Israelis_And_Arabs

Israelis And Arabs Both sides claim land in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Moderates suggest splitting of the territory, while extremists want it all. There have been three major Arab-Israeli wars since 1947 when the UN divided the former British mandate of Palestine between its Jewish and Arab populations with Jerusalem as an "international" city. The Arab population rejected that plan. After each was Israel, had extended its boundaries. After the second war - in 1967 - Israel took the West Bank from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt (who had held them since the 1948 war) and began an illegal program of settlement building in the now occupied territories. Significantly, these were areas that Palestinian refugees had fled to in 1948. The 1967 war had defended Israel against combined Arab armies massed on its borders when its existence appeared to be under threat, but also put a significant Arab population under Israeli rule (in addition to its own Arab citizens). Its rage was demonstrated in the 1980s intifadah against Israeli occupation and continues to feed into the violence. Much of the economic life of the West Bank and Gaza has been suspended since September 2000, exacerbating unemployment and poverty. israel, palestinian, political, middle, east, war, mr, both, arab, west, sharon, gaza, economic, bank, violence, two, state, since, refugees, peace, palestinians, jewish, jerusalem, israeli, international, conflict, between, been, arafat, while, united, under, territory, support, strip, states