The Israeli and Palestinian Conflict: Searching for Solutions

The Palestinians consider themselves descendants of the Canaanites, the earliest known inhabitants of the land. The first Book of the Bible, Genesis, relates the story of Abraham, his son Isaac, and grandson Jacob being summoned to Canaan, later known as the Land of Israel, to bring about the formation of a people with belief in one God. They conquered the Canaanites who believed in plural gods, Baalim and Baalot. After a famine spread through the land, Jacob, his twelve sons and their families settled in Egypt. Their descendants became known as Israelites, and were forced into slavery in Egypt. After 400 years of slavery, they were led by Moses out of Egypt and back to the Land of Israel, where they conquered the people in the Land.

David, Israel's great king established a large independent state, with its capital at Jerusalem. Under David's son and successor, Solomon, Israel enjoyed peace and prosperity, but at his death in 922 BC the kingdom was divided into Israel in the north and Judah in the south. When the nearby empires resumed their expansion, Israel fell to Assyria. Judah was conquered by Babylonia, which destroyed Jerusalem and exiled most of the Jews living there. Nebuchadnezzar entered Jerusalem. The Temple was sacked and set fire to, and razed to the ground. The Israelites laminated as they were carried off in chains to Babylon. "By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion" words from the Book of Psalms, were fervently uttered by the Israelites after their exile, and have been ever since.

Over the next 13 centuries, the Jewish people enjoyed periods of monarchy, independence and autonomy in the Land, interspersed with eras of foreign domination. Following the destruction of the Second Temple and their expulsion by the Romans in 70 CE, the majority of the Jews were dispersed throughout the world. According to Jewish biblical tradition, God gave the Land of Israel to Abraham and his descendants for all time. The believing Jew, therefore, sees the Land as part of the religious/national heritage of the Jewish people, and attaches special merit to living there. During almost 20 centuries of exile that followed, Jews prayed three times a day for return to their ancestral homeland. This longing to return to the Land of Israel also became a major topic in Jewish literature and thought. Central to Zionist thought is the concept of the Land of Israel as the historical birthplace of the Jewish people and the belief that Jewish life elsewhere is a life of exile. The hope of returning to their homeland was first held by Jews exiled to Babylon some 2,500 years ago - a hope which subsequently became a reality.

Over the centuries, Jews were expelled from almost every European country - Germany and France, Portugal and Spain, England and Wales - a cumulative experience which had a profound impact, especially in the 19th century when Jews had abandoned hope of fundamental change in their lives. [They were also expelled from all Arab-Islamic theocratic nations in the mid 1900s.]  The national liberation movement of the Jewish people, emerged in the 19th century within the context of the liberal nationalism then sweeping through Europe. Thus political Zionism, which coalesced in the 19th century, invented neither the concept nor the practice of return. Rather, it appropriated an ancient idea and an ongoing active movement, and adapted them to meet the needs and spirit of the times. The Jewish national idea, however, was never abandoned, nor was the longing to return to their homeland. Throughout the centuries, Jews have maintained a presence in the Land, in greater or lesser numbers, and uninterrupted contact with Jews abroad has enriched the cultural, spiritual and intellectual life of both communities.

The Zionist movement aimed to solve the "Jewish problem," the problem of a perennial minority, a people subjected to repeated pogroms and persecution, a homeless community whose alienness was underscored by discrimination wherever Jews settled. Zionism synthesized the two goals of liberal nationalism, liberation and unity, by aiming to free the Jews from hostile and oppressive alien rule and to reestablish Jewish unity by gathering Jewish exiles from the four corners of the world to the Jewish homeland. Zionism aspired to deal with this situation by affecting a return to the historical homeland of the Jews - the Land of Israel. The history of aliya, much of which was in direct response to acts of murder and discrimination against Jews, provides strong proof for the Zionist argument that a Jewish state in the Land of Israel, with a Jewish majority, is the only solution to the "Jewish problem."

“If I forget you, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand wither away; Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth If I do not remember you, If I do not set Jerusalem Above my highest joy.” Some 2,500 years ago, David wrote, "By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion." Psalms 137:1).