Israel, Zionism: The Illogical Battle for Land

Israel, Zionism:  The Illogical Battle for Land

By

Robert Fischer

Introduction

Most people have very little understanding of what is behind the chaos in the Middle East.  What we see is a conflict that involves Israel, Iran, sometime other Arab states, and organizations claiming to represent the Palestinian State.  What we often do not see is the people who live in these countries.  They are the innocent victims of various government efforts to maintain or gain control over what some call historic lands.  These people are predominately Muslims, Jews, and Christians.  All worship the same God!  Christianity was born out of Judaism.  Muslims accept Jesus as a great profit.  The people can and do get along and live side by side. 

Historical Background

So, what is the problem?  To understand the present, it is necessary to consider the historical past.  The area we call the Middle East has a long, colorful, and violent history.  It would take volumes to record it all.  The following is a limited timeline for the area which would eventually be called Israel.  Originally the lands called Israel were populated by perhaps two groups of people.  The north was called Samaria and the south the Kingdom of Judah.  Judah was conquered by the Babylonians in 586 BC.  Samaria was absorbed into the Assyrian Empire in 772 BC.  Some of the people we now refer to as Israelites were exiled to Babylon.  Many eventually returned to Judah.  In 332 BC Alexander the Great conquered much of the middle east, including the old kingdom of Judea.  The people of Judea were split into traditional Israelites and those who were Hellenized.  By 64 BC the Romans had conquered Judea, claiming it as a Roman Province in 6CE.  The Roman conflict with the Jewish population resulted in the Romans forcing many Jews to migrate.  Jews were now a minority in all areas except Galilee.

The point of the preceding information is that there may have been a historic land occupied by Judeans.  The Jewish faith was practiced by the descendants of Joseph.  However, it would be difficult to claim that today’s Jewish people have a historic right to exist as a nation.  This argument would be like saying that the Creek Indians have an historic right to the land of Georgia since they were there long before the arrival of Europeans.  Or perhaps a claim by the Roman Catholic Church that the Papal States should be returned to Vatican governance.  However, it is historically accurate to say that the Jewish people have always occupied the land.  Sometimes they were a nation.  Other times they were subjects of a conquering power, and sometimes many of the Jews were enslaved or exiled.

So where did the idea of a Jewish homeland come from and why is it an issue today? 

In the late 19^th century, Jewish thinkers in Eastern Europe sought ways to move beyond their oppressed status.  Some of these leaders suggested that Jews should embrace the nations where they lived and work to excel as people of those nations.   However, Rabbinic Jewish leaders continued to promote the Biblical stories of exile.  The way forward was to remain true to their historic Jewish roots.  The Jews would live in their exile nations but remain true to the Jewish traditions.  A third path was championed by Theodor Herzl and was called Zionism.  This 1880s movement called for a binational Palestine.  The Jews and Arabs would occupy the Palestinian territory as equals.  The problem with all three approaches was a continuing anti-Jewish thread in many European nations, and Russia in particular.

The British colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain sought to solve the problem by suggesting that a nation be created for the Jewish people in what was known as the British colony of Uganda.  Herzl presented Chamberlain’s plan at the Sixth World Zionist Congress in 1903.  He presented the proposal as way for the Jewish people to escape antisemitism.  However, strict Zionists insisted that their historic land was given to them by the God of Abraham, and they would only be interested in returning to Israel.  The British Colony of Uganda also opposed the idea.  The proposal died.  However, the Jewish Territorial Organization was established with the purpose of finding a solution to the Jewish problem.

Then during WW I, the British needed allies to assist in the war effort against the Axis, particularly Turkey.  Enter Sir Thomas Edward Lawrence and his work with the Arab tribes.  The British promised Arab allies that they would have an independent and united Arab country in order to gain their support against the Turks.  At the same time the British also promised to create a Jewish national home as conceived in the Balfour Declaration of 1917.  The Jewish immigration into Palestine increased through the 1930s.  The large numbers of Jewish people entering Palestine caused major conflicts with the Palestinian Arabs.  From 1936-39 the Arab revolt resulted in significant attacks on both Jews and the British.

The problem was exacerbated with the growth of the Nazi Party, and their anti-Jewish program became the Holocaust.  Following the defeat of Germany, many Jewish people were displaced and had to be absorbed into the European world or migrate to America.  The other option was to migrate to Palestine where other Jewish people were already living. 

What Went Wrong?

