Summarize an article from the Wall Street Journal Essay - 1

Summarize an article from the Wall Street Journal - Essay Example Torrens and other Proponents of Equity-based crowd funding deem it as a blessing in times of deepening economic crises. Since businesses themselves are not in a position to increase employment, they can provide a bigger growth potential through investment opportunities. Supporter of the notion believe that such opportunities should only be provided through online outlets as it is extremely cost-effective. It would also make the investment market more open to millions of investors (Torrens & Slavinsky, 2012). This method further enables businesses to secure and reach out to a greater client base, who are naturally motivated to help the business succeed. On the other hand, opponents of this idea believe that legalization would only cause ill-informed clients to lose their money on failing companies. It will pose a higher risk and will subsequently influence the purchasing power of people as individuals lose money due to their bad decisions. There are high chances that it will further lead to a downward spiral of recession. Moreover, there are greater chances of foul play and fraud companies may surface that may further cause the general population to incur heavy losses. It will also significantly impact legitimate businesses, as investors are fooled into investing for fraudulent companies. Therefore, businesses should take the merits of alternate investment methods in to account. (Torrens & Slavinsky, 2012) It is quite ostensible that though, equity based crowd funding may have several pros, but they can only be enjoyed if the businesses give the crowd massive returns on their investments. Businesses can obtain huge number of clients, who had initially supported the company through their investments. However, from the people’s perspective, investing in equity differs from investing in stocks that can be liquefied whenever the client wants. Equity is illiquid and as a result, there is no clear way out of this

Hotel Chocolat's Stategic Choices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Hotel Chocolat's Stategic Choices - Essay Example Since its existence, Hotel Chocolat has been operating as a privately run company with active involvement of the co-founders. Moreover, it is an example for those chocolate shops that are willing to enter the retail sector of the confectionary industry; Hotel Chocolat grew from an online store to a luxury retail store in the year 2004. The uniqueness of the brand’s offerings lies in its level of authenticity and originality that is evident in every bite of its manufactured chocolate (Hotel Chocolat, 2013a). Presently, Hotel Chocolat has about seventy stores in UK, five in the US and Middle East. Hotel Chocolat portfolio comprises of various attractive products and businesses that shed light on its aggressive expansion strategy. A cacao based cuisine street food cafe is present at Borough Market in London that offers the customers a wide range of delicious items such as sweet and savoury wraps of cacao, genuine cocoa tea along with huge choices of small chocolate batches. In Sa int Lucia, there is the Boucan Restaurant which is presenting the customers with a complete experience of dining. The ambience is quite appealing for the visitors which are complemented with a healthy and light menu from cacao cuisine (Hurley, 2010; MarketingWeek, 2011). Hotel Chocolat is the pioneer brand in offering the ‘Chocolate Bonds’ for the expansion of the UK economy. These bonds were offered to its members of Chocolate Tasting Club who helped in raising fund of four million pounds. One of the best creations by the organisation is ‘London – Roast + Conch’; it is a venue that has been developed for roasting the bean in small batches and provide the customers an opportunity to view the process of chocolate making in front of their eyes (Cuddeford-Jones, 2012). In order to successfully fulfil the desires of the chocolate lovers, Hotel Chocolat has been offering the most diverse range of products and each one of them has a wide variety for select ion so that everyone can buy the chocolate and enjoy it to the utmost satisfaction level. Broadly, the products are categorised in six divisions such as Sleekster Selection, The Purist, Giant slabs, Selectors, Liquid Chocolat, Cocoa Juvenate Beauty, Luxury Box Chocolates and Small Little Things (Hotel Chocolat, 2013b). According to Taylor (2013), Hotel Chocolat reported a complete year profit-before-tax (PBT) of 84% which is about 5.4 million pounds. At the end of June 2012, the group sales accounted for 63.8 million pounds and EBITDA rose to 7.8 million pounds which was a rise by 41% when compared on year-on-year basis. UK Chocolate Industry Analysis In order to evaluate the strategic options that are available for a company in its industry, it is imperative for the concerned personnel to carry out its external and internal analysis (Day & Moorman, 2010). The external analysis reveals the macro-environmental factors that can impact the business performance in the long-run. Although an analysis of the competitors is mandatory but political, economic, social and legal situations can drastically impact the business operations (Brodie, 2009). Hotel Chocolat strategic analysis can be completed only when the macro-environmental factors are analysed extensively to properly identify the likely obstacles that can be encountered by it. According to KeyNote

Achievements Of Mikhail Baryshnikov As A Dancer

Achievements Of Mikhail Baryshnikov As A Dancer This paper is focused on dance as a form of performing arts. The paper looks at the history of dance and it looks at the life, contributions to the dance world and accomplishments that Mikhail Baryshnikov has had thought his carrer. This paper is a research paper aims at looking at the history of Mikhail Baryshnikov and how he has influenced dance. It has also highlighted his varius achievements that have been the highlight of his dancing carrer. (Sally Banes 2003 150) Mikhail Baryshnikov was born in 1948 in soviet russia. He is highly considered as one f the greatest ballet dancers. He is also a well accomplished actor. He has been creditd to being one of the few dancers who promoted modern dance and lead to its success. His roots were in Kirov Ballet which is found in Leningrad. Later in his carrer he moved to Canada. This was to incease his chances to perform modern dance. He was the artistic director for the American Ballet Theater towards the end of his carrer. He started showing his prowess in