Conflict - Part 1

We all know the problems that are occurring in the Middle East. This Israel/Palestine debate has been waging for some time now and I would like to come out here with my opinions and facts and thoughts.

First, we must examine the words themselves - Israel and Palestine. Where does each come from? The name 'Israel' first appears in the Bible during the story of Jacob. It talks of how returning from his exile, Jacob meets an angel and wrestles with him. Jacob wins and the angel renames him Israel. Jacobs descendants - the Jewish people - are later referred to as the Children of Israel.

Now, the Jews went from the land of Canaan to Egypt. They were slaves in Egypt for a little over 220 years. When they left, and after they spent 40 years in the desert for not trusting in G-d, they returned to Canaan and took it over. Historically speaking, it seems that the Canaanites are the ones the land belongs to. But none of them are around anymore. Even though since they were described as giants, it is possible that some of you really tall people are distant descendants of the Canaanites. Anyway, the Jews captured Canaan and turned it into the land of Israel. They lived there for a while and they made the land prosper. It was a land flowing with milk and honey.

Let's fast forward to Roman times. Israel was now known as Judea since the large majority of the remaining Jews there were from the tribe of Judah. The other tribes had vanished during one of the previous exiles. The Romans, as was their wont, captured Judea. A little later, as many colonies had done, the Jews chose to revolt. They did their best, but were ultimately unsuccessful. Apparently the Romans had had some practice putting down revolts. After the Roman victory, most of the Jews were dispersed throughout the Roman Empire. The Romans destroyed the 2nd Temple and renamed the area Palestine. At the time, this was basically modern Israel, modern Jordan, and I believe parts of modern Syria as well. This was the first usage of the term 'Palestine'. And its only purpose was to differentiate it from Judea. It had nothing to do with Arabs originally.

It is worth mentioning here that there are very religious neighborhoods in Jerusalem whose ancestors lived there before the Romans came, while the Romans were in power, after the Romans left, and during all the years after that until now as well.

Now fast forward again to the late 1800s. The area is controlled by the Ottoman Empire. Few live there. All the land is owned by rich Ottoman land owners. Theodore Herzl convenes the First Zionist Congress, which begins serious discussions of creating a Jewish state. Over the years, the Congress gathered funds from various Zionist organizations around the world and from philanthropists who were sympathetic to the cause. A large portion of these funds went to legally buying much of the land from the Ottoman land-owners. The land-owners were happy to sell. They made good money on swampy land they considered worthless.

The Zionist Congress then shipped in tons of Jews from all over Europe and Asia. This wave of immigration was known as the First Aliyah and they began the arduous process of converting the swamp land to livable land. These settlers faced climate issues, crippling Turkish taxation, Arab opposition, and disease. But with help of philanthropists like Baron Rothschild.

The Second Aliyah came about 20 years later, as a response to pogroms in Russia and Europe. This aliyah consisted of many more idealists and became the foundation of modern Israel. These settlers brought about the Kibbutz system, which was a foundation of the Israeli system for many years.

Next time we will go into more modern history - the Balfour declaration, the third aliyah, and the multiple wars since the creation of the state of Israel.

Don't ask me why.