Scenes from the Gaza Strip remain filled with misfortune. They feature crowds of unwashed, hungry children, mountains of rubble and ruins, blood-stained body bags, masses of displaced wandering people, unspeakable poverty and continuing, unending human suffering. The theater is called the Gaza War.
The War’s eruption, October 7, 2023, is but the latest in a long list of conflicts between Jews and Palestinians. Some originated decades before 1948 and the founding of the State of Israel. Space allows but a limited overview.
Hard-core issues separate Jews from Palestinians. They turn primarily upon rights for use and possession of a small, bleak, arid territory lying between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea (site of present-day Israel). The area is comparable in size to the State of New Jersey.
During Biblical times, it was called “Palestine,” and it was governed as a province of the Roman Empire. Its inhabitants include today’s “Palestinians.” They are a specific group of Arabs designated by their connection to Palestine. World leaders either ignore or often overlook a critical point: There was not, nor has there ever been a State of Palestine.
Few Jews were living in Palestine, as recent as 1880. Although, they were present during Biblical and Roman times. Jewish Kingdoms existed in Palestine under Saul, David and Solomon. That history underlies much of Israel’s claims to areas in controversy.
A trickle of Jews emigrated to Palestine, beginning around 1880. Among them were Poles and Russians seeking refuge from oppression and persecution. The new arrivals bought land and built permanent settlements, with little opposition from resident Palestinians.
Rise of the Zionist movement, also in Europe, encouraged Jewish immigration. Zionism was based upon the ideas propounded by Theodore Hazel (1860-1904) He preached the gospel of a permanent home for Jews — in Palestine.
By 1914 and the outbreak of World War I, the Jewish population in Palestine numbered 85,000, or twelve percent of the whole. Palestinians numbered 600,000. The region was then under control of a British mandate. The British had gained control by ousting the Turks.
Slowly, but with certainty, tensions and disputes deepened. The Jews wanted more land, to which they claimed they were historically entitled. The Palestinians saw them as white, European invaders attempting to occupy their homeland.
The issues do not and have not encompassed political systems, nor have they turned upon religious beliefs, customs or rituals. Controversy is fanned and inflamed by deep, virulent hatreds between two starkly dissimilar cultures, coupled with their eternal cravings for living space. Zionism and Palestinian nationalism, also, are factors fueling the strife.
Tensions steadily worsened. Incidents of armed mayhem, murder and isolated assaults occurred on both sides. The British sought to regulate matters with the Balfour Declaration of 1917. It favored a national home for Jews in Palestine. Many trace the State of Israel’s origins to the Balfour Declaration.
Still further, The British Mandate for Palestine was approved by the League of Nations in 1923. Britain, however, never fully implemented her policy. Ultimately, she withdrew from the region altogether, allowing Jewish-Palestinian animosities to continue simmering.
World War II and the Holocaust stimulated massive Jewish immigration. By 1946 an estimated 376,415 Jews had arrived in Palestine. While violence and turmoil continued ravaging Palestine, Nazi Germany’s crimes against the Jews precipitated widespread urgency for a Jewish state. Based upon the United Nation’s Resolution of November 29, 1947, and the Government Council of Israel: The State of Israel became legally established on 14 May 1948.
The Palestinians and their surrounding Arab neighbors (Jordan, Iran and others) have never accepted the existence of the State of Israel. While it has become a profitable dynamic state, they have called for its destruction. It is no wonder, therefore, that Israel has fought for its very survival by waging and winning wars against Arab forces, most notably in 1948–49, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982, 2006, and 2023–present.
Sources: Wikipedia; A Brief History of Israel, Bernard Reich, Checkmart Books, 2005.
• Retired attorney Jim Thomas lives in Atlanta. Email jmtlawyerspeak@ yahoo. com