dance at a very young age and was enrolled in Vaganova School in Leningrad. He was totured by Alexander Pushkin who was his mentor and was able to succesed and he eventully won the top prize in the junior division in the Varna Competition. Ate the age of 18 in 1967 he show cased his talent in the Kirov Ballet. Due to his exceptional technique, stage performance and skill he fast become a pronciple dancer in the Vaganova school. Due to the rules of dance in soviet russia at the time he defected to canada in the hope to pursue modern forms of dance. After his defection he became the principle dancer with the American Balet Theatre. Under the direction of George Balanchine, there were a number of roles areated for him at the New York City Ballet. This dance roles as practised today by ballet dancers. Achievements. In his career Mikhail Baryshnikov gained a number of awards and achievements. He has used live performances and film to revive modern dance.His main achievement was mainly the revival of modern dance through performances. His achievements are listed below. He was nominated for the David di Donatello Awards and won the Special David Award in the year 1987 in the category for: The Turning Point(1977) for his outstanding performance in the movie and his contributions to the art of dancing. In 1989 he was nominated and won the Emmy Award for his outstanding individual performance in classical music/Dance programming in Great performances: Dance in America (1976). (PBS) for the episode Baryshnikov Dances Balanchine . (Bruce Glassman 1990 23) In 1988 he was also nominated for the Emmy Awards for outstanding Individual Achievement Classical. This was for:Great Performances: Dance in America(1976).(PBS) and for episode David Gordons made in U.S.A.he also was nominated for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program for his performance in Great Performances(1972). (PBS) for episode Celebrating Gershwin. He was also nominated for the Emmy Awards in 1985 for an Outstanding Classical Program in the Performing Arts for his perfomance in Great Performances: Dance in America(1976) which he shared with Rhoda Grauer(executive producer)and Don Mischer(producer)(PBS). He as also nominated for episode Baryshnikov by Tharp with American Ballet Theatre. (Lynn Garafola 1997, pp.89) In 1982 he was nominated for the Emmy Awards for an Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Program for:Baryshnikov in Hollywood(1982) (TV) and shared it with Herman Krawitz(executive producer)and Don Mischer(producer)(CBS). In 1980 he was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety or Music Program and won. This was for his perfromance in:Baryshnikov on Broadway(1980) (TV) and shared with Herman Krawitz(executive producer), Gary Smith(producer) and Dwight Hemion (producer ABC). In 1979 he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement Special Events for:Baryshnikov at the White House(1979) (TV).(PBS). In 1978 he was nominated for the Emmy Award for Special Classification of Outstanding Individual Achievement for:The Nutcracker(1977) (TV). (CBS). In 1978 he was nominated for the Golden Globes Awards, USA for the Best Motion Picture Actor in a Supporting Role for his role in:(The Turning Point1977). In 1987 he won Man of The Year Award from the Hasty Pudding Theatrical s, USA (Bruce Glassman 1990 23) Contributions to dance. He is credited for reviving and bringing new life in ballet in the United States of America. He has also taken a tour around the world with the ABT and he applied for his United states citizenship in 1986. after he gained his citizenship he worked with modern dance choreographer Mark Morris. This was in a bid to sperar head his compagn of reviving modern dance. Mikhail Baryshnikov co-founded the White Oak Dance Project IN 1986. This was a company that practced both modern and post-modern dance. (Lynn Garafola 1997 89) He toured with if the world over for 10years. He contributed to dance by encouraging and reviving modern forms of dance. Using the company he also revived the state of ballet dancing in the united states. He also created routines that are still in effect till today. People all over the world still practice and ardore balllet rotines he created. He also took solo tours around the world. He also toured with the Hells Kitchen Dance company. His greatest contribution to dance is the Baryshnikov Arts Centre in New York City. He cofounded the centre. It is dedicated to encouraging the creative arts and provides enough fascillities to hone and create artists. It has created a center for bringing to light rising artists, musicians, and dancers. He has also encouraged the growth of a new breed of dancers in the course of his carrer. He has also taught and created awareness about dance all over the world. This was due to the number of world tours he took. He contributed to dance majorly also by choreographing for many dance groups and naturing their talents. He has also been a mentor and tutor to many dancers who have grown up idolizing him. Many up coming dancers look up to him as their guide and mentor. He has inspired many modern dancers to reach out for their dreams. He has also personaly taught dadnce to many dancers around the world. Also in his old age he is still inspiring dancers to be better since he is still dancing at the age of 61. He is still very fit and dances. He is also an icon and is also very populor with soviet audiences since s oon after he started a series of highly successful appearances he became very famous. As a dancer, his great physical prowess and unsurpassed leaping ability enabled him to perform the most difficult combinations of steps with remarkable elegance of line. This has inspired most of the dancers who can from underpriveldged backgrounds to reach for their dreams. Conclusion This paper has been able to highlight the life, contributions and achievements of Mikhail Baryshnikov as a dancer. The paper has been able to highlight his major achievements and contributions. in his career Mikhail Baryshnikov gained a number of awards and achievements. He has used live performances and film to revive modern dance. He has provided a channel for up coming dansers to be able to nature their talents. He has also become a mentor,tutor and icon to many dancers who have grown up idolizing him this is due to his exceptional technique, stage performance and skill . Many up coming dancers look up to him as their guide and mentor. He has inspired many modern dancers to reach out for their dreams. He has also personaly taught dadnce to many dancers around the world.

