Palestine

On October 7th, 2023, Hamas soldiers from the Gaza Strip staged a horrific attack on public events and residences in southern Israel, killing more than 1,400 people and sexually assaulting and kidnapping hundreds more. Retaliatory attacks by Israel have killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza. Relations between Jews and Arabs in Palestine have vacillated between cold and caustic for over a century, but in these recent months they are as bad as they’ve ever been.

Whose Side Are You On?
The revolting acts by Hamas on October 7th remain worthy of the increasing worldwide condemnation they have received as new details of atrocities against men, women, and children have emerged from released hostages. At the same time, military strikes by Israel in Gaza have caused mounting levels of destruction to homes, businesses, social services, and lives. As is the American way in recent years, the conflict has been seized by politicians as an opportunity to seize in the constant obsession with winning the next election at all costs. The last few members of the U.S. Congress who believed that there were some principles more important than winning elections have retired or been voted out of office by candidates more willing to surf the waves of public outrage or drift along in the populist winds into election victories in recent years. It may seem like a tough choice—whether to sell your soul and win or keep it and lose—but it’s a no brainer if winning elections and being in power is all that matters.

So the conflict in Palestine has become another way to measure one another, to define ourselves, to pledge allegiance to one more thing in the post-Christian era in which fewer and fewer people are pledging their allegiance to Jesus. So, whose side are you on? Are you on the side of Israel and the victims of October 7th, or on the side of the starving, dying people of Gaza? A simple one-word answer is preferrable, because understanding the nuances of difficult, long standing disputes is never as interesting on TV than people yelling blanket judgements about who is good and who is evil. Who can even hear the nuances over the sound of all the yelling and the good and the evil?

Jesus did, and you can too.

What Would Jesus Do?
In an age that demands we all have an opinion on everything as long as it can be communicated quickly enough before our attention spans run out, far too many people have quickly jumped onto one side or the other without having a very good reason.

I’ve been asked a few times what a Christian should think about all that’s gone on the last couple weeks in the Middle East. With a wide variety of groups all claiming the mantle of “Christian” these days, it’s a fool’s errand to expect to give an answer that would work for everybody. Nonetheless, what I’ll do is what I always do—try my best to shepherd the church entrusted to me—Heritage United Methodist—in the direction God seems to be inviting us to go. I give God any credit for the miracle should it be found helpful to anyone else beyond that.

First, Some Basics

1. Killing, torturing, abusing, or kidnapping another human being is never a good solution to anything. It always, always, always makes things worse… for everyone. Full stop.

2. Choosing one of the options presented was never Jesus’ style. He was never boxed in, and never consented to just pick the lesser of two evils. He was never identified by his affiliations to human-made institutions. The church’s job is a prophetic one, holding up a mirror to all of the options, being honest about how none of them measure up to the standards of the Kingdom of God, and calling everyone to measure themselves by that which was most important to Jesus—love for God and love for one another.

3. To follow Jesus is to live incarnationally. He stepped into our world to be Immanuel—God with us. He did what it takes to be in complete solidarity with us by becoming one of us. We should therefore be quick to try and understand the experience of others, rather than being quick to proclaim our opinion about their experience before we have done the work to understand it.

Trying Number 3
Number 3 is a tall order when it comes to the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. I tried to pull together a timeline that summarizes the history of those persons and groups who have called Palestine their home, because that’s really what it takes to try and begin to understand.

**Note: This article does not include every event that happened there over the last 4000 years. I tried to stick to moments where ownership of Palestine changed, or when a group’s connection or access to the land was affected in some way that contributed to where things stand now. Each bullet could be a history class all by itself. I confess in advance that each is oversimplified, and details are omitted so it wouldn’t take you three days to get to the end. Consider each to be an invitation to study further if you like!

Okay, here goes…

A Promised Land
Abraham—Patriarch shared by Muslims, Jews, and Christians—was born sometime before 1800 BC near the southern end of the Euphrates River. According to the book of Genesis he was the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandchild of Noah, of ark-building fame. They descended from Noah’s son Shem, which is where the word “Semitic” comes from.

He travelled with his family north along the river to a place called Haran (no relation😊) before continuing on to Canaan. In Genesis 12:7, God promises that this land would be given to his descendants, thus making it “The Promised Land.”

Isaac and Ishmael
Abraham’s wife Sarah had not borne any children, and so they decided he would have a child with her maid, Hagar, and Ishmael was born.

