July 29,
2014
As
we approach four and half weeks of Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, I want to
remember and detail to you out there who exactly the people of Gaza and the
West Bank are and a little bit of the history of the Palestinian people and
(apart from religious differences) why they refuse recognition of Israel as a
nation and why they openly hate Israel.
Beginning before World War 2
there was a mass migration worldwide of the Jewish people to the Promised Land.
This mass movement was known as the Zionist Movement or Zionism. Though the
land was not another independent nation, it was recognized as Palestinian
territory. Well, as the Second World War and the Holocaust progressed and eventually
came to an end in 1945, talks about establishing a Jewish state began to brew
and in 1948 when Israel became an official nation, the new question became:
What would happen to all of the Palestinians who were currently residing in what
had become Israeli territory? Fundamentally they had two options. The first
option was to accept Israeli citizenship. If accepted, they would be permitted
to continue habituating in their homes, working at their jobs, and continue to
keep their children in whatever schools they were in, on the condition of
becoming a functioning member of this new society that would be built around
them. Many of these people accepted this option and did not resort to option
number two. The alternative to this was basically relocation. If they did not
want anything from Israel and did not want to reside in a country full of
Jewish people, then they, of course, were not forced to stay. Thus, the
creation of the West Bank and Gaza territories emerged. These angry
Palestinians today “reminisce” about how they were forced from their homes or
forced to uproot their lives into displacement but this is not entirely the
case. Much of the conflict that occurred at that time was stemmed from the
ancient Muslim against Jewish (and vice versa) battle that the world has seen
for thousands of years. So combined with the antiquated issues that date back
to the biblical era of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar, plus the displacement and
relocation of the Palestinians, we see now what has become of these two strong-minded
groups of people. There are many other factors that contribute to the hatred of
the Jews by these people, but these, I believe are the strongest roots of the
conflict today.
But, the Jewish people are no
stranger to hatred or discrimination due to their beliefs. The thing about
Jewish people is that it doesn't matter where in the world they are. Whether it’s
Europe, Africa, or virtually any other place in the world, Jewish people are
always an easy target for groups who promote and associate with hate. It says
in Exodus 1:9 “the children of Israel are more and mightier than we”. This is
said by the Pharaoh of Egypt because he felt intimidated by the number and
power of the people of Israel. The slavery of the Jewish people in Egypt,
detailed in the chapter Exodus in the Bible, is the first documented hatred of
the Jewish people. Through time we've seen others take the same position that
the ancient Egyptians took, such as the Romans in the era of Jesus. Flashing
forward a few years to the middle ages in Europe, Jews were not permitted to
own land or hold any agricultural jobs. Why? Because the Europeans did not want
Jewish people to stay in a single place. They forced them to take the merchant
and commerce jobs which at the time required constant travels. Pressing fast
forward yet again to the 1930’s in Germany with the attempted annihilation of the
Jewish people in the Holocaust. The forced shipping to deathly concentration
camps and the anti-semantic life that has been seen throughout the history of
the world, is repeating again before our eyes.
Every generation, there has and will
forever be a group whose goal is to eliminate the Jewish people. Many have
tried and they have never and never will succeed. By the grace of God, the
Jewish people will always be protected against their enemies.
Ironic, though, that without the
slavery of the Jewish people in Egypt, Moses and Aaron never would have led the
Jews to the Promised Land. Without the inhibition of being able to hold
agricultural jobs or buy land, the Jewish people wouldn't be recognized, statistically,
as the best bankers and business owners in the world. And though the Holocaust
was the most depressing and defaming event in human history (along with the
transatlantic slave trade) without such an event, Israel never would have
become a nation. Overall it’s thanks to the struggle and the fight that the
Jewish people have always maintained throughout history, that we even have the
capacity to continue to defend ourselves against the next group that will
attempt to initiate our demise. It’s thanks to the millions of lives that have
been lost over the past thousand years that fuels our strength to fight against
the group that is currently aimed at initiating the demise of Israel and the
Jewish people today.
We, as members of the international
community, must not let deaths on either side of this current conflict go
unnoticed or unobserved. But, before a “cease fire” policy will ever be
accepted on either side of this bloody battle, we must also remember the root
of the conflict that has evolved into what we see today. There are two sides to
every story, and as the Palestinian side is skewed and painted into a faux
light, those who see the Israelis as “inhumane” please take a moment to
remember the life and history these people have been forced to endure for over
one thousand years.
Iran has publicly released
statements supporting Hamas and promising donations of more missiles to them.
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