Out Board Propeller Dynamics :: physics boat propeller

Missing Figures In The fall of 2004 I purchased a boat and outboard. The company that built the boat also had the responsibility of mounting the out board. Unfortunately the company built the transom of the boat to high and this had a major effect on the boats performance. With the prop so close to the water’s surface the out board would ventilate ever time I tried to get the boat up on step. It would also ventilate on tight turns at high speeds. Unless I wanted to ship the boat back down to Seattle for modifications I would have to find a propeller that would operate effectively near the surface. The follow is some of the things I learned while solving this problem. As the propeller rotates (fig 3-1) it forces water down and back as this is happening water must move into the void created by the spiraling blades. This creates a pressure differential across the blade- Low pressure on the back side and high pressure on the front side. This causes water to be sucked into the propeller and accelerated out the back (fig 3-3) much like a house-hold fan (fig 3-2). This action creates the thrust that drives a boat. It is common knowledge that water boils at 100deg C (212deg F) at sea-level atmospheric pressures. Water will also boil at much lower temperatures if the pressure is reduced. This is the key to understanding cavitation. As an object move though the water at increasing speeds the fluid on the side and back of the object experiences a decrease in pressure. On a propeller this area of low pressure is on the back side of the leading edge.(see fig 3-1) Pluse- If this decrease in pressure is great enough it can cause the sea-water to boil (Vaporize). Once these bubbles of vaporized water travel down current to the front of the propeller they enter the high pressure side of the blade and are condensed back into liquid very rapidly. These small implosions of water vapor can cause cavitation burns on theblade and lower unit of the outboard. (see fig 4-21) 4-21 From a functional stand point these bubbles can compromise the outboards performance. As the water vapor travels from the back to the face of the blades they can decrease the water load on the prop (water contact surface with the propeller blades).

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and How it can Help Jane

She is co-habiting with her fiance © of here months whom she plans to wed later In the year, although no date has yet been finalized. This client self referred to ‘Care In Crisis' as she had heard about the organization through a friend and felt she ‘needed to talk. ‘ During the initial assessment she disclosed that her mother had passed away as a result of cancer in March of this year, hence her reason in coming for counseling is to help deal with the bereavement issues surrounding this. Since loosing her mother she has felt very low and misses her terribly as they were very close.Furthermore, Jane also feels that t is starting to take its toll on other relationships in her life as she finds herself snapping at people. She also stated that she has low self esteem and has barely any confidence In herself. Her goals in coming for counseling are to be able to accept her mother's death as well as building her self esteem and confidence. Firstly I feel that some Cogni tive Behavioral Therapy approaches may work well in overcoming Cane's needs. â€Å"Psychoacoustics and normalizing Interventions are frequently used In ACT and CB. Bach & Hayes (2002) I can see that they are relational interventions because they involve teaching people new relations. I believe it would be beneficial to psycho educate her on the ‘seven stages of grief. ‘ My alma In doing so would be to help Jane make sense of the emotions she is going through and to help her understand that they are perfectly normal, in other words ‘normalizing. ‘ As well as using some CB approaches I would choose to remain faithful to the Integrative model which at the heart lies the person centered approach. One of the key concepts within this approach is self actualization.This is the belief that as humans we will pursue what Is best for us as Introduced by Mason In 1943 and his famous hierarchy of needs. ‘ He himself refers to self actualization as; â€Å"The desir e for self fulfillment, namely the tendency for him [the individual] to become actualities in what he Is potentially. This tendency might be phrased as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming. † Mason (1943) Research does support the notion of self actualities tendency (Sheldon & Elliot 1999) and I can also recognize it in myself.In actual fact, recognition of my self actualities tendency has helped me understand some of my self destructive behaviors, which ere introduced in my younger self. I'm hoping that this will also be the case with Jane. I consider this client to be very self aware which will aid her in self actualities myself as the therapist needs to ensure that I am offering Rogers' core conditions of; empathy, congruence and unconditional positive regard, in doing so I will be assisting her on her Journey. I will aim to be real and genuine and by doing so I hope my client will experience something of my â €˜real self. Furthermore I will try my most best to see things from their frame of reference without being influenced by my own feelings and experiences. In the first counseling session I contracted with Jane and explained the limitations with confidentiality such as disclosing anything which breaks the law or child protection issues. I also stated that I was a member of the BACK. By doing the above I feel that I was demonstrating safe work and professional practice. I used active listening skills as well as non verbal communication in the form of small nods to show that I was tentatively engaging with my client's story.The head nod is the most common gesture in listening â€Å"Small ones to show continued attention, larger and repeated ones to indicate agreement. Argyle (1992) I felt it important to show to my client that I was engaged with her telling her story as she mentioned in the initial session that she has never been able to open up to anyone before since her mum has pa ssed. The majority of the first session was spent just staying with my client and giving her the space she needed to talk out loud about what sort of a person her mother had been and