ABSTRACT
The nascent state of Palestine comprises a number of autonomous areas. For most of the 20th century the region known as Palestine has been an area of conflict, not least because it contains holy sites of the three great monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. After World War I, Palestine became distinguished and was identified separately as a result of the division of the Middle East among the major European powers and the expressed wish of the Zionist movement for a national home for the Jews. The other factor that created moral support in the West for a Jewish homeland was the Holocaust, which united world Jewry behind Zionism. The majority of Palestinians remain sceptical about Israeli intentions and the US role in the peace process. The main explanation for this is that the Wye Memorandum did not directly address the key issues of Jerusalem or of the continuing establishment of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.
