THE PALESTINIAN PROBLEM An Eternal Imbroglio? VS

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?