A Background on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Text taken from "Israel, The Church, and The Kingdom" seminar, 2016

The Modern Israeli-Palestinian Conflict 

The Claim to the Land

Myth: The Jewish people have no historic claim to the land.

Fact: The Jewish claim to the land of Israel is a legacy over 4000 years old. God promised the land to Abraham and his offspring as an eternal (Abrahamic) covenant in approximately 2091 BC. The Exodus of Israel (returning to the land of the patriarchs) occurred about 1500 BC. The first king of Israel, Saul, was crowned c. 1050 BC. From this time forward, the Israelites have had a continual presence in the land. Though at times they have not been the governing authority, Jews have never been absent from the land.

The inheritors to the land

Myth: The rightful inheritors to the land are the descendants of Ishmael.

Fact: Biblically, God told Abraham that Sarah, not her maidservant Hagar, would bear him a son (Genesis 18:10) and later God fulfilled that promise (Genesis 21:1-7). The inheritance of the Abrahamic Covenant is clearly passed down to Isaac (Genesis 26:2-5, 24-25) and his son, Jacob (Genesis 27:21-29; 28:10-15), who had twelve sons and they became the nation of Israel.

The name “Palestine”

In the 2nd century CE, the Romans annexed Judea and renamed it “Palestine” after Israel’s old enemies, the Philistines.

“After the revolt of 66-70 the country became the Roman province of Judea under a pretorian prefect; and (Emperor) Hadrian gave it the name of “Syria Palaestina” after the insurrection of 132-135.”[i]

The term “Palestine” is a regional designation that resurfaced in the early 1900’s with the rise of Zionism when the British controlled the territory after WWI.

 

Post World War I

The Balfour Declaration

Following World War I, the Allied Forces defeated the Ottoman Empire which had ruled over the land for over 400 years. British Foreign Secretary Lord Balfour pledged Britain’s intent to help the Jewish people with “... the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people...” [ii]

Jewish immigration to the land

Between 1919 and 1946, over a half-million Jewish people returned to Israel - many fleeing Russian persecutions and the dangers of WW II.

The Arab-Jewish Conflict Begins

Arabic opposition to the Jewish emigration resulted in conflict, instigated by some, but not all, leaders of the Arab population. Many indigenous Arabic people were prospering under the new economy and infrastructure which the incoming Jews were developing.

The Mufti of Jerusalem and the start of Jihad (holy war against Israel)

In 1929, the Mufti of Jerusalem (Arabic clerical leader), Amin al-Husseini, motivated “Arab nationalism” in the land and turned Arab unrest into a religious conflict by calling for holy war (jihad) against the Jews. From the 1930’s through the time of World War II he instigated the mixture of Antisemitism, Nazi-propaganda and Islam. His use of militant propagandizing of Islam against the Jewish people served as an inspiration to his younger relatives, Yassar Arafat and Saddam Hussein.

Yassar Arafat later went on to found the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) using the platform developed by al-Husseini.

Amin al-Husseini’s collaboration with the Nazi party allowed him to promote his anti-Jewish campaign of Arabic jihad on an international scale by “...broadcasting pro-Axis, anti-British, and anti-Jewish propaganda via radio to the Arab world; inciting violence against Jews and the British authorities in the Middle East...” [iii]

British failure to maintain peace in the region forced them to turn the matter over to the newly formed United Nations in 1947.

 

Post World War II

United Nations Resolution 181

UN Resolution 181 “Called for the Jewish people to give up even more land in order to establish an Arab Palestinian state next to a Jewish Palestinian state with Jerusalem to be under international administration.” [iv] [v]

While Arab leaders enmasse rejected the resolution, Jewish leaders accepted the resolution, and on May 14, 1948 the Jewish people declared the independent state of Israel, coincidentally on Pentecost of that year.

Arab-Israeli War

Following the Jewish declaration of its independent state, 5 wars and a current on-going conflict have been started or provoked by Arab nations against Israel since 1948:

  1. The 1948 War
  2. The 1956 War
  3. The 1967 War (Six-Day War)
  4. The 1973-1974 War (Yom Kippur War)
  5. The 1982 War
  6. The Al-Aqsa Intifada (September 29, 2000 to 2010)

“Throughout the conflict years [2000 to 2010] 4561 high-trajectory shooting attacks were carried out from the Gaza Strip, launching (since 2005) more than 6016 rockets towards Israel. In 2006 (following the disengagement and IDF pullout from the Gaza Strip) there was an increase of 436 percent in the extent of rocket launching towards Israel compared to the previous year. 2006 is one of the peak years in terms of rocket attacks – 1247. 2008 is even higher with 1270 attacks, despite the Lull pronounced that year (since June 19), during which the launching towards Israel was substantially diminished, yet, not stopped altogether (a violation of the agreement).” [vi]

Israel: “Giving up Land for Peace”

