Analysis
by Dr. Jaipal Singh
Over the past few centuries, both the Muslims and Christians have staked claims over the holy city of Jerusalem and have been consistently seeking the blood of the Jews. Notwithstanding whatever logic or arguments are put forth by the followers of the two dominant Abrahamic religions, it is already settled beyond doubt that the Judaism is the oldest religion amongst the three and the Jews were original inhabitants of the ancient Israel and Judah (also Judea or Judaea) in the Middle East Asia. According to the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and as assessed by early Historians, David was the third king of the United Kingdom of Israel, and the Kingdom of Judah flourished during the Iron age in the Southern Levant with Jerusalem as its capital. The Kingdom of Judah is widely acknowledged as the legitimate successor to the United Kingdom of Israel, which collectively denotes the united monarchy under the biblical kings such as Saul, David and Solomon in a chronological span of about 1000 BCE to 800 BCE. The Jews are named after Judah with the belief of having descended from it.
The kingdoms of Israel & Judah were established and flourished during the Iron age, and the very same people are considered as the Jewish and Samaritan people of the Abrahamic faith tradition. If we further go back, the Canaanites (Cannan civilization) have been archaeologically attested during the Bronze age in this region surviving as independent or semi-independent city-states. The earliest recorded evidence of the people by the name of Israel have been found in the Egyptian Merneptah Stele (1209 BCE), an inscription by the pharaoh (Egyptian king) Merneptah. Besides, archaeological findings also suggest that a large number of small villages too existed on the highlands of Cannan on both sides of the Jordan River, wherein people lived on grain cultivation, herding and growing vines and olives. The most modern historians and scholars believe that the Israelites and their Jewish culture branched out from the Canaanites in the course of history with a monolatristic religion, which later transformed into the monotheistic religion (Judaism) with single God Yehweh.
During the early ancient History, the Jewish people in the Kingdom of Israel & Jedah had constant conflicts with the other contemporary and powerful civilizations/kingdoms of Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia and Persia, and survived as an independent or vassal state for most of the pre-Christ age. However, the Jewish history remained turbulent for many centuries following the Roman invasion during the early 1st century CE. The Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus declared Judea a Roman province in 6 CE, after defeating the last Jewish king, Herod Archelaus, and appointing a Roman governor. Due to oppressive rule of Roman governors, the region experienced several uprisings, conflict and Jewish-Roman war in the subsequent years with significant demographic, theological, political, and economic consequences. After the Roman Emperor Constantine (Byzantine Empire) officially endorsed Christianity as state religion, the Jewish population significantly declined in the region due to forced conversion and migration to other parts of the world, and eventually the Christianity became the major religion in the region.
In the beginning of 7th century CE, the Sassanid Persia, assisted with Jewish fighters, invaded the Byzantine Empire reestablishing Jewish rule for a brief spell in Palestine. However, Romans returned soon again to recapture it and (Eastern) Roman Emperor Heraclius is said to have ordered massacre of the Jewish population of Galilee and Jerusalem and enforcing a ban on Jews entering the latter city. In 635 CE, it was conquered by an Arab army under the command of Umar ibn al-Khattab, who established two military districts in Palestine, namely Jund Filastin and Jund al-Urdunn, and a new city called Ramlah was also built as the Muslim capital of Jund Filastin. In the beginning, the Arab caliphate was not so unkind to the Jews but with the passage of time, the Caliph Umar II made it mandatory under law for both the Jews and Christians to wear identifying clothing, whereby the Jews were required to wear yellow stars round their neck and on their hats, while the Christians had to wear Blue with obvious intention of persecuting and humiliating them. The Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik also constructed the Dome of the Rock shrine and Al-Aksa Mosque (between 691-705 CE) in Jerusalem at the Temple Mount, the very holy site where Jewish temples existed in the past.
