|
 Palestinians
claim that they have a right to a Palestinian state of
their own, created within the territory of Israel. Do
they have a legitimate historical or biblical claim?
Palestinian demands along with their anger continue to
cause endless bloodshed in the Middle East. Is trading
land for peace the solution to this problem?
The area named Palestine includes the land currently
occupied by Israel and Jordan. The first time the name
Palestine was used was in 70 A.D. after the Romans
crushed the Jews in Jerusalem, which included the
destruction of the most beautiful temple complex on
earth—the Jerusalem Temple mount. Palestine has fallen
into many hands, first ruled by Rome, then Muslims, and
then Christian Crusaders. After the Crusaders Palestine
was ruled by the Turks.
For nearly 400 years, until 1917, this territory was
under the control of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman
Empire was disbanded at the end of World War I. The
leftover remnant of the Empire, Turkey, handed Palestine
over to the British Empire. In the year 1917 the British
government issued the Balfour Declaration, thus
establishing Palestine as a national home for the Jewish
People. PALESTINE HAS NEVER EXISTED AS AN AUTONOMOUS
ARAB NATION.
The Arab population of Palestine was historically very
small in the early 1900’s. For example, 100 years ago
there were far more Jews living in Jerusalem than Arabs.
A travel guidebook to Palestine, published in 1906,
estimates that the population of Jerusalem was 60,000.
40,000 were Jews, 13,000 were Christians and 7,000 were
Muslims. Palestine was never exclusively an Arab
country. No independent Palestinian or Arab state ever
existed in Palestine, and it has only been during the
last 60 years that Palestine has seen a large influx of
Arabs to the region.
The rebirth of the nation of Israel in the Middle East
drew more and more Arabs into the now disputed
territory. Arabs migrated to Palestine because the Jews
were creating jobs, which in turn established a higher
standard of living for both Jews and Arabs living there.
Yasser Arafat, the deceased former leader of the
Palestinian cause, was not born in Palestine but in
Egypt. He later moved to Jerusalem, and like most Arabs
living within the border of Israel today, migrated from
another Arab nation into Israel.
Since late 1993, over 500,000 Arabs have entered Gaza
and the West Bank. They have come from Egypt, Jordan,
Lebanon and other Arab nations. So the myth that Arabs
heavily populated Palestine for centuries before the
Jewish State of Israel was founded goes totally
unsubstantiated. The truth is, prior to the 1900’s
Palestine was sparsely populated and was seen as a
wasteland, a virtual backwater area.
So when did the cry for an independent Arab Palestinian
State really catch fire? The Palestinian Arab movement
is a post World War I movement that did not become a
serious political movement until 1964. It received a
major boost after Israel captured the West Bank during
the 1967 Six-Day War.
Significance of Six-Day War
It was during the Six-Day War that Israel captured East
Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria from the Jordanians. These
areas were populated by Arabs, and were seized from the
nation of Jordan: the territories were not taken from
Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Liberation
Organization—though he often acted as if they were.
It was after the 1967 war that Arafat started to
effectively beat the drum for an independent Palestinian
nation. Nasser of Egypt, not Levi Eshkol of Israel,
however, was responsible for provoking the war, a war
that drew the Arab nation of Jordan into a fight with
Israel that eventually resulted in Jordan’s loss of East
Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Historically, Palestine had never been governed by Arab
Palestinians—not until recently anyway (with recent
Palestinian governments in Gaza and the West Bank).
Palestine does not have its own unique language spoken
only by Palestinians. Arabs control well over 98% of the
landmass in the Middle East yet they want Israel (which
controls about 1% of the landmass in the Middle East) to
give up land to Arab Palestinians to form a state there.
Why doesn’t Jordan, or Egypt, or Saudi Arabia want a
Palestinian state within their borders? Because they
know that the Palestinian Arabs are a restless, violent
people who will never be peaceable, no matter what the
solution. Astute Israelis believe that no matter what
land concessions Israel makes to the Palestinians,
nothing will ever satisfy the Arab-Palestinian
leadership. Land for peace has not worked in the past,
nor will it ever work.
We will address the problem of a Palestinian state in
future columns, as so much more can be said on this
subject. A unified Arab Palestinian State may come into
being in the land of Israel, but we see no biblical
directive to set up such a state, since biblical
scripture makes it clear Palestine was the land given to
Abraham and his progeny, the sons of Israel. “And God
said to him, “Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be
called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.” So
He called his name Israel…”The land which I gave Abraham
and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after
you I give this land.”—Genesis 35:10,12.
Is there a final solution to the problems that plague
the Middle East? The Bible tells us there is. The
solution to the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict is
the return of Jesus Christ as King of Kings. He will
overthrow the nations and settle all disputes
(Revelation 11:15). For more on this topic, please
download or order your free copy of our booklet, The
Gospel According to Christ. This important booklet has
much to say about what is going to happen in the future
in the land of Palestine. |
