I've been reading "Beirut to Jerusalem" by Tom Freidman. It's a scholarly but easily read book that asks many interesting questions. Before reading it I never really knew what distinguishes a Jew from other Semitic people. I'm still not sure. Neither do I know who is NOT a Jew. The common definition is "one born of a Jewish mother" -or- "a person that becomes a Jew by conversion to Judaism". These definitions do not satisfy all Jews - but may be the most universally accepted. Judaism began in the "fertile crescent" near the eastern Mediterranean and includes the modern combined areas of Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, and the area between the Nile, Tigris and Euphrates rivers. This entire territory was once called "Canaan" and nomadic Hebrew tribes were centered there around the city of Hebron between 1991 BC and 1706 BC.
The Bible suggests that Jews are descended from the ancient Hebrew people who settled in the land of Canaan sometime around 1450 BC. All or most of the early Jews shared a lineage through their common ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Isaac's son Jacob. Today we refer to them as "The children of Israel" and believe they were of twelve tribes, each descending from one of Jacob's twelve sons. They left Canaan during a severe famine and settled in Northern Egypt where they eventually became enslaved by the Egyptians. After about 400 years of misery Moses, with God's help, released them from bondage and returned them (Exodus) to their ancestral homeland in Canaan. About then the first Abrahamic religion began. The twelve tribes were organized as a confederacy and ruled by a series of judges. In 1000 BC a monarchy was formed under Saul. It continued under David who established Jerusalem as the national and spiritual capital of Israel. Now let's fast forward to 1948.
The Bible suggests that Jews are descended from the ancient Hebrew people who settled in the land of Canaan sometime around 1450 BC. All or most of the early Jews shared a lineage through their common ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Isaac's son Jacob. Today we refer to them as "The children of Israel" and believe they were of twelve tribes, each descending from one of Jacob's twelve sons. They left Canaan during a severe famine and settled in Northern Egypt where they eventually became enslaved by the Egyptians. After about 400 years of misery Moses, with God's help, released them from bondage and returned them (Exodus) to their ancestral homeland in Canaan. About then the first Abrahamic religion began. The twelve tribes were organized as a confederacy and ruled by a series of judges. In 1000 BC a monarchy was formed under Saul. It continued under David who established Jerusalem as the national and spiritual capital of Israel. Now let's fast forward to 1948.
The United Nations organization, with leadership from America and it's allies, divided the "fertile crescent" and voted to return Jews to part of the ancient land of Israel. The establishment of a homeland was welcomed by the Jews even though it was only part of their historic Biblical lands. They believed the land eastward to the Jordan River, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip should have been included - and that without all of the ancestral land - Israel was not complete. The new Israelis quickly discovered that the land given to them was not defensible. Even before the day of it's founding Israel was under constant attack by the surrounding Arab (Palestinian) population. In 1967, Israel fought (The Six Day War) defending itself and expanding it's territory. It occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip - and found itself with well over 1 million Palestinian Arabs then residing in these occupied territories and 500,000+ Israeli Arabs. If Israel kept the newly occupied areas as part of Israel the Israelis would soon become a minority in their own country. Politically, this was not an attractive concept. The Israelis didn't agree on "what they should do."
So they did nothing. Israel's two major political parties, Labor and Likud, sat on the issue from 1967 to 1987 and thereby avoided a realistic decision. The impasse happened because:
(1) The Labor Party (Shimon Peres) refused to trade land for peace but would stop building settlements in densely populated Arab areas.
(2) The opposing Likud Party (Yitzhak Shamir) refused to accept U.N. Resolution 242 which called for Israel to withdraw from territories occupied in the 1967 war in exchange for Arab recognition of Israel's right to exist within it's 1948 borders. Shamir also insisted that Israel keep building West Bank settlements everywhere.
The two major political parties could not agree and while they argued, the Palestinian Arabs met late in 1967 in Sudan and resolved:
- Not to recognize Israel under any circumstance.
- Never to make peace with Israel.
- And never to negotiate with Israel.
to be continued
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