As anyone who has followed the history of Israel with even the slightest level of care is undoubtedly aware, there is a tremendous amount of information that is, at best, contradictory or, more often, blatantly – and intentionally – wrong. Consequently, in order to understand the difficulties of Israel’s and the Palestinians’ respective positions, and to advocate for a way forward out of this prolonged nightmare, we must endeavor to understand the truth and dispel the many myths and outright lies perpetrated by those so critical of Israel and its supporters.
The history of Israel and its relationship with the Palestinians is somewhat complicated, but it is not beyond our ability to make sense of it. Nor must we, those who support our fellow Jews but also wish to see our fellow human beings who are Palestinian live in peace and prosperity, throw up our hands in despair. If we educate ourselves about the history of the conflict, then we can better understand the perspective of those who are directly engaged in, and whose lives are determined by, such conflict.
As an essential starting point, I believe that is crucial that we understand the need for Israel. I have attempted to state that position in the first post found on this blog (and which may be linked to here: https://www.sechel.info/post/why-israel-matters). With that understanding in mind, I will be undertaking to write a series of blog posts setting out much of the history of the relationship between the Israelis and the Palestinians. I will also be discussing the complicating factors brought about by other actors in this centuries-long story, including the British, the United Nations, the United States and, of course, the Palestinians’ fellow Arabs. Fear not, however, as I will diligently endeavor to maintain each post focused and limited to certain periods or events and short enough to avoid the counterproductive result of information overload.
As an important note before we begin, I must state that I have tried to rely on sources that seem credible and as impartial as possible. This is no easy task, however, for a multitude of reasons. For starters, only one side in this conflict (if, for these purposes, it can be overly-simply viewed as merely a two-sided conflict, which it is not) has an open and free press. Even sources from other nations that do have freedom of the press and freedom of expression are often, for whatever reasons, not truly impartial. Over the course of my half-century of existence, during nearly all of which Israel has been an important subject of concern, I have tried to inform myself about the arguments that the key participants maintain. Thus, while in writing these posts I have largely relied upon one source, the Jewish Virtual Library, which is maintained by Mitchell G. Bard and the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, I have also drawn upon other sources that I have read and heard over the years, and which purport to be neutral in their presentation. (I realize that many skeptics would immediately dismiss anything with the title “American-Israeli” in it as being unfairly favorable to the Jews and Israel. I do not believe that is the case, however, as the statements presented therein are well-sourced and often themselves come from those who have absolutely no motivation to in any way further the cause of Israel or the Jews more broadly.)
With that background, I invite you and others who care deeply about Israel and the Jewish people to explore with me the facts that have shaped this ever-evolving chapter of human history.
In the Beginning
One can question the relevance of claims to land that date back not only centuries but millennia. As Americans, we might not wish to generally acknowledge the importance of claims of “first in time makes first in right” given that we of course live on a continent to which our ancestors indisputably arrived, at best, second. Of course, many groups who challenge the Jews’ connections to the Holy Land often seem unwilling to acknowledge that rather untidy fact. In other words, although many of Israel’s detractors have no issue trying to delegitimize Jews’ claims to Israel by arguing that the Palestinians were there first, these same people have not, to my knowledge, made any plans themselves to leave what currently constitutes the United States and return it to the Native Americans who pre-dated their arrival. Of course, on this journey through history, hypocrisy will be a frequent co-traveler.
Fortunately for Israel and her supporters, we need not actually fret over this debate over who came first. And the reason why we need not concern ourselves is that the argument that the Jews were not there first is, in reality, factually incorrect. (It is probably worth pointing out at this point that, in addition to hypocrisy, another constant companion on this trip through history will be out-and-out lies.) As most Jews know, the current Diaspora began with the exile of most of the Jews from what is now Israel by the Romans in 70 CE. Yet note that not all – only most – of our Jewish ancestors were forced into exile. For the next 1,800 years Jews continued to live – and sometimes prosper – in the Holy Land. Consequently, if I may employ a modern day real property legal term, the Jews have possessed – even frequently in the face of great adversity – at least some of our ancestral lands openly and notoriously continuously for more than three thousand years. The Hebrews, as we used to be known, first entered the land of Israel in approximately 1300 BCE, and their second king, David, established the capital of Jerusalem approximately 300 years later. In fact, in Jerusalem, the Jews have constituted the majority of the city’s population dating back to at least the middle of the 19th century (before which reliable records may not be available).
While the Jews’ (or Hebrews’, if you prefer to go old school) connections to the land are thus historically clear, the Palestinians’ are, surprisingly to many, much less so. Keep in mind the fact that Palestinians are Arabs, but where does the term Arab originate? Why in Arabia, of course. And Arabia, as one hopefully knows, is the peninsula southeast of Israel and largely occupied by Saudi Arabia. Stated simply, the Arabs are not indigenous to modern-day Israel. Although the Palestinians today like to claim that they are related to the Canaanites of old, this claim is only a recent phenomenon and, according to some experts, runs counter to available historical evidence. The Canaanites, like so many peoples of the ancient world, vanished from the world stage three thousand years ago and no one knows to where. It should be made clear, however, that the Palestinian people may in fact have ancestors that are indigenous to the area, but Arabs in general are most definitely not.
As anyone with access to a map of the Middle East and a recollection of any history can readily discern, Israel is at the crossroads of many civilizations and cultures from many different time periods. Unfortunately for our ancestors, this brought them into regular conflict with numerous peoples. And while the Hebrews/Jews managed to ultimately maintain a connection, many other passers-by did not. In fact, during the period of the British Mandate alone (a topic we will cover in the next post), more than 100,000 Arabs emigrated to modern-day Israel and its environs and today are considered Palestinians. In fact, the Jews lived in our homeland for 1,000 years prior to the advent of Islam. But you need not take my word for this; the Palestinians themselves have made this clear: In 1946, in testimony before the Anglo-American Committee, a joint British and American committee tasked to examine political, economic and social conditions in then-Palestine, the Palestinians stated that they had been in the Holy Land more than one thousand years dating back no further than the conquest of the area by Muhammed’s followers in the 7th century.
The discussion above does not, of course, resolve all competing claims to the land of Israel. Nor, frankly, should it. Yet it is informative, particularly as a means to refute the argument that the Jews are colonialists. The land was, at least in part, ours and there is no genuine question about that. While a right to return to the land may be debated, any Jews who did so settle there were merely returning to their ancestral homeland.
Comments