Although there have been many stabs at a successful peace negotiation between Israel and Palestine, to this day, nothing has been effective, and the two nations continue to wreak havoc on each other.

History's legacy created divisive issues between Palestinians and Israelis. Judea, home of the Jews in ancient times, was conquered by the Romans and renamed Palestine. Palestine was later conquered and inhabited by Arabs for over a thousand years. The Zionist movement arose to restore Jews to Israel, largely ignoring the existing Arab population. In 1917, Palestine was granted a League of Nations mandate to build a national home for the Jewish people. The Arabs resented the Jews coming in to take their land. The Arabs rioted repeatedly and later revolted, creating a history of enmity between the Jews and Arabs in Palestine.

Following the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were slaughtered, pressure on Britain increased to allow Jewish immigration to Palestine. In 1947, the UN partitioned the land into Arab and Jewish states. The Arabs did not accept the partition, and wars broke out in 1956, 1967, 1973 and 1982, with many terror raids and Israeli reprisals within. Each side believes different versions of the same history and is quick to blame the other.

Today, peope are still dying, suicide bombing is a regular practice, and the past few years have seen an increase in violence with the forced Israeli pull-out of the Gaza strip. The militant Hamas in Palestine pits itself against Israeli soldiers, and vice versa, creating an ever escalating hot-bed for destruction, often claiming the lives of children.

• 04/12/2007 11:22
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  • 03/28/2007 12:43
  • 03/28/2007 12:22