances to the Noble Sanctuary, which is the name Muslims employ in referring to the disputed plateau within Jerusalem’s Old City holding the gold Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque (Tarnopolsky par.2). The second event concerned Israel’s reaction to a deadly experience within the capital of Jordan, Amman. In this incident, a guard from the Israeli Embassy murdered two Jordanians, an orthopedic surgeon and a 17-year-old delivery boy (Tarnopolsky par.3). In addition, Israel is also involved in an antagonistic associations with both Syria and Iran, with Israel committed to thwart the development of a stable Iranian military existence within the country along with the infringement of pro-Iranian paramilitaries within the Syrian Golan (Tarnopolsky par. 30).

Despite having unfriendly association with most of its neighbors, Israel has managed to establish peaceful associations with neighboring nations like Egypt and Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Israel’s peaceful association with Egypt is attributed to Egypt’s dedication to sustain freedom in navigation via the Straits of Tiran (Lynfield par. 2). Egyptians went a step further to relinquish the authority over those Islands to Saudi Arabia, as show of their commitment to uphold peace (Lynfield par. 2). Apart from Bahrain’s amicable relationship with Israel, Saudi Arabia’s rather neutral association with Israel was evident in its adoption of a mild response to Trump’s support of Israel’s activities within the West Bank (Lynfield par. 15). Unlike President Obama’s administration, which condemned Israeli operations within the West Bank, President Trump’s administration has been in support of this operation. West Bank fighting involves Israel and Palestine. The two nations have been fighting over the ownership of the land, which is currently the Israel nation (Vox par. 2). The Jews, who are the Israelis, occupied this land that previously belonged to Palestinians after fleeing from torment in Europe. 

In general, the hostility Israel continues to face from most of its neighbors has seen it lose a significant portion of its land by returning approximately 94 percent of the land it formerly owned (Israel Advocacy Movement par. 11). Currently Israel covers a region of 8,522 miles (Berglee par. 2).  It can thus be argued that Israel has made limited progress in the last twenty years when it comes to increasing its borders.