Jews believe it is their rightful homeland, dating to biblical times when the kingdoms of Israel and Judea were located there. Arabs have lived in Palestine since A.D. 634 and also consider it a holy land.

In 1948 the Jewish nation of Israel was established in Palestine, displacing Arabs and setting the stage for decades of bitter and often bloody tension. During World War I, Great Britain, hoping to enlist Jews around the world in the battle against Germany, sided with Jewish Zionists for the first time. In the Balfour Declaration, Britain proposed the establishment of a homeland for Jews in Palestine, provided that the rights of Arabs and others living there would be protected. But after the war, although Britain gained control of Palestine, no homeland was forthcoming—Arab governments opposed the idea unequivocally.

After World War II, Jews impatient at the lack of progress toward a Jewish state began a terrorism campaign against the British. In 1947 the United Nations proposed separating Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. Arab governments rejected the plan, but on May 14, 1948, the independent state of Israel was established in Palestine along the boundaries proposed by the United States.

Outraged at having a non-Arab nation set up in what they considered Arab land, nearby Arab states attacked the next day. The war lasted until July 1949. Some 720,000 Palestinians fled to refugee camps, as did a similar number of Jews from neighboring Arab countries.

The stage was set for future conflict. In 1967 Egypt and Syria, with support from the Soviet Union, massed armies on Israel's borders. The Six-Day War began with a preemptive Israeli strike against Egypt's air force. The Arabs were defeated. The Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank area of Palestine, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights now belonged to Israel.

Six years later Egypt and Syria attacked Israel on Yom Kippur, Judaism's holiest day. Israel prevailed again, but at great cost.

Immediately after the war Israelis began to build settlements on the West Bank and in Gaza, staking claim to the land for religious and other reasons. New settlements have sprouted there regularly. Palestinian terrorist attacks against the settlements and other Jewish targets have led to Israeli retaliation in a cycle of violence and counterviolence that has thwarted every effort to bring peace to the region.

Intransigence reigns in the Middle East. Unless the Palestinians agree to accept the existence of Israel—and until the Israelis stop building settlements, which make it difficult to exchange occupied territory for peace—the standoff seems sure to continue.