The history between Israel and Palestine dates back to the second millennium B.C. This is when the Jews migrated to Palestine and established their capital in Jerusalem. The region of Palestine is sacred to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. It is sacred to Christians because they believe in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross in the city of Jerusalem. Muslims also find the land sacred because it was in Jerusalem where Mohammed the Prophet of Islam is believed to have ascended into heaven. Both Arabs and Jews consider it a homeland. As a result of religious beliefs, Jerusalem is an important city to many different groups of people." (Worth, 3-4)

Zionism is the desire for a Jewish national homeland. In 1897, Theodor Herzl convened the First Zionist Congress in Basle, Switzerland. Herzl convinced Baron Edmond de Rothschi

"The Gulf War, which took place in 1991, brought some relief the basic problems of the Middle East. Most Arab states still struggle with authoritarianism and anachronistic autocracy." (Fernea & Hocking, 261-263)

In 1947, the first Arab Israeli war began. This war was a result of Arabs refusal to accept the partition of Palestine. They believed it went against 1,800 years of Palestine's history. The partition gave the territory of the ancient Jewish states to the Arabs while the Jews received territory that was non-Jewish. In early December of 1947, fights broke out between Arabs and Jews throughout Palestine. Israelis fought back with a series of carefully planned offensives. As a result, Israel gained twenty-one percent more land than it originally had under the 1947 partition plan. (Ovendale, 133-138)

(http://www.pna.net/events/economy_under_siege.htm)

"Israel has three levels of political influence. Israel has a president, a prime minister and it has a Knesset, which is a parliament. The president of Israel has little power, but serves as a symbolic and moral center, and in difficult times can play an important role through statements. Israel introduced a system of direct elections for prime minister. With the present system the parliament, the Knesset, no longer has the right to remove a prime minister. The Knesset is a unicameral, and has 120 members. There are a large number of parties represented. With the new political system of Israel, the Knesset has less power than earlier, but retains direct control over a number of issues as well as budgetary matters." (http://lexicorient.com/cgi-bin/eo-direct-frame.pl?http://i-cias.com/e.o/israel_2.htm)

(http://lexicorient.com/cgi-bin/eo-direct-frame.pl?http://i-cias.com/e.o/israel_2.htm)

"Israel has the highest average living standards in the Middle East. Much of the growth in Israel's economy has come from its politics that has allowed high deficits on state budgets and foreign trade balance. Agriculture, mining and tourism all contribute to Israel's booming economy. Israel has a Gross National Product of $81 billion. It only has an unemployment rate of 6%. That could be why Israel's economy is so successful." (http://lexicorient.com/cgi-bin/eo-direct-frame.pl?http://i-cias.com/e.o/israel_2.htm)

"Recently the economy of Palestine is weak. The total loss incurred by the Palestinian economy as a result of devastating impact of the Israeli closure and siege policy over the past six weeks is estimated to be about US$ 774 million. Palestinian industrial, agricultural, tourism, and construction sectors are facing major difficulties in their battle to survive the current Israeli comprehensive closure and siege policy, and to cope with their losses caused by it. As a result of the closure, the earnings of more than 125,000 Palestinian workers in the Israeli market, estimated at US$ 3.5 million a day, were lost over night. This has caused a subsequent decline in the domestic consumption and in the local production as an inevitable result of the loss of workers income. The gross figure of wage income lost from working in Israel an

Some common words found in the essay are:
Executive Authority, Fernea Hocking, Gaza Strip, National Product, Middle East, Israel Israeli, Suez Canal, Palestine Arab, Syria Egypt, Arabs Jews, middle east, jewish settlers, west bank, peace agreement, peace agreements, prime minister, golan heights, closure siege, egypt israel, israel palestine, west bank gaza, israeli planes destroyed, past six weeks, egypt israel peace, closure siege policy,
Approximate Word count = 2110
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)