ABSTRACT
Israel's separation barrier has its roots in the evolution of over a century of Israeli-Palestinian strife. As such, the historical background against which ideas about separation took place is crucial to consider in some detail. The first official declaration of partition as a possible solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict came at the height of the Arab revolt between 1936 and 1939, which demonstrated the utter deterioration of Jewish-Arab relations during the British Mandatory period. Israel's dramatic military victory in the 1967 Six Day War reset the boundaries within which the development of Israeli-Palestinian relations and discussions of partition would be conducted from then on. Separation entered the political lexicon in pre-state Palestine with the development of Zionism, Jewish nationalism, and its accompanying ideologies and practices. The Arabs of Palestine sought to restrict Jewish immigration to, and stop Jewish land purchases in, Palestine.
