Wordsmith Lane

The USYD Bull: FYI: Conflict in the Middle East

Appeared in: The Bull (Sydney University Union Weekly Magazine) Edition 6 (16/04/2007)

Copyright, Sarah Ayoub, 2007

It began long ago and shows no sign of an end. Sarah Ayoub compresses the history of the Middle- Eastern conflict into a question – Holy of Holies, or foundation for fighting?

The Jewish people inhabited the land of Israel for thousands of years before the coming of Christ, as recorded in both Jewish and Christian scripture. However, the Roman destruction of the Temple in 70AD resulted in the greater number of the Jewish population going into exile as captives, slaves and refugees. Despite revolts that led to the deaths of thousand of Jewish soldiers, Israel could not be reclaimed – and in 135 the Roman Emperor Hadrian replaced the name Judea with ‘Syria Palestina’ or Palestine.

Hundreds of years later, Palestine was a predominantly Christian place, ruled from Constantinople – but the birth, growth and spread of Islam saw Caliph Omar 1 capture Jerusalem and build the Dome of the Rock on the site of the Temple (making it the third holiest site of Islam), and thus gaining Arab conquest of Palestine. The entrenchment of Arab language and Islamic customs saw most of the population (even those who retained their Christian beliefs) begin to describe themselves as Arabs. Coming years saw crusaders trying to gain back the Holy Land in a series of bloodied battles that only served to increase want for the sites of relevance to these major religions. Despite not launching battles of their own, the Jewish people long hoped for the return to their ‘promised land’ or land of Zion, and Zionism gained greater momentum as Jews in Europe, particularly in Russia, experienced immense discrimination and were victimised in ‘pogroms’ – vicious and violent attacks on their neighbourhoods. In 1882, the first waves of Zionist immigration or return to Israel began, and many more followed – so that by 1914 the Jews in Palestine made up a significant number of the overall population.

In 1896, Theodore Herzl witnessed outright discrimination on Jews in France, which propelled him to write ‘Der Judenstaat’ – a program seeking the establishment of a Jewish State. Various congresses led by the World Zionist Organisation were held in an attempt to make this a reality, and in the meantime, Britain felt pressure to take in Jews after the violence in Russia. As such, they felt compelled to tackle the question of finding a Jewish homeland. Although the British government had promised the Arab population in Palestine recognition of independence if they helped them defeat the Turks inhabiting Palestine as part of the greater Ottoman Empire in World War One, this promise (which they later denied that they made) was not fulfilled.

However, the Balfour Declaration of 1917 decreed that the British Government viewed ‘with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for Jewish people’. This declaration paved the way for a series of treaties and conferences that would eventually lead to the creation of Israel. At that time, waves of Jewish migration to Palestine increased, much to Arab dismay which saw violence erupt on a massive scale. In 1937, Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin El Husseini travelled to Nazi Germany to talk the ‘final solution’ of the Jewish problem. However, the Holocaust only further stated the need for a Jewish Homeland, and floods of Jewish migration saw the intervention of the UN in the form of a partition plan- allowing both Arabs and Jews to each have separate independent states through a division of the existing Palestinian land. The Arabs rejected this, and Jews took matters into their own hands- declaring the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. Civil war erupted as a result to the ‘catastrophe’ (as the event was described by Arabs) – and thousands Palestinian refugees fled Palestine.

In the years that followed, a series of wars only intensified issues in the region. The Palestinian Liberation Organisation or PLO was formed as an umbrella organisation for most Palestinian groups – most renowned of which is the late Yasser Arafat’s Fatah. Terrorism at the hands of different groups further intensified the need to address the issue, particularly as Arab nations in the region held differing views on the way to handle the conflict. In 1974, Arafat’s ‘Olive Branch’ speech at the UN resulted in a kind of ‘shuttle diplomacy’ or talks between sides through American intervention. Israeli occupancy of Southern Lebanon further infuriated the Arabs, and Hezbollah, or Party of God, was established to drive them out (although some would currently regard it as operating on a different agenda).

Perhaps the most promising event was the meeting of Arafat and Jewish Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in the early nineties at the hands of former US president Bill Clinton. A commitment to peace talks was established, but sadly not put into effect after a hardline Jew assassinated Rabin in 1995.

Today, the fight for the Holy Land is just as rife, with fighting ensuing in other parts of the region, particularly neighbouring Lebanon – most recently the fight between Hezbollah and Israel just last year. Arabs feel targeted in their areas of Gaza and West Bank, Palestinians still live in refugee camps all over the Arab world, and Jews live in constant fear of an Arab terrorist attack.

They say one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter- but thousands of years have passed since the destruction of the Temple, and this sacred part of earth still knows no freedom. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, have fought till their deaths for what they feel is their promised land.

Led to their graves by the promises made to Moses, the sacred beliefs surrounding the birth of Christ, and the commitment to the words of Mohammed, the soldiers of Israel and Palestine know no bounds.

In a quest for peace, perhaps the fighting should be dismissed in favour of a plea for divine intervention. After all, they don’t call it the Holy Land for nothing.