Violence is once again threatening the peace process between the Palestinians and Israelis.
Israel has been an area of conflict long before the Zionist leader, David Ben-Gurion, declared the area a state in 1948 after the U.N. partition of Palestine into seperate Arab and Jewish states. The source of today's problems is a result of the Zionist movement in the late 19th century to form a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Before World War I, the Zionists established colonies throughout Palestine, an area largely populated by Arabs and Muslims. Concurrently, Arab nationalism was strong and many Arab leaders wanted to end the rising Jewish immigration into the area.
The struggle between these two groups intensified after the war when the League of Nations mandated British occupation in Palestine. Part of the mandate included the Balfour Declaration, which was issued in 1917 by British foreign secretary Arthur Balfour. The declaration stated that the formation of a Jewish homeland was not, under any circumstances, to be at the expense of Palestinian Arabs. The British also promised to assist Arab leaders in the creation of their own independent states.
Unfortunately, a misunderstanding, directly affecting the issues of today, soon arose. Many Arabs believed that Palestine would be among the newly created Arab states. On the other side, the British claimed that, although Palestine was not to be an entirely Jewish state, there would be a Jewish state within the Arab Palestine. By 1937, the British reccomended that Palestine be divided into co-exsistant Jewish and Arab states with Britain controlling Jerusalem. Unhappy with the realization that they might be forced to leave, many irate Arabs protested against this idea. With the world being on the brink of the Second World War, the British government finally gave up and abandoned their proposal in order to keep Arab support for other endeavors.
After the war ended, many survivors of the Holocaust and other displaced Jewish persons flocked towards Palestine, consequently reviving the idea of a partitioned land. This time, however, the United Nations decided to end the British Mandate by May 15, 1948 and separate Palestine into Jewish and Arab states with Jerusalem being recognized as an international city.
Feeling invaded and pushed out of their homeland, Arabs, with the support of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq, rejected the aforesaid plan put forth by the United Nations. This, consequently, set off a series of skirmishes between the two groups.
In 1979, Israel signed a peace treaty, formally ending the 30-year state of war in the region. In 1993, Israel and Palestinians agreed to mutual recognition for limited self-rule for Palestinians in Jericho and the Gaza strip, and to conclude with a permanent treaty which would resolve the official status of Gaza and the West Bank. A peace treaty signed in 1994 gave Jordan control of several key Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem and Jordan relinquished claims to the West Bank in favor of the Palestinians.
In the past six weeks, fighting has once again returned to Israel. Today's events were sparked when Likud leader Ariel Sharon, along with 1000 policemen, entered the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount, an area claimed by both Israelis and Palestinians, is where the biblical Jewish temples are said to have stood. Today, a Muslim shrine and mosque stand at the site. When worshipping Muslims exited the mosque and noticed Sharon and his forces, they angrily threw stones in defiance. In response, the police began to fire at the crowd of Palestinians, resulting in widespread violence throughout the area. The fighting has resulted in the death of over 180 people, a large majority of them Palestinians.
Both sides, Israeli and Palestinian, have said that the fighting has recently diminished and that they are committed to putting an end to the recent eruptions of violence. On Oct. 27, 2000, Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat met with the United States Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, and with National Security Advisor Sandy Berger. United States President Bill Clinton also hopes to meet separately with Palestinian Authority President Yassar Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in the near future.
With peace talks back in process, the fighting will hopefully reach a standstill.