WHY DID PALESTINIANS LEAVE THE LAND?

In the last census taken by the British in 1945, approximately 1.2 million permanent Arabs lived in all of Palestine. In 1947, a total of 809,100 Arabs lived in the same area. This meant that no more than 650,000 Palestine Arabs could have become refugees. A report by the UN Mediator on Palestine arrived at even a lower figure of 472,000. However, many Arabs claim that 800,000 to one million Palestinians were displaced when the State of Israel was established in 1948. Palestinians refer to this displacement as the Nakba, Arabic for catastrophe.

But why did they leave their homeland? Palestinians left their homes between 1947 and 1949 for a variety of reasons. Thousands of wealthy Arabs left in anticipation of a war. Thousands more responded to calls from Arab leaders to leave, because of advancing armies. A handful was expelled. Some had a disinclination to live under Jewish control. It is believed that most Palestinians simply fled to avoid being caught in the crossfire of a battle, intended to prevent the establishment of the Jewish state. On the other hand, the Jews hoped to gain control over the territory allotted to them by the United Nations.

About the same time, Jews who lived in adjoining Arab countries were forced to leave. For instance, thousands of Jews lived in Iraq – formerly Babylon. About 120,000 of these Iraqi Jews were dislocated between 1949-1951. They were required to leave as a precondition for obtaining Iraqi citizenship. Exiled Jews were forced to leave their homes and properties without compensation. These exiled Jews relocated to the new State of Israel.

In 1948, there were about 200,000 Jews living in Iran (Persia). Today, there are about 10,000 Jews living there. Throughout the 19th century, Jews were persecuted and discriminated against. Sometimes whole Jewish communities were forced to convert to Islam. Jews from Iran, Iraq and other Arab countries migrated, and started life all over in the new State of Israel.

Palestinian guerrilla attacks on Israel from bases in Syria led to increased hostility between the two countries. Syria feared that an invasion by Israel was forthcoming and appealed to Egypt for support. Israel, surrounded and fearing an Arab attack was imminent, launched what it felt was a pre-emptive strike against the three Arab states on June 5, 1967. Israeli forces captured the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank of the Jordan River, Old City of Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. As a result of this conflict, about 300,000 more Palestinians fled, mainly to adjoining Jordan. When added to the 1948 displacement, some believe Palestinian refugees and their descendants now number about six million.

Although uncomfortable, no one wants to talk about Jews displaced from Arab countries. Between 1948 and 1972, about 820,000 Jews were repatriated, against their will. Most of these Jews resettled in Israel, without any offer of compensation from Arab governments, who confiscated their possessions.

As of March 2023, Israel's population stood at approximately 9.73 million. Jews make up the majority at 73.5%. The Arab community, spanning various religions excluding Judaism, accounts for 21%. In Palestinian territories, about 86% of the population is Arab. In these territories, about 13% are Jewish.

Displacement continues to be the major bone of contention between Arabs and Israelis. Displaced Palestinians are considered refugees and are deprived of opportunities for personal enrichment in their host countries. Displaced Jews have integrated and assimilated in the State of Israel and are productive. Palestinians who chose not to leave Israel, are equally productive. Unfortunately, as citizens of Israel, many have been deprived of opportunities to realize their full potential. 

Working together in Israel, Palestinians and Israelis have achieved much. Geographically, although one of the smallest countries in Asia, Israel looms big on the global scale.

■ Israel is the fifth-most educated country in the world;

■ Israel ranks sixth in the 2022 World Index of Healthcare Innovation;

■ Israel is in third position in the world for start-up industries;

■ Israel is ranked the fourth most successful economy among developed countries;

■ Israel is renowned for its outstanding success in managing its water resources;

■ Israel is a world-leader in agricultural technologies and

■ Israel (2023) has placed fourth in the World Happiness rankings.