the lead up to her death.As a counselor I used skills such as active listening, restating and paraphrasing to demonstrate this, as I felt these were the appropriate skills needed in order to meet he client's needs. It is safe to say that in this session I was safely following Cane's lead without prescribing any particular interventions. In session two my client reported a little change since our last session saying she had felt heard' and that it was a ‘release' as she had been keeping everything to herself.By following my empathic hunch it opened up a lot of unfinished business regarding my client wanting to share and tell her mother things but had not had the chance to. Therefore this prompted my decision to suggest the CB approach of writing a letter to her deceased mother n her own time and if she wished she had the opportunity of sharing it in the session. This is something Jane was very keen on doing and would maybe even consider doing it that week if she got the chance. I can see that the letter writing process is therefore collaborative and would enable her to work at her own pace while also facilitating client empowerment.This would be important in helping to build her self-esteem and confidence which are areas she is lacking in. In session three my client reported that she had written the letter to her mother and was eager to read it out. In the letter my client acknowledged many of her repressed feelings and by writing the letter she was maybe able to process them in a way she could not have in the therapy session. Zimmerman & Shepherd have stated; â€Å"We use therapeutic letters to help the patient to identify difficult feelings, processing them in another way than in a therapy session, with the chance of the patients to be finally free from these feelings.The letter writing can allow a physical way for the problem to be externalities, named and then confronted. † Zimmerman & Shepherd (1993) In the letter she also touched on the feelings she was experiencing now months after ere mother's passing. At this point I normalized them for her by telling her there is feelings we may experience after loosing a loved one. I felt it in Cane's best interest, which is in keeping with the ethical principle of beneficence to psycho-educate her on the ‘Seven stages of grief by giving her a sheet which had been given to me by my supervisor.This would help her make sense of how she is feeling and it would also provide hope for her as one of the later stages is acceptance. In the forth session Jane talked about her goals, both short and long term. She acknowledged that whilst t was her mother at first who pushed her towards loosing weight for various health reasons, she now wanted to pursue her own goal of trying to loose some weight for her wed ding day so that she could fit into her dream dress. I got a strong sense that the ‘configurations of self were being peeled back and the ‘real self was coming through, which Rogers theorized.By doing so she was closer to self actualization. In session five we explored Cane's lack of confidence and self esteem. It was evident that she had a low self concept of her physical appearance and dress sense. Although she ad received a compliment earlier in the week from a friend about how well she looked she perceived that the comment was made merely out of sympathy. As the therapist I got my client to explore this and by doing so we were able to get to the core of this view. It turned out that as a child she overheard her aunt telling her uncle that she had only told Jane her dress was lovely out of pity.It is said that; â€Å"Experiences are accurately perceived as meeting the needs of the core self or being consistent with the self concept and reinforcing it. † Acreage (2010) It is therefore fair to say that Jane could not accept the compliment from her friend s being genuine as she was being true to her self concept. I offered the concept of looking for evidence borrowed from Cognitive theory in order to challenge her self concept. It appeared that there was no other evidence to support her views that compliments were only given to her out of pity, apart from the incident with her aunt.When we looked into this further her aunt said this around the time her parents were not getting on which prompted the possibility that her aunt may have been saying it to comfort her in a difficult time. The client came up with this conclusion resell and I remained faithful to my integrative model which at the foundation has a profound respect for the client and their ability to construct their own views. Adapted from ‘The Theory and Practice of Counseling the ability to function and process experiences can result in being either low functioning or high fun ctioning.I considered Jane to meet the criteria for low functioning which means; â€Å"Low functioning people are out of touch with their valuing processes. In these areas their self concept is based on conditions of worth which cause them to ignore/deny or distort the experience. Nelson Jones (1992) Through challenging and looking for evidence I was aiming for Jane to become higher functioning. At the end of this session I talked to my client about the possibility of audio recording our next session if she agreed to it.I felt it was in her best interest to give some notice rather than asking her on the day of recording so that it did not come as a shock or disorientate her. Fortunately Jane agreed for our next session to be taped. It was the sixth session with this client that was recorded. I made sure to training purposes so that she did not think it was some sort of test on her. At this point I was demonstrating safe work as I wanted to provide a non threatening environment for her. At present I attend a supervisor who is based a few miles outside of the town I undertake my placement with.Firstly, her geographical location is convenient because when I am at placement I can call and see my supervisor when I am finished. This is beneficial as I find things tend to be much fresher in my mind if I see her on the day I have had clients. In additional her name was on the approved list issued by the college, this meant she was BACK approved to supervise therefore I to satisfaction from this knowing she worked ethically and had experience of supervision with students. Moreover because she was approved by the college meant she was familiar with the course