With Arab conquest of the land of Israel in the 7th century, the region became a center of intermittent wars for the religious supremacy between the followers (armies) of Islam and Christianity, which became more intensive from 11th to 13th century during the Mamluk Sultanate, with a brief spell of Mongol invasion and conquest. The mamluks were eventually replaced by the Ottoman Empire towards the 16th century, following which the region survived as an Ottoman province until the 20th century. With the widespread consolidation of Zionism, a Jewish nationalist movement, return of the Jewish diaspora to the land of Israel (i.e., Aliah) picked up momentum towards the late 19th century. Following the rout of Ottoman Empire during the World War I at the hands of Allied Powers, the control of the Sinai and Palestine was passed on to the Britain (UK), which committed itself for the creation of a Jewish homeland despite opposition from the Arab world for preventing Jewish migration in the region.
The Arab-Jewish tensions and conflicts were an obvious and immediate fallout of the aforesaid development in the ensuing years, although their cultural and religious conflict and enmity has a long history. Here it may also be relevant to mention that the Temple Mount is the place where in the past Jewish holy temples existed and which along with the Western Wall in the vicinity is considered the holiest site in Judaism. Later on, the place was declared as the Haram al-Sharif (The Noble Sanctuary) with the erection of the al-Aksa Mosque and Dome of the Rock, which is not unusual to Islamic invaders and parallel is observed in India too, where thousands of temples were desecrated and destroyed in the past and some such sites still continue as places of conflict between Muslims and other Indian religions. As of now, the old city of Jerusalem is venerated as a holy site in Judaism, Islam and Christianity as well.
During the World War II, a Jewish army was formed from amongst the Jews, who supported the cause of the British and joined the Allied Forces war efforts. According to reports, almost 1.5 million Jewish soldiers served in the US, Russian and British armies during the period. Consequently, annoyed Nazi forces systematically started killing every person of the Jewish lineage and an estimated 6 million Jews were eliminated (holocaust) in the Europe alone. After the conclusion of the war, the British did not fulfil their obligation, and tensions and conflicts continued in Palestine. Ultimately, under the aegis of the United Nations, the General Assembly passed a resolution in November 1947 to create an independent Jewish state, an independent Arab (Palestine for Muslims) state and the City of Jerusalem under an international Trusteeship System. This Plan also envisaged the British to allow a “substantial” Jewish migration by 1 February 1948. However, neither the Britain nor the UN Security Council took any substantive measures to implement the recommendation made in the resolution, and the former continued detaining Jews attempting to enter the Palestine.
While the General Assembly resolution was welcomed by the Jewish community, it created a large-scale disagreement and resentment in the Arab community, with Arab League members refusing to accept the UN partition plan, which were unhappy with the idea of the Jews being granted recognition for the independent statehood. Consequently, a large-scale violence broke out between two sides in Haifa on 14 May 1948, and on the same day, the Jewish People's Council proclaimed in Tel Aviv the establishment of a Jewish state to be known as the State of Israel. The then two known Superpowers, The US and USSR, immediately recognized the new state of Israel thus formed and the Zionist paramilitary organization (Haganah) operational at the time was rechristened as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The Israeli declaration of the independent state also sparked the immediate Arab-Israel War of 1948 leading to eventual defeat of Arabs, flight of Palestinians and more emigration of Jews from other parts of the Middle East.
Ever since the formation of the new Jewish state, there has been a constant conflict besides fierce wars in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973 with Arab countries uniting against Israel. While Israel is a very small country with an area of approximately 20,770 square kilometers and an estimated population of 9.73 million, of which the Jews account for about 73.5%, Palestinians (Arabs) 21% plus and remaining belong to other ethnic groups. Israel is located in a region surrounded by ever so hostile enemy countries, the most which don't even acknowledge its right to exist, and it want to be wiped out from the world map. Thus, for many others, it may simply be a question of the cultural, religious or ideological issue, it's a question of the existential threat for the Jews of Israel. Perhaps, this is also the reason why Israel tackles its security threats, whether perceived or real, with an assertiveness and immediate response. Where some nationalities and Arab people try to define history too as per their convenience, the author deemed it appropriate to briefly summarize the Jews History including its origin and evolution for better understanding of the readers. ….To be continued….
( Courtesy: Boloji.com)
(The Author is a retired from Civil
Servant and an Academician and
currently engaged as an Advisor to
an illustrious Central Autonomous Body)
