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Palestines And Israel Biography
The conflict between Palestinian Arabs and Jews is a modern phenomenon, which began around the turn of the twentieth century. Although these two groups have different religions (Palestinians include Muslims, Christians and Druze), religious differences are not the cause of the conflict. It is essentially a struggle over land. Until 1948, the area that both groups claimed was known internationally as Palestine. But following the war of 1948-1949, this land was divided into three parts: the state of Israel, the West Bank (of the Jordan River) and the Gaza Strip.
This is a small area: approximately 10,000 square miles, or about the size of the state of Maryland. The competing claims are not reconcilable if one group exercises exclusive political control over the total territory. Jewish claims to this land are based on the biblical promise to Abraham and his descendants, on the fact that this was the historical site of the Jewish kingdom of Israel (which was destroyed by the Roman Empire), and on Jews’ need for a haven from European anti-Semitism. Palestinian Arabs’ claims to the land are based on continuous residence in the country for hundreds of years and the fact that they represented the demographic majority. They reject the notion that a biblical-era kingdom constitutes the basis for a valid modern claim. If Arabs engage the biblical argument at all, they maintain that since Abraham’s son Ishmael is the forefather of the Arabs, then God’s promise of the land to the children of Abraham includes Arabs as well. They do not believe that they should forfeit their land to compensate Jews for Europe’s crimes against them.
The Land and the People
In the nineteenth century, following a trend that began earlier in Europe, people around the world began to identify themselves as nations and to demand national rights, foremost the right to self-rule in a state of their own (self-determination and sovereignty). Jews and Palestinians both began to develop a national consciousness, and mobilized to achieve national goals. Because Jews were spread across the world (in diaspora), their national movement, Zionism, entailed the identification of a place where Jews could come together through the process of immigration and settlement. Palestine seemed the logical and optimal place, since this was the site of Jewish origin. The Zionist movement began in 1882 with the first wave of European Jewish immigration to Palestine.
At that time, the land of Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire. However, this area did not constitute a single political unit. The northern districts of Acre and Nablus were part of the province of Beirut. The district of Jerusalem was under the direct authority of the Ottoman capital of Istanbul because of the international significance of the cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem as religious centers for Muslims, Christians and Jews. According to Ottoman records, in 1878 there were 462,465 subject inhabitants of the Jerusalem, Nablus and Acre districts: 403,795 Muslims (including Druze), 43,659 Christians and 15,011 Jews. In addition, there were perhaps 10,000 Jews with foreign citizenship (recent immigrants to the country), and several thousand Muslim Arab nomads (Bedouin) who were not counted as Ottoman subjects. The great majority of the Arabs (Muslims and Christians) lived in several hundred rural villages. Jaffa and Nablus were the largest and economically most important Arab towns.
Until the beginning of the twentieth century, most Jews living in Palestine were concentrated in four cities with religious significance: Jerusalem, Hebron, Safad and Tiberias. Most of them observed traditional, orthodox religious practices. Many spent their time studying religious texts and depended on the charity of world Jewry for survival. Their attachment to the land was religious rather than national, and they were not involved in -- or supportive of -- the Zionist movement which began in Europe and was brought to Palestine by immigrants. Most of the Jews who immigrated from Europe lived a more secular lifestyle and were committed to the goals of creating a Jewish nation and building a modern, independent Jewish state. By the outbreak of World War I (1914), the population of Jews in Palestine had risen to about 60,000, about 33,000 of whom were recent settlers. The Arab population in 1914 was 683,000.
RARELY has Israel looked lonelier. On November 29th only the United States, Canada and the Czech Republic among serious countries backed its arguments at the United Nations’ General Assembly against giving the Palestinians an enhanced status at the UN. Now Binyamin Netanyahu’s government has declared its determination to build thousands of new Jewish houses on the West Bank, where the Palestinians hope to turn their virtual state into a real one (see article). It also says it will withhold tax revenues from the Palestinian Authority (PA), which runs parts of the West Bank under Israeli eyes, to punish the Palestinians for their cheek at the UN.
This time, even the Americans objected. Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state, chastised Mr Netanyahu for his response. The mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, who used to be President Barack Obama’s chief of staff and is a firm supporter of Israel, called it a betrayal of America’s friendship.
In this section
Goodbye Europe
Hacked to pieces
A breakdown of trust
Barriers to peace
Life after Mario?
Reprints
Related topics
United Nations
Benjamin Netanyahu
Barack Obama
Politics
World politics
It is not hard to see why. The decision to withhold the taxes is probably just a temporary punishment. But it will hardly help the more moderate Palestinians of Fatah, which runs the West Bank under Mahmoud Abbas, in favour of Hamas, its Gaza-based rival, which is still loth to accept Israel’s existence.
