Question

Identify two factors leading to the creation of the European Union.

Identify and explain at least three major disputes between Israel and Palestine.

Answer 1

1. The EU was established through the Treaty of Maastricht, which came into force on 1 November 1993. The treaty was intended to promote European political and economic integration through the establishment of a single currency (the euro), a unified foreign and security policy and shared citizenship rights, and the development of cooperation in the areas of immigration, asylum, and justice.

The EU has established a single internal market through a common legal framework that applies to such matters in all Member States, except only those matters where members have agreed to act as one. EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of individuals, goods, services and resources within the internal market, enforce justice and home affairs legislation and preserve traditional agricultural, fisheries and regional development policies

2. The dispute between Israel and Palestine dates back to the late nineteenth century , mainly as a dispute over land. The Holy Land was subdivided into three sections after the Arab-Israeli war of 1948: the State of Israel, the West Bank (of the Jordan River), and the Gaza Strip. Successive wars culminated in small territorial changes until the October 1973 Yom Kippur War, when Egypt and Syria launched a surprise assault on Israel due to Israel's occupation of the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights. The 1979 Camp David Agreements, which tied Egypt and Israel in a peace treaty, settled the conflict.

And after the wars over land had ended, a wave of violence and uprisings started among the Palestinians. In 1987 the first intifada was an uprising of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Oslo Accords of 1993 resolved the conflict, providing a basis for the Palestinians to rule themselves, and establishing relations between the newly formed Palestinian Authority and the government of Israel.