Middle East has always intrigued me,
not only because it is always in the news today, especially for the violence
that is bred there. May be the fascination is because of Israel, a country that
was carved out of Palestine in 1948, very much close to the partition and
independence of India which happened in 1947. A home for a homeless people!
The Jews lost their home twice, once
when the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar conquered them finally in 586 BC and
took the people captive. The Babylonians razed the City of David, destroyed
their Temple on Mount Zion, destroyed their city Jerusalem and left it forlorn and
deserted. Prophets Jeremiah and Zephaniah were active during these troubled
years.
After 70 years of exile, the Israelite were permitted to go back to their country and rebuild their Temple, during the
reign of Cyrus, the King Persia, who overruled the Babylonian kingdom in 539 BC.
The exiles returned under Nehemiah and Ezra.
These events were all predicted by
the Prophets of Yahweh, God of Israel and happened exactly as it was foretold.
Prophets Haggai and Zachariah encouraged the returned exiles to rebuild their
city and the Temple, which was done, though in a much smaller scale when
compared to the first Temple build by King Solomon.
King Herod enlarged and beautified
the Temple and made it a marvel and pride of Israelite. Then came the birth, crucifixion
and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who prophesied that the Temple will be
destroyed with not one stone resting on another. This happened in 70 AD, when
Roman army invaded Jerusalem and his commander Titus, destroyed the Temple and
the city Jerusalem completely and sent the Jews scurrying all over the world.
For the next almost 2000 years the
Jews lived as exiles in different countries, persecuted, isolated and treated
as second class citizens, especially in Russia, where they were in large numbers.
But in their hearts the flame always burnt that one day they will return to
their land, the Land promised by their God to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob. This has been foretold in Bible by many prophets. And the Jews
awaited that day of return.
The seeds were planted after the
First World War (WWI), when the mighty Ottoman Empire tottered and fell to
pieces. The then reigning British Empire inherited most of the Arab peopled-lands
after the war.
Britain acquired 200,000 square miles
of additional territory, and ruled from Egypt and Iran, which were with her
earlier, to Palestine, Iraq and Jordan. This was seven times bigger than the
Roman Empire at its helm. The League of Nations gave the Mandate for these
broken pieces of Ottoman Empire to the victorious nations, the British and
French. Syria and Lebanon fell to the lot of France.
Britain made a few promises during
that time, including the Belfast Declaration, promising a home land to the
Israel. This promise to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine, a land with
Arab majority, seems to have birthed not only Israel, but also the Middle East
conflicts that we witness even today, including the growth of terrorism.
How did the Belfast Declaration come
to be? It transpires that in 1915, Lloyd George, the then Chairman of Munitions
War Committee, Britain, noticed with concern the shortage of acetone, a crucial
element in manufacture of cordite, necessary for weapons. A Jewish chemist Weizmann,
produced synthetically and supplied acetone, which was crucial in Britain
winning the war.
As a reward for the great services
rendered, Weizmann was asked what he would like the British government to do in
return. He asked for a national home for Jews in Palestine and it was assured
to him.[1]
It was a reward given to Weizmann, a Zionist, when Lloyd George became the
Prime Minister of Britain.
Balfour was the First Lord and
Weizmann became technical adviser to the Admiralty in relation to acetone
supplies in 1915. It was Balfour who played a crucial role in the whole matter.
That the dispersed Jews must have a home land was supported by the successful
allied powers after WWI, America, Italy, France and Britain. Britain took the
lead because Palestine mandate fell to her lot.
The promise of a national home to the
Jews, known later as the Balfour Declaration, was contained in a letter written
by the then foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to the leader of the British
Jewish community, dated 2 November 1917, which was later incorporated into the
British Mandate.
Trouble started immediately as the
local population in Palestine consisted of 90% Muslims and some Christians.
Though the Declaration said that the home for Jews will be carved out without
prejudice to the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish
population in the area, inter community conflicts started from 1920.
These conflicts became so severe that
Britain could not manage its Mandate, surrendered it and had to leave in
disgrace in 1948. Palestine problem became that of the world.
Balfour declaration, entered into in
good faith to help the dispersed Jewish people, ended as a monumental failure,
not just because of the mismanagement of the British authorities, but also
because of the hardening of the hearts of the surrounding Arabs. The
Declaration itself did not commit Israel-Arab conflict. They chose that
conflict themselves.
This need not have been, for the
Zionists offered areas of autonomy within Palestine for the Arabs and economic
concessions to the Arabs, in the early years itself. Palestine could have
developed to the benefit of both the communities. But the Arabs were
uncompromising, they would not agree to a Jewish homeland at all. This
obduracy, in my opinion is the major reason for the conflict in the area.
Ever since the stand of the Palestine
Arabs and other Arab nations surrounding Jewish Israel had been that the Jewish
nation has no right to existence and that it should be exterminated. Ever war
that followed between Israel and the surrounding Arab neighbors only enhanced
the area of control by Israel.
What would be the end? We do not know.
Two-nation Palestine? We are not sure.
Any divide and rule strategy would back
fire. In India itself, what was partitioned in 1947, has caused three wars between
India and Pakistan and continued interference and troubles in India-held Kashmir.
With Pakistan becoming a training land
for the terrorists with American largesse, and China cultivating the friendship
of Pakistan, India has more troubles to face on its borders in the coming years.
So also in Palestine.
[1]
Walter Reid, “Empire of Sand: How Britain made the Middle East,”
Birlinn-Edinburgh, UK, pp.93-94.
