h each other. Therefore, the two groups’ cultures clash as members of each side bind together in compassion and loyalty while fighting to gain power and prestige for their people. Israel gained control of Bethlehem in 1967 when their army invaded the West Bank. Ever since then the Israelis have felt that Jerusalem is its eternal and undivided capital. For years the Arabs have also been asking for a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. On December 6, 1987, an Israeli truck killed six Palestinian workers. The Palestinians were convinced that this was a deliberate murder. Three days later a young Palestinian picked up a stone from the ground and threw it at an Israeli patrol. His friends followed this act and soon hundreds were throwing stones. Palestinian intellectuals interpreted this action as an attempt of their youth to shake themselves free from twenty dismal years of Israeli rule. This spontaneous uprising took most by surprise. For generations Israel’s domination of Jerusalem had gone largely unchallenged. The fighting continued and the casualties that resulted were high. Most of the 1,300 deaths were Palestinians. In 1993 the international community attempted to find a permanent solution by creating the Oslo agreement. Parts of Jerusalem were officially handed over to the Palestinian self-rule authority of Yasser Arafat while the Israelis continued to control other sections. Despite the peace efforts the war is still raging strong today. Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, and Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, are now locked in the worst shoot-out in years. Judaism’s holiest site and Islam’s third holiest site are on the same rock in Jerusalem. Arafat wants possession of al Aqsa mosque that lies in the same place as the Temple Mount, a Jewish holy sight. Various solutions have been proposed but there seems to be no easy way to divide the city between these two warring groups...