In their old age Sarah miraculously became pregnant, and gave birth to Isaac. God promised Abraham that Isaac’s descendants would be a great nation.

Feeling threatened by the presence of another son, Sarah begged Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away so that Isaac’s birthright would be clear, which he did. However, in Genesis 22:18, God promised to make Ishmael’s descendants a great nation as well, and they settled to the east and south of Canaan.

Israel
Abraham was the father of Isaac, who was the father of Jacob. One night Jacob wrestled with God, and was given the name Isra (Hebrew form of “to struggle”)-el (form of Hebrew “Elohim,” or “God”). His descendants would be the nation of Isra-el, Israel.

Jacob/Israel and his family left to live in Egypt after a famine chased them from Canaan. They settled there and remained for 400 years until Moses led them to the “promised land” promised to Abraham in Genesis 12:7.

Joshua led Israel to military victories over the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, and it was partitioned among 13 tribes / families descended from the 12 sons of Jacob / Israel.

The 12 Tribes of Israel, named for the sons of Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel when he wrestled with God, because it means “Struggles with God.”

Israel was ruled by the Judges until the Israelites clamored to have a king like other nations did. At first God warned them against this, but ultimately relented.

Kings Saul, David, and Solomon ruled a united Israel starting around 1000 BC.

The Jewish Temple was built in Jerusalem around 960 BC.

After Solomon’s rule it broke up into the northern kingdom (called Israel) and southern kingdom (called Judah) around 930BC.

The Divided Kingdom

Ishmaelite Empires
Two empires took shape east of Palestine during this time who were descendants of the Ishmaelites: the Assyrians and the Babylonians. Both Israel and Judah were conquered by the Assyrian Empire around 720 BC. The northern kingdom would never be reconstituted, and the ten tribes that lived there became known as the “lost tribes” of Israel.

The Assyrian Empire

Judah survived, but was conquered in 586 by the Babylonian Empire. Most Jewish residents were exiled to Babylon.

The Babylonian Empire

The Persian Empire
Farther east, another powerful empire began to grow—Persia. The Persian Empire swept across all of the Ishmaelite and Israelite lands, conquering territory as far west as present day Bulgaria, and as far east as present day Afghanistan. When the Babylonians were conquered by the Persian Empire in 538 BC, exiled Israelites were allowed to return in 538 BC under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah.

Present day Arabs in Iraq, Palestine, and the Arabian Peninsula are descended from these Persian and Ishmaelite (Babylonian and Assyrian) Empires.

The Persian Empire

The Greek Empire
In 332 BC. all the area occupied by the Israelites and Ishmaelites was conquered by the Greek Empire under Alexander the Great. The influence of Greek language and culture took root in Palestine and lasted for centuries. A Greek dynasty called the Seleucids maintained control of Israel until 142 BC. This Greek conquest is the reason that the New Testament was written in Greek, and that the most commonly used Old Testament in Jesus’ day was the Septuagint, a Greek translation. The Pharisees first rose up as a movement to push back against Greek influences over Israel’s culture and religious practices.

In 166 BC. the Jews revolted against the Seleucids. They achieved independence by 142 BC.

The Greek (Macedonian) Empire under Alexander the Great.

The Roman Empire
In 63 BC. Jerusalem was conquered by Roman General Pompei Magnus, and came under the control of the Roman Empire. Herod the Great became the King of Israel, restoring and improving the Temple in Jerusalem.

The Roman Empire

In 70 AD. the Jews revolted against the Romans in Jerusalem. Roman General Titus besieged the city and overran its walls as conditions inside became horrific. By some accounts a million Jews died when the revolt was put down. The Temple was destroyed, and Jewish temple priests and other religious leaders were killed. Other cities in Judah were destroyed as well.

“Palestine”
Other uprisings by the Jews in 115 and 132. led to the virtual expulsion of all the Jews from Israel. Rome renamed the area “Palestine,” which means “land of the Philistines,” as an insult to the Jews by naming it after their ancient enemies.

The Byzantine Empire
Palestine was under the rule of the Romans until the Empire was split in half by the Emperor Constantine in 330. The eastern half, which included Palestine, became known as the Byzantine Empire. After Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, the default faith identity of both Roman and Byzantine citizens—including in Palestine—was Christian.

The Western (Roman) and Eastern (Byzantine) Empires

The Byzantine Empire maintained control of Palestine for almost 300 years. The ruler of Persia promised to return Palestine to Jewish control if Jewish citizens living in Persia would join his army in expanding west. They reached Jerusalem and overtook it in 614. The “true cross” of Christ was carried back to Persia as a spoil of the war.

