the palestinian problem an eternal imbroglio? vs
TRANSCRIPT
THE PALESTINIAN PROBLEM
An Eternal Imbroglio?
VS
THE PALESTINIAN PROBLEM
An Eternal Imbroglio?
The Nettlesome Issue of Palestine
In his videotaped broadcast of Oct. 8th,
2001 Osama bin Laden warned, “As
to America, I say to it and its people a few words: I swear to God that America
will not live in peace before peace reigns
in Palestine.”
The Middle East
No Solution in Sight?
Defining the Problem
The collision of two nationalisms Zionism —the need for
an active pursuit of the establishment of a
sovereign Israeli nation-state in the Middle East as a homeland for the
Jews. It sprang from the writings of Jewish-Austrian journalist Theodor Herzl who began to articulate
Palestinian Nationalism
In the 20th century,
immigrant Jews displace the Palestinians.
They are competing for the same land
Unfolding of Historical Events World War I (1914-1918) As a
Starting Point
Austrian Heir
Archduke Franz-Ferdinand & Sophie Arrest of Gavrilo
Princip
Archduke’s blood-stained jacket
Gavrilo Princip
The Dominoes Fall
Kaiser Wilhelm II
British Poster Encouraging Volunteers
Trench Warfare &
Machine Guns
Schlieffen Plan
The Background Pan-Arabism
• “Nationalism”—the belief/conviction that people of a common culture, ethnicity, religious and/or historical background have the right to nationhood
• This was a powerful 19th century force
The Arab-Islamic World Today
Pan-Arabism More a political movement than a religious one; desire was for political unity stretching from Egypt to Iraq
(i.e., the “Fertile Crescent”—see right) in the form of a union of Arab states
Arab Divisions
A major obstacle to Pan-Arab
unity was a deep division that has
marked Arab society from
earliest times
Arabs under Ottoman Rule
Turkish Sultan Osman I (1281-
1326 C.E.) founded the
Ottoman Empire in 1301
C. E. on the Anatolian Peninsula
Osman I Osman ruled until his death in 1326.
The empire he established
endured until 1918 and the end of World War I.
Islamic domination of the region has
endured for some 1,300 years
World War I as a Window of Opportunity to Achieve Arab Goals
Pan-Arabists saw the war as a period of flux that might bring
down the Ottoman Turks. It promised
to open a door allowing the formation
of an Arab political union
Ottoman Empire at its Peak—by the late-19th century the empire was struggling, prompting Russian Tsar Nicholas I to place upon it the
epithet, “Sick Man of Europe.” Britain, France, and Russia were particularly involved in Ottoman
affairs.
Triple Entente vs. Central Powers
The Triple Entente, shown as the darkly shaded areas to the left, began as an alliance of mutual defense contracted between England by in the 20th century and France in
1904 (the Entente Cordiale). Russia joined this alliance in 1907 creating the so-called
Triple Entente. In September 1914 all three mutually
agreed not to conclude a separate peace
A Nationalist Revolt
The alliance structure demonstrates the political-
nationalist (rather than religious) nature of the war—Islamic
Arabs side with the Christian British, French, and Russians to fight against the Islamic Turks.
The “Revolt in the Desert” or the “Arab Awakening”
The Arab revolt against the Turks began June 10, 1916,
and centered in western Arabia
Flag of the Arab Revolt
The Arab Revolt—the Leadership
On June 10, 1916, Hussein ibn Ali (1852-1931), the Hashemite Sharif of Mecca 1916-1924) and a
lineal descendant of Mohammed the
Prophet, proclaimed the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire. He
delegated much of the hands-on responsibility for military action against the Turks to his 3rd born son, Faisal.
Sharif Hussein
British Involvement
• Britain, Largely Inspired by Self-Interest, Backed the Arab Revolt Against the Turks
• T. E. Lawrence, a.k.a., “Lawrence of Arabia” was the central architect of the union
T. E. Lawrence, the Man
• Jesuit College Oxford scholar-archaeologist-linguist-soldier—a typical “imperial man”
• Lawrence the author
After outbreak of war, the General Staff recruited • From Cairo, Lawrence
went to the Hejaz (right) as a British officer on loan to Sharif Hussein. His job was to stiffen the Arab Revolt
• The Hejaz (left)—a viceroyalty of western Saudi Arabia covering 150,000 square miles along the Red Sea
Field Marshal Edmund Allenby
• Lawrence persuaded British field commander, Edmund Allenby of the potential importance of the Arab Revolt to the British war effort.
