As suicide bombers commit mass murder and Israeli tanks and helicopter gunships respond, it's hard to maintain perspective on "the cycle of violence" amid the sound and fury.

But history can help. That history shows, throughout the 20th century, a fierce Arab opposition to the settlement of Jews in the lands of ancient Palestine that, after the defeat and breakup of the Ottoman Empire post-1918, were ruled by Britain under a League of Nations mandate.

That opposition was chronically violent. Soon after taking control, the British recognized a Supreme Muslim Council in 1921 to represent the Arab population. As its head, they appointed rich landowner Mohammed Amin al-Husseini, who'd distinguished himself in riots against Jews. He ensured over the following decades that fanaticism would rule Arab response to the Jews in their midst. "The mufti outrivalled Hitler in his hatred for Jews," writes Paul Johnson, a British journalist-historian who's admittedly pro-Israel, in his Modern Times: A History of the World from the 1920s to the Year 2000. "But he did something even more destructive than killing Jewish settlers. He organized the systematic destruction of Arab moderates."

Many Arabs had been happy to sell desert and swamp lands to Jewish settlers. In many communities, relations between Arabs and Jews were friendly. But the mufti and his Muslim council, by boycotts and attacks against Jews and moderate Arabs, polarized the two communities.

Holocaust historian Martin Gilbert, in his monumental Israel: A History,documented the many riots and pogroms against Jews. In 1920, they set up a defence force, the Haganah. In 1937, they began a technique for creating settlements: They'd secretly prepare machinery and materials, rush to the site by night, throw up a stockade and watchtower before the next night, ready to defend against attack.

In 1937, a British royal commission recommended partitioning Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state. The Jews accepted, subject to negotiating the frontiers. The Arab spokesmen refused; they demanded a single Arab Palestinian state.

In 1947, the British handed the issue to the United Nations, which appointed a committee of enquiry. The Arab states boycotted it. The committee recommended the partition of Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state. Again, the Jews accepted in principle, the Arabs didn't. It was adopted by the UN General Assembly by a vote of 33 states for partition, 13 opposed, and 10 abstentions. The Arab states were opposed.

The state of Israel was proclaimed in May of 1948, and five Arab states invaded. In the following years, Israel, the Arab states and the Palestinians were embroiled in many conflicts and even wars. A welter of charges could be laid on all sides. But what remained constant was the demonization of Jews in the Arab press.

Constant, also, was the dominance of the extremists on the Arab side. Anwar Sadat made peace with Israel in 1978. He was assassinated by Islamic fundamentalists in 1981. His successor, Hosni Mubarak, revived the propaganda campaign against Jews and Israel.

Yasser Arafat signed the Oslo peace agreement of 1993 but, last year at Camp David, turned down the most advantageous proposals any Israeli government is likely to offer. No doubt he feared assassination if he accepted. Meanwhile, the fanatical Hamas, opposed to any peace treaty, has eclipsed the Palestine Liberation Organization in popularity.