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The Question of Palestine, or 'Israel vs. Palestine'
  Summarized from the United Nations website:  http://www.un.org/Depts/dpa/ngo/history.html

rafah          waveflag
Israel destroyed this Palestinian boy's home. He now is a refugee and lives in a refugee camp.
 Click on the picture to read his story.


  Before W.W.I many countries now in the Middle East were one country called the Ottoman Empire. After W.W.I, many smaller countries were formed and all of them gained independence except for Palestine, which became a British territory.

  After that, many Jewish people from Europe started moving to Palestine because Hitler was chasing them out of Europe and Palestine was historically the place the Jewish culture came from. At first, everybody was happy because it looked like the Jewish people could have their own country. However, there was one problem. There was already a country there. It was called Palestine and the people are called 'Palestinians.'.

   Soon, there were so many people from Europe that the Palestinians were unhappy and wanted to have their own separate country. They rebelled against England in 1937, but weren't able to gain independence.  After W.W.II, more European Jewish people came to Palestine, many strait from the concentration camps.  In 1948, the Jewish people from Europe fought and formed their own country  calling it 'Israel'. Israel took about 80 percent of the land, so many of the Palestinians had to become refugees and go to other countries to live. It was very hard for them to survive. Ever since then, the new country made by the people from Europe, Israel, and the people who lived their first, the Palestinians, have been fighting.

  It is a very complicated problem. On the one hand, the Palestinian refugees living in nearby countries and the ones who stayed have the right to their own country with their own government. On the other hand, Israel and the Jewish people also have a right to live there and cannot simply give away land and cities to a new Palestinian country. At present, many of the Palestinians live in a special area with other Palestinians, but work in the cities of Israel. In this way, they are dependent on each other. Separating would be very difficult even if everybody agreed.

   Many people say this problem has caused all the other problems in the Middle East. Many people even say this problem is the real cause of many problems far away from the Middle East, including the attacks of 9/11.

   What happened the other 20 percent of the land in 1948? It still doesn't have a name. Some people call it 'The Occupied Territories'  Some people call it 'Palestine'.

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'The Occupied Territories' are actually two different areas: the large area on the east
called 'The West Bank', and the small area next to the Mediterranean Sea called 'The Gaza Strip'.


palestine checkpoints

The marks are checkpoints inside the occupied territories.

If a Palestinian person wants to travel to another city, they must have permission from the Israeli Army guards.

teacher notes