British Presence in the
Middle EastA Legacy of
Mistrust
Levant Company began Operations in Syria in
1581 • During the 16th-19th
centuries, British trade expanded from the Near East to India and China
• The British began governing the strategic region of Aden in 1839. It is a “sea gate” controlling ingress and egress at the southern end of the Red Sea
England in Egypt • The construction of the Suez
Canal (1869) and lavish government spending put the government of Egypt deeply into debt
• From 1882, the British were de facto suzerains of the Persian Gulf
• . In 1879, the Khedive defaulted on loan repayments. A joint Anglo-French Commission took control of Egyptian finances
Arab Nationalist Revolt of 1881
• Ahmad Arabi Pasha, leader of the nationalist Egyptian revolt of 1881
The Decisive Battle in the Egyptian Campaign of
1882
Direct British Control of Egypt
• Evelyn Baring (Lord Cromer) British Agent, 1883-1907
• When Arabi revolted against foreign presence in his homeland, the British responded unilaterally with military force to restore control
• Cromer ran Egypt from 1883-1907
Britain’s Pro-Turkish Ottoman posture
through 1913 British poet laureate of empire, Rudyard Kipling (below left),
described the military and political competition between
19th century Russia and Britain in Central Asia as the “Great
Game.”
It served British imperial interests to prop up the declining Ottoman government. Such a
policy defended and secured the Empire’s most important overseas possession, India, the “crown jewel in the
imperial diadem.”
The MacMahon-Hussein Correspondence
July 14, 1915-March 30, 1916
Sir Henry MacMahon
(left), British High Commissioner in Egypt Grand Sharif Ali ibn Hussein of Mecca (1856-
1931)
Head of the Hashemite clan and a
direct descendent of Mohammed
the Prophet
Nature of MacMahon’s “promises” • His commitments to the Arabs were
deliberately vague and non-committal • His inferences were taken by the Arabs
as an indication of British support for a united Arab state under Hashemite rule after World War I
• He encouraged Hussein to rebel against the Turks
Authority of MacMahon’s
letters They neither constituted a treaty nor had legal force—they left British options
open
“Diplomatic Ambivalence”
MacMahon’s letters have become synonymous diplomatic ambivalence; indeed, the British
were simultaneously working on plans that contradicted the implications of MacMahon’s
correspondence.
Arab participation in the Allied war effort
Hashemite army under Emir Faisal (left), 3rd son of the
Grand Sharif served as the right flank of
Allenby’s army campaigning in Syria
Lawrence (right) directed its movements
Allenby
Surrender of Jerusalem— December 19, 1917
Allenby accepted surrender from the
Arabs (right) rather than the Ottoman
Turks who, by December 19th, had fled the city. The
surrender came 2,520 years after the Jews had
surrendered Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar’s
Babylon
Allenby and his staff atop the
Mount of Olives Allenby and his
staff atop the Mount of
Olives
Fall of Damascus—October 1918
Damascus was the headquarters of the Turkish-German forces.
The fall of Damascus ended Ottoman rule over Arab lands.
The Secret Sykes-Picot Agreement,
May 16, 1916—British duplicity
Sir Mark Sykes—veteran of the
Arab Bureau
Charles François Georges-
Picot— French diplomat who
dealt with Sykes
The Diplomacy and Treaty
• Details of the agreement formalized October 10-23, 1916
• This secret diplomacy disregarded Arab interests
• Proposed splitting up the Middle East between British and French, dividing the “spoils of war” into imperial spheres of influence and exploitation
Boundaries of the proposed Sykes-Picot agreement
• Britain to receive Palestine, Jordan, and Iraq
• France to receive Lebanon & Syria
• The only independent Arab province was Arabian peninsula
The Agreement was supposed to be secret
Violation of Secrecy
The Sykes-Picot agreement became public information after Tsarist Russia, that had agreed to its provisions, fell to the
Bolshevik revolutionaries in
1917
The Balfour Declaration—November 2, 1917
Central Theme
“His Majesty’s Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national
home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of
this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of other non-
Jewish communities in Palestine.”
