There is no doubt Israel has a right to exist, so do the Palestinians, but that does not confer on Bani Israeli the right to commit genocide and ethnic cleansing.
“A land without a people and a people without a land” is how the relationship between Palestine and the Jewish people was described by Christian writers in the 1800s. And the 20th-century history of the Middle East has largely been written through these eyes. However, this is an erroneous presentation of Palestine. Archive documents show Palestine as a thriving province of Greater Syria and the Ottoman Empire at the dawn of the 20th century.
The evidence suggests that its cities had a developing trade and commercial sector, growing infrastructure, and embryonic culture that would enable it to meet the challenges of the decades ahead. The seaports were developed and witnessed ample trade with the outside world, they were linked by rail which was established as late as 1890.
Nearly all the present sea and inland water ports in Palestine were in existence long before World War I. The ports of Palestine comprising the sea port of Haifa, Jaffa (including Tel Aviv Lighter Harbour), Acre, Gaza and the inland water port of Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee and the inland water port of the Dead Sea was undertaken by the General Manager of the Palestine Railways in his capacity of Ports Authority. The two principal sea ports, namely Haifa and Jaffa, were in the charge of Port Managers who also controlled the minor sea and inland water ports of their respective areas.
The Jaffa–Jerusalem railway, funded by Chemin de Fer Ottoman de Jaffa à Jérusalem et Prolongements, was the first railway to be built in Palestine. Construction started on 31 March 1890 and the line opened on 26 September 1892. Before 1920 other lines were added.
Contrary to the false narrative that Israel came to turn desert Palestine into arable land, Palestine has been a land of agriculture, producing citrus, olives, grapes and vegetables. When the first Israeli settlers arrived, they had no clue on how to farm the land because they were from European cities. All developments in Palestine were attenuated and arrested with the infiltration of European Jews.
The political ramifications of the Balfour Declaration, San Remo Conference and British Mandate set in motion a series of events that profoundly affected this vibrant, fledgling society and led to the events of 1948 and beyond.
Many have misjudged the Palestinian cause. This is a case of injustice which began long ago and continues to cause a lot of suffering. The shameful behavior of the Allies to conspire against the Palestinians proves once again how self-serving interests overcome what is judicious.
“The Nakba did not begin in 1948. Its origins lie over two centuries ago….”
Zionists were well aware of the need to dispense with the majority of the indigenous population of Palestine even before the formal creation of the state of Israel on Palestinian land in 1948, a process that entailed mass killing and the destruction of hundreds of villages. Some three-quarters of a million people were made refugees.
This story starts in 1799, outside the walls of Acre in Ottoman-controlled Palestine, when an army under Napoleon Bonaparte besieged the city. It was all part of a campaign to defeat the Ottomans and establish a French presence in the region.
In search of allies, Napoleon issued a letter offering Palestine as a homeland to the Jews under French protection. He called on the Jews to ‘rise up’ against what he called their oppressors. But, who were these oppressors? Definitely, not the Palestinians.
Napoleon’s project for a Jewish homeland in the region under a colonial protectorate did not materialize. But, 40 years later, the plan was revived by the British.
The land known today as Israel and Palestine has been inhabited since prehistoric times. In antiquity, it was known as Canaan and later, particularly by the Jews, as the Land of Israel. That is after they had visited genocide and ethnic cleansing on the people. This is exactly what is going on now.
The destruction of the Canaanites is a difficult story within Scripture. It does not seem to fit with the narrative of God aiming to bless the nations through Abraham – genocide doesn’t seem to fit that storyline. So how do we make sense of this story?
One attempt to rescue God from the story of the Canaanites is to say that Israel did this all on their own. They wanted land. They took it. End of story. The only problem with this is that it is not the way the Bible reads. But the exact opposite happens with this story. In ‘The God I Don’t Understand’, Christopher J.H. Wright expresses his misgivings about the whole narrative involving God’s directives.
It is clear from the narrative in the Bible that God ordered the Israelites to take the land. He gave it into their hands. It is God who is given credit for the fall of Jericho. As much as it might help our comfort, we cannot remove God from the story of the destruction of the Canaanites. But what do we do with this story?
