Israel Blog #2: Israeli and Palestinian perspectives on the current conflict

One of the things I really appreciated about the trip to Israel was the dual learning experience we received.  We learned about the ancient history of the country, but we also had a focused look at the current situation that exists in Israel.  The Israeli's and Palestinians view the current situation very differently from one another.  Finding a common ground solution is difficult because there is not common understanding on the fundamental foundation of who owns the land.

The two perspectives, as they have been explained to me, are as follows:

Israelis:


On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites." - Genesis 15:18-21

The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.” - Genesis 17:8

The simple answer to the Israeli perspective would be:  "God gave us the land."  But, as always, the answer is a little more complicated than that.  The Jews lived in diaspora (dispersion among the nations) after failed revolts against the Romans in 70AD and 135AD.  After the 135 revolt, the Romans essentially dispersed the Jews throughout the empire.  After the Jews were defeated, Emperor Hadrian renamed the land "Palestine" as a historical reference to the Philistines, who fought with the people of Israel during the time of David.  The dispersed state of the people remained the case until the late 1800s, when the idea of Zionism started, and the idea of returning to the homeland of Israel gained ground.  The land was controlled by the Ottoman Empire at the time, and the dream of a political country of Israel did not mesh with Arab sovereignty in the land.  This status quo changed with the outcome of World War I.  The Ottoman Empire sided with Germany and the Central powers in the conflict.  They lost.  The land in the Middle East was split up like this:

Map: Geoffrey Gaudreault, NPR; Source: A History of the Arab Peoples by Albert Hourani

During the War, Great Britain expressed it's commitment to making a Jewish state come into existence in the Balfour Declaration:

Foreign Office
November 2nd, 1917

Dear Lord Rothschild,
I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet. 

"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."

I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.

Yours sincerely,
Arthur James Balfour


At the time, the land that is currently Jordan was included in the English definition of "Palestine," so the land promised to the Jews was modern day Israel and modern day Jordan.

Though Jews began to migrate to Palestine after World War I, no independent Jewish state was created.  When Abdullah, a Saudi Arabian, marched north with an army in 1920.  The British were having issues with other groups at the time, and determined that their best option would be to offer Abdullah modern day Jordan, which he accepted.

World War II came, and the great tragedy of the Holocaust happened.  If there was some dislike of Jews before the war, the anti-semitism indoctrinated into people throughout Europe by the Nazis did not disappear after the armistice was signed.  The Jews lost one-third of their worldwide population during the war, and the experience showed them that they would not be protected as foreigners in other lands.  Their for a state where "Jews could look out for Jews" was apparent to them.  The United Nations was formed post-WWII, and one of the first things that the UN did was to began plans and preparation for the Jewish State.

Jewish people from Europe flocked into the country.  The UN proposed their partition plan to both groups.  The partition plan was accepted by the Jews, but rejected by the Arabs.

Britain announced that the Mandate for Palestine would end on May 14, 1948.  The Jewish people in Palestine declared their Independence on May 14, 1948.  The Arabs and Jews fought a war, and the resulting change left the Jews with huge gains of land and the independent state of Israel.

Armistice Line

U.N. Partition Plan

The Armistice borders of 1949 are the familiar political lines that we know today (save the Golan Heights being controlled by Syria).  The difference is that the West Bank was controlled by Jordan at the time, and the Gaza Strip was controlled by Syria.

The Six Day War and  Yom Kippur War were fought, and the net result was that Israel controlled the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights.

In Israel's perspective, they won the land in open war when the British abandoned the mandate.  The argument that Israeli's propose when discussing the question of whether Palestine should be an independent state is "Palestine has never been an independent state, so if there is a negotiation to give away the land to peace, who should Israel give the land to?"  Jordan?  I was told Jordan doesn't want the West Bank anymore, or else this would be a feasible negotiation.  The British?  The British don't want it either.  They left.  The Ottomans?  The Ottoman Empire no longer exists.  Same goes for the Byzantine Empire, the Roman Empire, Alexander the Great, the Persian Empire, and the Babylonians.  The first previous claim to ownership on the land is ...  the Jewish people, who were independent for a short time in the first century BC, as well as having their independent state in biblical times.

The compelling argument questions the "right" of Palestinians to their own state, because they have never had their own State.  In fact, all of the Middle Eastern countries were not independent states until the mid-1900s, so they don't have a right to argue primacy on the land.  The Jews have a historic claim to the land, they declared independence, and they won the land in battle.  This gives them valid claim.



Palestinian Perspective:

The Palestinian Perspective is that Israel is illegitimate because the Jews were promised a country by those who did not have a right to promise the land.  From the Palestinian perspective, Europeans came into the Middle East and decided what to do with the land that the Palestinian people owned by the fact that they lived there for many generations.  Even though the Ottoman Empire fell, the citizens who lived in Palestine during the time of the Empire remained in Palestine.  When the Arabs did not accept the Partition thrust upon them, which divided the land disproportionately based on the populations of the two groups in the country at that time, the negotiations ended and the land was abandoned to be fought over.  The war in 1948 is called the Disaster War.  None of the Arab states recognized the legitimacy of Israel until Egypt and Jordan recognized Israel with the Camp David accords of 1979.  The Palestinian people continue to believe that Israel is an illegitimate country, and they do not have a right to exist, and have no right to oppress the Palestinians and continue holding the land that is rightfully theirs.

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These perspectives are the hard line perspectives from both sides.  Along the way we met many people from both groups who are practical and want the conflict resolved, regardless of the solution.  These varied dynamics make this conflict both fascinating and complicated.  The conflict goes beyond academics and politics, though, and many people have been killed in this dispute (even today with rockets flying and bombs going off, people were killed).  These dynamics also create a backdrop for other legal issues that arise in Israel.