The land variously called Israel and Palestine is a small, (10,000 square miles at present) land at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. Some time between about 1800 and 1500 B.C., a Semitic people called Hebrews left Mesopotamia and settled in Canaan. According to the Bible, Moses led the Israelites, or a portion of them out of Egypt and into Canaan, where they conquered other tribes and city-states. King David conquered Jerusalem about 1000 B.C. and established an Israelite kingdom over much of Canaan, but the kingdom was divided into Judea in the south and Israel in the north following the death of David's son, Solomon. Jerusalem remained the center of Jewish sovereignty and of Jewish worship whenever the Jews exercised sovereignty over the country in the subsequent period, up to the Jewish revolt in 133 AD.

Fighting continued well into the 1990?s. However the world?s attention was shifted away from Israel the summer of 1990 when Iraqi troops, unexpected by anyone, invaded Kuwait. The situation grew to such massive proportions that the UN was forced to pass a resolution giving Iraq a deadline to begin withdrawal from Kuwait. After almost two months ?Operation Desert Storm? was over and Iraqi troops were gone from Kuwait. Having played an integral role in the defeat of Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi troops, the United States felt that the Persian Gulf War left them in a better position to negotiate peace talks between the Arabs and Israelis.

We have since began what is being referred to as the second Intifada, which many people attribute to the recent election of Ariel Sharon as Israel?s prime minister. Arabs see this election as symbolizing an Israeli ?No? to peace, but that is not necessarily the case. Sharon?s program is clear and known. He wants, eventually, to withdraw from about 30%-40% of the West Bank land that cannot be easily defended, and to legitimize de facto Israeli annexation of the rest of the territory, leaving the vast majority of the settlements intact.

Right or wrong, according to Sharon's assessment, the world has begun to see Arafat as Israel sees him as the chief terrorist. But, Sharon refuses to accept any form of negotiations with the Palestinians, especially when it comes to the topic of Jerusalem.

Roman troops sacked Jerusalem and the land came under Roman control. Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem in the early years of Roman rule. Roman rulers put down Jewish revolts in about A.D. 70 and A.D. 132. In A.D. 135, the Romans drove the Jews out of Jerusalem. The Romans named the area Palestine. Most of the Jews who continued to practice their religion fled or were forcibly exiled from Palestine, but Jewish communities continued to exist in Galilee, the northernmost part of Palestine. Palestine was governed by the Roman Empire until the A.D. 300's and then by the Byzantine Empire. In time, Christianity spread to most of Palestine. The population consisted of Jewish converts to Christianity and paganism, peoples imported by the Romans and others who had probably inhabited Palestine continuously.

Some topics in this essay:
West Bank, Middle East, Peace Galilee, Israelis Palestinians, Prime Minister, Syria Egypt, Declaration Declarations, Palestinian Arabs, Council Fighting, Kippur War, middle east, prime minister, west bank, yom kippur, iraqi troops, bank gaza, west bank gaza, yom kippur war, peace treaty, kippur war, prime minister israel, president palestinian, minister israel, bank gaza strip,