The early Jewish states were conquered by a succession of imperial powers, including the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans. The Roman conquest and the Jewish revolts against Roman rule (66-70 CE and 132-136 CE) led to the widespread dispersion of the Jewish people, a diaspora that lasted nearly two millennia.
Throughout the medieval period, the region was controlled by various Islamic caliphates and later by the Ottoman Empire from 1517 until the early 20th century. During these centuries, the land was predominantly populated by Arab Muslims, but it also included Christians, Jews, and other groups, each maintaining their religious and cultural practices. Yet, living with each other.
The modern phase of the conflict began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the rise of Zionism among European Jews. Let me quickly correct the assertion of Anti Semitism. It is not only otiose but an abuse of etymology. All the peoples of the present Middle East are Semites. Both Jews and Arabs share the DNA of Abraham. To extend the narrative further, Abraham was not a Jew but from southern Iraq, 200 miles from Baghdad.
The Balfour Declaration of 1917, issued by the British government, supported the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire and under British control following World War I.
The British Mandate for Palestine (1920-1948) saw increased immigration of Jews fleeing persecution in Europe, particularly during the Nazi era, which led to rising tensions between Jewish and Arab communities. The Arabs opposed the growing Jewish presence and the idea of a Jewish state, leading to outbreaks of violence.
Under the United Nations partition plan, the Arab state was to have a territory of 11,592 square kilometres, or 42.88 percent of the Mandate’s territory, and the Jewish state a territory of 15,264 square kilometres, or 56.47 percent; the remaining 0.65 percent or 176 square kilometres—comprising Jerusalem, Bethlehem and the adjoining area—would become an international zone.
The Arab Higher Committee, the Arab League and other Arab leaders and governments rejected the Plan, as aside from Arabs forming a two-thirds majority; they owned most of the territory. They also indicated an unwillingness to accept any form of territorial division, arguing that it violated the principles of national self-determination in the UN Charter that granted people the right to decide their own destiny. The plan was not implemented and a civil war quickly broke out in Palestine, leading to the expulsion and flight of 85% of the Palestinians living in the areas that became the state of Israel. This was the Nakba or Catastrophe.
The 1948 war ended with Israel expanding its territory beyond the UN-proposed borders and the creation of a large number of Palestinian refugees. No Palestinian state was established, and the West Bank and Gaza Strip were occupied by Jordan and Egypt, respectively.
The conflict between Israel and Palestine is a complex and multifaceted issue that has its roots in both ancient history and more recent political developments. It encompasses territorial disputes, religious significance of the land to both Jews and Muslims, nationalist aspirations, and international political dynamics, including deep-seated mistrust, political instability, and external influences.
The current state of the Israel-Palestine conflict is characterized by ongoing disputes over land, the status of Jerusalem, the rights of Palestinian refugees, and security concerns.
Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, deemed illegal under international law but disputed by Israel, and the blockade of the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas since 2007, have been major points of contention.
The international community remains divided on how to resolve the conflict, with proposals ranging from a two-state solution, which envisions an independent State of Palestine alongside Israel, to various forms of one-state solutions that would encompass both populations.
William Dalrymple’s; Palestine: A forgotten History, a Frighenning Present; speech on the roots of the British role in Palestine highlights the historical responsibility of Britain for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. He emphasizes that the British Empire’s actions, including disarming Palestinians and enabling the 1948 catastrophe, expulsion of 750,000 people, were a direct result of British colonial rule. Dalrymple calls out UK politicians for their support of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and urges Britain to take responsibility for Palestinian statehood and justice. His speech serves as a reminder of the dark history of British colonialism and its impact on the Palestinian people.
This is a story of intrigue among rival empires; of misguided strategies; and of how conflicting promises to Arabs and Jews created a legacy of bloodshed which determines the fate of the Middle East to this day – William Dalrymple
The narrative around October 7 therefore, overlooks the deep-rooted history of the Israel-Palestine conflict. This timeline reveals key events dating back to 1897, when the First Zionist Congress was held, through the Nakba in 1948, and decades of subsequent violence. The focus on a single day obscures a much longer story of displacement and systemic injustice that continues to affect Palestinians today.
Israel is proceeding with annexation, and starvation genocide; and there is only one way to stop it. Global condemnation is the only way to challenge Israel and its plan to legalize the theft of Palestinian land.
Barka Juma’at and a happy weekend
