I received this information from a reliable and respected source.
Thought I share it here.
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On the issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it's important to see & understand the issue through the lense of time.
I've done the heavy lifting here.
This is a list of all the empires that ruled over that piece of land we call Israel / Palestine.
6500 BCE - Yarmukian
2500 BCE - Canaanites / Israelites
1500 BCE - Egyptian New Kingdom XVIII
1200 BCE - Canaanites / Israelites <- Story of Moses here
720 BCE - Assyrian Empire (Semites)
600 BCE - Babylonian Empire (Semites)
535 BCE - Achaemenid Empire (Persian)
330 BCE - Macedonian Greek Empire
300 BCE - Seleucid Empire
54 BCE - Roman Empire
0 - Birth of Jesus Christ
610 AD - Byzantine / Sassanid Empire
632 AD - (Death of Prophet Muhammad)
640 AD - Rashidun Caliphate <- (1st Arab/Muslim Empire)
660 AD - Umayyad Caliphate
750 AD - Abbasid Caliphate
970 AD - Fatimad Caliphate
1075 AD - Seljuq Empire
1100 AD - Crusaders
1190 AD - Ayyubids
1250 AD - Mamluks
1290 AD - Random Settlers
1515 AD - Ottoman Empire
1920 AD - UK Zone
1923 AD - Palestine
1948 AD - Israel
Takeaway points:
1. Israelites/Canaanites - 1,480 years
Israelis and Jews first settled into the territory in 2500 BCE. They were there for 1,000 years before being invaded by Egypt. Egypt ruled for 300 years before being overthrown by the Israelites/Canaanites once again. Moses freeing the Israelites from Egyptian rule in the Bible occured during this period.
2. Assyrians & Babylonians - 185 years
Then came the Assyrians, who were Semitic speaking people. Basically descendants of Israelites/Canaanites but with several modifications. Babylonians as well.
3. Achaemenid (Persians) - 205 years
4. Greeks - 276 years
5. Romans - 694 years
6. Muslim Arabs - 875 years
7. Ottomans (Turks) - 405 years
8. UK - 3 years
9. Palestine - 25 years
10. Israel - 73 years and counting
Ultimately, who gets to decide if the land belongs to the Jews, Iranians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Turks, British, or Palestinians?
Muslims often say that:
1. Israel stole Palestinian / Arab land.
2. Jews are from Europe and they're a landless people.
3. Muslims often paint a narrative that the evil British helped the Jews steal their land and that it wasn't theirs to give away, all without realising European Greeks and Romans set foot on that piece of land 970 years before a single Arab did
All of which are either blatant lies or stem from misinformation or a place of pure ignorance.
We need to frame this topic of discussion in the lense of history as a whole, not just post-640AD after Muslims annexed the land or after the 1923 British Mandate of Palestine.
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Edit (15th May 2021):
To clarify, I take no sides. I'm neither pro-Israel nor am I pro-Palestinian.
I just enjoy reading about history objectively and aggregating information to find the truth, and in the process, call out hypocrisy and misinformation if they are present.
The popular mass media has been framing this situation as an Israel vs Palestine issue, when really, it's more like Israel vs Fatah vs Hamas issue.
Fatah - Led by Chairman & current Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Political position: Centre-Left to Left Wing
It's ideologies include:
- Palestinian Nationalism
- Social Democracy
- Secularism
- Two state solution (peaceful co-existence)
Hamas - Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, nationalistic organisation.
Political position: Far-Right
It's ideologies include:
- Palestinian Nationalism
- Islamism
- Religious Nationalism
- Anti-Zionism
- One state solution (complete destruction of the state of Israel)
- Antisemitism
The last democratic election held in Palestine happened in 2006. At the time, Hamas won an astonishing 76 out of 132 seats, and Fatah 43.
It was the first time in Palestinian history in which Hamas won more seats than Fatah. It ended more than 40 years of political domination by Fatah. To showcase the significance of the event, in the 1996 election, Fatah co-founder & leader Yasser Arafat won 89.8% of votes.
This year, the Legislative election was scheduled for 22 May 2021. Mahmoud Abbas, leader of Fatah realised that Hamas was projected to win again. This will mean that the future of Palestine will tip closer towards more conflict and warfare as Hamas does not believe in peaceful co-existence with Israel.
In the context of game theory, this current conflict represents:
1. Win for Fatah - The target of shelling & air raids conducted by Israel are targeted towards Hamas. Abbas is indirectly using Israel to wipe out Hamas leaders, troops, infrastructure & resources.
2. Win for Hamas - Despite losing manpower, resources, & infrastructure, Hamas wins through the distribution of mass propaganda & playing up the victim card to global audiences.
Hamas is famous for launching missiles from densely populated civilian neighbourhoods (search for Hamas missile launching videos on the internet, you'll even see tons of civilians gathered around live firing rocket artillery cheering 'Allahu Akhbar'.
When Israeli Defence Forces identify the location of the launch sites, of course they'd strike back to stop the barrage of incoming missiles. It is then invariable that civilians used by Hamas as human shields would be killed.
This achieves Hamas' objectives of vilifying Israel + gaining global sympathy + stoking calls for death to Israel, thus increasing their own popularity amongst Palestinian voters to win future elections. In a sense, it's a short term loss, for long term gains.
3. Loss for Israel - Israel as the dominant power, has more to lose from instability in the region. They're surrounded in the north by Lebanon (Hezbollah), north-east by Syria (ISIS), East by Jordan & Saudi Arabia, and south-west by Egypt. All of which believe in death to Israel.
Ask yourself, what does Israel stand to gain from an overt military conflict when they can quietly increase more settlers in the West Bank over time?
All the breadcrumbs leads to Palestine starting this conflict.