Israel and Palestine

Importance of Jerusalem Read pages 510-511 and answer the following questions Why is Jerusalem important to Jews? Why is Jerusalem important to Christians? Why is Jerusalem important to Muslims?

Historical background Jews lived in the area now occupied by Israel and the Palestinian Territories up until 70 CE Prior to the Common Era, there were a series of Jewish kingdoms that were conquered by various powers Around the beginning of the Common Era, the Roman Empire controlled the area A series of revolts, beginning around 66 CE, resulted in the Jewish Temple being destroyed and the Jewish people being expelled from the area After the first century CE, Jews lived in a diaspora Diaspora: a population that has been scattered around the world Many lived in Europe, where they suffered regular persecution This culminated in the Holocaust, where nearly 6 million Jews were murdered In the 1800’s, a movement began in Europe called Zionism Goal was to create a Jewish country in the same place as their old homeland Promoted Jewish immigration to what was then called Palestine and pressured the governments of Europe and the US to support the creation of a Jewish country there

Graphing Data Use the data in the table below to make a line graph showing the percentage of the population of Palestine that was Jewish during the 19th and early 20th centuries You will need to first figure out what the percentage is for each year Year Jewish Population Total Population 1800 7,000 275,000 1890 43,000 532,000 1914 94,000 689,000 1922 84,000 752,000 1931 175,000 1,033,000 1947 630,000 1,970,000

Arab-Israeli Conflict Read about the history of the conflict between Israel and the Arab countries and write a short description, in your own words, of what each map represents