requirements and as a result could effectively support my learning.Prior to choosing a supervisor I had some requirements including at least ten years experience of counseling and I wanted someone who worked from an integrative perspective, my supervisor met both of these. On first meeting my supervisor I feel tha t there was a connection so I instantly felt comfortable. Before commencing supervision I had the view that they would be like a joss, however now that I have been several times this view has been diminished and I consider my supervisor as someone to consult with.I get a strong sense of being facilitated and supported by my supervisor. For example while working with this client I had limited experience of working with bereavement so my supervisor gave me a book which would support my counseling, in addition I was facilitated by being given a sheet on the ‘seven stages of grief which I could give to my client. At first with Jane I was working from a person centered approach because I felt unfamiliar tit bereavement and felt this was a safe angle for me to work from.With the support and guidance I received at supervision I was able to change my approach with this client by being more integrative. I was able to bring in some Cognitive interventions which I do not feel I could hav e done confidentially on my own without the aid of my supervision sessions. My supervisor is quite directive in the sense that if I do something effective in the sessions she will acknowledge my style of practice and vice versa if I do something that may not have worked so well she will then encourage me to challenge this and look at alternatives.As a result of this my confidence has grown and I feel a little more competent in my role as a counselor to the point that I would trust my intuition with regards making appropriate decisions with my client work. By continuous supervision I hope to learn and grow as a counselor as well as developing new techniques and interventions and as a result improve the value I provide to my clients. Since working with Jane I feel that I have grown personally as I have increased awareness around death and bereavement.It is inevitable that I will loose a loved one at some point throughout my life. By hearing all about Cane's grief of loosing her mother I feel I will be more prepared if I am faced with the death of someone close to me. My own mother has battled with health problems for the most part of her life and has been under close supervision of the medical profession especially in recent months. Having worked with this client has brought me in sync with reality and now I can see that there is a chance I may loose my own mother soon.My work with Jane has prepared me a little if this does happen come with it. Furthermore working with Jane has taught me to appreciate the people I m close to in my life and I have learnt to cherish every moment with them as they could very easily be taken away. As a mother myself to a three year old boy, I feel I have made more time for him knowing how precious he is to me. Professionally I have also developed at a result of working with Jane.In order to meet her needs I took part in a one day course held at my placement organization which was based on bereavement. From this I learnt the various techniques and skills required when working with this client. Not only did this course help me when working with Jane but t will also help me when counseling clients with similar situation. Also a fellow peer in my placement shared a poem about loss with me. I was very appreciative of this and felt it may be of benefit to my client as she is artistic and creative.I shared it with Jane in one of the sessions and she informed me that she got great comfort from it. The following week she told me that had put it on her fridge so that every time she opens the door she can read it. I can safely say that support from my peers has helped with my client work and as a result helped me to develop professionally. In he first counseling session with Jane we engaged in contracting. A contract can be defined as â€Å"A mutual agreement negotiated between the client and the counselor prior to commencing counseling. Provence (2008) I made sure it articulated my responsibilities towards the client a nd also the client's responsibilities in the counseling relationship. I made sure to inform Jane about the strict confidentiality policy that counselors abide by and told her about the exceptions to this such as breaking child protection or the law as it would not be ethical for me to withhold this information. In addition to this if the client disclosed that she was of risk to herself I could not keep this to myself as this would not be in keeping with the Backs ethical principle of non-maleficent.By informing her of this I was hoping to provide a safe environment for her to share her story but at the same time letting her know the boundaries. I was also letting her know that I was obeying the ethical principle of fidelity. The importance of the contract became apparent in session four, in which my client disclosed that her mother had been one of the only women she had ever really gotten along with and that in general she did not get on tit women. This prompted my decision of using the skill of immediacy to establish what our relationship was like for the client with me being a woman.It was reassuring to learn that I was not like most other women she had encountered as I was not Judgmental or bitchy. This proved to me that I was working in an ethical manner and respecting my client's autonomy. When I first began keeping notes they were rather long and detailed, however now I have learnt to keep concise and factual notes. I recognize the importance of not noting opinions or Judgments in the notes n the off chance they may be called for in a court hearing.Each client's notes are kept in their own personal folder which is kept in a locked filing cabinet in a locked room and each client is identified with a seven digit code. This ensures maximum confidentiality which is in keeping with the ethical framework principle of fidelity. In an emergency for example if I died and client's notes needed to be accessed the receptionist could identify the client by searching the code on the computer system. Respect that the client has the right to be self governing which is in keeping with the ethical principle of autonomy.

