For most of the past century, Middle East has been the center of violence and carnage. The Palestinians and the Israeli's-two peoples fighting over one land. Most of us has grown up watching and hearing about these two groups and their clashes. We hear about the invasion and the massacre of the Palestinian territory and people by the Israeli soldiers. Or we hear about the suicide bombings carried out by Palestinian men, women, and even children these days. With all the anger and animosity that exists between these two people, one might wonder if this mess will ever be resolved. But before we begin looking for solutions, lets look at how it all started.

The roots of the problem dates back to late 1800's with the creation of a movement called Zionism. The movement started mainly among European and Russian Jews who called for a national home for Jews in Palestine. The concept of Zionism was brought up by a Viennese journalist named Theordor Herzl in 1896. In his book, Der Judenstaat, he brought to the world's attention that the Jews should have their own sovereign nation-state. (Schafer) Jewish claims were that the Palestinian lands were promised to them by God and that they have

In 1982 Israel launched an invasion of Lebanon aimed at wiping out the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) presence there. By mid-August, after intensive fighting in and around Beirut, the PLO agreed to withdraw its guerrillas from the city. Israeli troops remained in southern Lebanon. (Gazit)

These events were followed by a series of other wars between newly formed Israel and the Arabs. First of these wars was the Six Day War. After their first defeat in the hands of the Israelis, the Arab nations once again started mobilizing near the borders of Israel in order to seek revenge. On June 5th, 1967, Israel attacked the armies of Syria, Jordan, and Egypt simultaneously in self-defense. The war ended in six days with an Israeli victory. Israel's French-equipped air force wiped the air power of the Arab nations and was the chief instrument in the destruction of the Arab armies. The Six Days War left Israel in possession of Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula, which it took from Egypt; Arab East Jerusalem and the West Bank, which it took from Jordan; and the Golan Heights, taken from Syria. Land under Israel's control after the 1967 war was about four times the size of the area within its 1949 armistice frontiers. The occupied territories included an Arab population of about 1.5 million. (Schafer)

At first, the Palestinians opposed the plan by diplomatic means and later they took up arms. This lead to the War of Independence in 1948 in which the armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq joined the Palestinian guerrillas in a full-scale war against the U.S. backed Israel. Most of the fighting took place on the Palestinian territory and at the end of the war, the Palestinian territory disappeared, its territory was taken over by Israel and Jordan with Egypt controlling the Gaza Strip in the South. 750,000 Palestinians fled in terror or were actively expelled from their ancestral homeland and turned into refugees. The state of Israel then refused to allow them to return and either destroyed their villages entirely or confiscated their land, orchards, houses, businesses and personal possessions for the use of the Jewish population. This was the birth of the state of Israel. (Gazit)

The most recent of the clashes took place earlier this year when Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared Israel War on the Palestinians and ordered the invasion of the Palestinian territories and the isolation of the PLO leader Yasser Arafat. The invasion was sparked by suicide bombings, hijacking, and other so called "terrorist" attacks carried out by the Palestinian radical factions such as the Hamas group.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Sharon's War, Yasser Arafat, Palestinians Israeli's-two, Land Israel's, Israel Israel, Israel Palestinians, Gazit Zionist, West Bank, Amnesty International, Strip South, world war, israeli forces, occupied territories, palestinian territories, israeli soldiers, arab forces, west bank, arab population, israeli government, palestinian territory, massive economic military, occupied territories included, world war british, economic military assistance, establishment jewish settlements,
Approximate Word count = 2050
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)