the Gaza Strip and Jericho took place pursuant to the Israel-PLO 4
May 1994 Cairo Agreement on the Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area and
in additional areas of the West Bank pursuant to the Israel-PLO 28
September 1995 Interim Agreement, the Israel-PLO 15 January 1997
Protocol Concerning Redeployment in Hebron, the Israel-PLO 23
October 1998 Wye River Memorandum, and the 4 September 1999 Sharm
el-Sheikh Agreement. The DOP provides that Israel will retain
responsibility during the transitional period for external and
internal security and for public order of settlements and Israeli
citizens. Direct negotiations to determine the permanent status of
Gaza and West Bank that began in September 1999 after a three-year
hiatus, were derailed by a second intifadah that broke out in
September 2000. The resulting widespread violence in the West Bank
and Gaza Strip, Israel's military response, and instability within
the Palestinian Authority continue to undermine progress toward a
permanent agreement. Following the death of longtime Palestinian
leader Yasir ARAFAT in November 2004, the election of his successor
Mahmud ABBAS in January 2005 could bring a turning point in the
conflict.

Western Sahara
Morocco virtually annexed the northern two-thirds of
Western Sahara (formerly Spanish Sahara) in 1976, and the rest of
the territory in 1979, following Mauritania's withdrawal. A
guerrilla war with the Polisario Front contesting Rabat's
sovereignty ended in a 1991 UN-brokered cease-fire; a UN-organized
referendum on final status has been repeatedly postponed.

World
Globally, the 20th century was marked by: (a) two devastating
world wars; (b) the Great Depression of the 1930s; (c) the end of
vast colonial empires; (d) rapid advances in science and technology,
from the first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (US) to
the landing on the moon; (e) the Cold War between the Western
alliance and the Warsaw Pact nations; (f) a sharp rise in living
standards in North America, Europe, and Japan; (g) increased
concerns about the environment, including loss of forests, shortages
of energy and water, the decline in biological diversity, and air
pollution; (h) the onset of the AIDS epidemic; and (i) the ultimate
emergence of the US as the only world superpower. The planet's
population continues to explode: from 1 billion in 1820, to 2
billion in 1930, 3 billion