May 31st, 2018
Written By - Israeli Culture Club
There has been a lot of discussion at Laurel about the plight of the Palestinians in the conflict with Israel, and I’d like to put forward some other perspectives.
In all fairness, we have two people that have legitimate claims to the land that is now Israel, and both people call this land home.
From ancient times and through the conquests of the first and second Jewish temple periods (587 BCE and 70 CE), Jews have maintained a continuous presence and ties to the land. Around the time of World War II, more Jews began to return to Israel, which was under British control. This led to much discussion on how the land should be divided and shared amongst the two populations living in the area. In 1948, when the British were ready to pull out of the area and relinquish control, (note that it was not a Jewish nor a Palestinian state) the UN adopted a Partition Plan. Part of the land would be for Palestinian Arabs to create a state, and the other part would be for the Jews to create a state. The Jews accepted this resolution to partition the land into two states, but the Arabs prepared for war with threats to push the Jews into the sea. The result was an unexpected Israeli victory. Israel was born, and in fact larger in size than what was originally designated by the Partition Plan. The Arabs who resided in the land continued to be left without self-determination as they had before. As a result of that 1948 war, many of them became Israeli citizens, while many others were displaced as with any war. Rejecting partition was definitely a grave mistake on the part of the Arab leadership. I should add, that just as many Jews living in Arab countries were expelled in response to the Israeli victory, however they were absorbed and helped by Israel. Within one generation, the Jewish refugee problem was solved. This was not the case for the Palestinians as the surrounding Arab countries did not absorb Palestinian refugees.
Unfortunately, more defensive wars followed for Israel in 1956 and 1967. The Arab countries’ priority was to destroy Israel over absorbing or educating the Palestinian people. Again, Israel won even more land in these defensive wars, and the pattern continued.
Therefore, Israel’s first “crime” was repeatedly gaining territory in defensive wars. Her second “crime” is that she takes measures daily to protect her citizens, and this cannot be done without innocent Palestinian inconveniences, injustices, and even casualties. The Palestinian leadership continuously vows to destroy Israel and Palestinians have delivered tunnels across the border, rockets aimed at civilians, explosions in restaurants and buses, car rammings, and stabbings; so Israel has had to take defensive measures. It is difficult to manage all of that violence specifically aimed at civilians living their daily lives without making some grave mistakes.
Israel uses her resources to protect innocent lives. For example, the Iron Dome is an air defense system that intercepts and destroys the barrage of incoming rockets that come from Gaza. It has intercepted over a thousand rockets and has saved thousands of Israeli lives. Also, Israel has been known to warn the Palestinian people in Gaza with leaflets, and even cell phone calls, encouraging evacuation before retaliation for the rockets. In contrast to what Israel does, Hamas purposely launches rockets from schools and hospitals, encouraging their population to remain in harm's way in order to achieve martyrdom and draw Israeli criticism-- and the world complies. Israel is very effective at protecting her population, and fewer deaths fuel the misconception that Israel is not vulnerable.
Therefore, critics of Israel should consider the following:
1.That they may be unjustifiably criticizing Israel for keeping territory that was won in several defensive wars, as if starting a war gets a “do-over” when the attacking country does not like the end results.
2. That they may be questioning Israel’s legitimacy, when virtually all countries, including the U.S, were born through war and conflict; thereby holding Israel to a different standard. It is not equitable to question only Israel’s sovereignty.
3. That the Jews may be entitled to self-determination in a little country the size of New Jersey. Many people are not aware that there are twenty-two Arab countries. Looking at a map of Israeli territory versus Arab territory is a helpful visual in understanding that the Palestinians are not the only underdogs in this conflict.
4. That Israel cannot stop defending herself and be annihilated by its neighbors. It is too much to expect of any country.
Picking on Israel without wrestling with these considerations may be in fashion under the guise of human rights, but it is shameful and discriminatory to jump on this bandwagon without exploring the other side of the issue. Jews also have human and national rights, and I hope that people understand that this conflict is extremely complicated and has multiple legitimate narratives.
Sources:
https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/egypt/.premium.MAGAZINE-jews-were-expelled-from-egypt-but-can-we-talk-about-the-expulsion-of-the-jews-1.5449464
https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/israel/iron-dome.htm
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/09/world/middleeast/by-phone-and-leaflet-israeli-attackers-warn-gazans.html
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/10987095/Gaza-conflict-Hamas-chooses-to-let-children-die-for-its-own-crazy-ends.html
Further reading:
Map, statistics and history of the Middle East:
Article explaining the truth about Hamas in the Media - https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-truth-about-hamas-and-israel-1526841445
Arab World map (talking about in the 2nd to last paragraph) - https://www.science.co.il/Arab-Israeli-conflict/
https://www.adl.org/resources/action-guides/israel-a-guide-for-activists
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