NPR Clips

Part 3: After World War II the struggle for Palestine intensified. The Zionists, who wanted a Jewish homeland, and who had supported the British during the World War, prepared for a new conflict. After the War between the British and the Jews ended, the Jews were being offered 55 percent of Palestine when in fact they had owned only seven percent of the country. Four-hundred-fifty thousand Palestinians were going to end up within the Jewish state, and they did not see any reason why they should go along with that kind of inequality, that kind of injustice.

Part4: Israel was planning an invasion to Arab countries such as Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. After the Israeli armor has sliced through the Gaza strip to the Mediterranean coast, and the Arab forces in the strip are no longer a fighting factor. Israel has today created the nearest thing to instant victory the modern world has ever seen. Israel had seized all of the Sinai and Gaza from Egypt, the West Bank and all of Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. After, there were 1.5 million Palestinians living under the control of the Israelis.

Part5: Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel in October 1973 to regain their lost territories. The shock of the attack, and the strength of the Arab assault, led to a reassessment of the political and military balance in the Middle East. This war made people realize that power is not theirs forever, and that compromise is something that is necessary in order to survive in the long run. Israelis still would not acknowledge the Palestinians as a political force which Began, under pressure from President Jimmy Carter, did agree to negotiate with Egypt's Sadat.Egypt got back the Sinai; Israel received formal recognition from Egypt. Both Sadat and Begin hailed their achievement.

Part6: Palestinians hated their current living situations because they were stateless, living under the humiliation of identity checks, body searches and verbal abuse that were the rule of the Israeli army, watching helplessly as Israel expanded Jewish settlements on what had been their land. It was a very effective way of reaching out to Israelis, that you know, we are going to resist but without using military means, and that this could be very costly to you financially and morally. And it swayed many politicians and many generals and military people in Israel to accepting the concept of a Palestinian entity at that point. But by 1988, Hamas was playing a major role in the Intifada, and its leaders were talking about more violent measures. In the 1990s, their primary tactic would become the suicide bombing, disrupting every effort for peace. At the White House Arafat and Rabin shook hands and declared peace. This was only the first step, many other issues still needed to be resolved.

Part7: At this time Palestinians and Israelis still hated each other. Arafat took the Gaza and portions of the West Bank that the Israelis abandoned. Arafat did not follow the Oslo agreement because he was importing arms, by having much bigger security forces than they were entitled to, and by not laying the foundations for a democratic regime that respects human rights. Many of the Arabs that are Palestinians can't understand why Jews suddenly appeared in Palestine and started to take it over. They can't understand why they must agree to the Jews' continuing to possess 80 percent of Palestine and they will agree to only receive 20 percent. After the Ehud Barak's government collapsed, and Ariel Sharon, possibly the Israeli politician most hated by the Palestinians, was elected prime minister. He help a full scale invasion into Palestinian territories, and they are not occupied by Israelis.