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Understanding the Israeli-

Palestinian Conflict

And how the world could end,


if we have time…
Ancient Israel
 The country currently known as Israel, has a
history spanning thousands of years
 According to Jewish tradition, Israel was
promised to Abraham and his descendants
 Jacob was called Israel, and was Abraham’s
grandson
 It was occupied by other groups of people,
most notably the Philistines
Babylonians
 Israel fell under Babylonian control
in the 8th century b.c.
 The Babylonians destroyed
Solomon’s temple, and exiled the
Israeli’s to Babylon
 The Israeli’s were allowed to
gradually return, and eventually
rebuilt the temple
Romans
 The Romans had control over Israel
 The Roman tradition was to allow
conquered people to maintain their
religious practices, as long as they also
worshipped the Roman Emperor
 This was a problem for the monotheistic Israelis
 The revolted against the Romans in 66 a.d.,
but lost terribly
 The temple was destroyed, and the Jewish
people were taken as slaves
Palestine
 The Latin word for the land of Israel was
Palestina (Palestine)
 The Jewish people were scattered through
the empire (Diaspora)
 The land was conquered during the
Crusades by Arab invaders who practiced
Islam
Ottoman Empire
 In the mid 1400’s, Palestine was
conquered by the Ottomans
 At the end of World War I, the
Ottoman’s were defeated and
control over Palestine was
transferred to Great Britain
British Mandate
 The British promised that Israel
would stay an Arab state, and
would also become a Jewish state
 Balfour Declaration said the Great
Britain would create a Jewish state in
Palestine (1919)
 Did not happen, and many Jewish
people in Great Britain were upset
Zionism
 There was a movement in Great Britain
for the Jewish people to return to their
promised land, the land of Zion
 Many Jewish people wrote letters to the
government and newspapers asking for
this
 They were ignored, for the present-time
World War II
 After the events of World War II
and the Holocaust, western
countries felt bad about what had
happened to the Jewish people
 The United Nations called for a
partition of Palestine, where Israel
and Palestine would occupy the
same territory (1948)
Arab Reaction
 The Palestinians and surrounding
Arab nations had not been consulted
on this decision
 They felt that they had nothing to do
with the European treatment of the
Jewish people, yet they were the
ones being punished
 They began a series of wars against
Israel, hoping to dispel them from
their land
Syria

r
Jordan Rive
Mediterranean Sea

Jerusalem
District Dead Sea

Jewish State

Palestinian State Trans-


Jordan
Egypt

Sinai Pen.
Saudi
Arabia
Wars Over Israel
 Arab-Israeli War (1948)
 Fought by Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and
Egypt against Israel
 Israel gained 78% of Palestine
Syria

Jerusalem

Jewish State Jordan

Egypt
Palestinian State

Saudi Arabia
Six Day War (1967)
 Fought by Egypt (Sinai Peninsula),
Syria (Golan Heights), and Jordan
(Jordan River and West Bank)
against Israel
 Israel won and gained the Sinai
Peninsula, Golan Heights,
Syria
Golan
Heights

West Bank

Jerusalem

Gaza Strip
Jordan
Jewish State

Palestinian State
Sinai Pen

Occupied by Israel
Israel Today
 Today Israel is the only Jewish state
 Palestinians are considered a
stateless-nation
 There have been peace talks
between the two groups, but nothing
has been decided
 One of the issues is Jerusalem, and in
particular, the Temple Mount
Syria

Jerusalem
West Bank

Jewish State

Palestinian State Egypt


Let’s see Israel grow!
Syria

r
Jordan Rive
Mediterranean Sea

Jerusalem
District Dead Sea

Jewish State

Palestinian State Trans-


Jordan
Egypt

Sinai Pen.
Saudi
Arabia
Syria

Jerusalem

Jewish State Jordan

Egypt
Palestinian State

Saudi Arabia
Syria
Golan
Heights

West Bank

Jerusalem

Gaza Strip
Jordan
Jewish State

Palestinian State
Sinai Pen

Occupied by Israel
Syria

Jerusalem
West Bank

Jewish State

Palestinian State Egypt


Jerusalem

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