;s claim to the land. The Palestinians occupied the region when the first maps were drawn. In other words, the Jews were exiled prior to having the state legitimized by a foreign state. Prior to the establishment of Israel as a nation-state, the Palestinian people lived under British rule. Then, in 1947, after World War II, they were informed that their territory would be designated as a Jewish state. It is no surprise that they did not want to leave their homes. Also, since Islam advocates jihad, holy war, the Muslims were willing to fight for their land. Their religion does not preach compromise.
             Muslims constituted the majority in the region until 1947 when the United Nations and Great Britain sponsored a plan to split the region into a Jewish Israel and a Muslim Palestine. Jerusalem would become an international city. As I will discuss later, this proposal was not entirely successful and began one of the longest continuous struggles for power, independence, and religious freedom.
             Throughout the past three millennia, the Jewish people have migrated across the globe to escape religious persecution and to search for economic freedom. During World War II, Judaism was an important subculture in Europe and North America. Under Adolf Hitler's regime, Jews were systematically persecuted and killed in concentration camps in Germany. Many liberal Western countries refused to take Jewish immigrants, who were then eliminated in Germany. After the war was over and it was discovered that six million Jews had been massacred, sympathy for Jews increased immediately. Great Britain and the newly founded United Nations felt that if the Jewish people had their own state, this tragedy would not be repeated. The UN proposed to split Palestine into two nation-states (see figure 1). Under the conditions of this agreement, Israel would control the southern portion of the country, including the Negev, the Western portion from Tel Aviv...