The Oslo Accords between Israel and Palestine in 1993.

In ancient times, Palestine or Israel was referred to as Canaan. The area included modern day Israel, Gaza, all land west of the Jordan River, and modern day Jordan. Historically, both Jews and Arabs lived in the area. Around 2000 BC, Canaanites settled down along this land to become the earliest residents of what became Palestine. In the late thirteenth century BC, Hebrew tribes entered Palestine and built up a Hebrew Kingdom and then the Kingdom of Israel. From then on, the land was conquered and ruled respectively by the Ashurs, the Babylonians, the Persians, and the Romans. After the gradual fall of the Roman Empire by 800 AD, Arabs took control of the area and moved to Palestine, where many of the original inhabitants had gone though a process of assimilation. Later, during the late nineteenth century, sentiments among the Jewish community regarding a return to their homeland (later known as Zionism) brought many Jewish settlers to Palestine.

During World War I, Palestine was reduced to the status of a British protectorate and split into two pieces, divided by the Jordan River. The land on the eastern bank of the river was called Jordan, while the western bank was called Palestine (modern day Israel). Since then, large numbers of Jews had begun immigrating to Palestine. During this process, there were bloody conflicts between Jews and the Palestinian-Arabs. In Nov. 1947, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution GA 181, which divided Palestine into two states: an Arab state and a Jewish state, with Jerusalem to be put under international power. On May 14th, 1948, the Jews proclaimed the independent State of Israel, while the Kingdom of Palestine did not declare independence because the Resolution was vetoed by the Palestinian-Arabs.
Since Israel staked their claim to the area, five large-scale wars have broken out between Arab states and Israel. Israel has occupied large amounts of territory, including Jerusalem, forcing a huge number of native Palestinians into exile as refugees. Israel has also been “re-settling” the Arab territories which they have captured by constructing Jewish settlements in areas where Palestinians are the majority.

In May 1965, Palestinians who wanted to return to the life they had before Israel declared its independence founded the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The PLO declared it was intent on “destroying Zionism within Palestinian territories”. From then on, Palestinians started to fight against Israel's intrusion. After years of fighting, some on both sides believed that neither side would be victorious when they were losing thousands of their people and that war would not solve the problem. With the aid of the international community, they began to use a new approach to solve the conflict peacefully through dialogue.

After secret negotiations in Oslo, Norway between the two sides in 1993, PLO chief Arafat, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin agreed to a "land for peace" deal, known as the Oslo Accords, that would create a Palestinian state alongside Israel. For their efforts, the three men were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize at ceremonies in Oslo in December 1993. However, this never came to be due to the negotiations braking down on issues such as the ownership of Jerusalem, settlements for the Jews, and the return of Palestine refugees. An effective, long-term peace agreement remains unachieved.

In September 2000, the violence between Israelis and Palestinians re-emerged because Israelis, led by Ariel Sharon, paid a visit to the Temple Mount, the sacred Jewish site in the heart of Jerusalem which is also the site of the al-Aqsa mosque, one of the holiest sites for Palestinian-Muslims. Palestinians showered Sharon and the Israeli's with rocks, and the Israeli police fired rubber-coated bullets back at the Palestinian's. The violence heightened when Sharon was elected Prime Minister of Israel in March of 2001 because his policies towards the Palestinians resulted in a sequence of terrorist attacks launched by some Palestinian organizations. With Israel's decisions to strike back hard at these terrorist organizations, and the Palestinian’s decision to retaliate with more suicide bombings, both sides have fallen into a vicious cycle.

A car burns to the ground after a deadly suicide bombing on Saturday May20, 2001 in Jerusalem.

Mar Saba Monestary in the Judean Desert. West Bank, Israel