For almost 2000 years, Palestine-Israel was the home for Arab-speaking Palestinians, as well as smaller populations of Druze, Christians and Jews.

The spread of the Nationalistic movements in Europe, in the 19th century had created a situation in which many European Jews felt separated from the rest of the population.

Some of them chose to try to integrate into their nationals in Europe: Jews in Germany declared themselves German, Jews in Italy declared themselves Italian and so on.

Many other Jews became supporters of a new theory, Socialism. They believed that the best way for Jews to integrate into the general society is by the promotion of class struggle.

And a small group of Jews, led by Herzel (a Austro-Hungarian Jew), created an ideology called Zionism. Zionism is the belief that the Jewish people should all move to Palestine from all corners of the earth, to create a Jewish nation there.

In the years to follow, Jewish immigration into Ottoman Palestine increased. Wealthy Jews bought land from their Palestinian owners, and settled Jews in these lands. Publications called for Jews to immigrate to Palestine, claiming it to be

“A land with no nation, to a nation with no Land”.

However, most of the Jews did not wish to immigrate to such an “Asiatic” country, and Zionism was considered an un-realistic theory by the majority of European Jews.

• Increasing Anti-Semitism pushed many Jews to Immigrate to Palestine, which was under British Mandate.

• The Palestinians were not happy with the Zionist plans to create a Jewish state on their territory, and so clashes and hostility began between both sides.

• After the holocaust, much sympathy was given to the surviving Jews, including these in Palestine. As a result, the UN passed in 1947 a resolution dividing Palestine into 2 new states: Israel and Palestine.

• After the UN resolution passed, clashes began between the Palestinians and the Jews. The Zionists conquered some towns in central Palestine (Jaffa, for instance) and deported the local Palestinians.

• After the British withdrawal from Palestine, the Zionist leaders unilaterally declared independence, without agreeing on a permanent border.

• Local Palestinians, aided by the armies of the neighbouring countries, began fighting against the Zionists. Weapons and ammunitions for the new Israeli army were given by both the U.S and the U.S.S.R.

• The Israeli army was ordered by its leadership to deport all Palestinians in central Israel (From Lod, Ramla, Jaffa, etc’), and in some cases massacres of Palestinians population occurred (Tantura, Dir Yassin). Many other Palestinians fled in fear, to become refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

After invading Egypt already in 1956, Israel attacked Egypt, Syria and Jordan in June 1967 due to a sea blockade by Egypt. Israel conquers the West Bank, The Gaza Strip, The Golan Heights, Jerusalem and the Sinai Peninsula.

Settlements• Starting from 1968, Israeli

colonists have moved into the West bank and the Gaza strip, to live on occupied Palestinian land.

• Over 400,000 Israeli colonists live in more than 282 settlements in the West Bank.

• The Settlements are racially segregated, with Palestinians banned from buying houses there. The settlements are connected by Israeli only bypass roads cutting through Palestinian territory and intersected with Israeli military checkpoints (Machsom).

• The settlements are illegal under international law and a direct violation of the Geneva Convention

The Intifada

The First Intifada 1987-1993• Intifada in Arabic means “Shaking off”

and refers to the two spontaneous Palestinian uprisings against the Israeli military occupation of Palestine in the past 20 years.

• The first Intifada or the so called “War of the stones” exploded in 1987 after 20 years of constant Israeli military occupation.

• The Israeli army was told to “break the arms” of any Palestinians they believed to be throwing rocks as punishment and arrested and held thousands of Palestinians without trial for years.

• 1,392 Palestinians were killed, 130,787 were injured, and 40,000 were arrested.

• The Intifada and the brutal pictures of Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian children and peaceful protestors brought Israel to the negotiating table for the first time, and in 1993 the Intifada ended with the Oslo Accords.

Machsom’s (Checkpoints)• There are over 100 manned Israeli

military checkpoints in the West Bank. The are called “Machsom’s” (From the Israeli root “To block”). At each of these checkpoints all Palestinians are stopped, searched, and humiliated while Israelis go straight through. A 20 minute drive for a Palestinian can take up to and beyond 3 hours due to stoppages at every checkpoint.

• In addition to manned checkpoints there are hundreds of roads that have been physically blocked by Israeli bulldozers making rubble barricades.

• Checkpoints also detain Palestinian ambulances and emergency crews and countless numbers of Palestinians civilians have died in ambulances held up at checkpoints waiting for medical treatment. This includes pregnant woman and their babies and other civilians wounded by the Israeli Occupation Forces.

Apartheid Roads • Israel has built “bypass” roads to connect the

illegal settlements together and to Israel. The roads are racially segregated (only Israelis can travel upon them) and built upon Palestinian land seized by the Israeli military. The roads are strategically designed to cut off Palestinian majority areas and urban centers.

• The building of segregated roads systems on illegally occupied land is in violation of the Geneva Convention which states in Article 49 Part IV: No acquisition of land purposed for settlement or to provide services to settlers.And in Article 53 “Any destruction by the occupying power of real or personal property is prohibited.”

• The Apartheid roads, together with theMachsom’s and the new Apartheid Wall , divides the West bank into small Ghettos, preventing the moving of students, hospital patients, family members and Palestinan products and goods – From one area to another.

Home Demolitions

• Since the beginning of the occupation in 1967 excluding the 1967 war) the Israeli military has demolished over 9,000 Palestinian homes leaving 50,000 plus Palestinians homeless

• Israel has recently embarked upon a campaign of collective punishment by bulldozing the homes of relatives of suicide bombers.

• The Israeli policy of home demolition is in violation of the Geneva convention and international law.

• Israel demolishes any and all houses in the way of its military operations inside the occupied territories, and often Palestinian civilians are trapped in the buildings and killed by debris.

The Al-Aqsa Intifada 2000-present• The second Intifada started On September

28th 2000, when Israeli war criminal Ariel Sharon (who’s murderes of Palestinians date back to 1953 and including the Sabra and Shatila massacres of 1982) , went with an escort of 1,000 heavily armed soldiers to the holiest Muslim sight in Palestine, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, to demonstrate “Israeli sovereignty over the area”

• The Intifada broke out the next day, Friday September 29th, as Ehud Barak surrounded the Al-Aqsa mosque with armed soldiers and police, leading to clashed when the worshipers left the building leaving 7dead Palestinians and 200 wounded.

• Clashes began all throughout Palestine, with a few Palestinian extremists killing Israelis in Suicide attacks.

• Almost 4000 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces since 2000, including 813 minors. Israel invades Palestinian cities on a regular basis, killing and shooting many Palestinian citizens.

The Wall

•The construction of the wall started in 2002, and is not finished yet. The purpose of the wall is to physically separate Palestinians from Jews in the West Bank.

• The Wall does not follow the “Green Line” – The border between Israel and the West bank. Instead, it cuts off Palestinian land and annexes it to the nearby Jewish Colonies.

•The wall annexes 10% of the West Bank, and prevents Palestinian farmers from working on their lands. It also create “enclaves” in which many Palestinians will be trapped, unable to go out of their village without the Israeli’s army approval.

• The International court in the Hague has declared the entire wall illegal according to international law, however the construction of the wall and the Land theft continues.