Israel, Jews & Jerusalem
Rajnikant Puranik
The Hebrews (Israelites, Jews) had been in the area and around the current Israel since the second millennium BCE. Hebrew kingdoms existed under Joshua, followed by King David and his descendants. The Jews were the main settled population of Judea for over 1600 years. As per the Torah, God promised the land to the three Patriarchs of the Jewish people in the early 2nd millennium BCE. The first Kingdom of Israel was established in the 11th century BCE. The name Israel first appears in the Merneptah Stele or the Israel Stelestele (inscription) of the Egyptian pharaoh Merneptah of 1209 BCE.
Rome invaded Judea and took its effective control in the first century CE. In order to de-Judaize it, the Romans renamed it after the Philistines as Palestine. The Philistines were an Aegean people closely related to the Greeks (and not to the Arabs), who inhabited a narrow coastal strip on the Mediterranean, including Gaza. As per Wafa Sultan, (a) the root of the word “Philistine” is a Hebrew word ‘plisha’ which means ‘invader’, as the concerned people had invaded that part and settled on it; (b) Arabs can’t
pronounce ‘P’, so why would they name themselves that way: even now Palestinian Arabs pronounce
themselves as ‘Falestinians’.
Palestine as Nation?
It is worth noting that there was no nation called Palestine or Palestinian nationality. The religion, language and culture of the Arab Muslims living in the area is the same as that of the Arab countries around. The word ‘Palestine’ was used to refer only to an area, and not to a country or nation. Several Arab leaders and academicians have unambiguously stated this fact. However, the name has since (since the creation of Israel in 1948) been used politically to create a false impression that Palestine was a nation, parts of which were unjustly given to Israel, and that the ‘Palestinians’ as ‘original’ inhabitants have been denied their rights. This is what Zuheir Muhsin, late Military Department head of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) himself said: “Yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity serves only tactical purposes. The founding of a Palestinian state is a new tool in the continuing battle against Israel…” Further, it was not as if the land that was made Israel was with that mythical nation ‘Palestine’. The land was with the British since the First World War, and earlier it was under the Ottoman Empire.
Ottoman Empire
Following its defeat in the World War–I, the Ottoman Empire was broken up into three parts, one of which was administered as the “British Mandate for Palestine”. Out of that, 77% of the area to the east of Jordan river was hived off as Transjordan (since renamed Jordan) in 1922 for the Arab Muslims. Honouring the Balfour Declaration of 1917 that was backed up by many European nations and the US, Britain should have simultaneously allocated the remaining 23% of the area as Israel in 1922, but they kept dilly-dallying, and ultimately granted a highly truncated Israel to the Jews (much less than that 23%) in 1948. The Arabs from that area of 23% should have been absorbed in Jordan (77% of the area), which was highly under-populated, or distributed among the other Arab nations. Unfortunately, even this unjustly miser allocation of land to Israel is resented—when Muslims already have the major 77%!
Why was the injustice done to Jews? Well, oil had meanwhile became critical to the interests of the West, and Arabs had the oil! So, why bother about solemn promises. Jews were dispensable—notwithstanding their just historical right, the solemn pledges to them, the monetary favours shamelessly taken from them by the British in the WW-I, their terrible plight through the centuries, and the unimaginable Holocaust.
Israel’s total area is about 21,000 sq km, which is about 0.12% of the area of Russia (the largest country by area), and 0.22% of USA. Israel is just a tip, a very small island, in the sea of 21 Arab nations, whose total area together is about 13.487 million sq km—Israel is mere 0.16% of that! Israel’s area is 0.97% that of Saudi Arabia, 1.27% that of Iran, 2.09% that of Egypt, 4.79% that of Iraq, 6.79% that of Oman, 11.34% that of Syria, 23.5% that of Jordan and 25.12% that of UAE. Israel occupies a negligible 0.01% of the earth’s surface. It baffles one that even such little land miserly conceded to Israel is disputed. Indeed, Israel lacks the geographical depth to assuredly secure itself.
There are 126 countries where the majority religion is Christianity. and 49 where it is Islam; while there are only 2 countries (India and Nepal) where the majority religion is Hinduism, and just one country (Israel) where it is Judaism; and yet, the existence of that one single country is resented! Out of the estimated world-population of about 7.1 billion, mere 0.22% are Jews, while the Christians are 33.4%, Muslims 22.7%, Hindus 13.8%, Buddhists 6.8%, Sikhs 0.35%.
