Disclaimer: I attended Hebrew School and even taught a 3rd-grade class with my friend Hannah, post-college graduation and I grew up celebrating Jewish holidays. I spent nearly every Friday night at Hillel or Chabad throughout my college years. I held leadership positions within these organizations as well as the Student Alliance for Israel and AIPAC. I also have worked at a Jewish Day School. This post reflects only my personal beliefs.
(image from Maryann Naaman on Pinterest)
Where do you even begin when covering a location with a unique history, archeology, faiths, food, and climate. I'm hoping to show through this post that Israel is not all wars and camels in the desert. It actually snows here and you can ski in the north.
It isn't like the news in Western Countries like the USA, which is all that I saw before visiting for myself. Although I had talked to people who had visited and even had friends and family there it's hard to understand a place without experiencing it for yourself. With that said, these are only my experiences and I'm not speaking on behalf of anyone who lives there day in and day out. It's also possible to love a place yet still be critical. That's how I feel about Israel, after visiting four times and even my own home country of the USA. If you travel with an organized group remember they have an agenda and to still do your own research. I know that all countries' governments could do better. Shouldn't we all strive for this? There is one thing to support a country because of the culture, beauty and another to agree with everything their government chooses to do. Many people have an opinion on Israel. The saying goes if you ask two Jews, you'll get three opinions. It’s so complex that even citizens here are unsure and conflicted about the situation just like an outsider...Their elections for who they want to represent them in the government are messy, but that's a topic for another day. A third of humanity, calls this their holy land, and Jerusalem is the center of it all. For Jews, this is where the Temple of Solomon stood, for Christians where Jesus was crucified and resurrected and lastly, for Muslims, this is where Muhammad went to heaven. In each of these religions, the value of love for our neighbor is present, I hope more of us can show this through our actions and words.
There is no way to briefly sum up the formation of the current country of Israel and the Palestinian (a name that goes back to Roman times) territories or to prepare for your visit. Israel is the only Jewish country in the world and its neighbors are Arab and Muslim. All Palestinians are Arabs but not all Palestinians are Muslim, there are also Arab Christians! The stereotypes are somehow true yet false at the same time. The elephant in the room is the Middle East safe? I've felt more comfortable there than in a lot of places in my home country, the USA. I have taken courses over the years on Israel, Hebrew and would do Jewish/Israeli history an injustice if I tried to list it all out here. If you'd like to know more in-depth, reach out to me for us to discuss but for the sake of this post, I'm scratching the surface. I should also note that I am a promoter of open dialogue, yet I and others are concerned that showing anything less than complete devotion would leave room to question the validity of Israel's claim to the land. I wish there were more discussions surrounding the idea of peace.
Jews have had a history in Israel, going back 4,000 years ago. Our story starts with what we know today as the Passover story. After many, many years (we are talking about 40 HOLY MOLY) in the Sinai desert, Moses led the people from Egypt to the land promised by G-d. (Genesis 17:8). Solomon, King David's son (who united the tribes of Israel) built the first temple in Jerusalem, it was then destroyed so they built another (I bet you can see what's coming). The Romans destroyed the second temple and kicked the Jews out and that's when they didn't have a place to call home anymore. The diaspora occurred but Jews continued to find ways back to a land they were connected to because other places around the world weren't always welcoming to people that were different (Do I even need to list the places that haven't/still aren't welcoming to Jews? We will be here a while if that is the case.) and Jews wanted to return home. Now we fast forward to the 1900s.
The world is at war. Great Britain is ruling the land and as they've done with other pieces of land they governed wreaked havoc. They did, however with the rest of the United Nations, recognize the rights of the Jews to establish a home on the "promised land" again. People resided on the land and the United Nations helped split the land into an Arab state which we know now as modern-day Jordan and Israel. By splitting the land, this displaced Palestinians that we know of today, who some still living in refugee camps. Israel did grant citizenship to the Palestinians who stayed. Interestingly enough, Jews living in Arabic regions around the world were then displaced by their government, essentially having to find a new homeland, and Israel was there to welcome them.
After the declaration of independence for Israel, armies from surrounding countries (eight) began wars, yet Israel won. War is not over for this region, unfortunately, although there are parts in time where it is more peaceful. This is why the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) is necessary, depending on your gender and specialty people will serve roughly 24 to 32 months. Israel claims many Palestinians left on their own since they weren't interested in residing in a Jewish state or Arab leadership told them to leave and once Israel lost they could go back. Borders are man-made anywhere in the world, a social construct if you will. Another war breaks out and through it, Israel takes over Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt and then signs a peace deal and returns it to Egypt minus Gaza. From the war, the West Bank now is under Israeli, leadership from Jordan and they sign a peace deal as well and the Golan Heights from Syria. Now Israel doesn't have a conflict with some of its neighbors; Egypt and Jordan. Some settlements are created in the territories of Gaza and the West Bank by Israelis.
In the early 2000s military presence from Israel is ended in Gaza. Just before this, the Palestinian Authority is created and this group governs the West Bank and Gaza. A religious group, Hamas "wins" the elections in Gaza and takes away the Palestinian authority in the area. Western nations consider Hamas a terrorist organization.
There is an ongoing conflict in Hebron, between Palestinians and Jewish settlers in the West Bank amongst other cities. Hebron is the city of the Patriarchs and the largest city in the West Bank. This comes with high security and tension as it is sacred to both Israelis and Palestinians. This is the second most holy place for Jews. When I visited, our group took a bus that was supposed to be bulletproof. You could see dents from bullets that were shot at it.
To this day both sides struggle to find peace on land they both consider their homeland. Each has suffered. "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" (Rick Steve's Europe). If you keep up with current politics in the USA, you'll know that the USA government (during Trump's Administration) has been building a wall between Mexico and the USA. The Israeli government (Netanyahu administration) vocalized their support. It is dangerous to compare the two. Israel built a "security fence" to defend itself from bombings from Gaza. While in the USA, families leaving South and Central America ask to be considered a refugee & apply to seek asylum here as we (America) were once welcoming to those fleeing oppression. Israel has been criticized for treating Arab/Palestinians as second-class citizens, around the ID system, separate roads to settlements, and checkpoints in the West Bank but this isn't part of sovereign Israel. The territories are governed by elected Palestinians. These ideas are brought up to delegitimize Israel. The same laws apply to everyone whereas in South Africa there were racial segregation policies in law.
Again this was very brief and missing a lot of history but these are some highlights I wanted to cover. I believe both Israel and Palestine should somehow exist in peace, how we get there is a bit more complicated. Maybe it is possible to create two nations! Today we are stuck on what happened before rather than focusing on what can be done now. This would mean both groups would have to agree to move forward to live in peace and harmony. A worry for Israel is the Palestinian group wouldn't demilitarize and they would need to recognize Israel as the Jewish nation. Palestinians want Israeli settlements out of the West Bank. Both also want their capital to be Jerusalem, they'd somehow have to figure out how to share the city.
If history has taught us anything, is that the Jewish people are resilient. So yes there are "haters" in person on college campuses, creating nasty posts behind their phones online and news stations not explaining the full story. The UN even tries to erase connections to holy sites. Israelis refer to themselves as Sabra's which is a name of a prickly pear. They have a thick skin that conceals a sweet soft interior comparable to Israelis as they seem tough on the outside but are delicate on the inside. What other choice do they have? They and their allies must be strong, resilient, and live unapologetically. Am Israel Chai - the People of Israel live! Hopefully both Israeli and Palestinians will be able to come to peace that will withstand the test of time.
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