Editor's note: This is the first in a two-part series explaining the history and present state of the Middle Eastern conflict. Due to the recent escalation of violence in the region, the Wildcat asked Charles D. Smith, professor of Middle Eastern history, to write an unbiased article about the conflict.

WHAT IS THE CONFLICT?

It is a conflict over land that comprised the ancient Kingdom of Israel, which existed nearly 3,000 years ago and remained the land of the Jewish people, although not independently, until approximately 2,000 years ago. This land became Palestine within Islamic dynasties centered elsewhere with a predominantly Muslim population approximately 1,400 years ago.

WHAT WAS THE ANCIENT LAND OF PALESTINE/ISRAEL?

It included Israel, the West Bank, Gaza Strip and much of Jordan.

DOES PALESTINE/ISRAEL HAVE RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE FOR BOTH JEWS AND ARABS, WHETHER MUSLIM OR CHRISTIAN?

Yes. Jerusalem is sacred to all three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Islam and Christianity. For Jews, East Jerusalem, the "Old City," is the site of the Temple, which was the central place of Jewish worship. There is one wall remaining of the second temple, known as the Western Wall, and that is the focal point of Jewish prayer today.

The Temple Mount, above the Western Wall, holds two ancient Muslim holy places: the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. This site is called "Haram al-Sharif," The Noble Sanctuary, by Muslims. The Dome of the Rock commemorates Muslim belief in the ascension of the prophet Muhammad to heaven to meet God and then return to Earth. Jerusalem is considered by Muslims to be the third holiest site of Islam, after Mecca and Medina. Christians venerate Israel/Palestine as the birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem. Jerusalem is considered the center of Christian faith, symbolized in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, presumed to be the site of the crucifixion of Jesus.

WHEN DID THIS CONFLICT BEGIN?

The conflict followed the creation of a Jewish national movement known as Zionism. Zionism called for the return of Jews to the ancient land of Israel, then Palestine, which was under the rule of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. Only there could they attain independence and be free of European persecution and discrimination. The World Zionist Organization was created in 1897. Zionist leaders who entered Palestine were often militant in their statements. In their view, the Palestinian Arabs, 90 percent of the population, had no right to be there. Only Jews had the right to build a country in Palestine.

Map illustration by Josh Hagler/Arizona Daily Wildcat SOURCE: Foundation for Middle East Peace

HOW WAS THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT ABLE TO ESTABLISH ITSELF IN PALESTINE?

During World War I, Great Britain issued a statement known as the Balfour Declaration, named after Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour. This declaration stated that Britain would support a "national home" in Palestine for the Jewish people, with the civil and religious rights of the non-Jewish inhabitants being safeguarded. The term "national home" really meant a state. The statement was worded so that only Jews would have political rights in Palestine, not the Arabs who were referred to as the "non-Jewish inhabitants." Britain could enforce the declaration as the major victorious power in Europe after World War I.

WHAT TYPE OF CONTROL WAS ESTABLISHED FOR PALESTINE AND OTHER REGIONS?

Britain and France awarded themselves "mandates" over the Arab lands of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine. Mandates meant that Britain and France were obligated to prepare the inhabitants of each region for self-government and independence. The Balfour Declaration was written into the Palestine mandate. This meant that the people being prepared for self-government in Palestine were not the indigenous Arabs, still 90 percent of the population, but the Jews who were about 10 percent of the population. Palestine would achieve independence only after enough Jews had entered the country so that a Jewish majority had been created. British rule was designed to deprive Palestinians of the self-determination expected by Arabs under the other mandates.

HOW LONG DID THE MANDATE LAST?

The Palestine mandate lasted, officially, from 1922 to 1948 when the state of Israel was declared on May 14, 1948.

WHAT WERE THE MAJOR EVENTS EXPERIENCED BY JEWS AND ARABS DURING THE MANDATE?

There were occasional outbreaks of Arab violence against Jews during the 1920s but no major outburst until 1929 when Arabs rioted out of fear of supposed Jewish changes to the status of the Western Wall, which was under Muslim supervision. About 100 Jews were killed, and the Jewish population of Hebron was evacuated. In addition, a major event affecting Palestine was Adolf Hitler's accession to power in Germany in 1933. Hitler and his Nazi regime quickly implemented anti-Semitic edicts against Jews. This led to greatly increased Jewish emigration from Germany and Poland to Palestine, with the Jewish population tripling between 1933-1937. This led to the Arab Revolt from 1936-1939, a major upheaval finally crushed by massive British force on the eve of World War II.

Events during World War II had a major impact on support for a Jewish state afterward. Knowledge of the Holocaust convinced many of the need for a Jewish state in Palestine. This led to the United Nations recommending partitioning of Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state in November 1947. Jews accepted the awarding of a state as international recognition of their right to independence. Arabs viewed it as deciding the fate of the majority population without their consent; Arabs were still 67 percent of the population in Palestine. Palestinian Arabs rejected the partition.

WHAT HAPPENED?

After much strife between Jews and Arabs, the Jewish forces triumphed, owing to superiority of training, weaponry and numbers of combatants, and the state of Israel was declared on May 14, 1948. The vast majority of Palestinian Arabs, about 700,000, became refugees. Many fled in terror because of the war and Zionist threats. Many more were encouraged to leave or were deliberately expelled by Israeli forces during the Arab-Israeli war that erupted once Israel was declared a state.

WHAT WAS THE FATE OF THE PALESTINIAN REFUGEES?

Jordan gave them citizenship. No other Arab state did so.

IN VIEW OF THE ACCUSATIONS THAT PALESTINIANS ARE TERRORISTS, DID ISRAELIS ENGAGE IN TERRORISM?

Yes, specific groups such as the Irgun, led by Menachem Begin, and LEHI, of which Yitzhak Shamir was one leader, engaged in terrorist acts. Begin and Shamir later became prime ministers of Israel, and Guela Cohen published a book in the United States in 1963 titled "Israel's Sacred Terrorism," celebrating actions deemed heroic for the cause of independence.

WHEN DO PALESTINIANS REAPPEAR AS A FACTOR IN MIDDLE EAST POLITICS?

The period after 1948 saw the emergence of the Arab-Israeli conflict, a state conflict with several wars. Palestinians did not reappear in specific groups until the mid-1960s. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was formed in 1964. Yasser Arafat, who had formed his own group, Fatah, in the late 1950s, became head of the PLO after the 1967 War, which resulted in Israel taking over the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank and the Golan Heights. The PLO was made up of many independent groups, which often were loyal to individual Arab state sponsors rather than following a united PLO policy. Certain groups sought, but failed, to overthrow the Jordanian regime in 1970, forcing the PLO infrastructure, then based in Jordan, to move to Lebanon; Lebanon then became the major center of Palestinian activity and assaults and terror attacks against Israel.