In 628, under the rule of Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, the Byzantines recovered Palestine as the war with Persia ended. Both empires were exhausted by the protracted war, and agreed to a peace treaty leaving Palestine in Byzantine hands, as well as returning the cross to Jerusalem.

The Byzantine and Persian Empires

Islam
Around this time, an Arab prophet from the city of Mecca (in present day Saudi Arabia) named Muhammad reported to have received a revelation from God that was to be the completion of the partial revelations of history such as Judaism and Christianity. The new religion spread quickly and soon included all of the Arabian peninsula.

Arabian Armies Defeat the Byzantines in Palestine
United and energized under Islam, armies from Arabia moved to expand north. Heraclius sent a large army to repel them, but in 638 the Arabs captured Jerusalem, refurbished the Temple Mount, and built the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the site where the Jewish Temple once stood.

The Byzantine and Arabian Empires

Rival factions arose at times within Islam, between whom control of Palestine occasionally shifted. However, Palestine was under Islamic control for the next 400 years.

The Crusades
In 1099, the first of the Crusades resulted in the capture of Jerusalem. The Latin “Kingdom of Jerusalem” was established on Christmas Day, 1100, and for the most part held the city until 1244, when it returned to Islamic control. Over the next few decades Crusader control in Palestine grew smaller and smaller until they retreated to the coastal city of Acre. They left altogether on May 18, 1291.

The Ottoman Empire
On August 24, 1516, the majority Muslim Ottoman Empire expanded from Turkey and took control of Palestine from its previous Muslim leaders, which began 400 years of Ottoman control. In 1831 Egypt briefly took over, but in 1840 England, Russia, and Austria helped the Ottomans retake it.

The Ottoman Empire

This began a season of prosperity and opportunity for Muslim Palestine. They held seats in the Ottoman parliament, started newspapers, and established regional stability. There were occasional efforts by Jews to purchase land in Palestine that were contentious, but these disputes were handled legislatively.

Great Britain Makes Promises to Both Sides
[Here’s where the current version of the conflict begins to take shape.] Great Britain solicited the help of Arabs in Palestine against the Ottoman Empire during World War I (1914-1918), promising them independence if the Ottomans were defeated. At the same time, in order to mobilize support of the American Jewish community for the Allied cause, and to motivate Jews to fight in the Russian army, promises of a home and security for Jewish communities living in Palestine were made as well.

Palestine was heavily damaged by the Ottoman army during the war, but by December of 1917 the Allies captured Jerusalem, and by October of 1918 the remainder of Palestine was occupied by the British army, who set up a military governing administration to rule the area while trying to figure out how to keep the conflicting commitments they made to both Jews and Arabs.

Palestine in 1917

Arab Population: 530,000
Jewish Population: 95,000

Land under Arab control: 97% (White)
Land under Jewish control: 3% (Grey)

Arab and Christians Residents vs. Jewish Immigrants
In April 1920, the Allied powers agreed on how the Ottoman Empire would be divided up. In the agreement, France was given Lebanon and Syria, and Palestine was given to Great Britain. A league of Arab and Christian organizations formed to protect areas they occupied for fear of a huge influx of Jewish immigrants to Palestine should areas of land be designated for them. Political figures who advocated for Jewish settlement of Palestine were referred to as “Zionists.”

That same month, anti-Jewish riots broke out in the Jewish quarter of Old Jerusalem, with many killed or injured. British officials blamed the riot on unfounded fears over an impending influx of Jews to Palestine.

“The Year of Catastrophe”
In July of 1920 a civilian British government was established in Palestine, led by Sir Herbert Samuel, who was a Zionist. In his first year 16,500 Jewish immigrants arrived in Palestine. Palestinian Arabs referred to 1920 as the “year of catastrophe.”

In December of 1920, a committee of Palestinian Arabs met in Haifa, and set a policy that rejected any rights of Jews to occupy any of the land of Palestine. (Today this policy has developed into a core value of the leadership in Iran, and of organizations like Hamas, the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hezbollah, and others.)

The (Impossible) British Mandate
A “Jewish National Fund” that began collecting funds in 1901 began purchasing land in 1921. By then 18,000 Jews had immigrated to Palestine since the end of WWI, and evictions of Arabs from purchased lands became more and more common.

