INTRO: On May 14th, 1948, David Ben Gurion declared Israel's independence. The war began the next day. For many Jews, the creation of modern Israel marked a return from two thousand years of exile, and gave them a safe haven they lacked during the Holocaust. But the birth of the Jewish state, endorsed by a United Nations partition plan in November 1947, also meant dispossession for the Palestinians. Seven hundred thousand Palestinians fled their villages and towns during the fighting in 1948. For Israelis, it was a war of independence. For Palestinians, it was the "nakba," or catastrophe. Today we consider the roots of the Arab-Israeli conflct in a deeply personal way, from two people who know no home except for the land that they each claim. Our story comes from Homelands Productions, producers of dozens of documentaries from around the world. Producer Sandy Tolan says the story is about an Arab, an Israeli, and an old lemon tree. 


OUTRO: That piece was produced by Sandy Tolan of Homelands Productions.