That solution may not have been so bad.  However, the British Palestinian protectorate was also the home of Herzl’s Zionism dream.  With the rather rapid arrival of Jewish immigrants, many Palestinians were displaced.  Zionist militias violently displaced over 800,00 Palestinians. Fear of a Jewish takeover resulted in unrest and conflict between the Jewish people and the native Palestinians.  The British, under the new leadership of Queen Elizabeth, was recovering from its war costs.  Prime Minister Churchill and the new Queen differed in their opinion regarding the British territories.  The Queen began the process of divesting direct control over many of its provinces.  Palestine, with its internal conflict, was deemed a situation that needed a solution.  Therefore, the nation of Israel was created in 1948 within the Palestinian Protectorate.  The creation of Israel was supported by the United Nations and seen as a solution to the Jewish problems as well as a way to reduce the Palestinian/Jewish conflicts.  The Partition Plan called for splitting Palestine into two states with slightly more than half the land proposed as a Jewish state.  While the Jews accepted the Partition Plan, the Arab League did not. This was the beginning of the civil war between the Jews and Arabs.  As a result of the 1948 Arab Israeli War, Israel achieved a significant victory, claiming all of Palestine except the West Bank and Gaza.  Seven hundred thousand Palestinians were forced to leave Israel.

The Arab Objectives and Conflict

Thus began the Arab efforts to keep Palestinian territory for Palestinians.  In 1956, Nasser of Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal.  Joined by France and Britain, Israel invaded Egypt.  The Soviet Union and United States brokered a peace agreement.  The canal was reopened in 1957.  In 1967 the “Six-Day-War” began after Egypt blocked shipping in the Gulf of Aqaba.  Israel attacked Egyptian airfields and invaded the Sinai Peninsula.  Jordan joined forces with Egypt.  Israel dominated the fighting, having destroyed most of Egypt’s air force.  In 1972, Black September attacked the Olympic Village in Munich, where Israel’s athletes were housed.  Eleven Israeli were killed.  In 1973 the Yom Kippur War occurred when an alliance of Egypt and Syria attacked Israel on the Yom Kippur Holiday.  The United States came to Israel’s aid and the invaders were ousted.

The Great Hope for Peace

 In 1978, President Jimmy Carter forged a peace agreement between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.  Israel would withdraw from the Sinai and the Palestinian would have self-government in the West Bank and Gaza.   Ten years later, Palestinians, still hoping for real self-government, rebelled with protests, and civil disobedience.  Israel reacted with a military crackdown.  The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) continued to cause unrest wanting Palestinian autonomy.  In 1993 the PLO, under Yasser Arafat, and Israel, under Yitzhak Rabin, agreed to a process to allow for Palestinian self-rule.  The Palestinian Authority was created with the PLO as the negotiating partner.  But the issue of Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank were left unresolved.

The Beginning of “The Hatfield’s and McCoy’s

In 1995 Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing Jewish national who opposed the two-state solution.  Unrest continued as the Jerusalem and settlement problems were not resolved.  In 2006 the Hamas organization, a militant group, won legislative seats in Gaza.  This led to friction with the Fatah Party (successor to the PLO) in the West Bank.  Then in 2007, Israel, in reaction to the Hamas power in Gaza, imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip.  Israel also increased its control over the West Bank where more than 500,000 Jews were living in illegal settlements.  In 2008, Israel attacked Gaza following a rocket attack by Hamas where they used weapons supplied by Egypt.  Tension never lessoned.  In 2012, Israel killed Hamas’ military leader.  Hamas responded with a series of rocket attacks.  And in 2014, Hamas captured and killed three Israeli teenagers.  In 2017, President Trump recognized Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, causing outrage among the Palestinians.  In 2018, Gazan protesters began subtle attacks into Israel.  Israel responded with a raid into Gaza.  Hamas fired rockets into Israel in retaliation.  In 2021, Israeli police raided the al-Aqqa Mosque in Jerusalem, following weeks of tension and protests.  Hamas again fired rockets toward Jerusalem.  Israel retaliated with airstrikes in Gaza.  In 2022, West Bank Palestinians began a series of attacks.  Israel responded with the “Break the Wave” operation in the West Bank.  In December, Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn in as prime minister for his sixth term.  The government he heads has been described as the most far-right Israeli government since the creation of the nation.  In January 2023, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) raided Jenin.  The Palestinian response occurred the next day.  All the “tit-for-tat eventually led to what we see today!

So Where Are We Today?

The conflict rages on!  Innocent civilians have been killed on both sides.  However, the greatest casualties are among the Palestinians.  The Netanyahu government seems intent on putting an end to the “feud’.  His goal is the elimination of all those in political/military power who oppose the idea of Israel.  The two-state solution is no longer an option.  Within the last few days, Israel has informed the United States that it will seek peace only when Israel is allowed to maintain a military/police presence in the Palestinian areas and Lebanon.   They are also demanding that the Israeli Airforce be given permission to operate in Lebanon’s airspace. 

The goal seems simple, but too many innocent civilians, now including Lebanese Christians, have died.  The final question must be– How long will the United States continue to supply Israel with the weapons it needs to conduct their campaign.  Of course, the United States must consider the Iranian threat and its support of Hamas and Hezbollah, but at what cost?