Word: palestinians
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...this is happening, of course, against the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is a source of contention as much as ever. Israel broke off political talks with Yasser Arafat on a settlement in 2001 when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was elected, while President Bush has shunned the active Middle East diplomacy practiced by most of his predecessors. But despite Israel's unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip a year ago, Israeli and U.S. policies of shunning negotiations have not produced much new hope of lasting progress. In fact, Palestinian voters six months ago ousted the late Yasser Arafat...
...back in 1968, in response to a Palestinian terrorist attack on an El Al aircraft at Athens airport, that Israeli commandos blew up 13 planes at Beirut airport belonging to Lebanon's Middle East Airlines...
...Lebanon is a society fragmented along religious and political lines and ruled by a weak central government that is reluctant, if not powerless, to police semi-autonomous, armed factions like Hizballah that are backed by foreign powers. In 1975, civil war erupted between pro-Palestinian Lebanese factions and mainly Christian groups that could no longer tolerate the Palestine Liberation Organization operating in their country. More than 100,000 Lebanese died before the civil war officially ended...
...What is clear is that with Israel fighting enemies on two fronts, the Middle East strain is deepening. This week's operation inside Israel's borders by Hizballah, which is financed by Iran and closely allied with radical Palestinian factions like Hamas, brings into focus the new dangerous balance of power in the region that has been taking shape since the Bush administration sent U.S. forces into Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein...
...established."In order to fulfill a promise to free the prisoners and detainees, the Islamic Resistance captured at 9:05 a.m. two Israeli soldiers at the borders with occupied Palestine," Hizballah said in a statement. They offered a deal - Shalit and the two new Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian and Hizballah prisoners in Israeli jails. Later in the day, Hizballah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said the Israeli soldiers "will only return home through indirect negotiations and an exchange of prisoners...