Long-Term Historical Background
Palestine was the ancestral home of
the Israelites—modern Jews had
ties of both religion and
sentiment to that specific area of the
world.
Majority of the Kingdom of Judah deported in three waves (605-585 B.C.E.)
by Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian Empire
Babylonian armies take Jerusalem
Deportation to Babylon
Nebuchadnezzar’s Account of the Siege
Restoration of a Jewish population to Jerusalem
The Cyrus Cylinder (at lower right) offers
archaeological documentation that
Cyrus authorized, at government expense, the return of captive peoples
to their native homelands. Some Jews,
among many others, took advantage.
The Cyrus
Cylinder
Cyrus the Great, King of Persia (r. 559-529 B.C.E.)
Return of the Jews to Palestine
Emperor Artaxerxes sent
his Jewish cupbearer
Nehemiah to Jerusalem to supervise a rebuilding program
Rebuilding of the Wall & Restoration of Religious Ritual
Nehemiah rebuilt Jerusalem’s walls
Ezra the Scribe restored Temple service and traditional worship
enter rome
Roman General Pompey (left) conquered Palestine in 63 B. C. E., setting the
stage for a protracted period of conflict between
Jew and Roman. Judea became the most fractious
and difficult province within the Empire.
Expulsion of the jews from Palestine
• The 2nd century C.E. Romans tired of suppressing revolts and independence movements by their recalcitrant Jewish subjects. In 135, they expelled the Jews from Palestine
• The Romans gave the name “Palestine” to the area from which the Jews were expelled.
Philistine soldier on bas relief
Philistia—Israel’s Traditional Foe
Samson slays Philistine enemies and destroys the Temple
of Dagon (above)
Young David ben-Jesse’s
“public event:” the slaying of Goliath, the
Philistine giant from Gath
Coming Full Circle
And so, the 10th century B. C. E. Israelites overcame their enemy, the Philistines. For the better part of the next millennium, they were the dominant presence in the region. When the Romans expelled them from the
area, they rubbed salt in the wound, naming the province after Israel’s traditional foe.
Against this backdrop, the British became the sponsor of a “homeland for the Jews.”
Arthur J. Balfour—Foreign Secretary in David Lloyd
George’s Coalition War Cabinet Political Career
• Chief Secretary of Ireland, 1887
• 1st Lord of Treasury, 1892
• Prime Minister, 1902-1905
• Foreign Secretary, 1916-1919
The Balfour Declaration
• Although the decision to sponsor a homeland for the Jews was made by the British Cabinet, it appeared first in the form of a letter from
Balfour to Jewish banker Lord
Rothschild (right).
The Author: Alfred Lord Milner
The actual author of the Balfour Declaration was
Alfred Lord Milner, former British High Commissioner over
South Africa. During World War I, Milner became a member of
David Lloyd George’s War Cabinet (Secretary
of War, 1916-1918 ).
Arab perception of the Balfour Declaration
• It appeared to be a second double-cross (the first being the Sykes-Picot agreement)
• In 1916, the Arab population of Palestine comprised 93% of the people living there
The American Perspective
• Woodrow Wilson, American President (1912-1920) asks Congress to declare war in April 1917
• the Balfour Declaration, grossly violated the principle of “self-determination,” a fundamental tenet of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points (the agreed upon basis for a just peace to end the war).
Historical Precedent in Britain for Providing Jews a
National Home • Lord Shaftesbury
(Anthony Ashley Cooper—1801-1885)
Shaftesbury believed that restoration of the Jews to Palestine would fulfill a prophetic precondition demanded in advance of the Second Coming.
