The roots of the Israel-Palestine conflict are complex and multifaceted, with historical, political, territorial, cultural, and religious factors playing a role. However, the conflict can be traced back to the late 19th century when Zionists sought to establish a homeland for the Jewish people in Ottoman-controlled Palestine. The United Nations vote in 1947 to partition land in the British mandate of Palestine into two states – one Jewish, one Arab – following the destruction of much of European Jewry in the Holocaust is often cited as a starting point for the conflict. Neither the Palestinians nor the neighboring Arab countries accepted the founding of modern Israel, and fighting between Jewish armed groups and Palestinians escalated until the armies of Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan, and Syria invaded after Israel declared independence in May 1948. Israels capture of all of Jerusalem and newly acquired control over the biblical lands called Judea and Samaria in Israel opened the way to the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which became central to the conflict. The status of Jerusalem as Israels capital and the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip created a new set of contentious issues in the conflict. Religion also plays a role in the conflict, with several religious factors pertinent to Islam and Judaism dictating the role of religion as the main factor in the conflict, notably including the sanctity of holy sites and the apocalyptic narratives of both religions, which are detrimental to any potential for lasting peace between the two sides.