Sacred Jerusalem
Israel’s capital Jerusalem is considered sacred by all the three Abrahamic religions. However, while for the Jews the entire city is sacred, to Arabs only the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque are sacred, which were built at the site of (on top of) the destroyed Jewish Temple.
King David’s son King Soloman constructed the First Temple (also called Soloman’s Temple) at Mount Moriah (Temple Mount) in Jerusalem in 970 BCE, popularly known as the Temple Mount (Beit HaMikdash in Hebrew). After the destruction of the First Temple in 587 BCE by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Second Temple at the same site was built in 538-41 BCE, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. The Temple Mount in Jerusalem is the holiest site for the Jews, observant among whom recite the Amidah (Standing Prayer) three times a day facing Zion (Mount Zion/Temple Mount) in Jerusalem. It is also a holy site for the Christians on account of close association of Jesus Christ with the Mount.
Caliph Abd el-Malik built Dome of the Rock in 691-692 CE on the site of the First and Second Temples (Temple Mount) of Jews. Al Aqsa Mosque was built next to the Dome of the Rock in 714 CE. Muslims believe the location of the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque to be the site of Prophet Muhammad”s Night Journey to heavens and back. The Night Journey is mentioned in the Quran, though Quran does not specify the location as Temple Mount or Jerusalem; the Quran simply says in sura Al-’Isra’ (The Night Journey) 17.1: “Exalted is He who took His Servant [Prophet Muhammad] by night from al-Masjid al-Haram [of Mecca] to al-Masjid al-Aqsa [the furthest place of worship], whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him of Our signs…” There is no evidence to show that Prophet Mohammed ever came to Jerusalem. There is no mention in the Quran.
Under the Jordanian rule Jewish holy sites were desecrated and the Jews were denied access to their places of worship. However, with Jerusalem under the Israeli rule, all Muslim and Christian sites have been preserved and made accessible to people of all faiths. Israel has been liberal enough to even allow the Arab Waqf to control the Temple Mount. Yet, the Arab Waqf does not allow the Jews to pray at the Temple Mount! Jews only pray at the Western Wall (or the Wailing Wall or Kotel) of the Temple Mount. Israel has legitimate concerns regarding the welfare of Jewish holy places under possible Palestinian control, as many of their holy sites had been desecrated when under the Muslim control.
The city of Jerusalem, which houses the sacred places, was established by King David (1050-970 BCE) as the capital of the whole Land of Israel; and for over 3,000 years it has been the Jewish capital. In the Hebrew or Jewish Bible (Tanakh), Jerusalem is mentioned over 600 times and Zion (meaning Jerusalem or the Land of Israel) over 150 times. The Christian Bible mentions Jerusalem over 150 times. Jerusalem is not mentioned even once in the Koran. Jerusalem has never been the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the efforts to deny the millennial connection of the Jewish people to Jerusalem were absurd.
Divided Territory
West Jerusalem was under the control of Israel, while it captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the Six-Day War in 1967. In 1980, through its Jerusalem Law, Israel declared a complete and united Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Most of the foreign embassies are, however, located in Tel Aviv. The Jews mostly live in West Jerusalem, while the Muslims mostly reside in East Jerusalem.
When a democratic country like Israel decides its capital is Jerusalem, the other countries must respect that decision and relocate their embassies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The US has at last done the right thing. India must follow suit. Indeed, India should have been the first to do so. Especially, on account of two major factors. One, to expiate for the wrongs done by it in the past: India under Nehru had not only voted (on 29 November 1947) in the UN against the creation of Israel; it had refused to recognise it, and opposed its entry in the UN in 1949. India, which had just won its own freedom, was most shamefully trying to deny that freedom to the people (Jews) similarly prosecuted for centuries. Two, to reciprocate the numerous favours done to it by Israel by extending help by supplying critical defence equipments in the 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars, and in the Kargil war, in being among the first few to recognise Bangladesh after 1971-war, in equipping India for the critical anti-terror combat, and in significantly helping India in agriculture and water-management.
(The writer is author of the series
‘Israel and the Jews’)
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