Understanding the the current ISRAELI & PALESTINIAN PROBLEM in 16 easy steps





FACTS:

1. No nation has ever established the area known as Israel - with a government, military, kings, borders and a national economy – in the history of the planet – except Israel - under King Saul, David and Solomon. Before Israel there were various tribes and peoples who lived in the land. (The Philistines, the Midianites, the Hittites, the Caananites, etc.) Some were even connected to the nation of Egypt as outlying territories. But they were not individual "nations."
This is a plain fact of world history.

2. Israel thrived as a recognizable, mighty, independent nation (Northern and Southern Kingdom) in this land from about 1050 BC until about 650BC.

3. ALL the conquering Empires that invaded the land recognized the nation of Israel and the Jewish people as the force to be reckoned with in that area of the world - including Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome.


4. In 70 AD the Romans destroyed the Temple and the much of the city walls because of a Jewish uprising and the Roman Government's final attempt to get the “Jewish situation” under control. They drove many of the Jews from the land. The Emporer declared the area – the Province of Palestine. He did this in order to shame and enrage the Jews, since Palestine was the Latin word for Philistine, The Jews' most hated and despised ememies of the ancient past.


5. During all this time above – there were Arabian people (Cousins to the Israelites through Ishmael – the illegitimate son of Abraham and Hagar – his handmaid) living in and about the land. These people, today called “Palestinians” are not descendants of the Philistines. They are Arab.

6. This area was continually inhabited from that time on by a remenant of Jews, Arabs, and various conquering nations in the land, including the Ottoman Turks and the Muslim invaders.

7. After WWI – 1918 - The British took control of this area and renamed it Palestine after the ancient Roman designation.


8. In 1923 – The British divided the area into two districts – Palestine (west of the Jordan River) and Trans-Jordan (east of the Jordan river) - Jews were permitted only west of the Jordan River. In 1946 Trans-Jordan was renamed Jordan. All of the area west of the Jordan was to be the Jewish Palestinian homeland. The Arab population did not see it that way. They wanted the entire area as their own and the Jews expelled.

Hitler began the persecution and destruction of Jews who lived in various European countries during WWII. At the conclusion of the war in 1945, the survivors of Death Camps had no "nation" or homeland to which to return. Many were killed in the original countries of origin when they tried to return there. Many of those who were not killed fled to Palestine, helping to create the state of Israel in 1948.

9. In 1947 – The British had finally had enough of trying to rule and occupy this area with all of its cultural and ethnic problems. They turned control of this area over to the United Nations.


10. The UN divided the area into Jewish Palestine and Arab Palestine based upon population concentrations. The Jewish Palestinians accepted. The Arabs did not. They wanted it ALL.

11. On May 14, 1948 – the Jewish Palestinians declared themselves independent and named themselves Isreal. The next day seven neighboring Arab nations attacked them.

12. When the 19-month war had ended, Israel had defeated all its enemies. But, some 400,000 Arab Palestinians had fled the land in fear of the war. The remaining Arabs were assimilated rather peacefully into the Israeli population. The 400,000 that fled became the seeds of the Palestinian “Liberation” Movement and called themselves…the “Palestinian refugees”. Egypt had essentially “won” the Gaza strip area during the war and Jordan had “won” the West Bank area including Jerusalem. Jordan granted all the Arab refugees from the war full citizenship and gave them the West Bank area as their home.

13. In May of 1967 – Egypt, Jordan and Syria mobilized along Israel's border in order to finally eliminate the Nation of Israel. Israel launched a pre-emptive strike against Egypt's air force. Within two hours they had rendered the air force useless. The other nations, unaware of this - launched their armies into the belly of Israel coming down the Golan Heights area for a surprise attack. After only six days of war, Israel had defeated its enemies and had reclaimed the WEST BANK area and the holy city of Jerusalem – its ancient capitol under Kind David. In addition they recaptured the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Desert and the entire Sinai Peninsula.