In August of 1921, Arab leaders travelled to London to propose the creation of a democratically elected parliamentary government elected by the country’s Muslim, Jewish, and Christian residents. Britain’s response was a statement that part, but not all, of Palestine should become a Jewish national home.

In 1922, the League of Nations required Great Britain to place Palestine under the administration of a government that would maintain a “Jewish national home without infringing upon the rights of Arabs.” (Often referred to as the “British Mandate.”)

With Zionists in the majority among Great Britain’s political leaders, and thus committed to establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine, Arabs were unable to get much help in curbing the land sales and immigration. Under the Ottoman Empire, the Jewish population in Palestine was fewer than 10,000. By 1922 when the mandate was put in effect, it was 84,000.

In 1929, a dispute arose over access to the Western or “Wailing” Wall, the last remaining piece of the structure that was once the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, which was very close to the “Dome of the Rock,” a sacred site for Muslims. Violence broke out, killing 250 and injuring more than 500. Most of the Arabs killed or hurt were at the hands of the British military as they tried to gain control of the situation. As a result, British sentiment turned somewhat in 1930, and a plan was devised to halt Jewish immigration and limit land sales to Arabs only. However, in response to outrage from Jews in Palestine and Zionists in Britain and elsewhere, the prime minister overruled the plan in February of 1931.

As a result, 130 representatives from 22 countries gathered in Jerusalem for the World Islamic Congress, at which all nations were urged to stop hoping for the British to help them and take matters into their own hands by boycotting all trade with the Jewish community in Palestine.

The Nazi Effect
The rise of Nazi Germany in the 1930s led to even greater immigration away from Europe and into Palestine. By 1936, the Jewish population in Palestine swelled to almost 400,000.

1936 saw the beginning of a large scale Arab revolt against the Jews and the British forces supporting them. Previously susceptible to forming factions and infighting, the revolt was supported and participated in by all segments of the Arab population inside and outside of Palestine. There were boycotts and labor strikes alongside the episodes of violence, vandalism, and assassination. British authorities were caught off-guard by the scale of the revolt, and sent in an additional 20,000 troops.

A major development of the revolt was the British arming their Jewish allies in what would become a precursor to the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). By the end of the revolt there were 15,000 armed fighters.

The revolt lasted until 1939, eventually coming to an end after Great Britain’s considerable military might succeeding in killing, capturing, or exiling all of the Arab leadership, leading to the fracturing of the surviving Arab population along economic lines. Further, the strikes and boycotts led to increasing Jewish economic self-reliance, so the jobs and markets that had been abandoned didn’t return when the revolt came to an end.

Palestine in 1939

Arab Population: 927,133
Jewish Population: 445,457

Land under Arab control: 95% (White)
Land under Jewish control: 5% (Grey)

The outbreak of World War II did cause a change in Britain’s priorities. They could no longer afford to spare military resources to keep the peace in Palestine, and so they sought a way to try and get both sides to agree to separating Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab partitions, though no agreement was ever made.

Even though a few Arabs made visits to Germany and added their voices in condemnation of Jewish people, the Jewish and Arab populations of Palestine both found themselves on the side of the Allies during the war. Afterward, however, the war’s aftermath would be the next flashpoint for Palestine. While Arab leaders were unanimous in their condemnation of what was done to Jews by Nazi Germany and voiced their sympathy; they desperately argued to separate the plight of holocaust survivors from the debate over the rightful control of Palestine. They agreed that measures should be taken to care for them, but asserted that it was a European issue, and not one to be solved by committing an injustice against Arabs in Palestine.

Try as they might, their voices were drowned out amid the worldwide horror at what had transpired at places like Dachau, Buchenwald, or Auschwitz. To outsiders around the world, the obvious, natural course was to help heal holocaust survivors by “returning” them to their ancestral homeland. U.S. President Harry Truman called for the immediate immigration of 100,000 survivors into Palestine, and later the U.S. Congress called for maximum Jewish immigration up to the limit that Palestine could “economically handle it.”

By 1945 Great Britain was exhausted by the war, and was already extracting itself from many of it’s difficult to manage imperial holdings. Eager to leave the Palestine mess behind, they invited the United Nations to step in, who proposed partitions once again, with Jerusalem as an international zone under U.N. control. Zionists redoubled their efforts to bring more Jewish residents into Palestine for fear that the partitions would come with immigration caps.

The newly formed “Arab League” of Arab nations opposed giving the Jews complete control of some of Palestine, remaining committed to the assertion that all of it should remain in Arab hands as promised during World War I, now more than 25 years prior.

