It has been frequently invaded, bombed and attacked by Israeli forces on the premise that it was a hotbed of terrorist resistance to the establishment of independent Israel. That's true, as far as it goes, though when a foreign power comes in, takes over the political and economic control of an area, and then uses that control to set aside territory already occupied and home to people whose ancestors have lived there for centuries in order to make room for a largely refugee population of a completely different religious, ethnic and cultural background, some resistance to being ousted from homes and property might be expected to become violent.
Actually, it was the Ottoman ruler Suleiman who first opened up Palestine to Jewish immigration fourteen centuries or so after the Romans had banished the Jewish population and destroyed the Temple in 70 A.D. They allowed Jews to return on a limited basis, in relative peace, without upsetting the political or religious balance, a small but significant gesture of religious tolerance that was unusual for the time and place. The Christian Byzantines, who occupied Jerusalem after the Roman era, weren't keen on any kind of Jewish repopulation of the province or city, nor were the Muslims of Mohammed's empire, who murdered the Christians when they took over Jerusalem.
The number of Jewish immigrants coming into Palestine ramped up as their position in Eastern Europe became more tenuous, even before the First World War. But of course, the current situation in which the Jewish population flooded into the small provinces of the region was the result of the Holocaust, and its aftermath. And that was due to British control over the province, which happened as a result of the Ottoman defeat in the First World War.
Since then, it is hard to imagine a people group anywhere in the world who have been treated worse than the Arabic population in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Neither of those areas is capable of sustaining the population that would be pushed into them by the establishment of Israel's sovereign territory, which is all that has been considered as part of any "two state solution" to the partition of the region in order to create the independent Jewish state of Israel. The Jewish population had the favor of the British conquerors, backed by the United States.
So in effect, two states were created, but the one into which the bulk of the Palestinian Arabic population was pushed is more like one of America's reservations for its Native American remnant than it is like the sovereign state on the other side of its borders. It is not sovereign, by any stretch of the imagination, it is overcrowded and grossly under-resourced. Yes, there are Palestinian Arabs, about two million of them, who were offered citizenship in the Israeli state, but being second-class citizens in a foreign nation, which is what they are, is not a reasonable choice that any freedom-loving American would consider acceptible.
The Arabic population of the West Bank lives in a large, open air jail. They do not have freedom of movement, Israelis are building settlements in their territory that, because of the access they require, cuts off easy movement from one Palestinian community to another and brings a police and security presence to their communities that is oppressive and unjust. Gaza, which is already nothing more than an overcrowded, poverty stricken strip of hot, arid desert without adequate water or other basic human resources, has been periodically subjected to bombing and destruction of its already substandard infrastructure.
And the world, including the democratic free world, turns its back and ignores the people in those places. And so, with all of that as part of everyday life, didn't anyone realize that those conditions are breeding grounds for the kind of violence of desperation that has periodically emerged from these places? And is it not possible to realize that, as long as these problems go unresolved, and the treatment of these people continues as it has, the more bombing and destrution they endure, the more likely they will be breeding grounds for violence and ripe for recruiting by militant terrorist groups.
What kind of difference could have been made if all Palestinians had been treated with the same kind of deference and consideration the more recently arriving Jewish refugees have received?
And so, as time has passed, and conditions have worsened inside Gaza and the West Bank, and the oppression and pressure has increased, the frustration has increased, resulting in violent outbursts. The October 7th attack on Israel by Hamas, originating inside Gaza, was an inexcusable, inhumane, terrorist attack and it prompted
And in our gross ignorance of this entire situation as a nation, we contribute, not to the recovery and improvement of life for the Arabic Palestinian population, but to their misery, isolation and destruction. We've decided that, because of their ethnicity and their religion, they deserve to be treated this way, mainly by being ignored, which is an unbelievable rejection of our own national values and principles, including religious intolerance.
The United States is not seen as a refuge or an ally by the people who have been crowded into these two small provinces, now watching one of them be levelled, beyond habitability by humans. We are seen as complicit contributors, supplying Israel with the weapons it is using to level Gaza and to eliminate any possibility that the Arabic population of Palestine will ever enjoy the kind of sovereignty they now have. And we, who have the power to not only stop this war, but to bring about a peaceful resolution that would resolve the problems, are doing nothing.
How Does This Problem Get Resolved?
The pattern of terrorist attacks and regional wars that have plagued the middle east since the power vacuum created by the defeat of the Ottoman Empire occurred will continue until there is a resolution to the resettlement of several million Palestinians that provides equitable economic opportunity as well as a strong sense of their own safety and security. That includes recognizing their right to exist on land their ancestors have occupied for more than a thousand years. It also includes recognizing Israel's right to exist, something that the United Nations has already established.
So far, the version of the so-called "two state solution" that has existed has not worked at all, since the economic inequities are not considered. Appeals to the fact that two million Palestinian Arabs enjoy Israeli citizenship do not resolve issues any more than claiming that the oil-wealthy Arab nations bear responsibility for resolving the problem. The economics must be equalized and the amount of sovereign territory must be adequate to support the population.
And let's be clear. The Christian nationalist and Christian dispensationalist theology that pushes itself into the position the United States takes on Israel is based on bad theology and a poor doctrinal interpretation of what they call "Eschatology," or "end-times" teaching. They are flat wrong, and should be ignored.
Realistically, I do not see any kind of momentum in any direction that would lead to this issue being resolved in my lifetime. And that is far more unfortunate for the Palestinian people than it is for any of those government bureaucrats who have the power to make a difference, and won't do it.
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