High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The conflict between various Palestinian groups and Israel has existed in one form or another since the first half of the 20th century, and has left much bitterness and death on both sides. The conflict has undergone 5 or 6 distinct phases since it began. Up until World War II, violence in Palestine was sporadic, and intensified in relation to increased Jewish immigration as part of the Zionist movement, which sought to create a Jewish state in the Land of Israel. At the time, it had an overwhelmingly Arab population, however some cities, most notably Jerusalem, had a Jewish majority. Jews settled in what was then part of the Ottoman Empire, which includes the modern day Gaza Strip, Jordan, Israel, and West Bank.