14. Unfortunately the rest of the world didn't see Israel as a winner claiming its rights to the spoils of war. Rather, Israel was considered to be an occupier. The 850,000 Arabs living in the Gaza strip joined with the former Arabs expelled during the War of 1948 and declared themselves, once again, refugees. They vowed to destroy Israel and re-take the land.

15. In 1982 at the Camp David Peace Accord in the USA, Israel relented and gave back the desert region and the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in an attempt to bring some type of peace to the region. The Arabs still were not satisfied and still declared that they would annihilate Israel.

What many people today do not know is that many of these "palestinian refugees" were expelled from Jordan in the 1970's and 1980's because of continual clashes with the Jordanian authorities and military. The resulting PLO, Palestine Liberation Organization, eventually headed by Yassir Arafat, has since been recognized by all the ARAB nations, and at times, even the U.S. as a legitimate authority with which to hold "talks" and sign "treaties." In reality, they are terrorists, with which even Jordan did not want to deal. Is there no wonder why Israel gets mad with the U.S. when we give the "PLO" and its resulting terrorist branches this kind of legitimization. It would be as though Israel recognized Al-Qiada as an independent nation or soveriegn, legitimate authority with which the U.S. should "negotiate".


16. TODAY – much of the World, except the USA and Great Britian, still considers Israel to be an occupier of this land. And so…the battle rages on. Historic Israel is back in the land as a nation, just as the Bible had long before predicted would happen.

It has been repeatedly attacked by its enemies but its enemies cannot defeat her…just as the Bible had long before predicted. Much of the Arab world hates the USA because we have virtually equipped, assisted and seen to it that Israel is the victor in all of its wars so that it can remain an independent Jewish state. Some interpret Revelation 12:14 as a potential foreshadowing of that truth – “The Woman (Israel and the Jews) was given the “two wings of a great eagle…where she would be taken care of for a time…”

God has used the USA to protect Israel…and many believe that it is because of our Judeo-Christian heritage and history that many of our leaders and people have such strong feelings about helping Israel. If we ever cease to assist and support Israel, most Christians believe that God will cease to bless and preserve us.







Some terms you may hear used in the Israeli-Palestinian turmoil


PLO - The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which is headed by Yasir Arafat, is not a fundamentalist group but the main secular, nationalist organization of Palestinian politics. After Israel and the PLO signed a peace deal in 1993, Arafat founded the Palestinian Authority (PA), a new, Palestinian-led government for the West Bank and Gaza. Hamas and the PA sometimes cooperate, sometimes compete, and sometimes clash. Hamas has cut deals with the PA, but it accuses Arafat's regime of being corrupt and of selling out to Israel and America by participating in the peace process.

HAMAS - Hamas is the Palestinians' major Muslim fundamentalist movement. With an extensive social service network and a terrorist wing that plots suicide bombings in Israel, it is the main opposition to Yasir Arafat's Palestinian Authority. It is a determined foe of Israeli-Palestinian peace, and a major player in the current Middle East crisis. Its founder and spiritual leader, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, was killed by an Israeli missile attack on March 22, 2004. The word "hamas" is an Arabic acronym for "Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya," or Islamic Resistance Movement. The word Hamas means "courage" or "zeal" in Arabic.

ISLAMIC JIHAD - Islamic Jihad is much smaller than HAMAS, and a less organized group of Islamist radicals with closer ties to Iran. Unlike Hamas, Islamic Jihad has no network of schools, clinics, or mosques, and it focuses entirely on terrorism. Islamic Jihad's founder, Fathi Shikaki, was killed by Israeli agents in 1995 in Malta, and its nominal leader, Ramadan Shallah, now lives in Damascus, Syria. In February 2003, the Justice Department indicted Shallah-as well as other alleged Islamic Jihad leaders, including a Florida college professor-for conspiring to kill and wound people abroad and conspiring to fund a terrorist organization.

AL AQSA - "Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade" - The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade comprises an unknown number of small cells of Fatah-affiliated activists that emerged at the outset of the current "holy war" to attack Israeli targets. It aims to drive the Israeli military and settlers from the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem and to establish a Palestinian state.



BACK TO HOME PAGE