The Holy War

Article 019.

I’m not in any way an expert. Not even remotely close of being knowledgeable about the topic.  I can even say that I’m isolated culturally and regionally from it and so my point of view will obviously be high-level, possibly insignificant. But a friend from Vegas has been posting a barrage of stories about this ongoing saga between Israelis and Hamas/Palestinians. I got curious so I chatted with her to get her take. She said she’s pro-life and wants a stop to all the killings that’s been happening. Essentially she is pro-Palestine but admitted she needed to brush up on this holy war’s history to get a better understanding and perspective. I said that would require time and she don’t got any what with her three little ones. She knows so she’s thankful for audiobooks for saving her time. I laughed and bid her good luck. I also need to acquaint and educate myself on this matter, if I do want to write about it. And I’m uncertain if I can sum up what I read about it cohesively for YOU to understand, but here goes nothing (and somebody fat check me please).

First thought, I often wondered if Palestine was historically a country of its own and after doing a little research, back in 1946 as a matter of fact it was (What?? I really didn't know!). In the 1800s, when the great colonial expansion by European countries was at its peak, the British were aggressive and saw Palestine as a great location to engrave major influence in the Middle East and up its game over other countries. The British fought and eventually won against the Ottomans (who governed Palestine) and then recognized the establishment of the Jewish region in the country, eventhough the Jews were very minimal in population. I wonder why the British would openly validate the Jews but I could not find any material to elaborate on it. Anyway, this declaration was suppose to protect the religious and civil rights of the Palestinians although it was very vague how these rights will be protected or how their land would be used into account. The Allied Powers then granted the British temporary rule over Palestine until this Jewish state could be implemented. The population saw a steady influx of Jewish people during the British rule. In the 1930s, Jews who were situated in Europe sought to flee Nazi rule but had nowhere to go. The Zionists— who are activists in a movement seeking a permanent home for Jewish people— was pushing aggressively for immigration at Palestine because of its religious and historical significance to Jewish people. But what is this historical significance? This further put pressure on the British occupation resulting in violent encounters between Palestinians and British troops. The British imposed rigid immigration quotas having seen the advancing growth of the Jewish population. The Zionist Extreme (not how they are called but Extreme sounded the best way to describe it)— who went further than other Zionists— called for a Jewish state focused on maximal territorial expansion through force. They were unhappy with British attempts delimiting immigration so they also sowed to arms. Because of the stress from both the Palestinians and Jews, the British eventually looked for an exit from Palestine. After World War II, thousands of Holocaust survivors began moving to Palestine which was encouraged by a strengthened Zionist movement. The United Nations essentially agreed to partition Palestine into two states— an area for the Jewish population and another for the Arabs, with the city of Jerusalem to be governed by a "special" international entity. I wonder who this was?  However, local Arabs and Arab countries objected to this. British forces finally withdrew from Palestine, and Israel took the opportunity and declared its independence on May 14, 1948. That started the first Arab-Israeli war, in which Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria— opponents of Israel’s Declaration of Independence— invaded the country. Though the US recognized the new provisional Israeli government, it did not get involved in the conflict militarily, and so they say. Israel won the war and with it, about 70% of the previous Palestinian territory including land that the UN had intended to allocate to the Arabs. Palestine is now Israel and the rest is history.

Again, what I’m very curious about is the historical significance of Jerusalem to the Jews. Isn’t that originally a Jewish territory? I could not find any writings before the 1800s that would support this. I say that because I wanna know who really did own the land first and who here plays the White American versus the Native Indian role. I think that would be a crucial factor to know when making bias opinions about this topic. The truth is, it’s hard to side on one faction. The dispute has gone for centuries and too much blood has been shed to say that one cause is better than the other. But if you read my short synopsis of the history above, you can easily say that the Jews pushed there way into Palestine territory or like I alluded to, the other way around. The Extreme Zionists during that era could very well be the counterpart of the modern day Hamas of the Palestinians, since they advocated for territorial spread by force. That’s a naive opinion on my end because I have no basis of how “forceful” the Extreme Zionists were, if they did resort to mass killings like Hamas did. The British also played a key role here. Their interim rule over Palestine paved the way for the small Jewish community to be recognized and essentially jump-started the Holy War.

For those who had no idea what the dispute was all about, hope this helped. I have no profound insight of how best this issue be settled. Nor am I favoring one over the other. I actually know people from both sides. But I do agree with my Vegas friend, the killings must stop. There’s too many casualties. Innocent people just dying everyday. I’m skeptical though that it will ever stop. If anything, it’s about one overly-aggressive, humanitarian-nerving incident away by either the Palestinians or Jews from neighboring Arab countries to get engage and commence the second Arab-Israeli war since the 1940s. The US is watching as well. This can get really ugly. Let’s hope not.

From Palestine to Israel...