Israel has been fighting for its survival since it became a country in 1948. It

is surrounded by hostile nations that want to destroy or at least diminish it.

There is tremendous tension between the Palestine Liberation Members and Israeli

officials and citizens. There have been peaceful rallies and bloody bus

bombings. People in Israel today are unsure about preceding with peace

negotiations or standing firm in stopping present day terrorist activities.

Protests, shouting matches, and violent disputes between Israelis are common

occurrences. No one person, the college professor, the taxi driver, or the

merchant is sure that their solution to these life and death problems are the

On Friday, May 14, 1948, after much deliberation the modern state of

Israel was voted into existence by the United Nations. Finally the Jews around

the world had a country to call their own. Unfortunately, the road ahead of

them was not an easy or peaceful one.

There are many organizations that have dedicated their existence to

destroying the people and country of Israel. The leader in this battle against

Israel is Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement. Hamas uses many tactics to

achieve its goals of terrorism. These tactics include intensive

educational/propaganda programs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip areas. Suicide

bombings, riots, rock throwing, car bombings, stonings, and many other

destructive terrorist activities are also used periodically to gain news

attention to their radical fundamentalist beliefs. Since its formation in

1988 Hamas has vowed to do anything possible to halt the peace process which

they feel is unfair to Palestinians and other Arabs. The group is not condoned

by the Palestine Liberation Organization, yet very little concrete action has

been taken to stop this group. The philosophy of Jihad, or holy war, is the

basis for Moslem actions to obliterate all Jews from this area.

To the contrary, there are many Israeli organizations that have

dedicated their existence to preserving Israel and never letting it be conquered.

On the surface, the reason for the conflict over this small piece of

land in the middle east seems simple: two groups of people, Jews and Palestinian

Arabs, have been competing for the same piece of historical land. What has

made the conflict so bitter and emotional is the fact that the land being fought

For Jews, the establishment of the state of Israel represented a return

to their biblical homeland after 2,000 years of exile and persecution, and the

near extinction of the Jewish people in the Nazi Holocaust of WWII. For

Palestinians, who had lived in the area they had called Pale