Very well said Jorge I am more informed now than I ever was watching the channel 11 news.. what I hear from a lot of people is that this Israeli n Palestine war has been going for 2000+ years.. so this shouldn't be of of a surprise.. It's even mentioned in the bible right?
Well, Israel and Palestine haven't been at war for 2000+ years.
If the Bible is to be believed from a historical aspects (and there is a significant lack of facts to support the time line of events portrayed in the Bible), the Israelites left bondage from Egypt some time during the reign of Pharaoh Rameses II (sp?), and trekked forty years to the land of New Canaan, which if you go back even further, was already settled previously by an existing Israelite population. The historical context from the Bible would suggest that the region that is settled by the Israelites was inhabited by a group of people called Canaanites (named after the land Canaan which is the region in question). My understanding is that Canaanites consisted of anyone living in the region other than the Israelites (which may include some Arabs, Greeks, Assyrians, maybe some Babylonians).
After some odd years (because I don't know the numbers) we are at roughly 264 BC, which is really when historical data about the region is well documented by the conquering Romans. The region which Israel (as well as Lebanon, Jordan, Syria) currently sits was once called Judea-Palaestina by the Romans. Skipping forward to 0 AD (aka when Jesus was born under the Catholic/Christian Calendar), the region is considered to be a relative autonomous zone that has simply been conquered by the Romans (kind of like Hong Kong or Macau is these days). For the roughly 300 years, Rome had saw fit to install a local King to manage Judaea-Palaestina. While the region was not particularly fruitful for resources, it sat on a very important piece of strategic coastal real estate.
After the death of Jesus Christ, much of Judaea had not changed, although the Roman Empire sure did. There is a lot of history that is not particularly relevant to Israel-Palestine. Important events would include: The Fall of the Roman Empire; Rise of Christianity; the Crusaders; the Rise of the Ottoman Empire; etc. Oddly enough, in 1799, Napoleon had reached the shores of Palestine and invited Jews to move there. That didn't last very long.
So the question then becomes where did Palestine come from, when did it appear?
Modern Palestinians are Arab Muslim (though there are probably some Christian or Jew, but very few). They are thought to be descendants of the Christians, Jews and "Canaanites" who lived in the region. However, there is a timing issue in scholarly debate as to what sparked the rise of the Palestinian "state." I don't know anything about that so I won't address it. However, it would have been considered "Palestine" and no longer "Judaea-Palaestine" during the reign of the region by the Ottoman Empire (an empire composing of Turks, not Arabs). Ottoman reign of the region was similar to that of the Romans, mostly independent, but owing taxes to the Ottoman Turks in Istanbul/Constantinope (yes sing the song). Then the Ottoman Empire falls apart after WW I.
Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the British took over control of the region, although they did not colonize it. Instead, they carved out (rather arbitrarily as the Brits did back in the days) the state that is now known as Palestine. When the League of Nations (precursor to the United Nations) convened, they had decided that Palestine needed to be managed and administered. Jews were granted "Palestinian" citizenship if they wanted to emigrate to the region. This was called the British Mandate of Palestine (or something like that). Early on Palestinian Arabs didn't really object to emigration to Palestine, at least not until larger numbers began moving to the region. Tensions rose when the Balfour Declaration of 1917 (a letter between then British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour and Baron Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community) was incorporated into the administration of Palestine, which aimed to establish a permanent home for Jews in the Palestine region. Riots took place in the 20s, and objection to this state continued until WW II interrupted the social tensions.
The end of the WW II did not calm down Jewish-Arab tensions in the region, especially since many Jews were illegally emigrating to Palestine. The British didn't have much strength to enforce its administration of the region since its military had been relatively crippled during WW II. Riots, and a war broke out between 1946-1948.
Following the end of the British Mandate in 1948, the Jewish community living in Palestine declared the establishment of the Jewish State. The US and the USSR gave official recognition to the declaration of the State of Israel a few days later. The 1948 Arab-Israeli war was the first official war Israel had undergone with the Arabs of the region. This conflict continues to this day.
Thus, if we look at history, in reality, there has only been conflict between Israelis and the Palestinians only in the last 100-200 years. Palestine was only a region organized by the Romans as Judaea-Palaestina. Judea being the former Israelite nation set up some time before the birth of Christ (David, Solomon, etc.).
Please don't quote me on too much of this, and my time lines may be jumbled as I recalling half of this from memory. I would consult a real historian if you want to know about the origins of conflict in the region.