The Beginning of the Israeli Palestinian Conflict

The beginning of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Sebastien Steigmeier ESL071 Professor Waldrop April 23, 2011 Everybody saw it on television, in the newspaper or maybe heard it on the radio, the last century held many different conflicts in Gaza Strip. Basically, people know that Israel and Palestine are fighting for that land, each one pretending that they deserve it. A survey, done on CBU students, shows that most of them don’t know anything about the conflict. The only ones who knew a little bit about it were sure that Israel wanted the land to build a Jewish state after the tragedy of the World War II.I asked a few students some questions before doing my survey to get a basic idea of their knowledge. Then I realized that I would probably have to ask different questions considering their lack of knowledge on the topic. Out of the nine students taking time to answer my questions, six had no idea what to answer and two said that Israel wanted the land as â€Å"compensationà ¢â‚¬  after the Holocaust. Let’s take a look at the history, and consider facts that will help us understanding what are the reasons why Zionists (it’s important not to confuse Zionists and Jews) and Palestinian Arabs are fighting.Emerging a long time ago, this idea of having a land to bring Jewish people together came out in 1897. From August 29 to August 31 of that year, occurred in Basel, Switzerland (I swear I didn’t know that) the first Zionist Congress, held by the World Zionist Organization. Theodor Herzl who was named as the first President and who also was the author of â€Å"Der Judenstaat† (â€Å"the Jewish State†) was the initiator of that congress. The Zionist Congress travelled through many different European cities, and was held every two years from 1897 to 1946, except during the two World Wars.As an answer to the question â€Å"why do Zionists want to take that land? † most people answer that they want a land because they w ant to build a Jewish State to stay together in peace after the Holocaust. History proves them wrong by showing that Zionists are trying to steal that land for more than a century, and the Holocaust happened only seventy years ago. Even though Arabs were killed by Zionists attacks during the 1940’s, in 1947, the United Nations decided to split the land and to give half of it to the Jews.We can say that the seven millions of Jews who were killed during the World War II didn’t die for nothing, as compassion made the United Nations allow them to steal half of a country. Sure, what happened during the Holocaust was terrible, but I don’t think that Zionists should use it to claim â€Å"their† land. There is no land on earth that belongs to a religious group. A lot of religious groups are gathered together in the same area which is fine, but no religious group tries to make an independent country for a religion.What would you think if all the atheist Mexicans c ome together and say: â€Å"We are going to take the Southern California and make it a Atheist State† It makes no sense. But the United Nations decided to agree with the Zionists and gave them a part of the Arab Palestinian territory. This was called the â€Å"partition plan† and was voted by the United Nations General Assembly on November 29, 1947. Palestinian Arabs felt violated of course, and the day after, on November 30th they reacted violently. It led to what experts call â€Å"The Civil War in Mandatory Palestine†.The Civil War lasted until May 14, 1948 with the Jewish victory. On that day, Israel declared its independence. The British army, who was supposed to maintain order in Palestine, was preparing its withdrawal and didn’t really have a finger in the pie. Great-Britain’s mandate over the Palestinian territory was expiring on May 15; Israel declared its independence on May 14 because May 15 was Shabbat, as the story says. The day after, another important war started, the â€Å"1948 Arab-Israeli War† also known as the â€Å"War of independence† or the â€Å"War of Liberation†.With Israel declaring its independence, the Arab neighbors of â€Å"the State of Israel† started to invade on May 15, showing their disagreement with the decisions that were made by the United Nations. The 1948 Arab-Israeli War happened in three phases, each phase being separated by some truce agreement. As the Soviet Union, Iran and the United States recognized Israel as a free State, the League of Arab States sent a letter to the United Nations Secretary General, to proclaim its idea of building what they called the â€Å"United State of Palestine† instead of splitting the country in a Jewish and Arab two states â€Å"country†.That letter, also known as the Cablegram from the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Folke Bernadotte, contained wha t was at that time a great idea, and maybe a good opportunity to try to solve the problem. Basically, they wanted to establish a single and democratically ruled state. This cablegram contained ten points that were asked to be presented in front of the General Assembly and the Security Council.Each point was reminding facts and history, to explain how that territory belonged to Arabs, but also points that showed how Arabs were ready to share it in a democratic way with the Jews living in the same area. The Israelis said that the plan was not even considerable because Jews were a majority in the areas that were given to the Jewish State. At that time, China supported the Arabs, while the United States, Iran and the Soviet Union considered