The data is overwhelming, Jews are twice as likely to go to college than non-Jews, and five times more likely to be admitted to an Ivy League School. Jews are over-represented in the field of science by 231%, in Psychiatry by 47%, in Law by 265%, in Dentistry by 299% and in Mathematics by 283%. According to a former professor of mine, “… the very terms of their exceptionalism have fostered scholarship and achievement in order to survive, but these have made them susceptible to jealousy and resentment”.

Of the 965 individual recipients of the Nobel Prize and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences between 1901 and 2023, at least 214 have been Jews or people with at least one Jewish parent, representing 22% of all recipients.

Unfortunately, Jewish achievements have made them arrogant and conceited. Only 30% of Israelis claim to be religious. Within that group, 2% claim to be Christians. Their disdain for a biblical faith is alarming. Israel proudly sees itself as a secular state. Very few Jews would attribute their success to anything mystical or spiritual. Jewish history has been punctuated with this spiritual apathy. Many Palestinians have suffered because of that condition. Unless the Jews repent for corporate arrogance and indifference, they will never experience the national healing God promised His people (2 Chronicles 7:14). 

 

 

 

 

WHO OWNS PALESTINE?

 

The expression “from Dan to Beersheba” was used in the Old Testament to describe the Promised Land. The 150-mile-long strip described lands between Syria and Egypt. For millennia the area was seen as a bridge to three continents. Hence, many empires sought to control the land. For Jews, the land was significant because it was promised to Abraham, when he lived 1,000 miles away in Mesopotamia.

When Abraham entered the land, it was known as the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:1-5). Under the leadership of King David (about 3,000 years ago), the native Canaanites were vanquished, the region was designated as the Land of Israel and Jerusalem was identified as the capital. Israel’s control continued until the Northern Kingdom surrendered to the Assyrians in 722 B.C. The region assumed the name of its capital, Samaria, and the occupants were known as the Samaritans.

The Southern Kingdom, known as Judah, succumbed to the Babylonians. They destroyed the Temple (586 B.C.) and controlled both North and South of the land. The Babylonians were conquered by the Medes and Persians who allowed the Jews to return to the land. Then, the land was called Judah, Israel and at times Jerusalem. The Jews returned and were allowed to rebuild the Temple, but were subject to the Persians as a superpower.

Having conquered the Persians, Alexander the Great automatically controlled Jewish lands. The area that was known as the Kingdom of Judah, was then called Judea – the Hellenized or Greek term for Judah. Because of the spread of Greek language and culture, the name Judea was maintained throughout the reigns of the Ptolemies, Seleucids and Romans.  

The Romans dominated the Mediterranean region from 63 B.C. and remained in power for about 500 years. The entire New Testament period was under Roman authority. At times they were very brutal to the Jewish people. In 70 A.D., they destroyed the Temple, as predicted by Jesus (Mark 13:1-2). In 135 A.D., in response to the Bar Kochba rebellion, The Romans destroyed the entire city of Jerusalem, and renamed it Aeolia Capitolina, after the family of the emperor of Rome. The Romans also renamed the province of Judea to “Syria-Palestina”. This was an attempt to wipe out the memory and history of the area and the people of Judea.

Prior to this, there was no region or people officially associated with the term “Palestina”. The word Palestine derives from Philistia, a term used to describe the Philistines – the people, against who Samson fought. The Romans used the term to describe a region where Jews and non-Jews lived. Following the collapse of the Roman Empire (476 A.D.), the Byzantines assumed responsibility for the region of Palestine. The Crusaders had a short presence, before being expelled by Muslims in 1291. Since the Romans, the name Palestine had no official status until after World War I and the end of rule by the Ottoman Turks Empire in 1918.

Up until 1948, ‘Palestine’ was a term, used to describe a province, which was controlled by some occupying foreign power. There was no independent local rule. No ethnic or religious group claimed control of the territory. Following World War I, the League of Nations mandated Great Britain and France responsibility of the territories of Palestine and Transjordan. The region included Arab Christians, Muslims, Jews and anyone else who happened to live in that territory. The entire territory was called Palestine.

