This relation makes them from the same tribe, which is an ironic relation, when we look at the
amount of violence which as transpired between the two. The claim, which Jews make to
Palestine , comes from a verse in Geneses in which god says Abraham:" Unto thy seed I will
give this land ". Now If we analyze this statement we can see why the Arab-Muslims also
argue they have a right to Palestine, since they claim to have come from Ishmael, they to are
the seeds which are spoken of in Geneses, which gives them equal rights to it. Both Religions
have holy sites in the city. The Muslims have the dome of the rock, and al-Aqsa mosque,
while the Jews have temple mount and the west wall. These sites have great importance in
Islam and Judaism. If we look to the colonial history of Palestine we see that it had been
Inhabited by Arabs since the 600's. From the seventh century through out the mid-twentieth
Century Palestine was predominantly a Muslim area, although Christians and Jewish
communities also shared this small region. In 1516 Palestine came under Ottoman-Muslim
rule which would last four centuries. Under this rule, Jews and Christians experienced
favorable conditions and a high degree of toleration by the Muslim leaders. The reason for
this was since they were "people of the book" they had a higher status in Islamic society then non-
From 1882-1903 the first wave, or the first Aliyah as Zionists called it, of Jews
immigrated to Palestine. These immigrants were Composed of almost entirely Russian and
Polish Jews. These were the first Jews part of the Zionist movement founded by Theoder
Herzl ,whose goal was to restore a Jewish homeland in Palestine. This movement , which was
fueled by the increase of nationalism in Europe And intensification of anti-Semitism,
encouraged European Jews to seek haven in their "promised land," Palestine. It was a goal at the
time, which the Zionist...