.
During the A.D. 600's, Muslim Arab armies moved north from Arabia to conquer most of the Middle East, including Palestine. Muslim powers controlled the region until the early 1900's. The rulers allowed Christians and Jews to keep their religions. However, most of the local population gradually accepted Islam and the Arab-Islamic culture of their rulers. Jerusalem became holy to Muslims as the site where Muhammad ascended to heaven. The al-Aqsa mosque was built on the site generally regarded as the area of the Jewish temples. In the beginning of the 16th century the before mentioned land came under the rule of The Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman State was based on the principle of Muslim superiority, and the Jews, were regarded as infidels and second-class citizens.
However the tables began to turn in November of 1917 with the Balfour Declaration. The Declaration's major statement was that the British governmentviewed with favor? the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. This did eventually happen over 30 years later, shortly after the passage of the UN partition in November of 1947. Israel was proclaimed a state on May 14th 1948 after the first Arab-Israeli war. This war not only secured the state of Israeli but also in addition created about three-quarters of a million Palestinian Arab refugees. Hundreds of thousands of Arabs were thrown from their homes and forced to flee to areas such as Lebanon, Syria and Egypt. Thus further fueling their hatred toward the Israeli's and leading to many years to come of on going fighting. .
Granted there was a small percentage of Palestinians with skills, having lost the war these individuals went to nearby cities leaving behind the unskilled workers and indigent peasants who were forced into refugee camps. Organizations such as the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA) did their best to set up these camps, however the conditions were intolerable.