Most of the Middle east was divided by mandates after the various world wars. They were just waring tribes before. Historical truths behind the Israel – Palestine conflict By Bob Siegel, Communities Digital News History Politics World News July 30, 2014 Zeev Barkan/Flickr SAN DIEGO, July 30, 2014 — For many years now the world at large has taken interest in Israel, a tiny little piece of real estate no bigger than the state of New Jersey. Somehow the idea of Jews having their own homeland is viewed as a threat to world peace. Protests against the Israeli bombing of Gaza have been going on in capitals all over the world, including London, Istanbul and Berlin. On Saturday, thousands of protesters got together in central London calling for the discontinuation of Israeli military activity. One day before, police removed 25 protesters with banners saying “Stop arming Israel.” In Istanbul, stones were thrown at the Israeli consulate. In Ankara, Palestinian flags were draped on the ambassador’s housing. In Berlin on Thursday, some protesters staged a pro-Palestinian demonstration and then chanted slogans such as “Jew, Jew, cowardly pig, come on out and fight.” Of course, Germany is quite practiced in making such colorful comments about the Jews. Perhaps they should take a second look at their penitent Holocaust memorials and spend a little time remembering the earlier anti-Jewish activity that eventually saw fruition in the Final Solution. The lie that Israel stole this land from others and persecutes those around them is a lie that sells. A much harder sell, is the truth. READ ALSO: Israel – Palestine: Some of the truths behind the conflict It’s true that Palestinian civilians in the Gaza strip have been killed as a result of this latest conflict. It is also true that Israel does what it can to warn civilians to vacate targeted areas while the terrorist organization Hamas does everything it can to make sure civilians are around their military instillations in the hopes that Israel will continue to lose world opinion by killing innocent people. Their hatred of Israel is stronger than their concern about the very people they claim to defend. This conflict was also initiated by Hamas when they began firing rockets into Israel. Actually, these rockets are nothing new even though there is a greater recent escalation. Rockets have been firing into Israel since 2005, as a gesture of thanks when Israel abandoned the Gaza strip turning it entirely over to the Palestinians. Those who feel that all hostilities will cease if Israel simply gives back “all occupied territory” should keep the example of Gaza in mind. Hamas does not recognize Israel’s right to exist. Neither does the Palestinian charter. The return of land makes no difference whatsoever. Very few people today seem to understand this strange phenomenon between the Israelis and Palestinians. Perhaps a brief history lesson is in order, one that can answer some rather basic and important questions: “Do the Jews even have a right to be in the Middle East at all? Wasn’t there a group of indigenous people called the Palestinians, living there since the beginning of measured history? Didn’t Jews arrive after World War Two and conquer land that did not belong to them?” This is utterly and completely false! The Jews lived in that land since the time of Moses and despite some upsets from the Assyrians and Babylonians, remained in the land for many centuries until the Romans displaced them. Prince Titus destroyed the temple in 70 AD. Then in the second century, Emperor Hadrian crushed a new Jewish rebellion. This time, many of the Jews were banished and others were made slaves of the Romans. A small number of Jews did stay in the land and remained there right up through the twentieth century. However, the name of the land at this time was changed because Hadrian wanted to destroy Jewish identity. He renamed the land “Syria-Palestinia.” Palestinia was a Latin version of the word Philistine, an ancient enemy of the Jews who were now extinct as a people. Hadrian was deliberately insulting the Jews. There has never been a country called Palestine. This was a nickname for the Holy Land under the Romans. The people who today call themselves Palestinians are Arabs and they referred to themselves as Arabs for centuries until they were dubbed “Palestinians” as a publicity ploy by the terrorist and founder of the PLO, Yassir Arafat, who himself did not use the title “Palestinian” until after the year 1964. “Even if this is true, well then, OK. These Arabs lived in the land for centuries.” In ancient times Arabs could be found in many places but they did not occupy the Holy Land in any significant number until after the time of Mohammad and the spread of Islam. Muslims conquered the land from the Byzantine Church (remnants of the converted, Roman Empire.) Through the years, with Crusades and other wars, the land switched ownership back and forth between the Catholic Church and the Muslims. Eventually it fell into the hands of another Muslim empire, the Ottomans. After defeating the Ottomans in World War One, the Middle East found itself under the domain of Great Britain. Even though the Middle East became a prize of the British Empire, England had neither the desire nor ability to run that region of the world forever. For this reason, they began working to create a series of new states in which the Arabs (who had helped them defeat the Ottoman Empire) could administer their own affairs. Although the term “Arabia” was already a general description for a large part of this area, many of the Middle East countries we know of today did not officially become independent nations until the British occupation and subsequent withdrawal from this turbulent region of the world. While working to create new, multiple states, Great Britain (with the cooperation of the League of Nations, an early prototype of the United Nations) decided they would also offer an opportunity for Jews all over the world to return to their homeland. This invitation was called the Balfour Declaration. Needless to say, grateful Jews responded with terrific enthusiasm. Indeed, many children of Abraham did migrate from Russia, Western Europe, and other corners of the globe where they had lived for some two thousand years in ghettos at the mercy of pogroms or harsh policies of Ant-Semitic governments. A homeland of their own had been a hopeful vision to the Jews for two millennia. The most familiar Jewish toast (common at Passover celebrations) said “Next year in Jerusalem.”
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 20:05:59 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015