Lord Palmerston, (Henry John Temple) Foreign Secretary (1830-
1834, 1835-1841, 1846-1851)
• Prime Minister, 1855-1858, 1859-1865
• As early as the 1850s, “Pam” was encouraging Jews of Europe to relocate in Palestine
Joseph Chamberlain, Colonial Secretary (1985-1903)
• Chamberlain proposed the use of generous tracts of land in Kenya’s “White Highlands” for the creation of an autonomous Jewish state
The Jews of central Europe rejected Chamberlain’s offer because their hearts were set on Palestine
David Lloyd George, Prime Minister (1916-1922)
• Lloyd George was concerned with strategic considerations: the protection of India and the creation of a “buffer state” in the Middle East
• He sought to block French initiatives in the region
• He was motivated by nostalgic, sentimental fascination with the Hebrew Scriptures (a.k.a., “Old Testament”)
Sir Herbert Samuel, 1st Jewish Cabinet Member in England
Samuel played a critical role in persuading the
British Cabinet to accept the Balfour
Declaration
Arthur Balfour • Balfour was motivated by
a strong sense of biblical history
• He had a keen admiration for the Jewish people
• He wished to atone for Europe’s mistreatment of the Jews
• The “Return” of the Jews to their ancestral homeland was a great ideal
Chaim Weizmann, Chemistry Professor and leader of Zionist
movement
• He embodied the desires of unassimilated Jews of Europe
• He would settle for nothing less than Palestine
He contributed to the British war effort with his
knowledge of chemistry and the development of
acetone and ammunition
Zionist Movement in Europe
Theodore Herzl established the
movement in 1897
The Dreyfus Affair was a decisive event for Herzl, helping to inspire
his volume, The Jewish State
Captain Alfred Dreyfus (1859-
1935) The French Army wrongfully convicted Dreyfus for treason in 1894. His Jewish ethnicity and religion predisposed his judges against him. Many
Jews of the European Diaspora concluded that their only hope for future freedom
and security was the establishment of a free and
independent Jewish homeland in Palestine.
The Affair Fueled Zionist Sentiment
• Zionism had a strong following in England and other European nations
• The British government desired the support of its Jewish community in the war effort against the Central Powers
Dreyfus defends himself
Versailles Peace Conference, 1919
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles, built by Louis XIV, has been the site of numerous important
peace settlements in modern European history. It is where statesmen brought closure to
World War I.
THE BIG FOUR
David Lloyd George (UK), Orlando (Italy), Georges
Clemenceau (France), and Woodrow Wilson (US)
The Versailles diplomats
honored both the Sykes-Picot Agreement and
the Balfour Declaration
arab Representation at Versailles
• Lawrence’s efforts to accommodate Arab hopes were disappointed
• But even Lawrence Called the Hope for a United Arab Kingdom a “Madman’s Notion” Above (row 2, fourth from
left), T. E. Lawrence stands with the Arab delegation
Implementation of Treaty Terms
The French Ejected Faisal from His Throne in Damascus
The Mandate was recognized a conquest by
the British arms that were in possession of the field. . . and “possession is 9/10th of
the law”
Confirmation of the British Mandate
• The Conference at San Remo—April 25, 1920—made Palestine a Class A British mandate (territory taken and held without provision of future independence)
• Confirmation of Mandate by League of Nations, 1922
British Mandate of Palestine
Subsequent Events
Among others, Winston Churchill, T. E. Lawrence,
and Gertrude Bell (left) pose in front of the sphinx in 1921.
The Cairo Conference decided the fate of the post-
World War I Arab world. As at Versailles, there was no
serious consideration given to Arab input. Churchill’s
solution was the creation of two new (and British
dominated) kingdoms in the Arab world: the Transjordan
and Iraq.
Lawrence and Churchill made the significant decisions relevant to the Cairo Conference
over dinner at the Ship Restaurant in
Whitehall. The newly created kingdoms were
to be:
Emirate of Transjordan—to Abdullah
• This region is comprised of 95% desert and has a rather artificial boundary separating it from Palestine
Abdullah with Allenby, 1920
Hashemite monarchs since world war i
Sharif Hussein Abdullah I Talal Hussein I Abdullah II
1916-1924 1921-1951 1951-1952 1953-1999 1999-Present
Kingdom of Iraq—to Faisal
King Faisal (center), 1923
Iraq is an oil rich state. Since 1908, Britain had been drawing from its petroleum reserves.
