The conflict between the Israelites and the Palestinians is due to struggle for land and territorial boundaries. They both believe that the land belongs to them. Israelites believe that the land they are fighting for, called Israel, is theirs and they are entitled to it. On the other hand, the Palestinians believe that they are entitled to the land, called Palestine. Both the sides claim over the same land, only that they call it different names. The Palestinians believed that the land was given to them by Allah, and therefore it is rightfully theirs. The Israelites believe that God Jehovah, gave them the land and leaving it for the Palestine will be an insult to God. Historically, the conflict is much more complex than what meats the eyes. This paper will endeavor to dig deep into the historical concept of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. It will then look at the current causes of the conflict and look for possible solutions to ending the conflict.
Before 1500 BC, Canaan was a collection of city states which was under the rule of the Egyptian Empire. Just like other territories, Canaan was paying tribute to Pharaoh, and return, the Egyptian Empire offered the administrative duties. At the beginning of 1500 BC, the Hebrew invaded the northern region of the Egyptian Empire. The city states which were on the northern sides such as Canaan was invades by the Hebrew and they became under its territory. By faith, Abraham left his homeland, Ur which is currently located in Tell el-Muqayyar in Iraq, to Canaan as was directed by God. On his way to the promised land, Abraham passed through Sechem which was one of the Canaanite cities. Abraham was then given the entire land of Canaan starting from the northern Egypt, past the River Euphrates, all the way to the land of Jebusites, Hittites, Canaanites, and Perizzites. These borders were well defined during the time the Israelites came from Egypt, 400 years later.
During the time of Joshua and other Judges who led the Israelites to the, there were twelve tribes inhabiting both the sides of river Jordan. During that time, there was no county by the Name Jordan. Joshua formed six camps of refuge which were referred to as Israelites Cities of Refuge. Three of them, Ramoth Gilead, Galon and Bezer were by the eastern side of River Jordan. During the time of King David, several cities were taken to form the greater Israel. David first invaded Damascus and took it. they were made to pay tributes to King David. King David then defeated King Hadadezer of Aramean. He took the state which extended up to Euphrates and it became part of David’s territory. When David needed a new capital, he took Jerusalem from Hebron. It is important to note that Jerusalem was not taken from the Arabs, or the Palestinians or Muslims, the land belonged to the Hebron. David then took Amon, Moab, and Edom. During the time of King Solomon, more territories were conquered and become part of Israel; almost but not entirely fulfilling the boundaries of the promised land. For example, Gaza was not taken; however, it was part of the promised land. On the other hand, Amon, Moab, and Edom were conquered and taken while they were not part of the promised land. Amon, Moab, and Edom form the current country of Jordan.
After the reign King of Solomon, Israel split into two kingdoms, Israel on the southern part and Judea on the Northern Part. Letter on, both the northern and the southern territories were invaded, and the temple of Jerusalem was ruined. In 201 BCE, The Persian took back Jerusalem and restored the Judean Kingdom. They also allowed the Jews to build a new temple in Jerusalem. The kingdom was then overtaken by the Greek, and then by Alexander the Great of the Hellenic-Syrian. In 164 BCE, the Judean Kingdom revolted from Syria and become semi-independent. They were able to protect themselves using the friendship treaty which they made by the Roman Empire. In 61 BC, Pompeii of the Roman Empire conquered Jerusalem, and from then, both the northern and southern territory become subordinate to Rome. During the days of Roman Empire, Judea was the roman name for the entire land of Israel. This included the entire land which was occupied by the Jews. When Jerusalem Fell again in 70 AD, several Jews were exiled all over the world. During the rule of the Roman Empire, the land was divided into several districts, Palestine being one of them.
The periods around 610 AD marks the beginning of what is referred to as the Crusaders Period. First Palestinians, who were Christians by then, fell to the Persian in 614 AD and then briefly conquered by Heraclius. However, during the rise of Islam in the Middle East, Israel was conquered by Arabs. In 640 AD, Jerusalem fell again, now to the hands of the Arabs. Just like they had been with the Persians, the Jews were willing to form allies with the Arabs. The land was then divided into two; the northern part which was called Jund of Filastin with its capital located in Rahlem, the northern side was called Jund of Al Urdunn which had its capital in Tiberius. During the Beginning of 1095, the crusader invaded and conquered Palestine. The Crusaders who were Muslins, transferred the Islam culture to the Palestinians. Palestine was conquered by several conquerors until the time of the Turks. Turk lost the part of Jerusalem to British who conquered the land without shooting a single shot.
In 2nd December, 1917, Lord Robert Cecil who was the foreign secretary of Britain named the divided the land into three sections. The Arabian countries which were for Arabs, the Armenia which was for Armenians and Judea which was for the Jews. The population of the Jews grew to an extent that threatened the Arabs (the Palestinians). In the 1930s, the great Arab revolt against the British started. The revolt was also directed to the Jews who called themselves the Israelites. The British and the Jews ganged against the Palestinians and put them down. At this point, the Jews and the Palestinians formed militias which started fighting against each other. This made the British to leave. When the British left in 1948, Jews declare independence to form the State of Israel. Several Arab countries ganged against Israel but they lost the war. These attacks have continued between the two counties over the Gaza strip and the West Bank.
Bibliography
Armstrong, Karen. Jerusalem: one city, three faiths. Ballantine Books, 2011.
Ben-Arieh, Yehoshua. "The Growth of Jerusalem in the Nineteenth Century∗." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 65, no. 2 (1975): 252-269.
de Chartres, Foucher. A History of the Expedition to Jerusalem, 1095-1127. WW Norton, 1973.
Gabrieli, Francesco. Arab historians of the crusades. Univ of California Press, 1969.
Eidelberg, Shlomo, ed. The Jews and the Crusaders: The Hebrew Chronicles of the First and Second Crusades. KTAV Publishing House, Inc., 1996.
