I was recently approached by colleagues from school who asked me to explain what is happening in my region. Shortly after I mention that I am from Israel, I usually get one of two questions (or both):

  1. Why do you guys kill each other?
  2. Do you speak Jewish?

In this short essay, however, I will try to answer the first question, and to identify the parties involved and their motivation for action (Which I found to be the major confusion).

Short History of the Jewish Settlement in Palestine

From 1000 BC to 636 AD, the land was routinely conquered by Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Egyptians and Romans. According to historian Martin Gilbert, Jews formed the main settlement population for more than six hundred years. During this time, the Romans rename Judea as Palestine, and launched efforts to empty the area of Jews. In 637 AD, Jerusalem was conquered by Muslim Arabs who ruled in the area until 1099. The Christian Crusaders were the next to conquer Palestine. They persecuted and slaughtered the Jews of Palestine and remained in the area until 1291. The Mameluks (Muslim) overthrew the Crusaders in 1291 and offered the Jewish settlement a better life and a place of safety from the Christian persecution in Europe. The Mameluks ruled until 1517 and were replaced by the Ottoman Turks. Between 1880 and 1914 over sixty thousand Jews entered Palestine, mostly from Russia, Galicia, Romania and Poland. Palestine became a British colony in 1839 and remained under the British Foreign Authority until 1947. A year later, the State of Israel was founded after a vote was taken in the United Nations. Israel became the nation of the Jewish people to which any Jewish person has rights of citizenship. The young state was not (and is still not) recognized by the Arab World.

The Big Myth Which is Just Not True; The Palestinians Were Always in the Area

There has been a Jewish presence in Israel for the past 2000 years, while the Palestinians’ movement only began in 1964 with the establishment of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). The Palestinians originated from the Hisamic nationality originally from Jordan and Egypt. Until today, Jordan (The Hashemite Kingdom) has a majority of Hisamic Arabs. The Palestinians crossed the Jordan River toward Jerusalem and were never allowed back.

Some Arab Palestinians made it into Israel

Those people agreed to join the new state in 1948, and shortly after the Independence War, they received the rights of an equal citizen, including a passport and the right to vote. They are the Arab Israelis who built cities within Israel and have social, health and educational benefits provided by Israel. In fact, according to Dershowitz (2003):

The Arab citizens within Israel live a better life, as measured by income, health, longevity, and other accepted criteria- than the Arabs of any neighboring country.

No wonder why the majority of this population opposes the idea of including some of their cities in Palestinian state.

The Present Day

Israel has made a genuine effort to establish peace negotiations with its neighbors, as evidenced from the peace negotiations it has with both Egypt and Jordan. Poll after poll demonstrated that the people of Israel desired true peace with the Palestinians and are willing to make difficult compromises to achieve it. However, in recent years, these same polls demonstrate that Israelis believe that Palestinians are not interested in peace, given the ongoing terrorism, and the rocket attacks on the city of Sderot (Judith Heistein, the ADL.org).

Israel Has no Desire to Rule over Palestinian Land

Moreover, Israel wants to give Palestinians sovereignty. In an effort to do just that the Israelis disengaged from Gaza in 2005 and relocated 17,000 of its own people.

The Palestinians Never Sought Statehood When They Were Occupied by Jordan or Egypt

Historically, the Palestinians wanted to be part of Syria. This is also why Yasser Arafat founded the PLO in Southern Lebanon, a region in which he was in exile for so many years. Israel has stood ready - and stands ready to this today - to offer Palestinian statehood, in exchange for the Palestinian authority making genuine efforts to stop terrorism by Palestinian groups, such as Fatah and Hamas.

The Sad Conclusion

This condition is perfectly reasonable and justifiable condition that any democratic state that was faced with comparable dangers, would demand. Unfortunately, the Palestinian authority had long lost control over its own militants and it is a lot to ask for. Thus, we won’t see any progress in the near future.

Popularity: 22% [?]