Why Every Attempt Fails?
Jiten Roy, Ph.D.
Yes, I am talking about the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. What else? Most of the conflicts around the world ultimately
come to an end, but not this one. It keeps going, like Energizer
Bunny. Who do we blame? If we ask this question to some one in that
region, he/she will naturally align with his/her own side. How about
the rest of the world? They are divided also. Muslim world blames USA
for supporting Israel, and Israel blames Muslim-world for meddling
with their issues. When Muslims-world supports Palestine, it's OK, but
when USA supports Israel it's a problem. Can you imagine what would
have happened to Israel, if USA did not back them? The promise of the
Iranian President, Mr. Ahmmadenazad, would have been fulfilled by now.
This very fact obligates USA to support Israel.
I feel bad for the ordinary Palestinian folks, who are caught in the
crossfire. Then I wonder how situation turned into such a mess. The
only plausible explanation that I can come up with is that,
Palestinian leaders, with the help of their good neighbors, like, Iran
and Syria, have successfully transformed this struggle into a
religious battle between Muslim and Jew, and many Muslims around the
world, either knowingly or unknowingly, have been using this issue to
rally Muslim-Umma around the world against Infidels/Kafirs, and they
are not interested to end it. In other words, Palestine conflict has
become a poster-child of the Jihad-movement around the world.
Now, when this religious battle be won? The answer is: it can be won
when one of the two groups is wiped out. Unfortunately, this seems to
be the goal of the majority Palestinians, who are the ardent
supporters of the Hamas movement in Palestine. Unfortunately, the most
compelling reason for the conflict, the religious persecution and
territorial issue, has taken a back seat.
According to historical record, the Canaanites were the
earliest known inhabitants of Palestine, which has been a natural
battleground for the great powers since 3000 BC. In 1000 BC, after
several attempts, David, the great Israeli king, defeated the
Philistines, and eventually assimilated with the Canaanites. The unity
of Israel and adjacent empires enabled David to establish a large
independent state, with its capital at Jerusalem. Under David's son
and successor, Solomon, Israel enjoyed peace and prosperity, but at
his death in 922 BC the kingdom was divided into Israel in the north
and Judah in the south. During 722-721 BC, nearby empires resumed
their expansion, the divided Israelites could no longer maintain their
independence. Israel fell to Assyria.
According to these historical facts, there was an independent Israel
in the northern Palestine until early 700 BC. Israeli and Canaanites
lived side by side peacefully during that time. These Canaanites are
the ancestors of the modern day Palestinians.
In 586 BC, Judah was conquered by Babylonia (Iraq), which
destroyed Jerusalem and exiled most of the Jews living there. The
Temple was sacked and set fire to, and razed to the ground. The Royal
Palace and all the great houses were destroyed, the population carried
off in chains to Babylon. And they lamented on their long march into
exile.
In 539 BC, Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylonia and he
permitted the Jews to return to Judea, a district of Palestine. Under
Persian rule the Jews were allowed considerable autonomy. They rebuilt
the walls of Jerusalem and codified the Mosaic Law, the Torah, which
became the code of social life and religious observance. During 141-63
BC, Jews revolted under the Maccabees and set up an independent state.
Again, the existence of a Jewish state can be found in around 100 BC.
Muslim Arab armies invaded Palestine and captured Jerusalem in
AD 638. The Arab conquest began 1300 years of Muslim presence in the
region, which then became known as Filastin. The Muslim rulers did not
force their religion on the Palestinians, and more than a century
passed before the majority converted to Islam. The remaining
Christians and Jews were considered People of the Book. They were
allowed autonomous control in their communities and guaranteed
security and freedom of worship.
Under the British rule, the situation changed. In 1914, with
the outbreak of World War I, Britain promised the independence of Arab
lands under Ottoman rule, including Palestine, in return for Arab
support against Turkey which had entered the war on the side of
Germany. Jewish leaders started lobbying for a homeland. In 1917, the
British government issued the Balfour Declaration on November 2, in a
letter to a British Zionist leader from the foreign secretary Arthur
J. Balfour promising him the establishment of a national home for the
Jewish people in Palestine.
