jimwritesblog.com

This is my first ever blog and I had initially chosen two topics – “Religion” and “History” and the reason for those particular topics is the belief that I have some unfinished business after the publishing of my two books a few years ago, but now I am having second thoughts about those topics and how to present the blog.

My books titled “Religious Thoughts – A Historical Perspective” and “Middle East Thoughts – Is There a Case For Israel”? have left more questions than answers and maybe after some discussion we’ll arrive at some answers. As the titles imply, the books were simply my thoughts put on paper but maybe I was naive to think that my opinions were of any interest to anyone especially if my thoughts required payment to learn. But this blog is not necessarily about my books, it is now going to consist of writings in the form of essays about various topics which hopefully will be of interest to the reader, although “Religion” and “History” will still retain their place of importance to me.

There are no goals, I’m not here to preach and I’m not here to argue. I’m here to learn, to examine, and to share. Some posts will focus on facts, others on interpretation, and some on the questions that don’t have easy answers. I am not an academic or expert, just a normal guy with questions and doubts so if you wish to share your thoughts and opinions please do so.

I don’t think I’ve been fascinated by religion, curious is probably a better word because from a young age going to Sunday morning service in my Methodist chapel and then afternoon Sunday School and then later Sunday evening service gave me a genuine feeling of doing the right thing without knowing why. That question arose more when I became older and into my teens when I realized that most of the people who were teaching me Bible Studies and leading the Christian Endeavour for example were just normal, everyday people and not super do-goody types, some even smoked and drank beer and went to dances and parties on a Saturday night would you believe? Then I became confused, what was right and what was wrong? Is it just the interpretation of the words? Is the Bible to be taken seriously word for word or a guide as to how to live a good and responsible life? I do not remember anyone giving me a suitable explanation because at that time in my life I certainly needed one.

Confused is how I have remained regarding religion as I envisaged it but having seen unrest and conflict over the years in areas where I had been taught my religion was born I now question the very meaning of the word. I am struggling to find the right approach or even the right words to begin or continue this blog because my confusion is overwhelming and if I cannot put my own thoughts in order how on earth can I ask the right questions or convince others to help explain my dilemma.

I am not going to attempt to put everything in its place chronologically, which is the normal historical way but I’ll jump into dates and times as they occur to me, probably difficult to follow but that’s me.

The current Israel – Palestine Conflict:

Confusion at my young age is not really the confusion I experience now but some of the same questions remain, for example: Why is there so much conflict in the Middle East, particularly in and around Jerusalem, a sacred city for thousands of years? The situation out there right now is purely political with reference being made to Biblical texts as it suits. For instance Israel reciting scriptures as fact and stating that certain areas belong to the Jewish people because it says so in a book that is neither historically correct nor religiously supportable. So maybe we’ll look at those areas right now because it appears that current day Israel is presuming mythical information., Then I’ll look at some historical facts:

What and where is the land under discussion?

One of the names frequently mentioned both in the Bible and history books is Canaan, often referred to as The Holy Landor the Promised Land. Canaan is situated in the ancient Near East, encompassing modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and parts of Jordan and Syria. Now how did this land become the property of present day Israel? It certainly is a strategic location being the crossroads of ancient civilizations.The land of Canaan initially was inhabited by various peoples often collectively referred to as the Canaanites who were for the most part Northwest Semitic speaking peoplewho emerged from western Mesopotamia around 2500 BC.

The promise of Canaan as a homeland for the Israelites is first articulated in Genesis. God speaks to Abram (later Abraham), saying, “To your descendants I will give this land”. Canaan plays a very prominent part in the history of Israel, according to the Bible Canaan was a grandson of Noah and it would be Canaan who would become the father of the Holy Land. Israel’s history is a result of the interaction between the sons of Noah and their descendants over thousands of years. Enter Abraham (b 1996BCE) who along with his son Isaac and Isaac’s son Jacob are considered to be the traditional patriarchs of the Jewish Nation and it was Abraham who led his family or clan from his home in Turkey to Canaan. At this time Canaan was a huge empire and Abraham’s nomadic clan settled in mountain towns receiving protection of their rulers though taking care not to assimilate with them preferring to preserve a nomadic way of life. There is no archaeological evidence of the existence of Abraham but there are certain place names in that area of Turkey which correspond to the places mentioned in the Bible. There is also a place south of Jerusalem called “Caves of the Patriarchs” which has been attributed by both Christians and Muslims to be the burial place of Abraham and his family.

This is the first mention of Hebrews in the Promised Land but only as a nomadic tribe and in no way is it indicative of ownership because at this time Egypt was the dominant force and was in control of huge areas of the Near and Middle East. It is so difficult to separate fact from fiction and even though archaeological finds have been made confirming the existence of different groups of people there are only the Bible stories with no validation. It appears that over time the Hebrew Tribes formed and controlled most of Canaan but during that time they migrated twice to Egypt and then returned to Canaan. I have spent hours trying to make sense of dates and times but have reluctantly come to a conclusion and I believe that whatever covenant God gave to Abraham in that distant past no longer applies because if we are going to believe that Bible story then we must also believe that the conditions which accompanied the promise have long since been broken.

I am returning to present day commentary:

On October 07 2013, Hamas, a Palestinian Islamist militant terrorist organization (originally an off-shoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood), based in Gaza, launched a large scale assault on Israel. But let’s step back a little and ask why Israel is where it is in the first place. Basically Israel is there, in that location because The United States says so. Let’s explain that – Israel as a state was formed on May 14 1948 in that area previously known as Canaan and the population at that time was made up of approx. 650,000 Jews and approx.1.2 – 1.3 million Arabs. Prior to 1920 and prior to the First World War the area had been occupied territory by a number of factions but notably later by the Turkish Ottoman Empire and generally at around 1917 there was a relatively peaceful existence between Muslims and Christians with the Jewish population being only approx. 60,000.

