In this paper, I will discuss what I consider to be the four most important components of this conflict, as it applies to establishing a peaceful solution. These four components are history, political and non-violent struggles, international involvement, and what lies ahead in the near future. The long-standing clash between Israel and the Palestinian nation has often been and continues to be bloody. Yet, both nations have recently realized that the world order is changing, and that the most likely chance for peace is a political compromise with the establishment of a self-ruled Palestinian state.

Many people look to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 as the beginning of the Middle East conflict between Palestine and Israel, but the origins of this conflict are much older. Israel's claim

Because of Israel's superior military capabilities, the other Arab states refused to help the Palestinians in armed conflict. This led the Palestinians to terrorize not only Israel, but also its former allies. Thus, no country was on friendly terms with the Palestinian nationals. When the misplaced Palestinians attacked Israel, they would cross the border from one of Israel's Arab neighbors.

Israel at 50 (1998, April 25). The Economist, 347. 19-20.

Encyclopedia.com. (2001). Camp David Peace Accords. www.encyclopedia.com

This led to Israel's next war. Tired of terrorist attacks from the north, Israel launched a campaign to remove the Palestinians from southern Lebanon. Once again, Israel proved successful in its campaign. Now, the Palestinians had no friendly country from which to stage terrorist acts. This forced the Palestinians to give up their attacks on Israel and look for a political solution. After their goal proved elusive, the Palestinians extremists resumed their violent ways, basing their attacks in Israel, and without the help of any other state. While unsuccessful in the sense that no political change was achieved, the Palestinians considered these acts successful, because they were able to work together as a nation on their own (Gazit, 90-93).

Throughout the past three millennia, the Jewish people have migrated across the globe to escape religious persecution and to search for economic freedom. During World War II, Judaism was an important subculture in Europe and North America. Under Adolf Hitler's regime, Jews were systematically persecuted and killed in concentration camps in Germany. Many liberal Western countries refused to take Jewish immigrants, who were then eliminated in Germany. After the war was over and it was discovered that six million Jews had been massacred, sympathy for Jews increased immediately. Great Britain and the newly founded United Nations felt that if the Jewish people had their own state, this tragedy would not be repeated. The UN proposed to split Palestine into two nation-states (see figure 1). Under the conditions of this agreement, Israel would control the southern portion of the country, including the Negev, the Western portion from Tel Aviv to Haifa, and the northeastern sectio!

Palestinian voters in Israel were able to dramatically increase their representation in the 1996 elections. Two Non-Zionist parties, United Arab List and Democratic National Unity received four and five seats, respectively, more than double their previous total (Yiftachel, 1999: 299). How is this possible? The two main reasons for this to occur are Israel's political system itself and high voter turnout by Arab voters (Yiftachel, 1999: 298)

Muslims constituted the majority in the region until 1947 when the United Nations and Great Britain sponsored a plan to split the region into a Jewish Israel and a Muslim Palestine. Jerusalem would become an international city. As I will discuss later, this proposal was not entirely successful and began one of the longest continuous struggles for power, independence, and religious freedom.

While most news coverage in the United States focuses on the latest violent conflict in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank, Palestinians have recently looked to politics to solve their problems. They are using the political system in two ways. The first method is the highly visible peace talks and negotiations. Most people can easily recall the vid

Some common words found in the essay are:
United States', West Bank, Lebanon Israel, Unlike United, Six-Day War, Jews Yiftachel, Israelis Palestinians, War Israel, National Unity, Adolf Hitler's, yiftachel 1999, west bank, israel 50, gaza west, israel political, camp david, gaza west bank, peace accords, political geography 18, political geography, party receives, middle east, david peace accords, camp david peace, palestinians fifty wars,
Approximate Word count = 2330
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)