Lecture 20- 6/3/10

As we close out the quarter, today's final lecture brought us to modern Jerusalem, a city filled with all of the tension and cultural strife of its ancient predecessor Aelia Capitolina, and before that, the city of Jerusalem in the days of King David and the Davidic dynasty.
Following the Israeli conquest of the formerly-Jordanian West Bank and East Jerusalem, Arabs living in these conquered territories essentially became strangers in their own homeland. After years of discontent under Israeli rule, with many Palestinian leaders continuing to propose a forceful end to the Jewish state, the First Intifada began in 1988. Marked by the usual back and forth between terror attack and retaliatory strike, the First Intifada eventually came to a close with the Oslo Accords of 1992. Under the agreement, PLO leader Yasser Arafat acknowledged the State of Israel while Israel in return acknowledged the authority of the PLO as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
However, with many on both sides of the issue feeling betrayed by their leadership (and with the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin), peace was not achieved, and thus the Second, or Al-aqsa Intifada began in 2000 following PM candidate (and later PM) Ariel Sharon's defiant visit to the Temple Mount. Lasting over the majority of the decade, this conflict had all the hallmarks of its predecessor, including the lack of a suitable conclusion.
And yes, that brings us to today, a day in which peace seems so necessary and yet at the same time so far-fetched.