The Foreign Service Journal, December 2006

D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 6 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 21 he Israeli-Palestinian struggle over the Holy Land, which has attracted more obses- sive attention and defied a solution longer than any major conflict of the past century, is the story of two victims. The Jews were the victim of historic Christian anti-Semitism that brought forth Zionism, the quest for a state for the Jews in their ancient homeland. The Nazi era and the Holocaust made the Zionist cause even more urgent, and led to the 1948 war and the birth of Israel. The Palestinians, many of whom were dispossessed and fled the war, were the other victim. F O C U S O N M I D D L E E A S T P E A C E T HE H OLY L AND : C AN P EACE B E R ESCUED ? T HE U.S. COULD , IF IT WISHED , BREAK THE IMPASSE AND HELP I SRAELIS AND P ALESTINIANS MAKE PEACE . S O SAYS A VETERAN FSO AND M IDDLE E AST HAND . B Y P HILIP C. W ILCOX J R . T Adam Niklewicz