After the First World War and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire because of its affiliation with Germany, the area, now known as Palestine, through the League of Nations, became the responsibility of Britain. The British or Palestinian Mandate formalized British rule over Palestine and voiced the British Government’s favourable view of the eventual establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. This view was not shared by the half million Arabs who already inhabited Palestine even though the Balfour Declaration promised that “it should be clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of non- Jewish communities in Palestine”. The “non-Jewish communities” were 92% of Palestine’s population at the time. I am going to insert a statement here which will no doubt ruffle a few feathers but it is as I see it – Arabs have no claim whatsoever to the land called Canaan or Palestine, reason being, Arabs never laid down roots in any one particular place being inherently a nomadic race and conversely the Jews cannot lay claim to ownership by virtue of the fact the Bible is the only source of validation but as a disclaimer it may be fair to say that the Jews have a continuous partial occupancy for all reliable recorded history despite two exiles and losing their status as Hebrews and Israelites.

The proposed establishment of a Jewish Homeland by the British and later by the United Nations considered splitting the area into two distinct sections using the Jordan River as a natural boundary with Jewish immigration confined to the west of the river and the Arabs to the east of the river which represented three quarters of the whole mandate, but to the Arabs the principle of any Jewish Homeland in Arab lands was completely abhorrent to them. During the time of the British Mandate the British made repeated attempts to include both communities in the running of the Mandate but Arab intransigence resulted in an absolute refusal to cooperate in any way. Conversely the Jews were happy to work and cooperate with the authorities to gain legitimacy and administration experience. Communal ugliness arose early on and eventually the British announced they would end their administration on May 15 1948, in fact they abandoned Palestine and the United Nations voted to end the British Mandate and allow the Jews to create their own nation.

American Involvement:

Serious American involvement began in 1897 in the form of Political Zionism which emerged in response to continued oppression and persecution of Jews in Eastern Europe and it found formal expression in the establishment of the Zionist Organization at the first Zionist Congress in Switzerland. Currently the tip of this political Zionism iceberg is known as the Israel Lobby based in the United States and the importance of the United States to the movement was recognized from early on. At that time and for decades after, the large majority of Jewish Americans were not Zionists, in fact many actively opposed Zionism but political pressure and financial support was influential in the birth of Israel in 1948 even though Zionists had considered previously such places as Argentina, Uganda, Cyprus and Texas but they chose Palestine as they considered it to be unpopulated or with a population then of 96% Muslims and Christians, not worthy of consideration although they owned 99% of the land. The common representation of Israel’s birth is that the UN created Israel and that the world was in favour of this move and that the US governmental establishment supported it. These assumptions are incorrect. While the UN General Assembly recommended the creation of a Jewish state in part of Palestine, that recommendation was non-binding and never implemented by the Security Council. The General Assembly passed the recommendation only after Israel proponents threatened and bribed numerous countries in order to gain a required two-thirds of votes.

Immediately after the British left Palestine in 1948 the Jews set up Israel using territory given to them in the United Nations plan but active warfare had commenced between the Jews and the Arabs even prior to the British leaving and continued for months by the armed wing of the pro-Israel movement which perpetuated a series of massacres and expulsions throughout Palestine implementing a plan to clear the way for a majortity-Jewish state and it was this armed aggression and the ethnic cleansing of at least three-quarters of a million indigenous Palestinians, that created the Jewish state on land that had been 95% non-Jewish prior to Zionist immigration and even after years of immigration remained 70% non-Jewish. Israel was born over the opposition of American experts and of governments around the world, who opposed it on both pragmatic and moral grounds. This growing violence culminated in Israel’s ruthless 1947-49 “War of Independence” in which at least 750,000 Palestinian men, women and children were expelled from their homes by numerically superior Israeli forces – half before any Arab armies joined the war. Zionist forces committed 33 massacres and destroyed 531 Palestinian towns, war crimes were committed on an extensive scale and nearly every skirmish ended in a massacre of Arabs and this profound injustice has continued.

Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of US foreign aid since World War II. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, the United States has provided more than $300 billion in total economic and military assistance to Israel since 1948, when adjusted for inflation, more than any other country. American taxpayers give Israel more than $8million per day even though surveys reveal that 73% of Americans oppose taking sides on Israel-Palestine. Because of Israel’s powerful US lobby, Congress gives far more money to Israel than to all of sub-Saharan Africa put together. While most Americans are unaware of these facts, governmental actions are making Americans responsible for a continuing catastrophe of historic proportions and Israel partisans have played a significant role in promoting attacks on Iraq and Iran.

My list of culprits:

Culprit no.1 Britain – For not initially seeing the problem through to some sort of

conclusion.

Culprit no.2 – The United Nations for simply not being the United Nations.

Culprit no.3 – The USA for allowing themselves to be run by the Jewish Lobby

thereby adding fuel to the fire by arming Israel, as without

America, Israel would not be the commanding power it is today.

Culprit no.4 – The rest of the World for standing by and allowing terrorist

organizations to victimize countries and innocent people.

Culprit no. 5 – Religion, for without religion rearing its ridiculous head at every

turn we would only be dealing with politics.

Footnote: Currently I believe that Netanyahu is at fault for prolonging the conflict

even though I agree with his stance that Hamas should be completely

destroyed, notwithstanding the fact that this group was of his own

making along with other western powers. Netanyahu’s problem is that

he also wants to destroy any last vestiges of Palestinian habitation and

has no qualms about taking the lives of innocent people. He really needs to

be replaced then discussions can begin on a two-state resolution.

Then there’s Trump who prides himself on being the Supreme Master and

Commander but has no real clue as to what’s happening or worse still –

Does he care?