This week, the conflict between the Israeli government and Palestinian militants in Gaza, escalated significantly. Hamas militants have fired hundreds of rockets at Israel, and the Israeli military has carried out massive airstrikes in response. Several thousand IDF (Israeli Defence Force) reserve troops have been called up by Prime Minister Netanyahu, with talk that a massive ground assault operation is already taking place.
WHO IGNITED THE FLAMES?
The Middle East has been unstable for a long time, but this specific conflict goes back to 1948. After the Second World War, the international community rightly agreed that the Jews needed their own nation state. Many ideas were discussed in relation to where this state should be, even the Kimberley region of North-Western Australia, was considered.
Incidentally, before the implementation of the demonic ‘Final Solution’, the Nazi High Command had the idea of depositing the Jews of Europe in Madagascar, but it was considered too expensive and impractical, and so the plan was abolished (not that they ever asked the Madagascan people for permission).
Eventually, and after much squabbling, it was decided that they would be returned to their ancestral home in the Holy Land, which was then known as British Mandate Palestine. There had always been a small Jewish presence in the region. Several brave souls chose to stay even after the old Jewish nations were destroyed by the Roman Empire, causing most Jews to migrate north, towards present day Russia. But now millions would be moving back, and so the ancient nation of Israel, would be reincarnated (as mentioned in the Bible).
The United Nations drew up a partition plan for Palestine, with the region being split into a disjointed Arab state and an elongated Jewish state, with Jerusalem remaining an international territory under the administration of the UN.
REMEMBER ZION?
The repatriation of the Jewish people to Israel is known as Zionism. Although the concept of Zionism has been around for millennia, Political Zionism began in Austria-Hungary in 1896, courtesy of journalist Theodor Herzl. Just 1 year later he would preside over the 1st Zionist Congress in Switzerland.
It was agreed that the growing anti-semitism across Europe could one day place the Jewish population in extreme peril, therefore, returning to the land of Israel and establishing a Jewish state was of paramount importance. But even they never imagined anything as diabolical as the holocaust.
Over the next few decades, the mass immigration of Jews to the holy land began to take place. There was a slight problem though, the land already had people living on it. These folks were an Arabic group that have come to be known as the Palestinians. They are predominantly Muslim, with a significant Christian minority, and had been living in the Holy Land alongside the small Jewish population, peacefully, for a long time.
But with the influx of millions of new people into a relatively small area, suddenly each side was stepping on each others toes. The affront that was felt by the local Arabs, mixed with the paranoia of the Jewish refugees, was never going to end well. Palestinian nationalism started to grow in response to the Jewish settlement, and a 2 year civil war broke out in 1947.
Generally speaking, Jews were happy with the UN Partition. The Palestinians were less enthusiastic, and the neighbouring Arab states hated it. After British troops and officials left on May 14, 1948 – the state of Israel was proclaimed at midnight. The next day, the Arab states declared war on Israel.
THE ARAB-ISRAELI WARS
The 2 main Palestinian territories – the West Bank and the Gaza Strip – were initially taken by Jordan and Egypt, respectively. Both nations established their own governments in the territories, and ruled them erratically for the next 19 years. In June of 1967, the Israeli Military hit back and crushed the Arab states in just 6 days. They took the West Bank away from Jordan, Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, and the Golan Heights away from Syria.
Today, Israel still occupies these areas, according to the UN. So far, all attempts at creating an independent Palestinian state have failed. The Arabic areas of the West Bank are currently governed by the non-violent Palestinian National Authority (which grew out of Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organisation), whilst the Gaza strip is now under the control of the militant Jihadi group, Hamas.
RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES
Another major obstacle in finding a solution to this conflict, is that both Israel and Palestine want Jerusalem as their capital. And more specifically, both want that little scrap of land in the centre of Jerusalem, that was once the location of the 1st & 2nd Jewish Holy Temples, before they were destroyed.
Jews call it the Temple Mount, whilst Muslims call it the Noble Sanctuary. It was on this site that the latest round of fighting allegedly began. Since the Umayyad caliphate colonised the region in the 7th century, it has been home to the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque – and is considered the 3rd holiest site in Islam, after Mecca and Medina.
In Judaism however, the Temple Mount is the most holy of places. Religious Jews (and many Christians) want to see a 3rd Holy Temple built on the ancient site, in line with biblical prophecy. Unfortunately for them, the Muslim world has absolutely no intention of giving it away.
The need to see biblical prophecy fulfilled is one of the main reasons that the USA is such an enthusiastic supporter of Israel. The most powerful political lobby group in the USA are the Evangelical Christians, and they are determined to see the ancient kingdom rebuilt. Not because they love the Jewish people, but because the book of Revelation says that when the nation of Israel is fully restored, we will witness the end of the old world (armageddon) and the return of Jesus Christ.
IN CONCLUSION
Is a more peaceful future possible for the region? It’s unlikely as long as there are extremists on both sides who refuse to compromise. Most of those involved want a peaceful, 2 state solution. Unfortunately, there is a significant number who don’t, and they don’t mind using violence to prevent it.
Here’s a crazy idea: the USA is a federal republic made up of 50 states. What if we made the Holy Land one big federal republic, made up of half a dozen states with names like Israel, Judea, Palestine, Samaria etc. Perhaps we could call this new nation Canaan, or the Levant?
Whatever happens over the next few months, the Holy Land cannot continue to function as a mobocracy.
