Around 1200 BC some escaped slaves from Egypt, led by Joshua, invaded “Canaan” at the Eastern end of the Mediterranean, and slaughtered many of the inhabitants. Gradually this group, together with some others, developed a coherent identity, until in about 1000 BC a nation called “Israel” arose. Israel lasted for around a thousand years, although for most of this time they were just a remote province of one of the big powers. Despite being so apparently insignificant, their understanding of God, and of morality and justice, have affected the world profoundly. In fact the ideas and values found in the Hebrew scriptures lie at the heart of Western civilisation. Eventually the Romans ejected them from their land in around 135 AD. Then for about 2000 years, the area was known as “Palestine” and there was no “Israel”. Instead, Jewish people were scattered around the world, many of them keeping their unique religion and their Jewish identity. But for 2000 years they treasured the promises given by their prophets that God would bring them back to their land and they never lost the deep longing and expectation expressed in their liturgy, “Next year in Jerusalem!”
(Actually, during this whole period, a few Jews continued to live in Palestine, together with the indigenous Arab population. But there was no sense of being a nation. Palestine was ruled by a succession of various empires, the last two being the Turkish and the British).
Things began to change in the early 20th century. Some leading Jews started to plan a National Home for the Jews. Jews were encouraged to emigrate to Palestine. This movement gained international sympathy, particularly from Britain. The Balfour Declaration (1917) was an attempt to keep Jewish people “on-side” at the time of the Russian revolution as well as being intended to encourage a Jewish presence in Palestine as a support for British imperial interests. Unfortunately, the Declaration contained hopelessly contradictory elements, supporting a Jewish national home in Palestine but promising that this would involve no disadvantage for the indigenous Arab population. During the ’20s and ’30s Jewish immigration proceeded apace. This was an exciting and heroic time for Jewish people. Many were smuggled into the area in the face of opposition from the British, who were the governing power. Many kibbutzim were formed. Much land was purchased (quite legally) by Jews from absentee landlords. But the Arab tenant farmers were ejected, often becoming refugees. As the number of Jews in Palestine increased, and Jewish ownership of the land expanded, there was inevitably conflict with the Arab population. The problems became particularly acute during the rise of Hitler, as the world community increasingly sympathised with the desire for a safe haven for Jews. The British had the impossible task of trying to minimise Jewish immigration, put down Arab uprisings and control increasing anti-British Jewish terrorism. In 1947 the newly-formed United Nations proposed a two-state arrangement in Palestine, with defined borders. The Jews accepted this proposal but the Arabs refused to accept it. Finally In 1948, the British decided they had had enough. They withdrew, leaving Jews and Arabs to fight it out. The bloody conflict that ensued is called the “War of Independence” by Israelis and the “Nakba” (Disaster) by the Palestinian Arabs. Despite the involvement of the surrounding Arab nations, the Jewish forces proved far superior. When the conflict stopped, the Jews occupied the majority of the area (more than the UN had proposed) while Jordan held the West Bank and Egypt held the Gaza Strip. 750 000 Palestinians ended up in refugee camps, where several generations of their descendants still live today. The Jews quickly set up a new nation called Israel. The Palestinians, feeling robbed of their land, did not set up a nation of their own, and refused to accept the new status quo. Since then, there has been much Palestinian violence against Israel and several wars with the surrounding Arab states, all won by Israel. During the 1967 war, Israel occupied the West Bank, the Golan Heights, Gaza and East Jerusalem, which have since been kept under draconian military control. UN resolution 242, in 1967, called for Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 “Green line”. Israel has consistently ignored this resolution and since 1967 Israel has built many Jewish settlements on Palestinian land in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem (although there was a unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005). This has involved the confiscation of much Palestinian land and the demolition of thousands of Palestinian houses. The number of Israelis now living on Palestinian land, in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, numbers over half a million. The settlements are all illegal under international law, exemplified in UN resolution 446 passed in 1979. The building of these settlements arises from a clearly stated desire that the nation of Israel should possess all the land that religious Jews believe was promised to them by God in their scriptures. But the settlements reveal a paradox. Israel cannot simply claim the occupied territories as part of Israel, because they contain millions of Palestinians. These people would have to be given Israeli citizenship, which would compromise the nature of Israel as a Jewish state. So they are left stateless and in limbo while a temporary measure (occupation) has become permanent. Arrangements on the West Bank are designed to protect Israeli settlers. The effect of this is to cut up what little land is left to the Palestinians into small, segregated areas, separated by checkpoints, making normal life impossible. Access to land, school, medical care, family and employment is often dependent on having the right “permit” and being willing to wait for hours in queues. Unsurprisingly, this has led to two “intifadas” – outbreaks of sustained violence against Israeli targets, although largely without guns or knives. In 2002, following the second intifada, the Israelis started to build the “separation barrier” between Israel and the West Bank. This not only encloses large areas of Palestinian land within Israel but also restricts the ability to carry out normal life still further. The ostensible reason for the barrier is security – to keep out suicide bombers – and it has succeeded to some extent.
Elections in the Palestinian areas in 2006 resulted in victory for Hamas. Immediately the West cut off aid to the Palestinians because of Hamas’ refusal to recognise Israel and to renounce violence. This led to a humanitarian crisis and eventually a Hamas coup in Gaza. Persistent rocket attacks on Israeli civilians from within Gaza led to massive retaliation in 2009. The question of war crimes on both sides is now an international issue, much to Israel’s indignation.
Since 1967 there have been many attempts at reaching a settlement. Perhaps the one which appeared to offer most hope was in 1993 when Rabin and Arafat appeared ready to reach a compromise. However, in the event, Israeli opinion was not willing to withdraw from the settlements and Palestinian opinion was not willing to accept the minimal land and autonomy on offer. Another attempt, without external help, was Sharon’s 2005 unilateral “solution” (withdrawing from Gaza, but holding the West Bank). This was never a serious starter because it did not even begin to address the underlying problems and because Sharon attempted to impose it on the Palestinians without negotiation. More recently, President Obama has adopted a less pro-Israel line than his predecessors and has attempted mediation, but has not as yet addressed the settlements issue.
Despite the existence of minority “Peace groups” on both sides, all these attempts have foundered on one issue. Majority opinion on both sides is not prepared to recognise the right of the other to exist. On the Israeli side, even from the start of the modern Zionist movement, the priority has (justifiably) been a Jewish National Home. But the existence of indigenous Palestinians has simply been an embarrassment which nobody knows what to do about. On the Palestinian side, the priority has (justifiably) been to hold on to their life and land in the face of relentless aggression. But there has been little recognition of the Jews’ huge, historic emotional and religious attachment to Palestine.