Gertrude Bell1868-1926
Bell was a celebrated figure in the Arab world. She counted Winston Churchill and T.E. Lawrence among her friends. An accomplished archaeologist and adventurer, Bell traveled widely throughout the Arab world, Iraq, and Persia. The Arabs knew her as a “daughter of the desert.” During World War I, she served as an intelligence agent in the Cairo Arab Bureau. In 1921, Colonial Secretary Churchill drew heavily on her advice for the Cairo Conference. Bell was the only woman among the 39 whom Churchill asked to contribute. She helped both to define the borders of Iraq and to select Faisal as its king. For several years thereafter, she acted as Faisal’s closest personal and political adviser. Bell came to be known as the “Uncrowned Queen of Iraq.”
Both newly created kingdoms were to have
Hashemite monarchs—Faisal at Baghdad and Abdullah in Amman. Both were British
protégés.
That left one brother. . .
Arabian Hejaz—to Ali ibn Hussein
Ali ibn Hussein
Kingdom of Hejaz Flag 1915-1922
Britain in the Middle East During the 1920s
In practical terms, British control over the Arab world was absolute. The kingdoms of Jordan and Iraq were sovereign states in name only. They were but semi-nations.
Hashemite Fortunes Technically, Grand Sharif Hussein was recognized as king over the Hejaz but in 1924, Ibn Saud seized the
kingdom from him. Saud turned it into the new state of Saudi Arabia. Hussein spent his last years in exile on
the British-controlled island of Cyprus.
Hussein ibn Ali
King Ibn Saud
Saudi Flag
assassination of abdullah
Abdullah assassinated in
1951 in the Haram esh Sherif in
Jerusalem Talal, 1951-1952
The direct heir to the throne Talal
(right), was Hussein’s mentally
ill father. Not surprisingly, the succession passed
over him.
Hussein I (1935-1999)
Abdullah’s grandson Hussein
I—educated in Jordan, Egypt, and Britain— took the
throne
Hussein’s son,
Abdullah II presently
rules Jordan
He is Western educated, democratically minded, willing to
work with the European powers, and in favor of preserving the peace
between Jordan and Israel.
Contemporary Arguments and
Positions
British Promises to the Arabs
The Arab Argument
• There Were 700,000 Arabs vs. 80,000 Jews in Palestine in 1918
• The Arabs were cheated and betrayed
The Arabs joined nations from days gone by that perceived England as “Perfidious Albion,” a phrase in the English language that has come to
signify treachery toward other nations.
“Perfidious Albion”
The White Cliffs of Dover from
which “Albion”—the moniker for
England—is derived. From a Continental
perspective, the Cliffs are England’s distinguishing
geographical feature.
Prussian King
Frederick the Great (1740-1786)
Frederick made the earliest use of the epithet. He was
particularly unhappy with what he considered a premature
withdrawal by England, his ally, in Seven Years’ War
(1754-1763).
The Jewish position For the Jews, the British Did Not Move Quickly Enough
to Establish and Confirm an Independent, Sovereign Jewish Nation-State
Allenby, Balfour, and Samuel
Architects of the New Jewish National Home
Israel’s boundaries in 1947
In 1948, the Israelis revolted against British rule
This rebellion prompted the British to withdraw from Palestine
David ben Gurion, Israel’s
1st Prime Minister, 1948-
1953
The Israeli Flag
The Israeli
revolt was violent
and effective
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The British Role
British policy forced the collision of two nationalism:
Zionism and pan-arabism
The Jewish Claim to Palestine
Yahweh, the God of the Patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob (a.k.a., Israel)—promised the Land of Canaan
to Abraham’s descendants. That promise was to be
fulfilled through the line of Isaac, Abraham’s first and only son through his lawful
wife, Sarah.
20th-19th Centuries B. C. E.
Abraham migrates from Ur of the Chaldees to
Canaan where he establishes himself
and his family In Canaan, Abraham experiences his
greatest trial: Yahweh’s instruction to offer Isaac as a sacrifice.
