Op-Ed: Why the Israel-Hamas War Will Continue
The Jews started returning to Israel in the mid-1800s from Europe. Zionism was born, and a remnant within Judaism saw it as their God-given responsibility to inhabit the land given to their forefathers.
It is very important to understand that, as the Jews started returning, they were welcomed! There were no “Palestinian” people warring against them. That did not exist. There were people living in the Holy Land, but they were Muslim, Christian and Jewish!
The story is extremely different than what the left-wing news media pretends.
The Jews brought with them resources — money, business connections, trade agreements and more — as they returned to their Promised Land. And a very important part of the story that is never told is that Jerusalem and most of Israel in the mid-1800s was a pile of dust!
The famous Mark Twain visited Israel in 1867 and commented, “Many are Israel’s forsaken places, and great is the desecration. The more sacred the place, the greater the devastation it has suffered. Jerusalem is the most desolate place of all.” The Jews were welcomed to this forgotten and desolate Promised Land simply because no one in the world was interested in it! (Here is a great article about it that goes into much more detail.)
For some 60 years, the European Jews returned to Israel without conflict or strife. They were buying lands and conducting business, and everyone was getting along. And then came the fall of the Turkish Ottoman Empire after World War I.
The British came to rule most of the lands of the fallen empire, which included Israel. As history shows, under British rule all the strife between the religious groups began. This contention reached a boiling point after World War II.
It is very important to understand that no one wanted the Jews after World War II (and very hard for me to write that sentence). Even our own famed FDR cut off immigration far, far below quota to prohibit the hurting European Jews from coming to America. Why? It’s hard to understand why he would do this… until you study who was around FDR and their anti-Semitic sentiments.
Then the British shut off immigration to the Holy Land. The war was won, the Holocaust was over, but the Jews had no home to which to return.
These events triggered a war in Israel between the Jews and the British. The Muslim Palestinians were aligned with the British and also went to war with the Jews over control of the Holy Land.
After the Jews fought for and won their independence from the British and Muslim Palestinians, many of the Muslims left the Holy Land for Egypt. Clearly, by the early 1950s, the Muslim Palestinians from British Mandate Palestine had developed a formalized leadership.
Now in Egypt, they created a formal partnership with the Muslim Brotherhood and started to terrorize their host country. In the mid-1960s, the Muslim Palestinian leadership, now basically expelled from Egypt, went to Syria and began terrorizing them. In 1968-70, the Muslim Palestinian leadership triggered a civil war in Jordan, attempting to topple their host Hashemite regime.
In 1970-82, the Muslim Palestinian leadership started a series of civil wars in Lebanon, aiming to take over that host country. In 1990, the Muslim Palestinian leadership collaborated with Saddam Hussein’s invasion and plunder of Kuwait, which was for decades the most generous Arab host of 400,000 Palestinians.
Israel is fighting a people group that has been content to be at war with every nation in which it has lived for about 80 years.
The Many Factors Working Against Peace in Israel
It has been the policy of the West to throw money at this problem since its inception.
First, the UN developed refugee camps throughout Israel for the overwhelmingly Muslim Palestinians. Since then, aid by the billions has been pouring into Israel but also given directly to the Muslim Palestinians.
In fact, so much aid has poured in that it has made an elite group of Muslims rich beyond their wildest dreams! It is estimated that the three leaders of Hamas are worth a combined total of $8 billion! Why would anyone want peace in a world that pays so much for conflict?
Take away this aid money and what economy is left in the West Bank and Gaza? The sad but honest answer is very little.
The West Bank and Gaza could produce so much with access to ports, shipping, arable lands, abundance of water, etc. But they choose instead to pour untold fortunes into amassing for themselves an arsenal, with underground fortresses to boot. What nation in the world would want to take the risk of hosting such a people?
We see this complexity playing out right now in Egypt and Jordan. Both countries have shut their borders and refused refugee immigration from their fellow Muslims. Obviously. Egypt was already nearly toppled by the Palestinians — Jordan too!
If Iran cares so much about the suffering of the Muslim Palestinians, why doesn’t it open its borders to them? Turkey also! To date, there is not one Muslim nation running to open its doors to these warring peoples. It seems history has taught the Middle East to fear their Muslim brothers from what was once British Mandate Palestine.
One Nation Has Been Compassionate Toward the Palestinians
The truth is, the Israeli people have been the most generous, kind and compassionate nation toward the Palestinians since the beginning.
Ever since the mid-1800s, these people who were living in British Mandate Palestine have been increasingly blessed by Israel! There is no telling what they could have created over these 80 years with all that wealth — billions gifted to them from the nations! Just imagine the cities and economies they could have built alongside the Israeli Jews!
There was peace off and on over the years between Israel and those Muslims living in Gaza and the West Bank. Many of these Muslims immigrated successfully into Israel and Israeli culture. I have lived in Israel and the West Bank and have seen with my own eyes Muslims, Christians and Jews living side by side and getting along just fine.
To this day, East Jerusalem is mostly Muslim. It was by and large peaceful until recently. In fact, I lived in East Jerusalem with the Muslims for a short time. Only within the past 10 years has it devolved into such strife and terrorism. The politics of the Muslim Brotherhood coming to capture Gaza along with other complexities within Muslim Palestinian politics seem to have changed this once-working relationship for good.
And now, with the Hamas massacre of some 1,400 Israelis (mostly civilians — elderly, women and children), there will remain pain and strife for years to come.
Part 2 can be read here.
The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.
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