The new settlements are far more serious. The houses Israel keeps on erecting on Palestinian territory are the main reason why so much of the world has lost sympathy for Israel’s cause. The Palestinians have had to watch the Israelis gobbling up the land on which their state is meant to be based. Worse, the latest planned settlement, in a zone known as E-1, threatens to box Palestinians who live in East Jerusalem, which they hope to make their capital, into a sealed-off enclave, impeding connections to the rest of the fledgling state of Palestine and bisecting the northern and southern halves. Travel from Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem, to Ramallah, the Palestinians’ administrative headquarters, would be a nightmare.
Mr Netanyahu may try to justify his defiance over the settlements by pointing to the Palestinians’ unilateralism at the UN and the rockets from Gaza, though Israel has more than replied to them. He may also have an eye on the coming Israeli election. But for those, including this newspaper, who still hope for a two-state solution, the new houses are an impassable obstacle. Palestinian leaders cite them as further evidence that Israel has no interest in ceding territory, even for peace. True to that picture, although Mr Netanyahu endorsed a two-state solution in 2009, his Likud party hasn’t: some of its candidates still want a Greater Israel extending to the Jordan river.
For Mr Obama, stuck in budget negotiations in Washington, this could not come at a worse time. But he should speak out loudly. Mr Obama’s envoys, just like the Europeans, have always stressed that building settlements in the E-1 corridor is unacceptable. Israel still gets billions of dollars from America, and might well rely on its help to attack Iran next year. Yet Mr Netanyahu would not have announced the settlements unless he thought he could get away with it. Israel has enough friends in Congress to protect his back. And thumbing his nose at Mr Obama has cost him nothing with Israeli voters.
Speak now, Mr Obama, loudly
A braver Mr Obama would this time tell Israel some home truths. Yes, many changes are necessary on the Palestinian side: Hamas needs to recognise Israel’s existence, for instance, and settle its differences with Fatah. But carving up a prospective Palestine and building a Greater Israel is destroying the prospects for peace. That is not just because it enrages the dispossessed Palestinians and their newly democratic Arab neighbours. It is also because of demographic trends within Israel. The Arab population is growing faster than the Jewish one. Under a single-state solution, Jews would become a minority. Unless they are prepared for Arabs to dominate the country politically, they will have to deprive them of the vote. The road Mr Netanyahu is pushing his country down is an ugly one—and Israel’s true friends should tell it so.
Palestines And Israel Biography
The conflict between Palestinian Arabs and Jews is a modern phenomenon, which began around the turn of the twentieth century. Although these two groups have different religions (Palestinians include Muslims, Christians and Druze), religious differences are not the cause of the conflict. It is essentially a struggle over land. Until 1948, the area that both groups claimed was known internationally as Palestine. But following the war of 1948-1949, this land was divided into three parts: the state of Israel, the West Bank (of the Jordan River) and the Gaza Strip.
This is a small area: approximately 10,000 square miles, or about the size of the state of Maryland. The competing claims are not reconcilable if one group exercises exclusive political control over the total territory. Jewish claims to this land are based on the biblical promise to Abraham and his descendants, on the fact that this was the historical site of the Jewish kingdom of Israel (which was destroyed by the Roman Empire), and on Jews’ need for a haven from European anti-Semitism. Palestinian Arabs’ claims to the land are based on continuous residence in the country for hundreds of years and the fact that they represented the demographic majority. They reject the notion that a biblical-era kingdom constitutes the basis for a valid modern claim. If Arabs engage the biblical argument at all, they maintain that since Abraham’s son Ishmael is the forefather of the Arabs, then God’s promise of the land to the children of Abraham includes Arabs as well. They do not believe that they should forfeit their land to compensate Jews for Europe’s crimes against them.
The Land and the People
In the nineteenth century, following a trend that began earlier in Europe, people around the world began to identify themselves as nations and to demand national rights, foremost the right to self-rule in a state of their own (self-determination and sovereignty). Jews and Palestinians both began to develop a national consciousness, and mobilized to achieve national goals. Because Jews were spread across the world (in diaspora), their national movement, Zionism, entailed the identification of a place where Jews could come together through the process of immigration and settlement. Palestine seemed the logical and optimal place, since this was the site of Jewish origin. The Zionist movement began in 1882 with the first wave of European Jewish immigration to Palestine.
At that time, the land of Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire. However, this area did not constitute a single political unit. The northern districts of Acre and Nablus were part of the province of Beirut. The district of Jerusalem was under the direct authority of the Ottoman capital of Istanbul because of the international significance of the cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem as religious centers for Muslims, Christians and Jews. According to Ottoman records, in 1878 there were 462,465 subject inhabitants of the Jerusalem, Nablus and Acre districts: 403,795 Muslims (including Druze), 43,659 Christians and 15,011 Jews. In addition, there were perhaps 10,000 Jews with foreign citizenship (recent immigrants to the country), and several thousand Muslim Arab nomads (Bedouin) who were not counted as Ottoman subjects. The great majority of the Arabs (Muslims and Christians) lived in several hundred rural villages. Jaffa and Nablus were the largest and economically most important Arab towns.
