One of the biggest myths about the Israel-Palestine conflict is that it's been going on for centuries,
巴以冲突最大的谜团之一就是这场战争已经胶着了上百年
that this is all about ancient religious hatreds.
而这一切都跟宗教仇恨有关
In fact, while religion is involved, the conflict is mostly about two groups of people who claim the same land.
事实上，这场冲突除了跟宗教有关，主要是两个民族为争夺同一块土地引发的冲突
And it really only goes back about a century, to the early 1900s.
而且我们真的可以追溯到一个世纪以前，也就是20世纪早期
Around then, the region along the eastern Mediterranean we now call Israel-Palestine
那时，地中海东部，也就是现在所谓的巴以地区
had been under Ottoman rule for centuries.
已经被土耳其人统治了数百年
It was religiously diverse, including mostly Muslims and Christians
这是一个宗教大融和的地区，除了主要的穆斯林和基督教
but also a small number of Jews, who lived generally in peace.
还有少部分犹太教，大家基本上相安无事
And it was changing in two important ways.
然而，变化在两个重要的领域悄然发生
First, more people in the region were developing a sense of being not just ethnic Arabs but Palestinians, a distinct national identity.
一方面，这个地区越来越多的人逐渐认为，他们不仅仅是阿拉伯人，更是巴勒斯坦人，这种民族认同感更加清晰
At the same time, not so far away in Europe, more Jews were joining a movement called Zionism,
同时，就在不远的欧洲，也有越来越多的犹太人加入了所谓的“犹太复国主义”运动
which said that Judaism was not just a religion but a nationality, one that deserved a nation of its own.
声称犹太教不仅仅是一种宗教信仰，也是一种国籍，信奉犹太教的人应当有自己的国家
And after centuries of persecution, many believed a Jewish state was their only way of safety.
遭受了长达数世纪的迫害之后，很多人都相信，唯有拥有自己的国家，他们才有安全可言
And they saw their historic homeland in the Middle East as their best hope for establishing it.
他们将曾经的故土中东当成是成立这一国家的最佳地点
In the first decades of the 20th century, tens of thousands of European Jews moved there.
在二十世纪的头几十年，无数犹太人离开欧洲去了中东
After World War One, the Ottoman Empire collapsed,
一战结束后，土耳其帝国土崩瓦解

and the British and French Empires carved up the Middle East,
英法列强瓜分了中东地区
with the British taking control of a region it called the British Mandate for Palestine.
英国控制了所谓的“英属巴勒斯坦托管地”
At first, the British allowed Jewish immigration.
最初，英国人还准许犹太人移民
But as more Jews arrived, settling into farming communes, tension between Jews and Arabs grew.
然而，随着越来越多的犹太人来到托管地，进入农业公社，犹太人和阿拉伯人之间的冲突开始加剧
Both sides committed acts of violence.
双方都采用过暴力手段
And by the 1930s, the British began limiting Jewish immigration.
到了二十世纪三十年代，英国开始限制犹太人移民
In response, Jewish militias formed to fight both the local Arabs and to resist British rule.
为此，犹太人结成民兵，一边与当地阿拉伯人斗争，一边反抗英国人的统治
Then came the Holocaust, leading many more Jews to flee Europe for British Palestine,
接着，爆发了屠杀犹太人的行动，导致更多的犹太人逃离欧洲，前往英属巴勒斯坦托管地
and galvanizing much of the world in support of a Jewish state.
成立犹太国的呼声惊动了世界上不少地方
In 1947, as sectarian violence between Arabs and Jews there grew,
1947年，随着阿拉伯人和犹太人之间的宗派暴力事件加剧
the United Nations approved a plan to divide British Palestine into two separate states:
联合国通过了将英属巴勒斯坦托管地一分为二的方案：
one for Jews, Israel, and one for Arabs, Palestine.
犹太人得到了以色列，阿拉伯人则分到了巴勒斯坦
The city of Jerusalem, where Jews, Muslims,
耶鲁撒冷，犹太人、穆斯林、
and Christians all have holy sites, it was to become a special international zone.
和基督徒的圣地都在那里，即将成为一个特殊的国际区
The plan was meant to give Jews a state, to establish Palestinian independence,
这一方案是为了给犹太人一个国家，让巴勒斯坦人获得独立
and to end the sectarian violence that the British could no longer control.
同时结束英国人已经失去掌控的宗派暴力事件
The Jews accepted the plan and declared independence as Israel.
犹太人接受了这个方案，并宣告了以色列的独立
But Arabs throughout the region saw the UN plan
然而，该地区的阿拉伯人纷纷认为，联合国出这个方案
as just more European colonialism trying to steal their land.
不过是为了让更多的欧洲殖民主义偷走他们的土地
Many of the Arab states, who had just recently won independence themselves, declared war on Israel
很多刚刚独立的阿拉伯国家也纷纷向以色列宣战
in an effort to establish a unified Arab Palestine where all of British Palestine had been.
企图在整个英属巴勒斯坦托管地建立一个统一的阿拉伯巴勒斯坦
The new state of Israel won the war.
新成立的以色列赢得了这场战争
But in the process, they pushed well past their borders under the UN plan,
然而，在此期间，他们远远突破了联合国规定的边界
taking the western half of Jerusalem and much of the land that was to have been part of Palestine.
攻占了耶鲁撒冷西部，以及原本将属于巴勒斯坦的很多地方
They also expelled huge numbers of Palestinians from their homes,
他们还讲大量的巴勒斯坦人逐出了他们的家园
creating a massive refugee population whose descendants today number about 7 million.
造成了大规模的难民迁移，现在这些人的后代占到了700万人左右
At the end of the war, Israel controlled all of the territory except for Gaza,
这次战争结束时，以色列控制了托管地
which Egypt controlled, and the West Bank,
除埃及控制的加沙外的所有地区，还控制了
named because it's west of the Jordan River, which Jordan controlled.
约旦控制的以约旦河命名的西岸地区
This was the beginning of the decades-long Arab-Israeli conflict.
从此爆发了长达数十年的阿以冲突
During this period, many Jews in Arab-majority countries fled or were expelled, arriving in Israel.
在此期间，许多生活在以阿拉伯人为主的国家的犹太人逃出来或是被驱逐出来以后，都来到了以色列