that the Arabs were entering the Israeli territory illegally.Egypt, who was on the Arabs’ side of course enter the conflict by bombing Tel-Aviv in response to previous provocation. The whole all around Arab world followed, and Israel was attac ked almost simultaneously by Lebanese, Iraqi, Egyptian and Syrian troops. But as Israel was a freshly new established state, Jews from all around the world were joining, making the average number of immigrant reaching 10,300 by month! That was really helpful to Israel who could increase its military forces amazingly.By the day of the declaration of Independence, the Israeli strength was just above 29,000. At the end of the year, on December 30, the military forces counted more than 108,000 soldiers. Israel increased in number, but also found ways to get some more military equipment such as planes, weapons and armed vehicles. The war was on; both sides were bombing and fighting each other. The conflict lasted for a little bit more than three weeks. The United Nations called for a truce on May 29, but both sides kept on fighting till June 11.That truce lasted for 28 days and was ending the first phase of the 1948 war. The ceasefire was overviewed by military officers from different co untries, such as France, Belgium, United States or Sweden, all picked by the United Nations. This ceasefire had no other goal than just getting ready to fight again for both sides. The Arabs used it to reinforce their positions with new and fresh soldiers while the Israeli were buying new weapons from Czechoslovakia, and sending new soldiers on the field too.There were around 30,000 Israeli soldiers when the truce was announced and a little bit more than 65,000 when the truce ended. Still during the truce, Folke Bernadotte was trying to find a way to settle the land politically. He was facing what he described as his obstacles: â€Å"the Arab world's continued rejection of the existence of a Jewish state, whatever its borders; Israel's new ‘philosophy', based on its increasing military strength, of ignoring the partition boundaries and conquering what additional territory it could; and the emerging Palestinian Arab refugee problem† (Morris, Benny. 948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War) Bernadotte also presented his idea of a new plan of partition as following, that a union â€Å"be established between the two sovereign states of Israel and Jordan (which now included the West Bank); that the Negev, or part of it, be included in the Arab state and that Western Galilee, or part of it, be included in Israel; that the whole of Jerusalem be part of the Arab state, with the Jewish areas enjoying municipal autonomy and that Lydda Airport and Haifa be ‘free ports'—presumably free of Israeli or Arab sovereignty† (same source).Israel didn’t agree with that plan because they wanted Jerusalem, but they agreed to lengthen the truce for one more month. The Arabs rejected both the plan and the truce and on July 8 Egypt bombed Negba, which was an Israeli position. (Alfred A. Knopf. A History of Israel from the Rise of Zionism to Our Time. New York. 1976. p. 330. ) This attack on the â€Å"Israeli territory† launched the sec ond phase of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The second phase lasted only ten days but it was sufficient for the Israeli soldiers to perform a lot of operations, with the most famous one, Operation Danny.It had for goal to secure two of the most important cities (Jerusalem and Tel Aviv) and also the roads linking both those cities. The Jewish military forces launched a few other operations during those ten days conquering more territory and more dominance. The United Nations succeeded in calling another truce on July 18, which led to an almost two months break. Bernadotte again proposed a new partition plan on September 16 with a fair â€Å"distribution† of the territories and the internationalization of Jerusalem.A militant Zionist group, Lehi, was scared that the Jewish Government would accept the plan so they assassinated Bernadotte in Jerusalem the day after. What Lehi didn’t know is that meanwhile they were planning their operation both the Arab and Israeli Government already rejected the plan and were preparing to fight again the next month. This was the end of the second truce. On October 15, the war started again, and both sides were conquering and losing some territories, and clue cities.The British army, who said that they were agreeing with the United Nations when it was time to make decisions finally realized that Israeli positions were going maybe a little bit too far in Egypt as they were approaching the Suez Canal, which was controlled by Great Britain and pretty useful. On November 20, the Israeli shot down a photo-taking-plane sent by the British. The day after, four British routine reconnaissance planes were also shot down by the Israeli, killing one of the four pilots and taking the three other ones as hostages.The rest of the squadron realizing that the four planes were not coming back went to look for them and also was attacked by the Israeli. Maybe that if Great Britain had decided earlier to seriously care about what was happeni ng in Gaza Strip before it messed with their personal profits, they wouldn’t have lost those pilots. People don’t care about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict until they might lose something. The British army was supposed to maintain order over the Palestinian territory before the war started. As said earlier, they were preparing their withdrawal