The problem I see is that Palestinian Jews (Jews that have actually, ancestrally inhabited Palestine for over two millennia) only constitute fraction of today's Israeli population. Diaspora Jews artificially migrating there en masse and uprooting Arabs to create an almost exclusively Jewish state doesn't really seem fair, in my view, and it shouldn't be wrong for a Palestinian Arab to feel jipped. The Muslims, Jews, Christians that lived there all seemed to get along fine prior to 1948. That's not to say I am necessarily "anti-Israel". I personally don't mind the mere existence of Israel (I don't really have any historic connection to that land so it's not really my prerogative however it turns out) but I'm just saying if I was in an Arab's shoes, then hostile feelings seem inevitable.
Note that when I refer to "Palestine" I don't mean it in the sense of a formal country but just to describe the western Levant region in general.
We don't want an exclusively Jewish state...well, the non-Orthodox of us don't anyway. The problem is the Arabs don't want us to be there at all. As for what you were saying about indigenous Jews in the Levant, they may have been a small population, but they were much larger than the Arab population of the time. Most of those who were uprooted in the 1940s had migrated there from elsewhere in the 50 years preceding, whereas the indigenous Jewish presence has been there at least since the Diaspora began in 60 CE. And those ancestors were there even before, when there was a kingdom of Israel. Basically, there has not been a time when Israel wasn't essentially a Jewish state, even if not in name.
Actually, on that note, fun fact: the region known as Israel/Palestine today did not exist as a state until 1948. It was a region known as the Levant that, apart from being a "region," essentially did not "exist." At various points it was part of Syria and the Ottoman Empire, but it was never an independent sovereign state between the beginning of Diaspora in 60 CE and 1948.
Jews pretty much always made up a majority of the population of Jerusalem, but I don't think they had a de facto majority of the whole of Palestine (again, I'm referring to the
region, west of the Jordan river, not as a nation-state) since the first century, when the diaspora began to expand. From what I understand, following the first century, Jews did still always have a population in Palestine, but not any kind of large majority (aside from concentrations like in Jerusalem). So I mean, claiming that Jews as a whole have an inherent right to that land because it was controlled by Jews
two-thousand years ago, coupled with a concentrated population in select areas, is a stretch, IMO. But don't get me wrong, I can have a bit of sympathy for thirst of a national homeland. I just don't think this one is really cut out so black and white.
And I just felt I ought to add, just to reiterate, I am just giving observations/opinions on the circumstances surrounding modern Israel's
inception. Like I said, I don't have any crucial prerogative in the issue. Time has passed; today, Jews are there to stay, whether others like it or not. So probably like you, I am hopeful that eventually, involved parties will work something out.
Topic: Obama: Israel must halt all settlement activity (Read 28541 times)