In 1918, after WW I ended, Jews began to migrate to Palestine,
which was set a side as a British mandate with the approval of the
League of Nations in 1922. Large-scale Jewish settlement and extensive
Zionist agricultural and industrial enterprises in Palestine began
during the British mandatory period. In 1929, large-scale attacks on
Jews by Arabs rocked Jerusalem. Palestinians killed 133 Jews and
suffered 116 deaths. Sparked by a dispute over use of the Western Wall
of Al-Aqsa Mosque. But the roots of the conflict lay deeper in Arab
fears of the Zionist movement, which aimed to make at least part of
British-administered Palestine a Jewish state.
Thus British invasion and occupation of Palestine ended in 15
May 1948. British decided to implement the partition plan calling for
establishment of a Jewish state. The same day, the armies of Egypt,
Transjordan (now Jordan), Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq joined Palestinian
and other Arab guerrillas in a full-scale war (first Arab-Israeli
War). The Arabs failed to prevent establishment of a Jewish state, and
the war ended with four UN-arranged armistice agreements between
Israel and Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria.
Since then, the saga continues until today. As mentioned above,
attempts to establish a Jewish homeland at the heart of Palestine
started about 3000 years ago, which finally completed in 1948 after
British colonial rule ended. At about the same time, in 1947, the
British Empire also curved out Pakistan for Muslims from India. In
this case, Muslim leaders were able to convince the British ruler to
establish a homeland for their community, just like the Jewish leaders
did. The ultimate losers, in these situations, are the unfortunate
minorities in the region.
Can these divisions be reversed? The answer is no, and, therefore, the
prudent thing for Palestinians to do is to share the land with Jews,
when opportunity arises. Many could say, Israelis are settlers and,
therefore, they do not deserve a part of the land. If this argument is
valid, North America and Australia should be given to the Red-Indians
and Aboriginals. A country belongs to its citizens, irrespective of
their sects or religions, and the land belongs to landowners,
irrespective of their historic immigration profiles. It is fruitless
to put forward an argument that Palestinians are the original
inhabitants of the land and therefore Jews have to vacate the entire
land. Palestinians cannot claim entire Israel, as Indians cannot claim
Pakistan and Bangladesh anymore. A lot of demographic changes have
occurred around the world over thousands of years, and it is time to
admit the reality.
Why no one has been able to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? In
my view, every solution is geared towards solving the territorial
issue only, without addressing the underlying religious issue that has
created such unbelievable hatred between Palestinian Muslims and Jews.
As a result, no amount of land handover from the Israeli side can
satisfy Palestinians. They want entire Israel, meaning that they want
to wipe out Israel from the face of the earth, as Ahmmadanazad, the
Iranian President, often promise. The saddest thing is that majority
Palestinian people still believe that it is an achievable goal, and
anything short of that is unacceptable. Could this be the reason why
no attempt has so far been able to produce any tangible result? I
really think so, what say you.
What's needed to happen is that the Palestinians should recognize that
this struggle is not against Jews; it's against Israel, and Jews
happen to live there; the fight is for ending religious persecution
and territorial issues. There is no need to consider all Jews as
enemy. Bosnian Muslims got their homeland within a few months with
the US and NATO helps; they never turned their battle into a fight
between Muslim and Christians. Until a similar condition can be
created in Palestine, there will be no permanent solution.
Palestinians should realize that, Jews have been living there since
3000 BC, and it is not possible to wipe them out from the face of the
earth. It's a form of insanity even to think of that possibility.
However, I would like to see that Israel revokes the Jewish State
status, which is discriminatory to all those Muslims living there.
This is a legitimate claim the Palestinians could raise. There should
not be any state based on religion, on the face of this earth. Here
you go, Mr. Ahmmadenazad.
_______________________________________________________________________
Writer is the Former Teacher of Dacca University, Bangaldesh, and
living in the USA since 1981.
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