The historical divide between Israel and Palestine is a serious obstacle to peace in the Middle East
In this context, there are two factors to be considered: issues of territorial integrity and refugees.
When talking about the former, the most important thing to note is that the issue of territorial integrity has a specific historical cause. It is rooted in the fact that the British wanted to separate the two territories as part of the partition plan in the early 1920s. When the creation of Israel was announced in 1948, the territorial issues became contentious.
Initially, the British made it clear that they would not allow Israel to have a Jewish majority. However, the British backed down because of fear of the massive Israeli push towards a more centralized Arab society. When Israel was established, they allowed Palestinians to emigrate, but with certain restrictions. The problem was that there were numerous Palestinian refugees seeking asylum.
Therefore, the obvious reason that they were left in an inferior situation within the state of Israel was their lack of full citizenship rights. This later became known as the Nakba.
In addition, when speaking about the two issues of refugee-asylum and territorial integrity, both are grounded in reality. In Palestine, the refugees are still stuck in camps; and the issue of separation of the two countries still exists. This will never change until the issue of refugees is settled. It is apparent that Israel and Palestine must work on these two issues simultaneously.
In Pakistan, on the other hand, the borders of the different states continue to be disputed. It is very difficult to determine who will be entitled to citizenship within the border areas.
There are many arguments against these differences
First, there is the fact that many people simply do not want to see the two states exist. Second, many people want to maintain some sort of regional security. Lastly, there are several conflicts among both the governments and the international community over these issues.
The first scenario has to do with the question of who will be able to settle in the newly-created state of Pakistan. At the moment, the entire region is in flux, so there is no single ethnic or religious group. This means that many ethnic groups are looking for political asylum and right to stay in the region.
Pakistan has been grappling with this issue for decades. As a result, the country has offered asylum to the Kashmiri Pandits as well as the Sinhalese. Both groups are in desperate need of political asylum and these are currently the only options available.
Israel and Palestine also have the historical cause of refugee-asylum
The ethnic groups that are now Palestinian and Israeli had to flee countries that they have not lived in for many years. Due to these conflicts, there are many people that are in refugee camps right now.
It is obvious that both these situations need to be resolved, but it is also evident that both of these problems cannot be solved overnight. The root of the problem of ethnic tension and the root of the problem of refugee crisis is the fact that both countries live in the same borders.
As a result, the same issues will occur again, and this makes both Israel and Palestine a huge obstacle in terms of promoting a peaceful solution to the current conflicts. While these two issues remain unresolved, they are going to become a breeding ground for violent extremism and animosity between these two countries.