March 01st, 2017

Some History:
​Israel and Palestine:
1947: United Nations adopts Resolution 181 partitioning the British Mandate of Palestine into two states/nations: Israel and Palestine (which includes the West Bank and the Gaza Strip).
1948:  Israel and Palestine become countries for the first time.  Palestinians resist partition.  Arab, Palestinian, and Jewish groups begin fighting.  The war escalates when Arab forces -- Saudi Arabian, Egyptian, Jordanian, Lebanese, Yemenese, Syrian -- including the Arab Legion, invade.  The war ends in 1949.  As a result of the conflict, the two-state solution does not take place, a flight of Palestinian refugees begins, Israel becomes larger, Egypt controls the Gaza Strip, and (Trans)Jordan the West Bank.
1956: Israel, France, and Britain invade Egypt’s western Suez Canal area and the Sinai, after President Nasser of Egypt nationalizes the Suez Canal.  The joint forces withdraw by 1957.
1967:  Israel launches preemptive airstrikes against Egypt.  Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq retaliate. The Six-Day War results in Israel’s capture of the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights.  Israel still occupies 2/3rds of the Golan Heights, controls the West Bank with the Palestinian Authority. 
1973 Yom Kippur War: On Yom Kippur, a Jewish religious holiday, Egypt and Syria invade Israel.  After suffering losses, Israel counterattacks, repulses Egyptian and Syrian troops, and recaptures the Golan Heights.  The war lasts nineteen days.
With President Jimmy Carter in 1978: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin sign the Camp David Peace Accords.  Egypt recognizes Israel’s right to exist.  Sadat and Begin win the Nobel Peace Prize. President Sadat is assassinated as a result of his participation in the accords.
In 1993, the Oslo Peace Accords are signed by the Palestinian Authority and Israel.  A two-state solution is still recognized as a viable goal.  The Palestinian Authority recognizes Israel’s right to exist.
2012:  The U.N. recognizes Palestine as an observer state with rights of statehood.

​Approximately 91,105 Arabs and 24,969 Israelis (2016 statistics) have been killed in the Arab-Israeli conflict since 1920, or beginning with the end of Ottoman Empire’s control of the Palestine region and the start of the League of Nations’ (British) Mandate.
In the Mideast: Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan recognize Israel’s right to exist.
Please see Carbuncle Moon post: 6/21/16  
 
Sources: Wikipedia, historynet, Office of the Historian, Britannica.com, the history learning site, history.com, cnn.com, BBC, Jewish Virtual Library, Google, Speech by President Gamal Abdel Nasser, Quora, History News Network, CBS...  


Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Season of Lent, a 40-day period of fasting, penance, abstinence, and reflection, which prepares for Christ's Redemption.  On the Day of Ashes, a Christian is marked on the forehead by a paste made of ashes and formed in the shape of a cross.   - Catholic Online