Israel has given up land, or its control, six times in return for peace. The Palestinian Authority and Arab nations have yet to cease their hostilities against Israel.[vii]

  1. Political unrest following WW I led to the division of the “original Palestine” land into Palestine and Trans-Jordan. Israel inherited only 23% of the originally proposed territory.
  2. Following the 1956 War, Israel captured the Gaza strip and land surrounding the Gulf of Aqaba (Israeli-Egyptian border). In the peace agreement, Israel conceded the land to UN control.
  3. Following the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula, the old city of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. In the peace agreement, Israel returned control of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt and allowed Palestinian Authority to govern the Temple Mount.
  4. Following the Yom Kippur War, Israel captured the Suez Canal and territory in Lebanon. In the peace agreement (Camp David Accords), Israel withdrew from the Suez Canal and Lebanon.
  5. Following the 1982 War, Israel again captured territory in Lebanon. Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 1985.
  6. In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew its presence from Gaza in hopes for peace. More rockets per year have been launched into Israel from Gaza after Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza than before.

The Arab Refugee Issue

Following the 1948 War, “... about 400,000 Palestinian Arabs had fled from Israel and were settled in refugee camps near Israel's border; their status became a volatile factor in Arab-Israeli relations.” [ix]

Citizens of neighboring Arab countries had come to work in the prospering economy that European Jews were building in the land. After the war, the Arab governments denied their citizens re-entry back into their own country.

The majority were not landowners, but renters, and many were Bedouins.  Israel’s position that the refugees have no “right of return” to Israel is because they owned no land to return to. Many of the refugees were in the British territory on a British work visa. But the United Nations granted “refugee status to persons having a 2-year (minimum) work visa and no prior property holdings in Palestine.

Arab families from the neighboring nations were relocated into the refugee camps to reunite the families. This doubled the refugee population, compounded the problem and, in the eyes of the world, “justified” Arab complaints about the refugee camps and the “Israeli occupation.”

Jordan and Lebanon received refugees back into their land, but they were chastised for their actions by the rest of the Arab League.

The Division of Jerusalem - A biblical trend for the end times

“In recent years, Palestinian Arabs have made the battle for Jerusalem the most important issue in their conflict with Israel. Having gained dominance over the holy places in eastern Jerusalem, the Palestinian Authority demands the city be recognized as the capital of their Palestinian state. The Al-Aqsa Intifada, which began September 2000, seeks to provoke international intervention to force Israel to withdraw from East Jerusalem in compliance with UN Resolution 242.”[x]

“We are announcing a war against the sons of apes and pigs which will not end until the flag of Islam is raised in Jerusalem.”[xi] (Hamas leaflet from 1993)

It’s seems likely that from this conflict, Jerusalem will ultimately be divided because of the Lord’s declaration of His impending judgment on the nations during the end times that the nations divided His land:

Joel 3:2 I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will put them on trial for what they did to my inheritance, my people Israel, because they scattered my people among the nations and divided up my land.

Therefore, it’s very possible that Israel will enter a major conflict before and/or during the end times which causes the division of Jerusalem.

 

ENDNOTES 

[i] The Jewish Encyclopedia website. “Palestine.” Political Geography. <http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11866-palestine>

[ii] Encyclopedia of the Middle East. Balfour Declaration. <http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/balfour_declaration.htm>

[iii] U. S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Holocaust Encyclopedia. “ HAJJ AMIN AL-HUSAYNI: THE MUFTI OF JERUSALEM.” <http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007665>

[iv] Endtime Magazine. Endtime Ministries. “Sovereign Israel or Occupied Territories? Israel’s Right to Exist” by Linda Sargent, Sep/Oct 2011, Vol. 21, No. 5, pp. 14-19

[v] Myths and Facts website. “UN Resolution 181 - The Partition Plan” <http://www.mythsandfacts.org/Conflict/10/Resolution-181.pdf>

[vi]  Israel Security Agency website. Terror Data and Trends - Analysis of Attacks in the Last Decade. “Rocket Launching.” <http://www.shabak.gov.il/English/EnTerrorData/decade/Rocket/Pages/default.aspx>  23 Feb 2016

[vii] Infoplease website. Arab-Israeli Wars. <http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0856666.html>

[viii]Israel Security Agency website. Terror Data and Trends - Analysis of Attacks in the Last Decade. “Rocket Launching.” <http://www.shabak.gov.il/English/EnTerrorData/decade/Rocket/Pages/default.aspx>  23 Feb 2016

[ix] Infoplease website. The Arab-Israeli Wars - The 1948-49 War <http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0856666.html> 23 February 2016

[x] Price, Randall. “The Battle for Jerusalem.” Fast Facts on the Middle East. Eugene: Harvest House Publishers, 2003. pp 121 - 122

[xi] Ibid, p.122
 

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