ABSTRACT
Like the Kurds, the Palestinians identify themselves as a separate national group, although unlike the Kurds, they also are considered Arabs, since Arabic is their language. Palestinian and Israeli politics began to intertwine in the nineteenth century as Jews started migrating to Palestine from Europe. The 1967 war placed Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza under Israeli occupation, and Israeli settlers moved into both regions. The Oslo-Madrid peace process offered an end to the unrest, and in many ways, the whole Oslo-Madrid peace offerings attempted to bring to closure the continuing violence in the West Bank and Gaza. The political structure of the Palestinian Authority came from the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements, signed in Washington in September 1993. Women were significant participants in both Palestinian intifadas, often organizing demonstrations and supporting males in their families. The plight of the Palestinians, as a stateless people, is felt widely in the larger Arab world.
