“Go from your land … to the land that I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1)
It’s unthinkable trying to defend Israel for many Muslims, and for many non-Muslim humanitarians all over the world. The Israeli government is responsible for heinous atrocities that has put a bad light to Israel all over the world. Every time I hear about how Israel is constructing homes on land it occupied through brute force, I cannot help but cringe. This feeling only lasts when I do not look at things in historical context, something I think people forget to see.
If you trace history back long enough, the Jews were in Israel a lot longer than Muslims and Christians. If we go by length of occupation, the Jews definitely win. They have ruled Jerusalem as well as lived in it peacefully under Muslim and to a lesser degree, Christian rule. However, Jews inhabited the lands of modern day Israel much before the advent of Islam. If one was to argue that the Palestinians were in the region before the Israelis, one has to accept the argument that Jews were there more than a thousand years before Muslims.
Moreover, I cannot help but draw parallels to almost every nation state in the modern world.Look at the United States of America, and see what the early immigrants did to the natives. Australia was no different to its indigenous aborigine population. The Muslims also pretty much overthrew local regimes to get lands that were not originally there. An example that might hit many readers closer to where it huts is that of the millions of Muslims who migrated from India to modern day Pakistan because they wanted a separate homeland to practice their religion freely.
Should the Israelis be condemned for trying to form a nation during a time when human rights are finally being given due recognition? Perhaps, but just because Israelis were wronged in the past does not mean that they do not deserve a place they can call home. The hardball tactics adopted by the Israeli government need to be categorically condemned, but let’s not forget the bigger picture – not all Israelis are terrorists, they were just as much victims as Palestinians are today.
Ultimately, I would like to see a secular country formed in the land that makes up Israel and the Palestinian Authority. A two-state solution is likely to be one filled with mistrust and violence, but if adequate representation is given to people of both Palestinian and Israeli origin with a secular framework, I think Palestinians and Israelis are perfectly capable of living together in one state. Long term peace in the Middle East is only possible with more interaction between Israelis and Palestinians – and Muslims and Jews; not by more isolation and segregation.
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