The Isaac Sacrifice
According to tradition, the Isaac
sacrifice was to occur on Mount Moriah, present-day location of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Israel Into Egypt
Abraham’s grandson Jacob eventually moved the extended family to Lower Egypt in
Goshen where his son Joseph served as Pharaoh’s prime minister. The families of
Jacob’s 12 sons grew large, sojourning in the northeastern Nile Delta for centuries. The
Egyptian government eventually enslaved he growing
Israelites population.
The Nile Delta—Goshen to the Northeast
Joseph welcomes his family to Egypt
Away from Canaan: Israel’s Sojourn in
Egypt Eventually,
Pharaohs arose whom, not
knowing Joseph, put the Israelites
under heavy bondage for many
years
The Israelites eventually returned to Canaan
under the leadership of Moses who brought them out of slavery.
Moses led them back to the border of the land
that they believed Yahweh had given to
them through His covenant with Abraham.
A Return to the Promised Land
15th vs. 13th Century Conquest of Palestine
A debate persists among scholars over when the Exodus and subsequent Conquest of Canaan occurred. Conservative theologians believe the Israelite entry into the Promised Land came at the end of the 15th century B. C. E.
Pharaoh of the Exodus
Amenhotep II (1453-1419) of Dynasty XVIII (c. 1570-1293)
OR
Pharaoh Ramses II
One of the longest tenured of the pharaohs, he was renowned for his massive building programs and
military conquests.
Israel’s Arrival in Palestine
Testimony from the Merneptah Stele provides independent, extra-Biblical confirmation of an Israelite presence in Palestine no later than the late 13th century B.C.E.
Merneptah, c. 1212-1202
B.C.E.
The Merneptah Stele came to
light in 1896 C.E., found in the Pharaoh’s
mortuary temple in Thebes. It describes Merneptah’s
punitive expedition into Canaan where the monarch claims
to have defeated Israel in the 5th
year of his reign.
Israel’s Golden Age: 11th-10th Century
B. C. E. In the late 11th century, David ben-Jesse brought political unity to the 12 Israelite tribes. He subdued Israel’s surrounding enemies, creating a kingdom whose boundaries stretched from Egypt in the southwest to the Euphrates River in the northeast.
David, King of Israel
Solomon, King of Israel
The Divided Kingdom: 10th-8th Century B. C. E.
Challenging the heavy taxes levied by the Davidic Dynasty, Jeroboam formed a separate independent Northern Israelite Kingdom that was often at odds with the Kingdom of Judah to the south. The Divided
Kingdom
Assyrian Captivity of the Northern Kingdom
721-718 B. C. E. In 721, the Assyrian
Empire swept over the Northern Israelite Kingdom based at Samaria. The Assyrians eventually extinguished the kingdom’s very existence. Sargon II (722-705
B.C.E.) over-ran Israel and deported its population
Assyrian Empire
Assyria extended its influence from the Persian Gulf and across Mesopotamia into Egypt
Assyrian Invasion
Israelite prophets characterized the Assyrian army as the rod of God’s anger against the
kingdom
Shalma-neser III’s Black
Obelisk offers the 1st known
depiction of an Israelite.
It represents a master-servant relationship
that heralds the eventual collapse of Assyrian-Israelite
diplomacy followed by the vengeful invasion of
the Northern Kingdom.
Fate of the Northern Tribes?
The Ten Tribes comprising the Northern Kingdom were last seen in the late-8th century
heading northeast out of Samaria and toward the Caspian Sea. They left their homes as deportees at the not-so-gentle behest of the Assyrian imperial
government. From this point, they disappear into the mists of history, becoming mysteriously
known as the “Lost Ten Tribes.”
And What About Judah?
The Babylonian Captivity of the
Kingdom of Judah
605-585 B.C.E. In three successive waves over 20 years, King
Nebuchadnezzar carried the majority of Jews living in Palestine into captivity in his native
Babylon.