A key component of Jewish life from the Old Testament, was the reality of migration. One can begin with the forced migration of men from the Northern Kingdom to the capture of the elite and intellectuals to Babylon. Many of these were left in Babylon and neighbouring non-Jewish communities. It was the presence of thousands of Jews living in northern Egypt (Alexandria), that warranted the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek (Septuagint). Other expulsions from the land, as with the Romans in 135 A.D., and the Islamic conquest of Jerusalem around 636 A.D.,  contributed to more Jews living away from Palestine.

However, not all Jews migrated throughout the Mediterranean and Europe. Some migrated across the Muslim world, including Spain, flourished there and retained their identity as Spanish Jews. Many of those Spanish or Sephardi Jews, lived in Turkey, Greece and the Balkans. By the end of the 19^th century, an influx of Sephardi Jews contributed to Palestine’s population. Many of these immigrating Jews began to purchase land and engage in agriculture.

The birthing of Zionism in different parts of Europe facilitated much dialog about growing antisemitism, immigration and statehood. Much of this dialog coincided with growing economic challenges in Palestine. Because of those challenges, the Ottoman Empire passed a series of reforms. Some of those reforms gave rights to European Jews to migrate and to set up economic religious institutions in Palestine. Because of the Ottoman Empire’s demise, the British Empire began to make deals with interested parties. That was the context in which the Balfour Declaration was implemented in November 1917. That declaration expressed support for the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine. The slaughter of more that six million Jews in the Holocaust (1933-45) also exposed a major need for the Jews to establish their own homeland, and to protect themselves.

Before the expiration of the Balfour Declaration in May 1948, the United Nations, which succeeded the League of Nations, after it ceased to exist in April 1946, adopted Resolution 181 on November 29, 1947. That resolution known as the “Partition Resolution”, affirmed the establishment of the State of Israel, as proposed by the Balfour Declaration. The State of Israel was declared on May 14, 1948.

However, many events preceded the formation of the State of Israel. As mentioned earlier, under the Romans, the Jews lost legislative control of the region in 135 A.D. However, the Jewish presence never died. Between 135 and 1948, many significant events took place. These included:

■ The canonizing of the Hebrew Bible, between 100-150,

■ Completion of the Jewish Mishna, about 210,

■ Jerusalem Talmud completed, about 390,

■ Muslim siege of Jerusalem, 636-37,

■ Jews also suffered through Crusader domination, 1099-1291

■ Mamluk Sultanate (Muslim control), 1291-1516

■ Ottoman Empire (Muslim), 1516-1917

■ First Jewish neighbourhood built outside Jerusalem, 1860

■ Large-scale immigration from Russia, 1882-1903

■ First Zionist Congress (Switzerland), 1897

■ Tel Aviv (modern city) founded, 1909

■ Balfour Declaration promised “Jewish national home in Palestine”, 1917

■ League of Nations designated land for Israel, 1922 (Mandate for Palestine)

Honestly, the evolution of the State of Israel is unique in human history. All the empires that have crushed the Jewish people for almost 3,000 years have died. And, the Jewish people have survived and regathered from around the world to establish the State of Israel. One wonders if we are not witnessing what the prophet Zechariah wrote about some 2,500 years ago:

Though I scatter them among the peoples,
    yet in distant lands they will remember me.
They and their children will survive,
    and they will return.
¹⁰ I will bring them back from Egypt
    and gather them from Assyria.
I will bring them to Gilead and Lebanon,
    and there will not be room enough for them. (Zechariah 10:9-10).

WHY ANTI-SEMITISM?

 

Antisemitism means prejudice against or hatred of Jews. Anti-Semitism is an age-old hatred. Actually, prejudice against Jews has existed for thousands of years. The prejudice is universal, although more obvious in the Arab world. Israel, homeland of the Jewish people, is small compared to its Arab neighbours. Whereas Israel is approximately 8,630 square miles, her Arab neighbours occupy more than five million square miles.  

