Israel / Palestine - occupation and control
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Military checkpoint near Bethlehem       The Wall from the Old City                              The Wall Near Bethlehem                                        The Wailing Wall

The Six Day Way in 1967 ended in a great victory for the Israeli military forces. Eastern Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights were occupied by the Israeli military when the Arab armies were soundly defeated. The land under Israel's control now stretched to the River Jordan and included the West Bank and Gaza, the two main areas of Palestinian settlement.

The West Bank has now been under Israeli military occupation for 40 years. The Palestinians have been resisting the occupation and have staged the Intifada and the Second Intifada in order to advance their cause for a free Palestine. This has involved some terrorist activity directed against Israeli civilians, including suicide bombings and blowing up buses (as Israeli activists did before 1948). The State of Israel and its military have responded by invading Palestinian areas, killing many activists and civilians and punishing the population as a whole. It seems anything can be justified in the name of security.
The Palestinians were led for many years by Yasser Arafat. Whilst he was an important leading figure, corruption flourished during his time and the Palestinians did not get the results they deserved. During this time it seems thay made little progress toward getting a secure homeland and many Palestinian and Israeli lives have been lost.
Israeli military supremacy has led to the building of the Wall and the separation of the West Bank areas from Israel. The Wall is not finally complete yet, but the parts that are built have severely limited mobility for the Palestinian population and access to employment and economic opportunities.
We can now hope that under new leadership the Israeli and Palestinian sides may be able to constructively look for a genuine peaceful solution. They will need a lot of international help.

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