An Exile in Babylon Although Jews received an opportunity to return home after the Persian conquest of Babylon in 539 B.C.E., by that late date, most of the deportees and their children had assimilated. Only a few chose to take on the challenge of rebuilding their vanquished and long-neglected homeland.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The splendor and exotic wonder of Babylon
The Ishtar Gate
The Restoration
The 6th-5th Century Restoration and Return Under Zerubba-bel, Ezra, and Nehemiah
Cyrus the Great, King of Persia (559-530 B.C.E.)
The Cyrus Cylinder documents a general policy within the Persian Empire to return deported peoples to their original homelands at Persian expense.
After Zerubbabel rebuilt the Temple, Ezra the
Scribe restored traditional Jewish
worship services and holy day observances.
Enter the Roman Empire
From almost the beginning of Roman domination of Palestine in the 1st century B.C.E., the Jews proved to be uncooperative and oftentimes rebellious subjects.
Pompey, Roman general who subdued Palestine in 63 B.C.E.
The Titus
Arch –
Captive Jews (70
C.E.)Roman authorities had to contend with frequent resistance to Roman rule, fueled in no small way by the commonly held expectation of a coming Messiah to lead a Jewish independence movement that would restore the halcyon Golden Age of David and Solomon. The Titus Arch depicts Rome’s defeat of the Jews during the “First Jewish War” (66-70 C.E.).
Expulsion of Jews from Palestine135 C.E.
Simon bar Kochba led the Third Jewish War (132-135 C.E.) against Rome (see bar Kochba coin to right). The conflict resulted in a general expulsion of Jews from Palestine. They remained largely absent from that area for the next 18 centuries.
A Modern-Day Restoration
Balfour Declaration and Establishment of a Jewish National Homeland, 1917
Assessing the Israeli Claim
Depending on when one dates the Israelite Exodus
from Egypt and the Conquest of Canaan, the
Jewish people can lay claim to somewhere between
1,400-1,500 years of residency in their ancestral
homeland.
The Palestinian Claim to Palestine
The Palestinian Claim
Ishmael was the first-born son of Abraham through Hagar, the Egyptian handmaiden of Abraham’s lawful wife, Sarah. As 19th century B.C.E. custom and law allowed, Hagar produced an heir for Abraham through what might be best described today as becoming a surrogate mother. The resulting product—Ishmael—was some 14 years older than his half-brother, Isaac. Consequently, the Arab world considers Ishmael the rightful heir to the land promised in the Abrahamic Covenant.
Ishmael
Abraham & Hagar
Banishment of Hagar & Ishmael
Rivalry between Ishmael and Isaac led Sarah to insist that Hagar and her son be cast out of Abraham’s household. The Patriarch reluctantly acted on Sarah’s demand.
Abraham banishes Hagar and Ishmael
After his banishment from the presence of Abraham, Ishmael eventually migrated south and west. His descendants settled on the Arabian Peninsula. Ishmael’s lineage chart reveals that he fathered twelve sons—a forerunner that finds echo in the lineage chart of Jacob, the son of Ishmael’s half-brother Isaac.
Mohammed and the founding of the Islamic
Faith Born in c. 570 C.E., Mohammed lived on the Arabian Peninsula. In around 610 C.E. while meditating in a cave on Mount Hira, he believed he began receiving revelations from the Archangel Gabriel.
Mohammed had his revelations recorded in the
Muslim holy book, the Koran.
The minaret or prayer tower has become a symbol of the Muslim faith.
the7th century Muslim Conquest
After Mohammed’s death in 632 C.E., to promote unity among Muslims the 2nd Caliph, Omar (582-644), embarked upon a series of wars of conquest the gave that Arabs control of Palestine.
Caliph Omar
Omar’s victory at Yarmuk signaled an end to the Byzantine Empire’s dominance of Palestine.
The Muslim Taking of Jerusalem, 638 C.E.
By 638 C.E., Omar brought Jerusalem under Arab control. Ironically, the Muslim Omar actually reversed a Christian Byzantine fiat that forbade the Jews from living within the confines of the city of Jerusalem.
Sixth Century Byzantine Map of Jerusalem at Madaba in Jordan
Mohammed’s Ascension to Heaven from Jerusalem
Dome of the Rock built by Caliph Abd al-Malik, 691 C.E.