 

In attempting to answer the question, why antisemitism, many answers have been offered. These include economic factors, ethnic hatred, resentment of Jewish influence and affluence, religious bigotry and professional success. But these answers do not explain antisemitism. They do not account for the universality and intensity of antisemitism. In attempting to answer the question, authors Prager and Telushkim contend, “we have encountered virtually no study of this phenomenon that even attempts to offer a universal explanation of Jew-hatred. Nearly every study of antisemitism consists almost solely of historical narrative, thus seeming to indicate that no universal reason for antisemitism exists”. It would seem that antisemitism is based on stereotypes and myths that target Jews as a people, their religious practices, their beliefs and more recently, the Jewish State of Israel.

 

In order to ascertain a reasonable explanation for antisemitism, we should first ask the question, who are the Jews? That answer would take us to Genesis 12:1-3 (The Lord had said to Abram, “leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you”). Any history of the Jewish people would contend that that passage should apply to Jewish people. Jewish people use this passage to establish their claim to this same land today.

 

In addition to their claim to the land, they also claim the blessing promised to the descendants of Abraham. Throughout the centuries, Jews have experienced both blessings and curses, because of their Abrahamic faith. Many have been kicked off the land, but maintained a faith through Jewish practices in other lands. Lands that practised polytheism, whereas the Jews maintained a belief in one God. Their practices were quite different from their foreign neighbours. Those practices distinguished them from others, who were not welcomed to adopt Jewish beliefs. In other words, a Jewish exclusivism was emerging and with that exclusivism, a growing pride about being Jewish.

 

When marginalized and ostracized, their sense of community was strengthened. That strength became evident in almost any enterprise in which they were engaged. Their exclusivism, sense of community and success became the envy of many. In addition, Jews resented laws that challenged their religious practices that distinguished them. These differences increased and resulted in very hostile treatment from various authorities. The Romans destroyed the Jewish Temple in 70 CE/AD and renamed Jerusalem in 135 CE/AD. The Romans actually renamed the region Palestine, and the city, Aelia Capitolina.

Although some Jews lived in the land, they could not assume any political leadership.

 

In the absence of a homeland and political leadership, Jews were subject to various forms of abuse wherever they lived in the world. With the rise of Adolf Hitler in 1933, Jews experienced intense hatred. Hitler imagined Jews to be subhuman polluters of a pure Aryan race. He believed Jews contributed to Germany’s defeat in World War I. He sought an imaginary racial purity and exterminated more than six million Jews.

 

Interestingly, the hatred cited so far in this blog, took place before the State of Israel was established in 1948. A new phase of hatred developed when the State of Israel was established. More than half a million Palestinians left the land and settled in Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan. Some historians believe the Jews forced the Palestinians to leave, and captured their homeland. Others share the view that Arab leaders encouraged Palestinians to leave, pending their destruction of the Jewish State. Wherever the truth may fall, the situation has given cause for much more hatred. A slogan commonly used in pro-Palestinian campaigns is, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”. Said differently, Palestine will only be free until they occupy from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea – that describes all of Israel today.

 

Today’s hatred for Israel will pale when compared to what is described in Revelation 12. Jesus described this 3 ½ year period as the “Great Tribulation”. In Matthew 24:21, Jesus says, “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall”.

 

The prophet Jeremiah also refers to the Great Tribulation. Jeremiah 30:7 says, "Alas! for that day is great, there is none like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s distress, but he will be saved from it." The phrase “Jacob’s distress” refers to the nation of Israel, which will experience persecution and natural disasters such as have never before been seen. The book of Revelation offers us the most information about this Great Tribulation. From Revelation 13 when the Beast is revealed until Christ returns in Revelation 19, we are given a picture of God’s wrath on the earth because of unbelief and rebellion. Thankfully, Christ’s return at the end of the Great Tribulation will mean salvation for Israel (Romans 11:26-29).