"What are the long-term Jewish and Palestinian claims to the land of Israel?"
"What are the long-term Jewish and Palestinian claims to the land of Israel?" One of the main reasons why the conflict in the Middle East between the Jews and the Palestinian Arabs is so bad is to do with the long term claims to the land. Both the Arabs and the Jews believe that the land is rightfully theirs because of the long term settling which both sides have taken part in. The Jews believe that they own the land because they think that in c.1200 BC Moses led God put them into the area of Palestine and so according to the Old Testament Jews in Palestine. It was not only religion that made them think that they deserved the land; they also feel that they needed it. The Romans had conquered Palestine after a periodic resistance by the Jews around 63 BC. But after revolt the Jews were forced to leave Palestine and were dispersed (this was called Diaspora) throughout the Roman Empire around 135AD. Ever since the Jews were forced out of Palestine they had always longed to return, every year at Passover they would hope that the next year they would be in Palestine. The Palestinian Arab claim was a lot simpler. It was simple they had always lived in Palestine (The Jews would call it Israel but the Palestinian Arabs would call it Palestine), they had never left it and they were the original settlers there, and not because they had been led by a character such as Moses. The Arabs
Why has it been so difficult to bring peace in the Middle East?
Why has it been so difficult to bring peace in the Middle East? A major source of conflict in the Middle East during the last fifty years has been the dispute between Arabs and Jews over Palestine. For hundreds of years, the great majority of the people living in Palestine were Arabs. But at the end of the nineteenth century some Jews in Europe were becoming increasingly bitter about growing anti-Semitism. They started to talk about setting up a state of their own where they would be free from persecution. They chose Palestine because it was there birthplace of the Jews religion. Small numbers of these Jews, who were called Zionists, began to emigrate from Europe to Palestine. By 1914 about one tenth of the country's total population were Jews. Since the return of the Jews to their 'homeland' in 1948 the two races have fought over what they both claim to be their Holy land. The conflict between Arab and Jews still rages, with suicide bombings, kidnapping, tortures, murders, military invasion, terrorist high jacking, and also people fighting each other. Jews believe that god promised the land to them, and Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, is their holy city. Apart from the holy shrines and places to worship, the Arabs and Israelis were fighting over dry and dusty land lying between Europe, Asia and Africa, with little fresh water, few raw materials and no real significance