260628 Middle-east post 07

The hatred that many Palestinians have for Israel is more than them just taking some of Palestine to live in. In 1948 Israel managed to settle (by force) in the small allocation finally given them via a much-watered-down Balfour Declaration of 1917. The British controlled Palestine with governance as a mandated territory until its scheduled end on 15^th May 1948. From May 1948 onward the land was basically open to grab-by-force–and-hold actions. Israel had been granted most of this land under the Balfour Declaration (1917) after it had been won from the Ottoman empire (Turkey) during WW1. By 1948 only a small area remained Israel’s allocation. With the end of the British mandate of Palestine, Israel decided to occupy their allocated land starting in May 1948. This then caused immense conflict in Palestine with local peoples violently fighting for their share of the land; this is known as the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. (Note well that the land Israel then occupied was only a small fraction of the land it had occupied as a sovereign nation for more than 1200 years in the past.)

While much of the local peoples spoke Arabic, they were actually mostly not of genuine Arab descent. In general the Arabs are descended from Abraham’s son Ismael, while most Palestinians are actually the descendants of Canaanites who were a separate people from the Arabs. While they might speak Arabic, they are mostly not descendants of Ishmael. Note also that the people of Lebanon are also not Arabic but Canaanite, even though most would speak Arabic. In Matthew 15:21-22, Jesus talked with a woman of Canaan living in the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And Gaza was one of the 5 cities of the Philistines who lived in Canaan but were originally from Crete. Iran’s proxy terrorist enemies of Israel in Lebanon and Gaza might also speak Arabic but this doesn’t make them genuine Arabs. And in Iran the official language is Persian, also known as Farsi, and not Arabic.

Therefore it is not a matter of language group that determines the enmity between Palestinians and Israel; it is the religion that unites these peoples opposed to Israel: Islam. Even in Islam there are divisions such as Shia and Sunni. The main difference between Shia and Sunni muslims is their belief about leadership; Shia muslims believe that leadership should remain within their prophet’s family, while Sunni muslims believe leaders should be chosen by consensus. Iran is mostly Shia and therefore their leaders are supposed to be chosen from clerics; this can lead to religious extremism.

Islamic people can often be violently opposed to Israel, seeking to establish Islam alone in Palestine. In 1948 the displacement of Palestinians from Israel’s allocated land led to nakba (“catastrophe” or “disaster”). This event is a significant part of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and is commemorated annually on May 15 as Nakba Day.

Constantin Zureiq, a professor of history at the American University of Beirut, in his 1948 book The Meaning of the Disaster wrote that it was “one of the most difficult that Arabs have ever known over their long history.” Why the most difficult? Simply that there was now a serious threat to their apparent monopoly of religion (Islam); they saw Israel existence as most difficult because of their religion. And the Palestinians had desired that Palestine would be Islamic from the river to the sea!