Religion

• There is one specific spot, Temple Mount/Dome of the Rock/Mount Moriah, that is the holiest (to Jews, Muslims and Christians) place on Earth. I can’t summarize everything, go read about it, its really interesting even if you’re not religious. Once you learn about it, you’ll be “holy shit, this will never get resolved”.

Geo-strategy

• Yes. It is right in the middle of two continents, Europe and Africa, and could be considered the gateway into Asia (from the West). After WWI, the Germans were defeated but so was the Ottoman Empire. The British filled that hole but after they got kicked around in WWII, their empire crumbled too. The Brits left Palestine and turned to the United Nations to leave some sort of “Western” influence in the area. United Nations made the 1947 partition map that created Israel and here we are (after a bunch of violence since then)