Until the time of his Caliphate, Jerusalem had no special significance in the Muslim world.
In time, however, the legend of Mohammed’s mystical ascension to heaven—the mi’raj—developed. This story purports that The Prophet met Gabriel on the Temple Mount and went to heaven on a 40-day sojourn where he visited with prophets like Moses and Jesus.
Parallel traditionsMuslims built the Dome on the spot from which they believed Mohammed ascended—the same place where Israelite tradition suggests the Angel of the Lord stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac.
The story of Moham-med’s ascension is
based on Sura 17 in the Koran
Successive Periods of
Palestinian History
From the
11th Century to
The Present
The Crusader Kingdom, 1099-
1244 At Clermont, France in 1095, Pope Urban II issues the call for a Crusade to retake Palestine for Christianity. Zealous and
enthusiastic European Crusaders
established a Christian
kingdom in Palestine
In a bloody, violent campaign, members of the 1st Crusade (1096-1099) recaptured Jerusalem from the Muslims.
Saladin (1174-1193)
Kurdish Sultan Saladin (1174-1193) took Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187 C.E.
The Mamluk Period, 1260-1517
Mamluk rule lasted in Palestine for more than 250 years.
The Ottoman Period,1517-1917
Suleiman the Magnificent
rebuilt Jerusalem’s city walls, the Tower
of David, and the Damascus
Gate.
Suleiman the Magnificent, 1520-
1566 C.E.
The British Mandate, 1917-1948
British Mandate Area
Israeli Nation-State and Occupation, 1948-Present
Israeli Boundaries in
1948 After Six Day
War, 1967
Expanding Boundaries
Since Omar’s 7th century Muslim Conquests, rule of Palestine has passed
from the Arabs to the European Christian Crusaders to the Egyptian Mamluks to the Ottoman Turks to the British
and most recently to the Israelis. Nevertheless, in contrast to the Jewish experience, the Arabs have enjoyed a
sustained and uninterrupted presence in Palestine for more than 1,300 years.
Palestinian Arabs and the West Bank Today--Things to
Consider
The Holy Land Has Been in Arab Hands for Over 13
Centuries
Since the 7th century C.E., when Arab armies took Palestine from the
Byzantine Empire, Palestine has been theirs
Before 1915 (i.e., prior to the Balfour
Declaration and Sykes-Picot
Agreement), Palestine was Recognized as an
Arab Area
Beware the Implications for
AmericaIf Jewish Presence in Palestine in Ancient Times Gives the Jews Title to the Land, Then the American Indians Should Have That Same Claim to the U.S.A.
Indian Removal Act of 1830 and
The Trail of Tears, 1838
The ancient Kingdom of Judah did not have
possession of Samaria Only the southern
portion of Palestine went to the Tribe
of Judah
The Northern Kingdom of Israel represented the Ten Tribes
of Reuben, Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher,
Napthali, Joseph, and Benjamin. Their inheritance—not Judah’s—
was northern Palestine.
The 4th Geneva Convention Declares That the Occupying
Power Shall Not Transfer Part of Its Population
into the Territory Occupied
Israelis Forced Palestinians Off Family Lands at Gun Point in 1948 and Again in 1967
The Palestinians Did Not Choose to Leave the Land
The “Occupied
Territories”
West Bank
Gaza Strip
Palestinian Refugee Camp
Baqa’a in Jordan
There are 4 million Palestinian Arabs living in
today’s Middle East • 900,000 live in Israeli occupied (since
1967) West Bank
• 700,000 live on the Gaza Strip
• 400,000 live in other locations throughout the state of Israel
• Two million Palestinian Arabs live in Israel
The Hebrew Scriptures
These scriptures stipulate that disobedience to God yields forfeiture of one’s
land
According to the Hebrew Scriptures
rejection of the Torah led Yahweh to cast
the Northern Tribes into the hands of the Assyrians and out of the Promised Land
Potential Solutions
• Drive Israel into the sea • Create a national Palestinian
homeland
There remains a wide gap between the minimum acceptable for the respective Arab
and Israeli sides
What would
you do?