Throughout history religious groups have always claimed the Holy Land which ispresently know as Israel. There are two primary groups who think that they have right tothe land, the Arabs and the Israelis. There are three main claims of land in the disputebetween the Arabs and Israelis: historical, and political. However, it appears that theIsraelis undoubtedly have more claim to stake to the land than do the Arabs. The first right to the land that both countries make is the religious aspect. Jewsbelieve that the land was given to them by God, and that God has the supreme authorityover all. The Arabs find this excuse disagreeable, since they do not have the same faith.Since the Jew s God expresses his desire for his followers to live in the holy land, the Jewshave been immigrating for nearly a century and have been legally buying land; hence thenation is now officially a largely Jewish community. The Arabs do have some claim to theholy land as well, however. Arabs have a few religiously historical areas on Israel, such asMosque of Omar (Also know as the Dome of the Rock), where a structure was built tocommemorate the Ascension of Muhammad into heaven. The second right to land claimed by the Arabs and Israelis is historical. Jews werethe first inhabitants of the disputed territory, until circa 1000 BC, when the Byzantines inessence kicked the Jews out. It was close to 3000 years later when the Jews began a rapidreturn to their original land; this was known as the Aliyas. By 1931, the Jews made upnearly one-third of the population in what was then Palestine. The Jews reasoned that the

land was originally theirs, prior to 1000 BC, and that they were simply claiming it back.This can also be easily argued by the Arabs by mentioning how that was almost over 3000years ago, and times have changed. There are many present day countries, the U.S.included, that essentially took land from their original inhabitants. But also, this can becontested by remarking that even current day countries do not have the right to the landthat they presently occupy. It is a never ending argument that can be referred back to timeand time again. The third and perhaps most influential argument involves modern day politics. In1948 under UN charter as a result of war between Arabs and Jews living in the area,Palestine was divided among Israel, Jordan and Egypt. Israel became a recognized stateonce again. This obviously did not sit well with the Arabs; they felt they were beingmistreated. Not even a month after the charter was signed, war broke out. Also, after thecharter was signed numerous Palestinian and Arab terrorist attacks were conducted onIsraelis and Israeli supporters, which can be blamed largely on Yassar Arafat. Arafat wasthe leader of the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) which originally started off asa terrorist organization. Arafat is still the leader of the PLO today. Although he has signedthe Oslo Accords and renounced terrorism, he still believes in the overthrowing of Israelby the Palestinians. In conclusion, peace as of now is an impossible thing in the Middle East. With twovery different groups with very different views of religion, history, and politics, it isunlikely true and lasting peace will take place in the Middle East.