Maya Tapp and Jessie Traynor and Caitlin Harley

Info Many of the news stories from the Middle East involve the Israelis and Palestinians. They are fighting over control of the same piece of land, what happens here is very important to a lot of people around the world, because many of the holiest sites for Jews, Christians and Muslims are in Jerusalem.

Before World War I, Palestine was a district ruled by the Turkish Ottoman Empire, the Ottomans were defeated by Britain and her allies in the war. After WWI, Britain took control of Palestine, but there was some trouble between the Arabs who lived there and Jews who wanted to live there too. Jews have long historical and religious ties to the land dating back thousands of years. They believe it was promised to them by God. In the 20th century thousands of Jews moved to the area before it became Israel to start new lives and set up new communities. Many were escaping Europe and Russia as they were where they were being killed and hurt for being Jewish. Many more moved to Israel after the Holocaust. After World War II, Britain decided to let the United Nations decide what to do with Palestine.

Info In 1993, the two sides signed a historic agreement known as the Oslo Accords, with American President Bill Clinton. They agreed to peace. The two sides met many times in the 1990s and did make some progress, but those talks stopped when more violence started in The Israeli Prime Minister and Palestinian President met regularly throughout 2008, but those talks ended when the fighting in Gaza began.

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