and they let the Jews attack the Arabs while they still were there.It didn’t matter to them because they were leaving. But years later, when they realized that Israeli Forces were about to take control on the Suez Canal, they understood that if they wanted to keep it they would have to do something (or maybe should have done something by the past). The Jews were not only firing the planes but also finding the planes on the ground after shooting them, removing the usable pieces and then burning the rest to make sure that it would be useless. Tired of being shot down by the Israeli, who were saying that they could not diff erence them from the Arabs (really? , the British painted their planes’ wings to be more recognizable. The Jews started to understand that they were in a dangerous position and that fighting in Egypt was maybe a stupid idea, so they retired from Egypt and stopped fighting. At the end of the year 1948, the United Nations General Assembly voted for the â€Å"Resolution 194† which said that â€Å"refugees wishing to return to their homes and live in peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so† and that â€Å"compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return. (Efraim Karsh, The Palestinians and The ‘Right of Return' Commentary Magazine, May 2001. ) In the beginning of 1949, Israel started signing armistices with Egypt first, and with Lebanon, Jordan and Syria later. But this wasn’t fair. According to Leon Carl Brown â€Å"†¦ when the war ended in 1949, Israel was in control of about one-third more territory (some 2,500 square miles) than it had been allocated by the United Nations partition plan† (Leon Carl Brown (2004).Diplomacy in the Middle East: the international relations of regional and outside powers. I. B. Tauris. pp. 126) letting the Arabs with only Gaza Strip and the West Bank under control. After having its territory secured, Israel evicted the Arabs that were remaining on the new Jewish State. More than 700,000 Arabs were forced to leave their home and were told that they would never be allowed to come back in Israel or in any neighboring Arab country but Transjordan. Those Arabs were known as the Palestinian Refugees. â€Å"Arab-Israel Conflict. † The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East. Ed. Avraham Sela. New York: Continuum, 2002. pp. 58-121. ) The conflict never really stopped, and by the Jordanian border there were always some kind of operations launched by both sides. In 1955, Israel killed 37 Egyptian soldiers in Gaza on a raid. After this attack, Egypt started to build a more serious army, by training the volunteers remaining in Gaza and making them â€Å"Fedayeen† (â€Å"those who sacrifice†) forces.Years later, in 1967, Israel attacked the Egyptian forces in Gaza Strip and the Jordanian forces in the West Bank, annexing both the lands and taking control over Jerusalem. This conflict is known as the Six-Day War. To summarize quickly: as if receiving half of a land was not enough, Israel started a conflict with the real owners, after having more than what they should have got, they fight again because they want it entirely. What else could they do to mock the Arabs a little bit more? They named the freshly acquired Jerusalem as the Capital city of the Jewish state.When you become aware of what happened since 1897, it is hard not to feel compassion for the Palestinian Arabs who were stolen and killed because Zionists decided that they deserved a land. Of course the Arabs were not white as snow after the conflict began and they also killed some of the Israeli forces soldiers. But with the Great Britain just watching instead of acting as they should have done, I feel like the Arabs did the right thing fighting back. Who could say with integrity that they should not have fought back and let the Jews steel their land?In my opinion, no one. References A history of Conflict. BBC News http://news. bbc. co. uk/2/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/03/v3_ip_timeline/html/default. stm Benny, Morris. 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War Karsh, Efraim. (2001). The Palestinians and The ‘Right of Return Commentary Magazine. Knopf, Alfred A. (1976). A History of Israel from the Rise of Zionism to Our Time. New York. Kurtzer, Daniel. Lasensky, Scott. Negotiating Arab-Israeli peace: American leadership in the Middle East, United States Institute of Peace (readable on Google books) Palestine Refugees.The UN agency for Palestine Refugees. http://www. unrwa. org/etemplate. php? id=86 Pappe, Ilan . The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. The Middle East Quarterly (2006) http://www. meforum. org/1886/the-ethnic-cleansing-of-palestine Frequently Asked Questions About Israel. Israel Ministry Of Foreign Affairs. (2001) http://www. mfa. gov. il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2001/11/Frequently%20Asked%20Questions%20About%20Israel#refugee Green, Peter. ISRAEL and the Palestine right of return. (2003) http://wais. stanford. du/Israel/israel_andthepalestinerightofreturn51603. html Arnett, Peter. Palesinian-Israeli Conflict. http://www. azdema. gov/museum/famousbattles/pdf/Palestinian-Israeli%20Conflict-072809. pdf Survey from April 22, 2011 (see next page) Oral communication, April 22nd, 2011, California Baptist University Have you ever heard of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Do you know why Israeli and Palestinian are fighting? Do you know since when they are fighting? If you answered the previous questions, who do you think is right?