1947 U.N. Partition Proposal

Arab Population: 1,181,000
Jewish Population: 630,000

Proposed Arab control: 45%
Proposed Jewish control: 55%

The Nation of Israel
On May 14, 1948, the British left Palestine. The same day, the United States, the Soviet Union, and other nations recognized the State of Israel. The next day, armies from bordering Arab League nations crossed their borders into Palestine, but were soundly defeated. The result was Israel controlling about 8,000 square miles, with the remaining 2,000 square miles given to Jordan (the West Bank) and Egypt (the Gaza Strip), though neither officially annexed them as part of their territory.

Palestine in 1948

Arab Population: 1,370,000
Jewish Population: 806,000

Land under Arab control: 22% (White)
Land under Jewish control: 78% (Grey)

“The Gaza Strip” has changed hands several times over the past 70 years. It fell under Egyptian control after a 1948 Arab-Israeli war, and was captured by Israel in a 1967 war, after which Israel began settling Jews there and significantly curtailed the movement of its Palestinian residents. In 2005, Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from the territory, and two years later Hamas took control of Gaza.

Since then, Egypt and Israel have imposed tight controls on their respective borders with the territory and Israel blockades it further by restricting travel by sea or air. Israel has also enclosed the territory with a heavily fortified border fence. These borders have changed very little over the last 80 years, with Israeli settlements and checkpoints expanding Israeli control and curbing economic opportunity for Palestinian Arabs.

Convincing Claims
Jews claim the right to Palestine as the ancestral homeland promised by God to their forefather, Abraham; and promised by the Allied Forces in return for help in World War I. Arabs claim the right to Palestine because they’d been living there since the war with the Byzantines 1,385 years ago, and because the Allied Forces promised them their land and their freedom in return for help in World War I.

Camp David
In 1995, Palestinian and Israeli peace talks at Camp David resulted in a framework to give Arabs some control over urban areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as seen in the next map.

Palestine in 1995

Arab Population: 2,501,920
Jewish Population: 4,522,300

Land under Arab control: 22% (White)
Land under Jewish control: 78% (Grey)

Today Israel maintains authority for the security of both. This authority is disputed by many Arab League nations, and some more extreme regimes maintain the 1920 statement as their policy, which states that Jewish immigrants have no right to claim ownership of any land in Palestine. Nations such as Iran, and groups like Hamas and Hezbollah believe that Israel does not have the right to exist, and that any violent acts committed against Israel are justified, equivalent to shooting an intruder who had broken into their home.

Palestine today.

Arab Population: 4,997,349
Jewish Population: 7,145,000

Land under Arab control: 22%
Land under Jewish control: 78%

Adding Religion
The introduction of religious fervor into the conflict is relatively recent. More recent imperial conquests of the Arab population in Palestine by the Byzantines, Arabs, Ottomans, and Persians were political struggles over whether a foreign power would tax and rule them, or whether they would be allowed to rule themselves. The ill-fated promises made to the Jews and Arabs by the Allies during World War I were also about self-determination. As has often been the case throughout history, leaders desperate for a way to parlay the allegiance and obedience of their population into military might has often been accomplished by claiming that the struggle is a holy one sanctioned by God, with spiritual, eternal spoils of war to be added to any material ones they might have coming to them.

That was how the Jews managed to kick the Roman Empire out of Jerusalem for a couple years in 70 AD. It was how popes got several Crusades to happen. It’s how both sides got armies to fight the U.S. Civil War. It’s how Osama Bin Laden got 9/11 to happen. They managed it by convincing people that, if you sacrifice this life for the right cause, the next one will be a glorious reward.

This is one of the many reasons I give thanks for the Wesleyan theological heritage that gives us our mission. It’s not “making disciples of Jesus Christ so they can avoid going to hell when they die.” Our mission is “making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” If this life didn’t matter, Jesus Christ never would have lived a life himself. If this world didn’t matter, Jesus Christ would have never set foot in it.

How Will it End?
Neither side will win this war. Israel’s retaliation is creating more opponents than it’s eliminating. Palestinian Arabs can keep trying brief incursions, terrorist attacks, or rocket launches, but there’s too much military might stacked against them to make any real headway.

The end will become possible when both sides realize that the other side is human too. The end will be near when there are acknowledgements and apologies. The end will arrive when there is forgiveness. The peace that follows will endure when there is grace.

So Heritage, be like Jesus, and encourage others to do likewise—because more people being more like Jesus is how it will end.