A Controversial Topic

I try to avoid massively controversial topics, but today I cannot hold back. After conversations with friends, people on forums, and things I've seen around my campus, I have to say my piece and this is what this blog is for. For me to state some facts and then my opinion.

What is this controversial topic you wonder? *sighs* I'm talking about the issue of Israel and Palestine.

First, a short history lesson.
Lets go back, and I mean WAY back. Before the Middle East was the middle east, even before it was the Near East, or the Holy Land, before the Roman Empire, or the Greeks or the Persians, it was Mesopotamia. The Cradle of Civilization. People have lived in this area since around 3000BCE. That is over 5,000 years! Great empires grew out of this region. Including the Babylonians and the Assyrians. Later the Israelites would arrive in the area and build up a kingdom after, as the story goes, an exodus from Egypt and wondering around for a while. The Assyrians made a habit of relocating the Israelis to new parts of the Assyrian Empire. But it was the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem in 597BCE and took a massive chunk of the population back to Babylon, this would be known later as the Babylonian Captivity. Some 70 years later, the Persian Empire would defeat the Babylonians and send the Jews home. However, when the Israelis arrive at where they used to live, it was inhabited by new people! The Arabs.

Now to back up just a little. I need to take a moment to say something of religion here. At this point, we are talking about almost 500 years before the birth of Christ. These Arabs are not Muslims. Also, after running into several people in a recent class that did not know this. Christianity developed out of Judaism (and for those of you who don't know, this is the religion of the Jews) around 33CE. Then in about 622 CE, Islam was developed out of Christianity. Islam was, in essence, considered to be a continuation of the Abrahamic Tradition. It is one of the beliefs of the Arab Muslims, that the illegitimate son of Abraham and one of his servants, Ishmael, is the forbearer of the Arab race.

So back to the story. The Arabs had moved into what the Jews had considered to be their homeland during the time that the Jews were away. This is the beginnings of the issues that we see today. The Jews thought that land was their homeland and did not like that there were other people there. And on the other hand, when the Arabs moved in, there was no one there to tell them they couldn't. So by the time the Jews returned, the Arabs had made the land their own. This has led to one conflict after another between the two groups. But Jews have consistently been the minority through the centuries.

Now we reach the 19th and 20th centuries. A time of globalization. Of Imperialism. Exploration, and Colonialism. Britain had colonized the area in the late 18th century. Then World War II happened. No one can legitimately denied the atrocities that were inflicted upon the Jews (and many other groups) by the Nazi regime. A certain amount of guilt over a feeling of not doing enough to save those Jews, the World Powers decided to give the Jews their own state.

Now this seems like a great idea! Lets give this minority  group who has traditionally been persecuted, particularly by Christians, and were extremely persecuted during the war, their own space. It would be like a sanctuary. This sounds like a great idea. Except for the fact that there were already people there. There was already a country there. People who did not take lightly to all but being displaced themselves. These people are the same Arabs that were there over 2000 years ago! But now the Jews are excitedly moving into the area. To the land that they feel has been given back to them.

So that is the background of the conflict in Israel. I don't think many people know that. They just fall on one side of the debate or the other. People are either for Israel while others are supporting Palestine. I saw stickers around campus proclaiming the Israelis as invaders and call for the freedom of Palestine. While others claim that the Israelis were there first and deserve the land because of the persecution they have suffered over the centuries.

No matter what side you fall on, it is near impossible to solve this problem. There is no easy solution to fix this situation. No matter what, someone is unhappy. No matter what either the Israelis or the Muslim Arabs are going to feel like they are not receiving the fairest deal. No matter what, the conflict is unresolved.