Until the beginning of the twentieth century, most Jews living in Palestine were concentrated in four cities with religious significance: Jerusalem, Hebron, Safad and Tiberias. Most of them observed traditional, orthodox religious practices. Many spent their time studying religious texts and depended on the charity of world Jewry for survival. Their attachment to the land was religious rather than national, and they were not involved in -- or supportive of -- the Zionist movement which began in Europe and was brought to Palestine by immigrants. Most of the Jews who immigrated from Europe lived a more secular lifestyle and were committed to the goals of creating a Jewish nation and building a modern, independent Jewish state. By the outbreak of World War I (1914), the population of Jews in Palestine had risen to about 60,000, about 33,000 of whom were recent settlers. The Arab population in 1914 was 683,000.
RARELY has Israel looked lonelier. On November 29th only the United States, Canada and the Czech Republic among serious countries backed its arguments at the United Nations’ General Assembly against giving the Palestinians an enhanced status at the UN. Now Binyamin Netanyahu’s government has declared its determination to build thousands of new Jewish houses on the West Bank, where the Palestinians hope to turn their virtual state into a real one (see article). It also says it will withhold tax revenues from the Palestinian Authority (PA), which runs parts of the West Bank under Israeli eyes, to punish the Palestinians for their cheek at the UN.
This time, even the Americans objected. Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state, chastised Mr Netanyahu for his response. The mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, who used to be President Barack Obama’s chief of staff and is a firm supporter of Israel, called it a betrayal of America’s friendship.
In this section
Goodbye Europe
Hacked to pieces
A breakdown of trust
Barriers to peace
Life after Mario?
Reprints
Related topics
United Nations
Benjamin Netanyahu
Barack Obama
Politics
World politics
It is not hard to see why. The decision to withhold the taxes is probably just a temporary punishment. But it will hardly help the more moderate Palestinians of Fatah, which runs the West Bank under Mahmoud Abbas, in favour of Hamas, its Gaza-based rival, which is still loth to accept Israel’s existence.
The new settlements are far more serious. The houses Israel keeps on erecting on Palestinian territory are the main reason why so much of the world has lost sympathy for Israel’s cause. The Palestinians have had to watch the Israelis gobbling up the land on which their state is meant to be based. Worse, the latest planned settlement, in a zone known as E-1, threatens to box Palestinians who live in East Jerusalem, which they hope to make their capital, into a sealed-off enclave, impeding connections to the rest of the fledgling state of Palestine and bisecting the northern and southern halves. Travel from Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem, to Ramallah, the Palestinians’ administrative headquarters, would be a nightmare.
Mr Netanyahu may try to justify his defiance over the settlements by pointing to the Palestinians’ unilateralism at the UN and the rockets from Gaza, though Israel has more than replied to them. He may also have an eye on the coming Israeli election. But for those, including this newspaper, who still hope for a two-state solution, the new houses are an impassable obstacle. Palestinian leaders cite them as further evidence that Israel has no interest in ceding territory, even for peace. True to that picture, although Mr Netanyahu endorsed a two-state solution in 2009, his Likud party hasn’t: some of its candidates still want a Greater Israel extending to the Jordan river.
For Mr Obama, stuck in budget negotiations in Washington, this could not come at a worse time. But he should speak out loudly. Mr Obama’s envoys, just like the Europeans, have always stressed that building settlements in the E-1 corridor is unacceptable. Israel still gets billions of dollars from America, and might well rely on its help to attack Iran next year. Yet Mr Netanyahu would not have announced the settlements unless he thought he could get away with it. Israel has enough friends in Congress to protect his back. And thumbing his nose at Mr Obama has cost him nothing with Israeli voters.
Speak now, Mr Obama, loudly
A braver Mr Obama would this time tell Israel some home truths. Yes, many changes are necessary on the Palestinian side: Hamas needs to recognise Israel’s existence, for instance, and settle its differences with Fatah. But carving up a prospective Palestine and building a Greater Israel is destroying the prospects for peace. That is not just because it enrages the dispossessed Palestinians and their newly democratic Arab neighbours. It is also because of demographic trends within Israel. The Arab population is growing faster than the Jewish one. Under a single-state solution, Jews would become a minority. Unless they are prepared for Arabs to dominate the country politically, they will have to deprive them of the vote. The road Mr Netanyahu is pushing his country down is an ugly one—and Israel’s true friends should tell it so.
Palestines And Israel
Palestines And Israel
Palestines And Israel
Palestines And Israel
Palestines And Israel
Palestines And Israel
Palestines And Israel
Palestines And Israel
Palestines And Israel
Palestines And Israel
Palestines And Israel
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